Showcasing Undergraduate Research: A Celebration of Innovation and Discovery

Undergraduate research showcases provide a valuable platform for students to present their faculty-mentored research and creative work in a formal setting. These events celebrate the diversity, depth, and breadth of undergraduate research projects across various disciplines.

Participating in a Research Showcase

Undergraduate research showcases encourage students from all fields to participate, including fine and applied arts students. Both individual and collaborative efforts are welcome, with opportunities for students to present on multiple projects. The showcases offer a chance to share research findings, engage with faculty and peers, and gain experience in presenting scholarly work.

Registration and Abstract Submission

Registration for the showcase typically opens in the spring. The registration form includes a space to list all undergraduate project authors. As part of the registration process, students are required to submit an abstract, which serves as a concise overview of their project.

An abstract should include:

An introduction to the research topic
The purpose, objective, or hypothesis of the study
Results of the project (if complete)
Conclusions drawn from the findings

Abstracts should be written in the past tense, limited to 300 words, and avoid technical jargon. References are not included in an abstract. It is essential that faculty mentors review the abstract before submission.

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Presentation Formats

Research showcases offer various presentation formats to accommodate different types of projects. Common formats include poster presentations, oral presentations, and performance presentations.

Poster Presentations

The poster format allows students to summarize their research visually on a single page. Effective poster design is crucial for attracting attention and conveying information clearly. Letters should be large enough to be read from a distance of 2-3 feet, and visuals should be used to enhance the presentation.

Oral Presentations

Oral presentations typically involve a 5-6 minute presentation followed by a 4-5 minute Q&A session. The presentation should follow a traditional story structure with a beginning, middle, and end. Students should consult with their mentors regarding content and can create their presentations using Google Slides or PowerPoint.

Performance Presentations

For students presenting a pre-recorded performance or audio, the showcase offers the option of speaking about their research live or including the presentation on the pre-recorded YouTube. The length of presentation is 5 - 6 minute presentation with 4 - 5 minutes for interactive Q&A session. The traditional story structure has a beginning, middle, and end.

Examples of Undergraduate Research Projects

The following examples illustrate the wide range of research projects presented at undergraduate research showcases:

Curation Techniques of Small-sized Natural History Specimens: A Collection of Microfossils

This project focused on developing new techniques for curating microfossils, addressing the challenges of safety, storage, and traceability of information for minute early mammalian teeth and jaws. The researchers developed methods for mounting and labeling specimens, ensuring their preservation and accessibility for future study.

HPV Vaccine Discussions Between Medical Students and Standardized Patients

This study analyzed recordings of medical students taking histories from standardized patients to assess how effectively the HPV vaccine was recommended. The results revealed that students were more likely to recommend influenza vaccines than HPV vaccines and that HPV vaccine discussions were more frequent with patients who were assigned female at birth.

GENUS Applications for Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology

This research explored the histopathological features of Alzheimer’s disease, including extracellular plague of amyloid-beta protein and intracellular neuronal tangles formed by abnormally phosphorylated tau protein. The study investigated the potential of non-invasive brain stimulation as a future intervention for neurodegenerative diseases.

Efficacy of a Social Determinants of Health Training Intervention

This project evaluated the impact of an educational intervention on medical students' discussions of social determinants of health (SDOH) with standardized patients. The results showed that the intervention increased the frequency with which most SDOH topics were discussed, highlighting the importance of emphasizing SDOH and open-ended questioning skills in medical education.

The Inhibition of Growth of S. cerevisiae, U. maydis, and M. lychinidis-dioicae by Apiaecea Plant Extracts

This study investigated the antimicrobial properties of ethanolic extracts from Apiaceae spices against various microbial species. The results indicated that celery and ajwain extracts had broad antifungal effects, while anise and cumin were only able to inhibit U. maydis.

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Child and Parent Psychopathology Predict COVID-19 Impact

This research examined the role of pre-existing child and parental psychopathology in predicting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and families. The study found significant associations between child separation anxiety and parental psychopathology with worse impact during the pandemic.

Examining Neuroanatomical Effects of Prenatal Valproic Acid and Postnatal Testosterone in a Mouse Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder

This project investigated the neuroanatomical effects of prenatal valproic acid and postnatal testosterone in a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder. The results indicated that there were no significant differences in linear density or average cell area of Purkinje cells by treatment group or by number of hits.

Soils Associated with the Invasive Grass: Microstegium vimineum Increases Growth of Native Trees

This study explored the impact of soils associated with the invasive grass Microstegium vimineum on the growth of native trees. The results showed that invaded soils had significantly more biomass in aboveground growth, suggesting that the invasive species alters the biota in the soil.

Shame is the Shared Maintenance Factor in an Eating Diosrder-Anxiety Symptom Comorbidity Model in Female Adolescents

This research focused on the comorbidity of anxiety and eating disorders in female adolescents.

Script to Sans: The Shift Toward Minimalist Branding

This project explored the trend of companies rebranding from script to sans serif typefaces. The case studies revealed commonalities in the reasoning behind the switch, including changes in the company body, the need to keep up with modern technology and trends, and outlier cases like Pinterest.

Microplastics in the Mississippi

This poster explored the presence and impact of microplastics in the Mississippi River through the analysis of two research studies. The studies showed that microplastics are widespread throughout the river, with higher levels found downstream and in highly populated areas, highlighting the need for increased awareness and better waste practices.

Radiant Love and Knowledge: Near-Death Experiences in Modern America

This historical presentation compared American NDE accounts and popular media depictions of the Being of Light before and after Raymond Moody’s publication. The findings suggested that NDEs contain universal features that are not shaped by cultural influences.

