UWRF UG Scholars meet to plan for NCUR 2010 travel!

On Wednesday, February 16th approximately 50 of the 62 students who had abstracts accepted for NCUR 2010 met in the Blue Lab to register for the conference and discuss travel arrangements. Students were assisted by travel and funding organizers, Dr. Bill Campbell (UWRF Grants Director) and Dr. Tim Lyden (UWRF SURSCA Faculty Adviser). In addition to registering, students were also briefed on the SURSCA-administered Falcon Grants program and walked through the application forms required of all grant recipient/travelers. Other topics covered included general information about NCUR meetings and the importance of professionalism at major meetings like this one. Students learned that NCUR represents a significant professional networking opportunity with large contingents of graduate school recruiters and faculty/administrators from across the nation. NCUR 2010 will take place April 15-18, 2010 in Missoula, Montana. Stay tuned for more details and student profiles as the date approaches.

SURSCA announces the Spring 2010 round of Falcon Grants, a call for applications.

The Spring 2010 round of Falcon Grant applications are now being accepted. The deadline for applications will be March 25th. Applications can be made in each of three general categories; “RSCA Projects”, “Travel to Present” at professional meetings or “Travel to Attend” such meetings. Students presenting at NCUR 2010 in Missoula, MT have a separate application form. In the spring round, NCUR travel is given highest priority. Following NCUR travel, the priorities for awards are “Travel to Present”, RSCA Projects” and finally “Travel to Attend” with maximum funding levels of $1000, $750, and $300 respectively. Successful awards will be available by the end of the academic calendar. Applications and instructions are available at www.uwrf.edu/sursca.

We’re “leaving on a jet plane”…well, actually on TWO jet planes….a record number of UWRF student abstracts have been accepted for NCUR 2010!!!

Some 50 UWRF student abstracts have been accepted for presentation at the 2010 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) to be held in Missoula, Montana! Altogether this represents 66 student presenters, which tops the previous record when 42 UWRF students traveled to Lexington Virginia for NCUR 2005. Students going to NCUR 2010 represent 24 different fields from across the campus community…including:

Animal Science/ Pre Vet, Astrophysics, Art History, Bioengineering, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Creative Writing, Criminology, Dance, Economics, Education, English, European Studies, Geology/Earth Sciences, History, International-Global Studies, Literature, Music, Nutrition and Food Science, Physics, Political Science, Psychology and Studio Art.

To accommodate such a large contingent, it was actually more cost effective for us to charter a jet! And, in fact, the UWRF Grants Office Director (Bill Campbell) and UWRF/SURSCA have taken the lead for the entire region by organizing collaborative travel arrangements for other campuses attending the meeting as well. This leadership role has snowballed into not just one “jet plane”, but two!!!! We now have commitments to fill two Sun Country 737’s with undergraduate researchers from across the region (both Wisconsin and Minnesota)! That’s approximately 324 mid-western UG researcher/scholars “leaving in a convoy” of our best and brightest to a major national research meeting! Participating institutions include: UW-Whitewater, Eau Claire, Stout, LaCrosse, and Platteville, plus University of Minnesota, Hamline, St. Scholastica, and St. John's/St. Ben's.

The UWRF student presenters travel will be funded through the SURSCA Falcon Grants program. Stay tuned for more details and student researcher profiles/interviews as the date approaches!