KRISTIN CAMILIERE | STAFF REPORTER
Submissions for this year’s 28th annual Undergraduate Research Conference are due Feb. 10. Students should submit a 250 word abstract in order to present at the conference on April 8.
Through the URC, students deliver an oral presentation, poster presentation or an art exhibit at the conference. Last year, the URC had over 500 presentations and almost 1,000 attendees. The conference attracts not only Butler students, but students from other universities as well.
The presentations range in research topics. Kendall Ladd, senior criminology and psychology major, is presenting her findings about how fraternity recruitment affects self-esteem. She administered an initial survey before fraternity recruitment this year and then another after to track the changes in how the recruits perceived the process. She hopes Butler students will be intrigued by her findings.
“I feel like Greek life is a huge part of Butler’s campus, and I think a lot of people will be interested to see the results,” she said.
Senior Miranda Flores is also participating in this year’s URC.
“I will be analyzing the way that white female artists tend to take up the space of black female artists and make more money off of black culture,” Flores said.
Flores is looking into the controversies among different celebrities, like Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj. She analyzed the controversy over Twitter and then articles that further discussed the feud.
Other students, like Alexis Coulis, senior, are presenting topics that are relate to current political issues.
“My research is on how people’s insurance status affects their access to healthcare. Specifically, I want to offer a preliminary prediction on how the Affordable Care Act will affect people’s access to healthcare,” she said.
Flores is hoping to do more than just present her work at the conference.
“It is a way to own your research and make you feel confident in what you have done, and getting validation from other people,” Flores said. “And so creating that conversation is super interesting when it comes to the URC.”
To register, students can create an account and submit their abstract at https://urc.butler.edu .
