The UO Undergraduate Research Symposium celebrates the remarkable contributions of our undergraduates to research and creative work across the humanities, sciences, arts, and social sciences. As a top-tier research institution, discovery and inquiry underlie everything we do. Central to our mission is fostering critical questioning, logical thinking, effective reasoning, clear communication and creative action and the symposium is an embodiment of that mission. The symposium, chaired by Kevin Hatfield, aspires to engage undergraduates in the research enterprise of the University of Oregon by supporting the creation and dissemination of knowledge.
Students at all stages of their undergraduate careers actively participate in the symposium as attendees and presenters. The symposium partners with Academic Residential Communities (ARCs) and First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs) to create pathways for first-year students to present their inquiry-based projects from their first-year experience seminars. The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE), DucksRISE Program, McNair Scholars Program, and various other units sponsoring academic-year and summer research fellowships and internships have formally incorporated the symposium as a culminating experience for these awards. The Symposium also provides a platform for graduating seniors completing their departmental and Clark Honors College capstone research presentations.
The event occurs all day long featuring concurrent presentation sessions, poster presentation and an Alumni Keynote Speaker and Welcome Reception. In 2024 we also welcome a new session to feature student films.
2024 Alumni Keynote Speaker
Adeline Fecker ’20 Biology is a 3rd year medical student at Oregon Health and Science University. At University of Oregon, she worked between the sciences and humanities as a poet and scientist. Her interactive presentation on Eco Poetry was a highlight of the 2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium. Now she is undertaking a year of research to study human cognition using deep brain electrodes to advance targeted treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder, addiction, and beyond. She played a key role in planning the 2020 undergraduate symposium and has continued her leadership in medical school starting an elective course to prepare students for their surgery rotations, which won her an outstanding medical student award and the Forging the Way Award. She is so excited to be returning in 2024!
Since the debut in 2011, with 69 presenters and 40 faculty mentors spanning 20 majors and four colleges, the Undergraduate Research Symposium has only grown. It reached a pre-COVID-19 high-water mark in size and breadth its ninth year with 513 presenters and 290 faculty mentors spanning 75 majors, 21 minor programs, 33 minors, and eight colleges. Over the past 13 years the Symposium has hosted over 4,000 student presenters.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the symposium transitioned to a virtual platform in 2020 and 2021, enabling 667 students to continue presenting their research and creative work with an expanded reach to peers, families, mentors, alumni, donors, and community members. The opportunity to record these presentations catalyzed the creation of a permanent digital exhibit of UO undergraduate research on the symposium YouTube Channel, curating 454 videos comprising over 1,100 research presentations.
Last year, over 450 presenters and their 379 research mentors exhibited work at the 2023 symposium representing all eight colleges, the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, 76 majors, 18 minor programs, 45 minors, and 27 institutes and centers.
The symposium proudly partners with the Summer Academy to Inspire Learning (SAIL), which hosts a robust pre-college collaboration day, including a welcome ceremony, interactive sessions with poster presenters, lab and studio visits, campus tours, and panels with undergraduates.
Our collaborations with Lane Community College, Central Oregon Community College and Umpqua Community College have also culminated with the highest number of community college student presentations and visitors at the symposium to date, as well as a new series of transfer student and community college student panels facilitated by the UO Alliance for Diversity in Science and Engineering.
We welcome visitors from near and far hoping this showcase of undergraduate research and creative work can inspire hope, curiosity, innovation, and discovery.
The Undergraduate Research Symposium is proudly sponsored by the Division of Undergraduate Education and Student Success, the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE), the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, University Housing, the Robert D. Clark Honors College, the UO Libraries, and the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program.
We wish to extend our gratitude to the UO Libraries for funding the cost of printing research posters for presenters.
Questions? Please email ugresearch@uoregon.edu. For information from peers about research and how to get involved, please email ASURE at asure@uoregon.edu.