Summer STEM Research Poster Session

Starting on Wednesday, Aug. 21, undergraduates from the 91探花and schools across the country will present their research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at the Summer STEM Research Poster Session. This event is a collaboration among several 91探花summer research programs connecting undergraduates to research in science, technology, engineering, and math.

The poster session will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Aug. 21, in Mary Gates Hall Commons.

Amgen Scholars and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Students

Amgen Scholars and students in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunities Program will share their research in oral presentations from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, in Mary Gates Hall, rooms 171, 284, 288.

The Amgen Scholars are placed in premiere 91探花research groups in the biomedical sciences and participate in related seminars, career exploration, graduate school preparation, and other activities. The 91探花is one of 10 U.S. sites to host an Amgen Scholars Program.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunities Program provides talented undergraduates with outstanding summer research experiences that encourage them to pursue careers in academic science.

Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities

The week closes with a daylong series of presentations by students in the Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities. Taught by faculty from geography, comparative history of ideas, and international studies, undergraduates focused on the interdisciplinary theme 鈥淥utbreak! Reimagining Death and Life, Disease and Health.鈥�

Student presentations are from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23, in the Allen Library Auditorium.

The in organizes the Summer STEM Poster Session, hosts Amgen Scholars and Exceptional Research Opportunities Program students and collaborates with the Simpson Center for the Humanities to produce the Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities.

###

• Increasing collaboration across campus between Honors and campus partners
• Working to create partnerships that lead to the recruitment of diverse, high-achieving students
• Continuing to facilitate the implementation of the new Honors curriculum and considering its potential for other areas of campus or other campuses
• Collaborating nationally with other Honors programs
• Continuing to build and frame the work of Honors around the region.

This expanded portfolio will also formally align the Honors Program with the Robinson Center for Young Scholars, as the director of the Robinson Center will now report to Clauss instead of to the UAA dean and vice provost. Clauss says this is a logical move because all the high school students who enter the University as part of the center’s 91探花Academy are automatically in the Honors Program.

For Clauss, the new role is “structurally logical” but is also a recognition of the importance of Honors as an integral part of the University. Quick to shine the spotlight elsewhere, he says the increased profile of the Honors Program is due to the talent and dedication of the Honors Program staff who have long advocated for the changes that have been made in the new curriculum. (See our story on the Honors Program curriculum.)

“It’s not untypical these days for honors programs like ours to have an expansive role on campus,” Clauss says. “The quality and innovation of these types of programs can have a significant impact on the broader University. Since I’ve been director of the Honors Program over the last three years, I’ve been meeting with many people around the University to try to bring more awareness of the program and what it can do for the University.”

What it has done, Clauss says, is attract extremely talented students to the 91探花who ultimately go to the departments. And he says it can also be used to test new approaches to undergraduate education. For example, the Honors Program is currently planning to assign each honors student to a librarian who will help that student with his or her general education so that he or she can create an ongoing learning portfolio. If all goes well, some portion of that program could be extended to all students.

“In that way, the Honors Program serves everyone,” Clauss says.

Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, says Clauss “has supported Honors through the process of re-visioning the Honors curriculum to wonderful results. He brings an open mindset, scholarly focus and spirit of collaboration to each new endeavor. Honors and UAA will benefit from having Jim in an expanded role and the University will as well.”

Clauss says he is “really pleased” to be taking on the new role. “I’m looking forward to promoting a larger view of what honors聽 is about,” he says. “This is how we attract future leadership.”