Hundreds of University of Michigan students, faculty and research mentors crowded in the Michigan League on Wednesday for the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program’s annual Spring Symposium. Research presentations stretched across 11 disciplines and took the form of poster, oral and non-poster presentations.
UROP participants apply to the program during their freshman and sophomore years and are paired with a faculty mentor upon their acceptance to the program. Students are then given lists of projects to choose from, ranging from disciplines like arts and humanities to engineering and physical sciences. Marcus Collins, UROP Events and Communications coordinator, said the goal of the program is to connect undergraduate students with hands-on research opportunities and professional development resources.
“We target freshman students because when they come in as a freshman, they don’t know anybody at the University,” Collins said. “Coming in through UROP, they meet faculty and meet mentors to help them get through their four academic years of school … It’s a good experience to have that.”
Each mentee is also paired with a peer facilitator who leads a research seminar during the year and grades them during their final presentations. Engineering senior Taylor Scott participated in UROP during her underclassman years and now serves as a facilitator within the program. She said her role has inspired her to continue research after graduating from the University.
“My biggest takeaway is being proud of my students and all the work they’ve done,” Scott said. “It really inspires me to do research when I graduate. I help my students (figure out) what they want to do coming out of this experience. Do they want to continue with research? Is this their right passion or career field?”
Kinesiology sophomore Makayla Kelly presented her poster project about post-surgery tissue construction engineering during the fourth session of the symposium. Kelly told The Daily she hopes to continue spreading awareness about similar procedures in her future research.
“I’m trying to advance and really get the word out about how helpful (regenerative) medicine can be,” Kelly said. “Going forward with my research, I’m staying in the lab and am going to work further with this specific project, as well as some future stuff using human cells in order to build constructs that are safe for humans.”
Kinesiology sophomore Deena Aboul Hassan was awarded a blue ribbon during an oral presentation session. She conducted research with Rachel Bergmans, researcher at the U-M Department of Anesthesiology, Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center, on the management and experience of Black Americans with lupus. As a second-year student in the program, Aboul Hassan said her role and responsibilities have grown over her time in UROP.
“When I started as a freshman, I joined projects with Dr. Bergmans, and I made mostly dead literature reviews,” Aboul Hassan said. “Now, I’m getting more involved with using qualitative data and organizing our information into common themes. I’ve also been able to deal with the patient side as well for some of our studies, where I got to interview some patients on their experiences.”
LSA freshman Lillian Barber and LSA junior Lauren Jensen’s research project focused on orgasm rates in men and women, and found that there is not a significant difference between the two populations. Barber said research in this area can help break the stigma that exists around sex.
“I feel like there’s a lot of stigma surrounding sex, and a lot of people are scared to talk about it, just because it’s so taboo,” Barber said. “It’s important to embrace similarities between genders rather than just highlighting the differences.”
Barber said UROP has shown her how social science research is significant and has given her the confidence to talk about her work.
“I feel like I have a lot more confidence,” Barber said. “I was nervous about doing a social sciences project because it seems less legitimate to a lot of people, but I now realize that the stuff we’re doing is super important.”
Daily Staff Reporter Sneha Dhandapani can be reached at sdhanda@umich.edu.