Interested in a different experience next summer?
Apply for the 2021 Undergraduate Research Award
More than 1,000 UM students have experienced what being a researcher involves through the Undergraduate Research Awards (URA), offered annually since 2012.
What’s it all about? It involves experiencing research alongside a professor and their team for 16 weeks in a placement that runs from May to August. Research is meant in the broadest sense and includes research, scholarly activities and creative works.
The award is competitive and criteria can be found on the URA webpage. Deadline to apply is January 25, 2021 at 4:30 PM (CST)– but do not procrastinate – because more than an application form is involved!
What will this experience look like during the current pandemic? All award recipients undertook their summer 2020 placements. Many of them chose to participate in the recent Undergraduate Research Poster Competition to showcase their research findings. Students who competed presented research that ranged from using machine learning to detect breast cancer to the effects of oil drilling noise on birds to exploring challenges faced by the charitable food sector in Manitoba during the first wave of the pandemic.
One such student was Lindsay Mamchur, who took home 3rd Prize in the Creative Works category. She undertook a project on photography and the built environment under the mentorship of Dr. Susan Close (Environmental Design).
Lisa Mamchur (Architecture), Undergraduate Research Award recipient, at work summer 2020.
“In this research experience, I have found people, projects, and ideas to carry forward,” said Mamchur. “For example, Kenneth O’Halloran’s series The Handball Alley and Robert Adams’ The New West move me to engage their representations of landscape in my studio coursework. Also, exploring these photographers has encouraged me to commit to my own practice of photography. This experience could mean opening doors to study and career paths I had not previously considered.”
To read more about Mamchur’s research project and her reflections on the URA as a good mentorship opportunity to discover interests that can become the subjects of long-term study and a fulfilling career, read her blog.
Research at the University of Manitoba is partially supported by funding from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.