“The Undergraduate Research Award, or UGRA, program has been around KU for over 20 years,” John Augusto, director of the Center for Undergraduate Research, said. “This class of recipients will be the first class awarded by the Center for Undergraduate Research. As impressive as the students’ research proposals are, what is as equally impressive is the number of outstanding mentors involved with these projects.”
Area honorees are as follows:
• Shelby Webb, a graduate of West Franklin High School. Webb is a sophomore in biology. Her project is “A Lack of Nuclear Apc,” a study of the behavior of a tumor-suppressing protein.
• Paul Thomas, a graduate of Ottawa High School. Thomas is a sophomore in anthropology, classical antiquities. His project is “Archaeological Survey of Center Chapel, Franklin County Kansas,” an archeological investigation of the ruins of a small Kansas chapel built around the year 1900.
• Cynthia Brown, a graduate of Anderson County Junior Senior High School. Brown is a senior in psychology. Her project is”College Living Arrangements and Body Dissatisfaction: The Case for Males,” an exploration of the impact of living arrangements on self-perceptions of the body and body-image related problems among college men.
The research awards are funded by a partnership between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Research and Graduate Studies, and the Office of the Provost. Proposals were selected on the merit of the applicant’s proposal, the applicant’s academic record, and the recommendation from a faculty member who is familiar with the applicant and the proposed project.