Pitt Undergraduates Present Research at National Conference on Undergraduate Research

PITTSBURGH-Ten Pitt undergraduates will present their research at the 23rd Annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) to be held at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse April 16-18. Presentations range from an analysis of the 2005 Paris riots to an investigation of trace metals in Pittsburgh's Nine Mile Run Watershed.

"Pitt is very proud of the students who are presenting their research to a national audience of their peers at NCUR," said Patricia Beeson, Pitt's vice provost for graduate and undergraduate studies. "Their work is truly exemplary and represents the many talented undergraduates engaged in research across schools and fields at the University."

Founded in 1987, NCUR promotes undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity across all fields, bringing together participants from more than 300 national colleges and universities. The organization's national conference attracts 2,000 undergraduate and faculty participants, the largest such symposium in the country.

Presenting at this national event will afford Pitt students an opportunity to showcase what they have learned from sustained and extensive faculty-guided research experiences. Student presenters and their faculty advisors are as follows: Katelin Fisher (Daniel Bain, assistant professor of geology and planetary sciences); Daniel Gore (William Chase, professor of history); Mary Harbist (postdoctoral research associate Rachel Spigler and professor of biological sciences Tia-Lynn Ashman); Ike Harijanto (Josh Ellenbogen, assistant professor of the history of art and architecture); Jennifer Kirk (Liann Tsoukas, lecturer in history); Alisia Prescott (Walter Goldburg, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy); Jeffrey Reamer (Van Beck Hall, associate professor of history); Nicole Scalissi (Barbara McCloskey, associate professor of the history of art and architecture); Cory Tamler (Kathleen George, professor of theater arts); and Weilu Tan (Tony Novosel, lecturer in history).

Project abstracts and more information on NCUR 2009 are available on the conference Web site at www.uwlax.edu/ncur2009/

More information on undergraduate research at Pitt is available on the University's Web site at www.pitt.edu/~ugr/index.html

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4/15/09/amm