CURO highlights undergraduate research

Earlier this week, more than 400 students participated in the annual two-day Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) symposium at the Classic Center in downtown Athens. Showcasing their research knowledge through poster sessions and presentations, this year’s group of students represented a cross-section of the Franklin College departments. Students' broad research interests included everything from chemistry, computer science and genetics to literature, history and psychology. Below is but a small sampling of research that we learned about while in attendance:

• Atul Lodhl, a genetics CURO Research Assistant, explained his investigatory process for discovering how evolutionary forces that generate diversity in plants came to be. Plants produce the largest variety of metabolites of any organism on the planet and Lodhl has been studying the role of cyanogenic glocisides in passiflora incamata (Maypop).
• Duncan Lord, a student in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, presented an analysis of trends in the difficulties of music educators in their early years on the job.
• Leah Scott, a student who will graduate with the CURO graduation distinction, presented a history research project entitled “Brave Little Belgium: The British Home Front Response to Belgium Refugees from 1914-1918.
• Computer science student Justin Payan, a Foundation Fellow, presented his research on keyword extraction, an attempt to hone in on the most effective means to a process that aides in information document retrieval and organization. Payan explained his process for testing artificial neural networks and a TextRank algorithm.
• Manisha Banga, a Classics students, presented her research entitled “The Narrative Retelling of Marginalized Ancient Greek Mythological Characters by Contemporary Female Authors.”  Examining marginalized characters from ancient Greek mythology, Banga’s research focused on the phenomenon in which contemporary female authors retell the stories of ancient Greek characters who were sidelined in their myths.

The entire program and a complete list of project abstracts can be found here.

The symposium, a great opportunity for our students to share their contributions to university research with a larger audience, provides a snapshot of just how much research is being conducted on campus and how students participate in experiential learning on campus. What began as a small group of UGA honors students 16 years ago has now grown to include a majority of non-honors student participants, including presenters pursuing 85 different majors from 14 schools and colleges who are conducting research with 248 faculty members from 69 departments. We are certainly proud of these students' work and all they will continue to do on campus and beyond. Keep up the good work.

Photography and reporting by Jessica Luton.