Undergraduate Research Day, October 22, 2015

Good afternoon. At this event, you will have the opportunity to engage with and learn from the many undergraduate students who have conducted research throughout the past year. You will see research projects displayed from a wide range of academic fields. The interdisciplinary nature of Undergraduate Research Day highlights the diverse research currently being conducted by the University's talented faculty and students. During the 2014-2015 academic year, the Office of Undergraduate Research sponsored over 200 students in mentored research programs, and hundreds more through informational sessions, scholarship applications, and online resources. These programs include our fulltime Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program, and the part-time Fall or Spring semester Provost's Undergraduate Research Scholarship (PURS) program. We also supported over 60 students this year in applying for external scholarship and internship opportunities- a record number of UH students participating in national competitions. All of the scholarships and services offered to UH undergraduates would not be possible without the support of the Office of the Provost, Division of Research, and the Honors College. In addition to their generous support of our students’ success, other funders and units on campus contributed financially to the Office's programs this year. To begin with, we would like to extend a special thank you both to Jeff Beauchamp and Heidi Alderman of the BASF Corporation for supporting the SURF and PURS programs this year. We also thank the Biology and Behavior Institute (BoBI) and the Texas Obesity Research Center (TORC) for their financial contributions of student scholarships. UH departments and colleges also contributed to funding our stellar students. These departments include Biology & Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, as well as the College of Technology. As always, we are grateful to our faculty selection and advisory committee for their continued assistance in choosing the student and faculty recipients of our awards each year. [...]