2019 Undergraduate Research Mentor Award winners announced


LAWRENCE — Two members of the University of Kansas community were honored at the 22nd Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium for their extraordinary commitment to mentoring undergraduate researchers. The recognition took place at the symposium’s Award Banquet on April 27.  

Deanna Hanson-Abromeit, associate professor of music therapy, received the K. Barbara Schowen Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. This award is named after a professor emeritus of chemisty whose efforts to promote undergraduate research at KU led to the development of the Undergraduate Research Symposium and the Undergraduate Research Awards.  Hanson-Abromeit will receive $1,000.

Pamela Johnson, graduate student in bioengineering, was the 2019 recipient of the Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. This award was started in 2014 at the request of undergraduate students who wanted to recognize the important role that graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and academic staff play in mentoring undergraduate researchers at KU. The award was also presented at the Undergraduate Research Symposium and comes with a $1,000 award. Jonathan Hagel, assistant teaching professor of history, received an honorable mention for this award.

“We had an outstanding group of mentors nominated this year,” said Alison Olcott, director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and associate professor of geology. “The student testimonials in each nomination packet highlighted the crucial role that mentors play in engaging students in research, in building their discipline-specific knowledge and in helping students gain confidence in their own intellectual abilities.”

Both mentor awards are coordinated through KU’s Center for Undergraduate Research. Mentors were nominated through a two-part process: students, faculty, or staff submitted recommendations for a mentor to be considered for the award, then home departments and supervisors submitted full application packets. 

Top right photo: Deanna Hanson-Abromeit, associate professor of music therapy, and K. Barbara Schowen, professor emeritus of chemistry.

Bottom right photo: Pamela Johnson, graduate student in bioengineering.

Thu, 05/09/2019

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Nicole Perry

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Nicole Perry

Center for Undergraduate Research

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