Undergraduate Research Conference goes virtual and reaches record high participation

Student Sneha Pradhan (pictured above) presented on “The Relation between Mind-Mindedness and Empathetic Accuracy in Close Social Dyads and Stranger Dyads.” As she was finishing, her peer mentor from her freshman year, Isabel Valdez, who is now an Honors College graduate student assistant, joined to say how proud she is of Sneha for her work. Sneha went on to serve as a peer mentor for freshmen, due to Isabel’s influence.

The Honors College at Texas State University hosted the 14th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference and Thesis Forum (URC) April 22-24. More than 160 undergraduate students from across disciplines presented their research at the conference. Oral presentations were held using Zoom and the posters are being displayed using Symposium by ForagerOne. 

“Using technology in new ways to host this event has brought together people who may not have been able to attend in-person,” said Dean Heather Galloway of the Honors College. “We had great presentations and the technology worked well. In fact, we’ll use Zoom next year for people outside the university to attend the conference, because we’ve had the best attendance ever. We’ve had more of our students’ family members participate, as well.”

From “Exploring Generation Z’s Environmental Concerns and its Effects on Their Purchasing Behavior,” to “Ways to Open Your Mind When Your Well is Running Dry,” the genres of research projects were vast. The students’ collection of innovative work explored degradation and empowerment of women in music, successful hearing screening apps during telepractice, aging and Alzheimer’s in zebrafish, a theory on modernity and our inescapable immortality, the effect of presidential tweets on foreign and domestic markets – and many more. One student converted her community arts event into a live stream event featuring artist talks and performances. Peruse the conference program for a list of all thesis projects. 

View the student posters for a visual snapshot of the projects ranging from art and design, to biology and life sciences, to engineering, the humanities, and economics – to name a few. Visit the URC webpage to view the poster abstracts by college

The Undergraduate Research Conference is sponsored by the Honors College, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and the Common Experience.