• by Megan Gessel
• January 23, 2012
• The Daily Utah Chronicle article link

Student-researchers will present their work to lawmakers and represent the U at the Capitol on Tuesday in an effort to garner attention for continued higher education funding. The event will showcase the work of more than two dozen U undergraduates as well as students from Utah State University.

“The students have the valuable experience of participating in a poster presentation, and they have the opportunity to talk about their research to their legislators, and thus represent the university and its mission to the Legislature,” said Steve Roens, senior associate dean for undergraduate studies.

Students will represent an array of fields, including biology, engineering, geology, geophysics and family and consumer studies. Most students have worked on their research for one or two semesters, some for even longer.

Ann Darling, associate dean for undergraduate studies, said the event is also meant to teach others and commend the students for their hard work.

A sampling of presentation topics from this year include researching earthquake geology in Neff’s Canyon, facilitating communication among autistic children and studying snail venom to find solutions for neurodegenerative diseases. There are also projects on the effect of pollution on Utah waterways and the populations of types of stars in globular clusters.

To be considered eligible for the event, students must be undergraduates who graduated from high school in Utah and are working with a faculty supervisor on research or creative work. Students are then selected “for the quality of their work first and foremost, but they are also selected to provide balance by gender, diversity of disciplines and geographically distributed over the state of Utah,” according to the website for undergraduate studies.

Mauricio Caceres, a student-presenter and senior in economics and mathematics, had a poster titled, “How does issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants affect insurance premiums?”

“Naturally, this applies to the legislative debate, and by presenting it on Capitol Hill I hope to understand what legislators think about the issue, the validity of my research and my opinions,” Caceres wrote in an email.

Anthony Oyler is a senior at Judge Memorial Catholic High School, but has been a research intern at the U’s Chemistry Department since summer. He is presenting his research on interfacial water, or surface water.

“I hope that legislators will be able to see the great research work students are doing at the U, especially the wide range and diversity of topics we are looking into that have applications in a variety of fields,” Oyler wrote in an e-mail.

The U and Utah State University are the only public research universities in the state, each offering undergraduates the opportunity to work with faculty on research through organizations such as the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

“Research or creative activities … are a critical factor in student success in the marketplace beyond the university,” said Lorris Betz, interim president of the U. “Through research, undergraduates engage in the essential character of the University of Utah as a research-intensive university.”

In addition to being presented to legislators, student abstracts and posters from the event are published in the spring in the Undergraduate Research Abstracts Journal.

“We hope that this will be a great experience for the students and lead to other presentations,” Roens said. “We hope that this will help increase the Legislature’s understanding of the wonderful things that go on here.”

The event is titled “Research Posters on the Hill: A Celebration of Undergraduate Research.” It will take place tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the rotunda of the Capitol