(April 30, 2019) – Students representing every college at UTSA were honored for their success in research at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Showcase, the university’s largest show-and-tell event of the year. Organized by the Office of Undergraduate Research, this year’s showcase featured more than 200 undergraduate students highlighting their research and creative endeavors across all disciplines.
"This year’s showcase displayed the talent, intellectual acuity, and multifarious creative endeavors of UTSA’s undergraduate students,” said Jill Hernandez, associate dean of undergraduate research in University College. “The showcase featured a record number for student participation from every college, more civically engaged research projects, and a diverse range of faculty-mentored transformational research experiences. Expanding opportunities for undergraduate research is one of the ways to distinguish UTSA as a national model for student success at large, public research universities.”
The showcase gives many undergraduates their first opportunity to share their research in an academic setting and explain their methodology and findings to peers and faculty, many of whom participated as judges.
Based on the judging results, one student from each college was recognized for their research and one student was selected for the Best-In-Show Award and the Civic Engagement Award.
The 2019 recipients:
College of Architecture, Construction and Planning
Ivan Ventura, Retrofitting Urban Infrastructure
Faculty Mentor: Ian Caine
College of Business
Dayanira Mendoza, Disney Rides
Faculty Mentor: Wenbo Wu, Mark Leung
College of Engineering
Joshua Gale, A Novel and Active Bandage for Accelerating the Healing of Chronic Wounds
Faculty Mentor: David Restrepo
College of Education and Human Development
Erin Roye, The Effects of Diet + Exercise on Cardiometabolic Health of Female Mice
Faculty Mentor: Eunhee Chung
College of Liberal and Fine Arts
Michael Tijerina, Dito Saenz, Dominic Valadez, Natalie Morales
What are College Students Listening to and How 'Complex' Is it?
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Beavers
College of Public Policy
Sara Morsi, Adolescent Pregnancies in Northeast Independent School District
Faculty Mentor: Patricia Jaramillo
College of Sciences
Dale Lucas, Progress of 2 Wetland Restorations in Bolmorhea/Toyahvale, TX
Faculty Mentor: Brian Laub
Honors College
Carolina Cruz, Streaming Killed the Radio Star: the Innovation of Music Discovery in the US
Faculty Mentor: Richard Gretz
Civic Engagement Award:
Derek Sandoval, Calling the Police among Hispanic, White, and Black Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: Applying the Health Belief Model
College of Public Policy
Faculty Mentor: Kellie Lynch
Best in Show:
Dayanira Mendoz, Disney Rides
College of Business
Faculty Mentor: Wenbo Wu, Mark Leung
Additionally, two faculty members were awarded the Faculty Mentor Award for Undergraduate Research.
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The Racial Justice Book Club was established at UTSA by members of the campus community to explore social justice following acts of racial violence across the nation over the last few years. We are reading The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas by Monica Muñoz Martinez. We will meet every Wednesday in September and October at 2 pm on Zoom.
Virtual EventCelebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at our very own street fair - Calle UTSA. We will have activities, performances, food, music, and piñatas to break open.
Student Union Paseo"La Plática" is a space for thoughtful dialogue to build a sense of connection among the Roadrunner Community by getting to know each other better and sharing what's on our minds and about ourselves to increase to increase awareness of diverse perspectives.
Virtual EventThis September 30, the Friday Series will feature Prof. Milena Ang, who will be presenting A Tren to Nowhere: Statistic Development and the Politics of Racial, a paper co-authored with Tania Islas-Weistein where they discuss Mexico's long history of state-led development projects that contribute to economic and racial inequality. The authors argue that despite professing racial justice, official discourses surrounding the Tren Maya reproduce existing symbolic and material forms of racism.
McKinney Humanities (MH 4.01.01,) Main CampusWe invite you to learn about the process of screenwriting and explore the intersection of identity and pursuing dreams from Jorge Ramirez-Martinez and Raymond Perez, screenwriters for the Selena: The Series, released on Netflix. They will discuss their careers and writing process, including how their identities as Mexican American and gay men have shaped their professional experiences.
Virtual EventPlease join us in remembering those who have entered the next part of life by designing a nicho box in their memory. This workshop will provide the necessary items to create your nicho box, though please remember to bring a photo or small object that can fit in a 3.5 x5x1 inch box (small jewelry box).
John Peace Library GroupSpot B, Main CampusLMSA invites you to join us in celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month through an interactive cooking lesson! This cultural experience will teach you how to prepare a popular Mexican dish, street taquitos. You will be able to sample this dish and learn the recipe to use in your own home.
Recreation Wellness Center Demo KitchenThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
