The Honors College and the Office of Undergraduate Research jointly support teams of undergraduate research students in the arts, social sciences or humanities (ASH) disciplines, who collaboratively work as members of a faculty-led research or design team.
Each ASH project consists of six students who work closely with a faculty team on an established research project. Students DO NOT have to be part of the Honors College to be an ASH Scholar. ASH Scholars are awarded a scholarship of $3,000 for the year.
There are five current ASH projects:
- Rob Walker (Anthropology)
- Fang Wang (Engineering)
- Students in the Amazonian Geoglyphs project will work together to uncover the full geographic distribution of Amazonian geoglyphs, explore various interpretations of their significance, and develop interactive teaching tools with Virtual Reality to share results and promote preserving these important archaeological sites. Developing and using computer and technical engineering skills and knowledge – in combination with applying humanities and social science perspectives – will help students and project leaders exchange new ideas and ways to share information about these impressive earthworks.
- Katina Bitsicas (Digital Storytelling)
- Debora Verniz (Architectural Studies)
- Students on the Art of Death team will examine death, dying and grief within a culture via interdisciplinary research. This interdisciplinary project explores alternative memorials and engages students in the research and artistic creation of site-based memorials using projection mapping, photovoice and virtual reality.
- Debora Verniz (Architectural Studies, Digital Fabrication, Immersive Visualization)
- Jayedi Aman (Architectural Studies, Sustainable Design, Artificial Intelligence)
- This interdisciplinary project focuses on developing building envelope components using bio-digital materials (e.g., mycelium [fungal networks], bioluminescent bacteria and soil-calcifying microbes), supported by Mixed Reality (XR) visualization to simulate material behavior, performance, and potential design applications. ASH students will actively participate in concept development, digital modeling, fabrication and material testing, working in collaboration with faculty in the Fabrication Lab and Spatial Intelligence Lab. Through XR experimentation, students will examine how these materials respond within architectural settings, improving their understanding of structural adaptability, energy performance and integration into the built environment.
- Nicole Campione-Barr (Psychological Sciences)
- Amanda Rose (Psychological Sciences)
- This project focuses on parent-child relationships, sibling relationships, friendships and romantic relationships during adolescence, as well as relationship challenges that are important for positive youth and relational outcomes. This project provides students with relevant training, research experiences and opportunities for authorship on conference presentations.
- Rebecca Grollemund (English/Linguistics)
- Michael Marlo (English/Linguistics)
- Students on the CORAL team will gain hands-on experience conducting professional research in linguistics, working closely with dedicated faculty mentors. The CORAL team conducts original research in African historical linguistics and on the Luyia and Meru language clusters of Kenya.
- Jay Sexton (Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy)
- This project researches the Kansas-Missouri border region during the days of the crisis over slavery and the Civil War. Treating the Kansas-Missouri borderlands as a single historical space, the project considers both the local and global implications of events in this region over a wide span of time: studies range from the indigenous presence in the region before European settlement all the way to how the Border War impacted America’s military in World War II and the post-war era. Aside from its global significance, this project also offers students experience in local historical research. The history of these two states informs and shapes students’ understanding of the region and the university which they attend. Archival work and digital research further provide students with the tools necessary to bring the past to life wherever their historical journey takes them.
- Lily Santoro (Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy)
- Jay Sexton (Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy)
- This project explores the variety of ways in which the United States’ 250th anniversary is being commemorated at home and abroad and how our current experiences compare with the American experience of previous milestones in history of our democracy.
- Scott LaCombe (History, Data Science)
- Jay Sexton (Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy)
- This project examines how U.S. states act as “laboratories of democracy” by exploring the ways in which states are responding to the political, social and economic challenges facing the nation today. With a particular focus on Missouri, students will track how policies move from state to state, investigate why some states adopt certain policies while others do not and analyze the impact of those decisions. Through hands-on work with real-world data, students will gain an understanding of the forces shaping state policy today, as well as learn the ins and outs of the research process.
- Chris Josey (Communication)
- Julius Riles (Communication)
- This lab investigates how media represent identity in a variety of outlets. Members will archive and analyze stories located within minority-focused news outlets. Others will examine the impact of these portrayals on social groups while examining the choices media producers make when constructing content.
- Bill Horner (Government and Public Affairs)
- Heather Carver (Theater and Performance Studies)
- “Weekend Update” is an interdisciplinary political science and arts project that contextualizes five decades worth of political and cultural satire and parody on the most enduring feature of Saturday Night Live (SNL), its news segment, “Weekend Update.” Students will research the real events that inspired each episode – and then develop, edit, and create corresponding podcast episodes and written materials describing historical events and comedic responses to these events.
How to Apply
To apply for this scholarship, log into ScholarshipUniverse – using your MU assigned username and password – and search “ASH Scholarship.”
Applications for the 2024-25 academic year are currently closed.