Investigation of Maleic Anhydride in Organic Synthesis

This research explored the synthetic utility of maleic anhydride in the synthesis of N-allyl maleimide and 3-hexyl-1,2-cyclobutanedicarboxylic acid. The findings demonstrated maleic anhydride’s utility in forming intermediates and bicyclic compounds under mild conditions.

Social Experiences of Individuals with Autism in Adolescence and Adulthood: A literature review

This literature review examined social experiences of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) during adolescence and adulthood. The research found that many individuals with ASD experience limited social engagement throughout development and identified distinct sensory subtypes within ASD.

Ignition Interlock Devices: Do they really help?

This project explored the effectiveness of Ignition Interlock Devices (IIDs) in reducing alcohol-impaired driving.

In Vitro Analysis of Abemaciclib Treatment on Epithelial Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation and Sequencing of cfDNA Released

This study evaluated the effect of abemaciclib on breast cancer cell proliferation in vitro and characterized cfDNA released during treatment using next-generation sequencing. The findings suggested that abemaciclib arrests cells during cell cycle between G1 and S phase and can be characterized through biomarkers in cfDNA released.

Support for Gay Marriage in Italy and Spain: Public Perceptions in the Context of Legalization

This paper examined factors that contribute to support for gay marriage in Italy and Spain. The research found that age, sex, level of education, and importance of religion all had a significant relationship with level of support for gay marriage in both countries.

A Queer Take on Hell and the Hellmouth, Pre-Modern Era

This presentation used the imagery seen in pre-modern depictions of hell and its entrance to bring about a new perspective on how hell may have been seen back when it was first being drawn up. Through a queer lens, these concepts are explored to have a deeper meaning as it applies to gender equality through divine punishment.

The Grand Forks Business and Professional Women’s Club: A History of Women’s Empowerment

This study revealed the importance of identity and empowerment in the advancement and well-being of not only American women, but also their communities.

Investigation of Lignin Solubilization Using Quantum Chemical Calculations in Constrained Media

This study aimed to identify the molecular interactions of guaiacol and a solution of H2O and CO2 at supercritical conditions using Density Functional theory.

Sex, Sisterhood, and Survival in The Book of Margery Kempe

This presentation studied The Book of Margery Kempe through Kempe's position within a patriarchal society.

Daniel's Neuroscience Research

Daniel's research focuses on the mechanisms used by neurons in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of crabs to homeostatically regulate their own electrical activity.

Raghav's Biomedical Engineering Research

Raghav's research focuses on the issue of network resonance and determining the network response patterns to oscillatory inputs.

Questioning the Effectiveness of the Olympic Truce

This research questioned whether the Olympic Truce has ever been successfully implemented to prevent the onset of new conflict or in creating a ceasefire during an ongoing conflict.

Hawai'i Uncovered

This project aimed to explore the conflicting aspects of identity in Hawai'i, reveal the true characteristics of the state, and separate its perception by tourists from the reality that locals know all too well through photography.

Extinct Flowers

This project was a study of extinct flowers, their histories, environments, biology, colors, and assigned personalities-manifested in 3D models and a digital book.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Specialty Props

This project focused on researching, designing, prototyping, and fabricating specialty props and costumes to create the multiple distinct worlds present in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’

Immersive Stargazing: Leveraging VR for Astronomy Education

This project leverages virtual reality (VR) technology to create an immersive stargazing experience that makes the wonders of the cosmos accessible to all.

Flamethrower Vol.

This project is a series of three EPs (short albums) that combine jazz, classical, and commercial electronic music to produce an artistic work in which the perception, function, and musical context of electronic instruments is challenged.

The Unhoused and Technological Inequality

This paper discusses how the unhoused population suffers at the hand of technological inequality despite being relatively offline.

Data Quality Matters: Suicide Intention Detection on Social Media Posts Using RoBERTa-CNN

This paper focuses on identifying suicidal intentions in SuicideWatch Reddit posts and presents a novel approach to detect suicide using the cutting-edge RoBERTa-CNN model.

Multilayered Magneto-Dielectric Electromagnetic Absorbers for Improved Oblique Incidence Performance

This work focuses on modeling the oblique incidence performance of absorbers and creating angularly insensitive EM absorbers.

Utilizing space-based images to quantify and mitigate blending systematics in ground-based galaxy cluster mass measurements

This project used space-based imaging to quantify and mitigate blending systematics in ground-based galaxy cluster mass measurements.

Extraterrestrial Multi-phase Cough Jet Transport

This research aims to investigate the trajectories, spread, distribution, and final states of infectious expectorate-laden multiphase microgravity turbulent jets produced by cough mechanisms with computational fluid dynamics simulations.

Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP)

The purpose of this study is to compare the plasma species generated by CAP using helium gas at two different glass tubes.

Movie Profit Prediction

The goal of this project was to learn the basics of predictive modeling using real-world data and apply the models to movie data from the IMDb and TMDB databases.

Index Properties of Traditional and Polymer Modified Bentonite

This research contributes to our understanding of bentonite barrier performance under variable chemical-hydraulic-thermal-stress conditions and material enhancement.

Use of flow meter signal separation to facilitate model calibration in sanitary sewer hydrology

This undergraduate research project investigates separating sanitary sewer flow signals into the four distinct components through the use of digital recursive filters.

Dimensional Synthesis, Kinematic Modeling, and Prototype Validation of a Novel Five-Bar Mechanism with Variable Topology for Pick-and-Place Applications

This project presents a mechanism with variable topology for industrial pick and place tasks.

Measuring Consequential States via Counterfactual Backwards Induction

In this project, we seek to identify consequential moments of agent choice, measure their relative magnitude, and leverage this information to improve the sample efficiency of RL algorithms.

Architecting Transparency: Measuring the Structural Origins of Bias on ROSIE

This research proposes a strategic "pivot" from black-box auditing of existing models to a white-box mechanistic interpretability approach.

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