This is the goal, and it is often the fact. Your independent research shows what you can do with what you learn.

WYOMING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DAY, APRIL 26, 2008

A Celebration of Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate students are invited to participate in the Ninth Annual Wyoming Undergraduate Research Day which will take place on the University of Wyoming campus, Saturday, April 26, 2008.    Last year around 230 students presented their research, and this year we anticipate an even richer display of undergraduate curiosity and creativity.  Abstracts of all presentations will be published, and the day will conclude with a dinner honoring the presenters and their families.

Concurrent oral presentations will be held in the Classroom Building beginning at 1:00 pm and concluding at 5:30 pm.  Poster presentations will take place in the Family Room of the Wyoming Union from 4:30 to 6:30 PM.

The University of Wyoming and Wyoming’s community colleges provide many opportunities for undergraduates to participate in independent research projects across many disciplines. The purpose of Undergraduate Research Day is to recognize and to celebrate the accomplishments of undergraduate student researchers. The topics will include research in the areas of agriculture, business, education, engineering, health sciences, biological and physical sciences, mathematical sciences, social sciences, and the arts and humanities.

Each oral presentation is to be 15 minutes long with a five-minute question/answer session following.  Students can access instructions and forms for participation on the Wyoming EPSCoR web site:  http://epscor-wise.uwyo.edu/. 

Students must submit their Information Forms and their abstracts by March 21, 2008, in order to participate in Research Day.  Late materials will not be accepted.

Students are also required to provide an electronic copy of their presentation or poster to the EPSCoR Office within two weeks after Research Day.  The UW Libraries will provide a repository for electronic copies of the student presentations, and will make them available to the campus community at http://digital.uwyo.edu/.

Families and friends, UW / Community College / High School faculty and students, and the public are invited to attend the presentations.

Presenters are expected to attend other presentations throughout the afternoon. Please be prepared to stay from 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Research Day is sponsored by the UW Offices of Research and Economic Development, Student Affairs, and Academic Affairs; and also, by the A&S Summer Independent Study Program, the College of Agriculture, the College of Engineering, the College of Health Sciences, INBRE, UW Honors Program, the McNair Scholars Program, Wyoming EPSCoR, and the Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium.

For further information, please contact Rick Matlock (307) 766-3545 (rixdogs@uwyo.edu) or Barbara Kissack, (307)766-2033 (bkissack@uwyo.edu

My independent study concerning the street economy of Sucre, Bolivia, for my honors thesis was definitively the capstone of my undergraduate career. This was an essential step to my final semester because of the autonomy I gained: I set my own deadlines, created my own reading lists, and designated how my presentations would flow. However, working with Adrian Bantjes, Garth Massey, and Duncan Harris, I could easily discuss ideas and problems and keep the project within reasonable guidelines.

In the end, I had written a forty-five page paper modeled primarily after Oscar Lewis’s Five Families, which has been an academic inspiration for the past couple of years. I spent three weeks in Bolivia interviewing men, women, and children who work in the streets, and upon returning to the University of Wyoming, I transcribed those interviews into nonfiction prose, a project which, through a blend of creativity and theoretical work, produced one of the greatest learning experiences thus far.

Lesley started with the Seventh Day Adventist church in Laramie and then met members from the churches in Colorado Springs and Loveland. She says she felt that some were wary of her questions and surveys because of bad press that the group has received, but she found some in each church that she visited who were quick to take her under their wing, and most were very helpful. Lesley says, “Of course you have to get over that hump of ‘No, I don’t want you to convert me, now let’s get on to the questions.’” She found herself being invited to meals after services and felt included in the group. Lesley spent the most time in the Laramie church and visited Eden Valley several times for a couple days. She wishes she would have had more time to spend with the Cheyenne and Fort Collins churches so as to be more accepted into those congregations.

While Lesley’s goal was to observe and gather information, she does admit that “you can’t really help but go into a group with some preconceived notions.” She expected them to be different from her own experience with other Christian churches, but found their teachings to be very similar to other groups with which she’s familiar. She explains that “a lot of people think, ‘oh, they’re vegetarians, so they must have funky beliefs’ or something like that.”

Before she presents her work at Undergraduate Research Day in May, she will give a paper at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Salt Lake City in March. She has received financial help to attend the conference from EPSCoR, the Honors Program and the Anthropology Department.