Undergraduates Earn Funds for Research
February, 2008
Barta and Delph
Lawson and Droessler
Smith-Blair and Moore
Cameron, Hagstrom and Beachy
Five undergraduate students in the College of Education and Health Professions won State Undergraduate Research Fellowships this year to help finance the research for their honors theses.
Three of the recipients are nursing students: Kate Delph, who is studying beliefs and attitudes toward menstruation between Caucasian and African-American college aged women; Sandra Droessler, who is studying the role of activity in peripheral arterial disease by examining the ankle-brachial index in truck drivers; and Meredith Moore, who is studying the college woman and size perception: silhouettes and self-esteem. Nursing faculty mentors are Kathleen Barta for Delph, Glenda Lawson for Droessler and Nan Smith-Blair for Moore.
The other two recipients are studying communication disorders: Alisa Beachy, whose research topic is cultural variations in parental values about monetary allowances for children with/without disabilities, and Christy Cameron, whose research topic is teacher and speech-language pathologist reactions to accented speech: perceptions of academic success. Both students are mentored by Fran Hagstrom.
"Our faculty members are committed to involving undergraduate students in research, and SURF awards help make that possible," said Reed Greenwood, dean of the College of Education and Health Professions. "We are proud of these outstanding students and the extra effort they are undertaking to further research in the health fields of nursing and speech-language pathology. We believe that conducting research gives our students an edge in the job market, making them more likely to step into leadership positions at research universities around the country."
The SURF program was created in 1992 with a start-up grant from the National Science Foundation and is intended to foster active student/mentor relationships. After two years, funding for the fellowships shifted from the science foundation to the state of Arkansas, and the SURF program grant is administered through the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
Each of the five students and their mentors received $1,000. The grants awarded to students at the University of Arkansas range in value from $585.94 to a maximum of $1,250, with the university providing matching funds for each student. Most of the grants included an additional travel allowance of between $200 and $400.
