Library Communications

2011 Undergraduate Research Award Winners Named

April 12, 2011

One group project, two term papers, and two theses written by University of Oregon students have been named winners of the 2011 Undergraduate Research Awards sponsored by the UO Libraries. The annual competitive program honors UO students who produced outstanding original research and scholarship in the previous calendar year using resources available through the UO Libraries. The awards carry prizes of up to $1,500.

To be eligible for the award, students are required to submit a research paper, project, or thesis that has been completed as part of their coursework or degree requirements at the UO, along with a recommendation from a UO faculty member. Students must make extensive, creative use of UO library services, resources, and collections in their research.

The Undergraduate Research Awards are made possible by endowments established through the generous support of Barbara B. Sparks and Jon and Lisa Stine, as well as gifts from Walter and Gretchen Barger.

The 2011 Undergraduate Research Award winners will be honored for their achievements at a luncheon April 15. Electronic copies of their work will be deposited in Scholars' Bank, the library's open access archive for UO research, publications, and supporting materials in digital form.

Submissions for the 2012 awards are now being accepted. For more information, visit http://libweb.uoregon.edu/general/libaward.html.

2011 Undergraduate Research Award Winners

The Ridgeline Oaks Team: Brittany Bigalke, Alex Park, Alexandria Russell, Kimberly Ertel, Matthew Liston, and Matt Silva

Oak Habitat Mapping and Monitoring in the Southern Eugene Ridgeline

Award: $1,500 (Team Project, Single-Term Research Project)

Faculty Sponsor: Peg Boulay, Environmental Studies

Course: Environmental Studies 429--Environmental Leadership Program

Acknowledged Librarians: Dean Walton, Science Librarian, and the Map and Aerial Photography Collection Staff

"The Science Library was the team's unofficial office. . . .The library provided access to the general and reference collections for our research. Some of our major research tools were WorldCat, where we located one of our cornerstone resources, Agricola and BioOne. We also utilized the MAP Collection to retrieve supplemental aerial photographs, which provided a visual aspect to our historical research. The library resources helped tie the different aspects of our project together."

Hale Forster

Comparing Common Versus Differentiated Goals in the Face of Between-Country Inequities

Award: $1,000 (Single-Term Research Paper)

Faculty Sponsor: Ronald Mitchell, Political Science

Course: Political Science 477--International Environmental Politics

Acknowledged Librarian: Barbara Jenkins, Director, Instruction and Campus Partnerships, UO Libraries

"I used online library search tools, including Academic Search Premier and Web of Science, among others, to search international environmental politics and law periodicals for articles on the science and politics of the LRTAO protocols. I applied skills learned from psychology librarian Barbara Jenkins to more effectively use online periodical research capabilities."

Shelley Grosjean

A "Womyn's" Work Is Never Done: The Gendered Division of Labor and the Creation of Southern Oregon Lesbian Separatist Communities

Award: $1,000 (Single-Term Research Paper)

Faculty Sponsor: Ellen Herman, History

Course: History 407--Rethinking the 1960s

Acknowledged Librarians: Linda Long, Manuscripts Librarian, and the UO Libraries Special Collections and University Archives Staff

"I met with manuscripts librarian Linda Long, and she helped me begin this endeavor by explaining the layout of the Tee Corinne Papers and introducing me to several other pertinent collections, . . . including the Feminist and Lesbian Periodical Collection, the Southern Oregon Country Lesbian Archival Project, and the Ruth Mountaingrove Photography Collection. With these, and the Tee Corinne Papers, I found that I had more than enough source material to complete a comprehensive research project."

Emma Kallaway

Bamboo as a New Fiber Source in the U.S. Paper Industry: A Feasibility Analysis for Booshoot Gardens, LLC

Award: $1,000 (Thesis)

Faculty Sponsors: Dayo Mitchell, Robert D. Clark Honors College; and Anne Forrestel, Lundquist College of Business

Major: Business

Acknowledged Librarian: Kaiping Zhang, Business/Economics Librarian

"My project had many parts and the resources offered by the UO Libraries--in person, online, and in print--were vital to my success. . . . For business students, there is no one better than business librarian Kaiping Zhang. . . . She taught me a lot about how to develop a framework for a paper before diving into the search for good research. . . . She also directed me to resources in our Science Library, and I worked with her to sort through my analysis of the industry research reports I was able to find using IBISWorld. . . . I was blessed during my entire project to work with amazing advisors and librarians to find the most up-to-date and accurate information."

Nathan Yoder

Legislative Gender and Trade Policy Preference

Award: $1,000 (Thesis)

Faculty Sponsor: Bruce Blonigen, Economics

Major: Economics

Acknowledged Librarian: Tom Stave, Head, Document Center, UO Libraries

"This project began with the identification of roll call votes on trade issues in the library's hard-copy volumes of the Congressional Quarterly Almanac. . . . My first step in writing the paper was to search for relevant journal articles using Google Scholar and the UO Libraries' OneSearch database."

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