May 12, 2025

An Incredible Learning Environment: Milburn Earns Constitutional Democracy and History Degrees

Story by Logan Jackson The first piece of college recruitment material that Elise Milburn received came courtesy of the University of Missouri. While Milburn wasn’t shocked to see those types of materials as a high school student, she was a bit surprised to see something from a university in Missouri. “My family didn’t know anything about Mizzou,” said Milburn, who is from Texas. “We definitely joked about it at first, as I never imagined myself going somewhere I had never heard of before and that was fairly far away, but I did end up taking a closer…

May 11, 2025

Investigating Multiple Opportunities: Smith Earns Communication and Political Science Degrees

Story by Kaiya Lynch Senior Tanner Smith vividly recalls his first day at the University of Missouri. “I remember sitting in the dorms and was like, ‘What am I supposed to do now?’” Smith said. A communication and political science double-major with a sociology minor, Smith quickly realized that his next step was undergraduate research. Before coming to Mizzou, Smith was determined to become a lawyer. He wanted to forge his own path – and not necessarily follow in his parents’ footsteps. “I was dead set that I was not going to go to Mizzou,”…

May 5, 2025

Art of Death ASH Scholars Team Showcases Multi-Modality Project

Story by Kaiya Lynch One team. One night. One hundred years of history encapsulated. The ASH Scholars’ Art of Death team showcased multi-modality work at “Layered” in mid-April. The project was created to memorialize Read Hall, the first women’s dorm at the University of Missouri. The event featured different artistic modalities like photovoice, zines, projection art and virtual reality. “Layered” was a way for the Art of Death team to pay their respects to the building and what it meant to the people who lived and worked within its walls. The Art…

Oct. 8, 2023

Contributing to Vital Research in African Linguistics

Undergraduate students who are part of the Collaborative Research in African Languages (CORAL) team at the University of Missouri contribute to vital research in African linguistics. Students perform a variety of tasks depending on their experience, their interests and the needs of the team. Some of that work includes extracting linguistic data from existing sources, such as vocabulary from dictionaries, and working with software to align transcriptions and translations with audio from interviews. The CORAL team, which began in 2016, is an extension of two separate National Science Foundation (NSF) grants secured by Mizzou faculty – Michael Marlo,…

Oct. 5, 2023

ASH Scholars Program Promotes Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

A unique collaboration between the University of Missouri Office of Undergraduate Research and the MU Honors College has led to an ongoing research opportunity for undergraduate students involved in the arts, social sciences and humanities (ASH) disciplines. The ASH Scholars Program began in 2016 and has continued to grow over the years, including bringing in a new team this year. With the addition of the Santa Fe Trail research project, the ASH Scholars Program now features five teams that research a variety of topics. “The goal was to replicate the benefits of working…

Oct. 4, 2023

Examining Close Relationships

Undergraduate students at the University of Missouri who participate in the Close Relationships research project study how youths’ interactions with close relationship partners shape their development and emotional adjustment. Students approach the study of relationships from a lifetime perspective – with a primary focus on childhood and adolescence. It’s a project that has been ongoing since 2017 and is led by Amanda Rose, a professor of psychological sciences, and Ashley Groh, an associate professor of psychological sciences. The research was born out of a different project that Rose and Groh were co-supervising with a doctoral student focused on…

Oct. 4, 2023

Studying the Importance of Minority-Focused Content

The Minority Focused News as a Locus of Empowerment research team investigates the manners in which news websites and streaming platforms that serve under-represented and marginalized populations provide a benefit to society. Undergraduate students at the University of Missouri who participate in the research seek to understand how identity-focused content serves as a safe space for those affected groups. The original research was born out of work that Chris Josey, an associate teaching professor of communication at MU, started as a graduate student at the University of Illinois. Josey, who helps lead the team at Mizzou, conducted research…

Oct. 4, 2023

Exploring Death Through the Lens of Artistic Production

Since 2017, the Art of Death research project has allowed undergraduate students at the University of Missouri to normalize conversations about death and dying through the lens of artistic production. Students use a variety of media tools – such as virtual reality (VR), projection mapping, augmented reality (AR) and video art – to generate creative projects that explore death and dying. The innovative project is also an interdisciplinary one. Led by Katina Bitsicas, an assistant professor in the MU School of Visual Studies, and Debora Verniz, an assistant professor of architectural studies, students have the opportunity to confront…

Oct. 4, 2023

A Historical Dive into the Santa Fe Trail

An important piece of Missouri history, the Santa Fe Trail connected the Show-Me State to present day Santa Fe, New Mexico, providing a valuable trade route through the middle of a still growing United States. The trail has been of interest to historians in the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy – and a new research project will now allow undergraduate students at the University of Missouri to excavate historical data related to the trail. Through the ASH Scholars Program, the Santa Fe Trail research team will not only dive into the importance of the trail, but…

May 8, 2023

ASH Scholars Find Connections Through Research

Story by MJ Montgomery Students in the arts, social science or humanities (ASH) disciplines have the opportunity to join a faculty-led research team at the University of Missouri. Jointly supported by the Honors College and Office of Undergraduate Research, the ASH Scholars program currently has four areas of study. Each study area consists of 10 to 12 students. Linguistics and EnglishThose pursuing linguistics or English can join Documenting Luuyia, a project that aims to record and document three Luuyia languages, which are spoken in Kenya. The team is creating dictionaries and sound guides for future linguists working in the…