Student research highlighted at Miami University’s 23rd annual Undergraduate Research Forum

At the Undergraduate Research Forum, a student crouches next to the kinetic sculpture built by Clayton Musloff, Greg Heinrich, and Ruben Victoria. — Clayton Musloff, architecture major, Greg Heinrich, architecture and geography major, and Ruben Victoria, architecture and interactive media studies major, created this kinetic sculpture as part of the research they presented at the Undergraduate Research Forum.

The 23rd annual Miami University Undergraduate Research Forum (URF), held April 26 in Armstrong Student Center and Shriver Center, celebrated and showcased the amazing scholarly and creative achievements of Miami students. This year’s forum was the largest ever at Miami, with over 700 total student presenters. Students shared their work in both platform and poster presentations and discussed their ideas informally among peers and colleagues at a banquet luncheon.

Virtually all student projects were mentored by faculty from various levels, and graduate students were represented on 125 projects. In addition to congratulating the undergraduate researchers on their accomplishments, President Greg Crawford and Provost Phyllis Callahan acknowledged the significant contributions of the faculty, staff, and graduate students who mentor them.

Poster sessions represented the majority of presentations at URF, this year totaling 350 and ranging across all five academic divisions and across 36 disciplines, including psychology, biology, management, nursing, nutrition, and architecture and interior design.

Psychology major Terry Reid (left) explains his team’s research to an Undergraduate Research Forum attendee.

Notable among the many outstanding student presentations were the following:

14 posters from over 60 students in Miami’s newly redesigned First-Year Research Experience (FYRE) program
Artifacts created by Dr. Jeb Card’s anthropology students using 3D modeling and printing
Design projects from Dr. Murali Paranandi’s students in architecture, interior design, and interactive media studies
Research by teams of students from the SEA Semester research voyage program (MBI 475) supervised by Dr. Rachel Morgan-Kiss over winter term.

Miami’s Office of Research for Undergraduates (ORU), a sponsor of the URF, encourages student presenters to continue the dissemination of their work through archival in University Libraries’ Scholarly Commons or through publication in university journals such as COMPASS, if not in major international journals. Students can also apply for ORU-sponsored Undergraduate Presentation Awards to obtain support to present posters at regional and national conferences.

Written by Joe Johnson, Director, Miami University Office of Research for Undergraduates.

Photos by Scott Kissell, Miami University Photo Services.