Research Week at UT began last Thursday, featuring the Undergraduate Research Symposium as one of its biggest highlights. More than 80 undergraduates presented their research to peers, mentors, family members and curious members of the UT community through 15-minute oral presentations. Topics ranged from art history to theoretical physics, and students were challenged to engage these highly interdisciplinary audiences in order to discuss the importance of their field of research and collaboration across academic disciplines.
The value of undergraduate research reaches far beyond adding a line to one’s resume before applying to graduate school. Participating in research is the ultimate pathway of taking ownership over one’s education. It’s a process of identifying interests, passions and asking for someone to tell you more — asking to be handed the tools to delve into these subjects further and to engage with these facets of knowledge that first sparked your interest in a classroom.
On Friday, we young researchers were involved in more than advancement of knowledge. We were pushing boundaries, fostering collaboration and working together to create a culture of research amongst our peers at UT. Sixty percent of the presenters were women, demolishing the conventional gender inequality that exists in academia. All presenters were immersed in the process of seeking out research opportunities, securing funding for projects and had begun to define for themselves the boundaries that constrict research at public research universities. We’ve published our research in Pursuit, a journal of undergraduate research that is authored, reviewed, edited and designed entirely by undergraduate students.
In his opening remarks at the beginning of the symposium, Taylor Eighmy, vice chancellor for Research and Engagement, spoke to the power that undergraduate researchers have as a social force that will inspire and demand change from the institutions that support their work. We have begun assessing the state of public research universities before we’ve even completed our bachelor’s degrees, and we’ve begun to inspire real, impactful change here at UT by creating a space for undergraduates to contribute to groundbreaking research in a grassroots movement that supports these students.
While we recognize that we are the future of academia in our nation’s leading research institutions, we aren’t waiting for the future to get started. We’ve found strength in numbers, and Research Week showcases the sheer magnitude of the power that we’ve formed in coming together to learn and discover. Undergraduate research transforms the students that seek this commitment to academic exploration, and in doing so, research creates the change agents that will continue to fight for and defend the institutions that value research at their very core.
Kenna Rewcastle is a senior in College Scholars. She can be reached at [email protected].
