WYOMISSING, Pa. — The Penn State Berks Thun Library will be awarding the second annual University Libraries Undergraduate Research Award, which recognizes outstanding student work. This award recognizes undergraduate research that showcases accomplished and exemplary information literacy skills. The deadline for submissions is March 20, 2020.
Four student projects received last year’s award. The total award amount of $500 was split among the four winners, whose research represented a wide array of disciplinary areas:
- Seniors Melissa Buchter, science, and Joshua Price, biology, "Isolation of Pathogenic Microbial Communities Identified in the Blue Marsh Watershed"
- Senior Hannah Fassbender and recent alumnus Xzavior Sweeney, both communication arts and sciences majors, "Kpop for a New Generation: The Impact of BTS and their Mental Health Representation"
- Sophomore Zac Godwin, professional writing, "The Rhetorical Persona–Reclaiming Plato in the Dramatic Conversation"
- Senior Madison Wojciechowski, mechanical engineering, "The Use of Advanced Additive Manufacturing Techniques to Design, Optimize, and Characterize an Orthopedic Support"
To support both the award and the undergraduate research occurring at the campus, the Thun Library also is continuing the Undergraduate Research Workshop Series in the spring of 2020. For more information on the workshops or about the Berks award, contact Alexandria Chisholm, reference and instruction librarian at Penn State Berks, at 610-396-6242 or via email at [email protected].
About the University Libraries Award
The University Libraries supports undergraduate research experiences by ensuring students have the information literacy skills they need to enter a scholarly conversation and to create new knowledge. This award recognizes undergraduate research that showcases accomplished and exemplar information literacy skills. Students demonstrate these skills in a variety of ways, such as in a bibliography that captures the scholarly conversation in a field of study; in a literature review that contextualizes the student’s work within their discipline; or in the use of manuscript, archival or other primary sources to conduct original research.
