The Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award is granted twice a year to a student whose work has been presented at the Student Academic Conference. The award recognizes the best independent student work over the course of a term. The nomination is to be submitted by the mentor of a student who is completing a for-credit independent study who also presented at the Student Academic Conference. A committee consisting of two to four faculty members (drawn from the Research and Learning Environment committees), and a student member from one of the committees will adjudicate the award.

The committee grants the award based on submitted student work. Regardless of the type of work undertaken by the student, something must be submitted for the committee to evaluate. The committee is very flexible about type of material that is submitted.

Nomination form [ Download ]

Deadline: Last day of the final exam period, 4:00 p.m.

Please submit nominations to Sarah Ross (her office is in the Deanery on the 2nd floor of the Forum)

Criteria

The following criteria are used by the committee to assess nominees for this award:

Difficulty

The breadth and/or depth of the challenge undertaken by the student

Industry

Intellectual effort and its independence, the degree of preparation, and the amount of time dedicated to research or fieldwork

Mastery of topic

The nature of the critical analysis made by the student. Were they creative in their approach? Did they move beyond the information given to them to develop a broader or deeper understanding of the subject matter?

Presentation

The effectiveness of the oral/written/creative work presented at the student conference. Was it constructed independently? Was it creative and original in approach?

For more information, contact the Assoc. Dean (Teaching) - Janet Wesselius - jcw3@ualberta.ca

Award Winners

Winter 2016

Linda Ervin
Read My Hips Part II - The Myth of the Global Sisterhood: Examining Cultural Appropriation and Racial Marginalization in "Belly Dance"
Supervisor: Yvonne Becker, AUPED 490

Fall 2015

Alexandra Malley
The Melanoma Cell Adhesion Molecule: A Potential Therapeutic Target for Multiple Sclerosis
Supervisor: Neil Haave, AUBIO 318

Winter 2015

Erin Specht
Using Beavers as a Watershed Management Tool: Articulating Alberta's Regulatory Context
Supervisor: Glynnis Hood, AUENV 401

Winter 2014

Samantha Matters
An Analysis of the History of Aboriginal Peoples in the Beaver Hills
Supervisor: Glynnis Hood, AUENV 401

Honorable Mention:
Jessica Stambaugh
Gaining Control: Self Harm to Combat Societal Harm
Supervisor: Roxanne Harde, AUENG 401

Fall 2014

Spencer Kryzanowski
Queering the Kiss: Rodney Sharman’s “The Garden”
Supervisor: Milton Schlosser, AUMUS 447

Honorable Mention:
Brittany Johnson
Aboriginal Women, Sexuality, and the Spiritual in Louise Erdich’s “The Painted Drum” and Susan Power’s “The Grass Dancer”
Supervisor: Roxanne Harde, AUENG 402

Winter 2013

Robert Manley
"Personal Identity: the 'Situation' of Doctor Who"
Supervisor: Melaina Weiss, AUPHI 495

Fall 2013

Emily Ervin
Effect of Extraction Methods and Growing Conditions on Antioxidant Amounts of Produce Samples Measured by Differential Pulse Voltammetry
Supervisor: James Kariuki, AUCHE 497

Honorable Mention:
Kolby Peterson
Post-Release Survival of Bitumen-Contaminated American Beaver (castor canadensis) following Rehabilitation
Supervisor: Glynnis Hood, AUENV 301

Fall 2012

Allyson Cornelis
Vitamins, cells, patience, and time: A recipe for research.
Supervisor: Sheryl Gares, AUBIO 419.

Annelise Welde
The impact of maternal breast cancer on children: A meta-ethnography.
Supervisor: Rebecca Purc-Stephenson, AUPSY 497.

Winter 2012

Alanna Lindsay
"Senior Undergraduate Students' Experience of Cynicism and Helplessness in Civic and Policital Engagement"
Supervisor: Jason Goertzen, AUPSY 499 - Individual Study II
Published in Metamorphosis

Honourable Mention
Greg Arnup
"Numerical imulation of Turing's Reaction Diffusion Model for Morphogenesi"
Supervisor: Bill Hackborn, AUCSC495 - Directed Study II

Fall 2011

Samantha Christensen
"Little Cooks: Gender, Class, and Food in Nineteenth-Century Children's Literature"
Supervisor: Dr. Roxanne Harde, AUENG 401 - Directed Reading I

Honourable Mention
Kristi Abramoff
"Working Girls, Hookers, Courtesans, and Fallen Women: Depictions of the Sex Trade and those Who Work in it in Twentieth Century Canadian Fiction."
Supervisor: Dr. Harry Prest, AUENG 401 - Directed Reading I

Winter 2011

Holly Lassesen
Louise Erdrich, Orality & Community. Upholding Traditional Native Communities in the Face of Colonial Dominance & Neglect.
Mentor: Dr. Roxanne Harde, AUENG 402 - Directed Study II

Honourable Mention
Stephen Olson
A comparison of the seasonal diet of coyotes in Miquelon Lake Provincial Park and agricultural lands.
Mentor: Dr. Glynnis Hood, AUENV 401

Fall 2010

Kathryn Stone
LCAT Deficiency: when good cholesterol becomes irrelevant.
Mentor: Dr. Neil Haave, AUBIO 318 - Directed Reading

Honourable mention:
Erin Peters
Messages from beyond: Class & Gender in Spiritualist fiction.
Mentor: Dr. Roxanne Harde, AUENG 401 - Directed Reading I
Published in Metamophosis »

Winter 2010

Jody Rintoul
Who turned down the heat? How temperature modifies Mongolian gerbils activity patterns.
Mentor: Dr. Doris Audet, AUBIO 419 - Directed Studies
Published in Metamorphosis »

Curtis Stratmoen
Using GIS and Traditional Models to Assess Blue-Winged Teal (Anas discors) Habitat Suitability in Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, AB
Mentor: Dr. Glynnis Hood, AUENV 401 - Directed Studies

Fall 2009

Kate Whittleton
Gender and Democracy in Alberta: Where are the Women?
Supervisor: Shauna Wilton, AUPOL 401 - Directed Reading I

Winter 2009

Jeff Behrens
The National Question: Scottish Nationalism and the New Europe
Supervisor: Shauna Wilton, AUPOL 401 - Directed Reading I

David Birkigt
The Application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to Tropical Ecology
Supervisor: Glynnis Hood, AUENV301 - Directed Studies

Fall 2008

Lindsay Yakimyshyn
jointly for:
'Women were made to love and not to kill': Female agency and patriarchal authority in Wroth's Urania
Supervisor: Dr. Paul Harland, AUENG 401 - Directed Reading I;
'Her last bequest, to the World': Pastoral power and colonial American children's legacy texts
Supervisor: Dr. Roxanne Harde, AUENG 402 - Directed Reading II

Winter 2008

Jesse Watkins
Effects of food type and distance from protective cover on the foraging behaviour of wintering Black-capped chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches
Supervisor: Dr. Doris Audet, AUBIO 419 - Directed Studies

Fall 2007

Lane Olson
Adventures in Experimental Mathematics
Supervisor: Dr. Ian Blokland, AUMAT 495 - Directed Study