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| 1. What is your specific area of
research (include the name of your faculty and/or laboratory)? |
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| My current project is in the History Dept with Dr. Alice Fahs. I'm
researching the 1896 Utah election in which women were first allowed to vote and run for
office after Utah gained statehood. In this election Martha Hughes Cannon, a prominent
local physician, became the first female State Senator, and several other women were
elected to local office. |
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| 2. When and how did you first get
involved in research? |
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| I first got involved in research last year, with my paper "Race
Relations in Kern County, 1850-1900." I started the project after a UROP Counselor
came to one of my classes to discuss the importance of undergraduate research. This
research was done under the mentorship of Dr. Dickson Bruce. I've also done a creative
research project, "Understanding Cancer" with Professor Mike Davis, and a paper
on the fictional depictions of the Mountain Meadows Massacre with Dr. Brook Thomas. |
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| 3. How has research enhanced you
education? |
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| Research has introduced me to the methods and tools that historians
use. I've learned how to do archival work to glean information from historical documents
and how to organize my findings to support a research question. |
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| 4. What has been you favorite
experience with research (include any interesting stories or specific events)? |
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My favorite experience so far happened just last week. I was at the
University of Utah Special Collections and I realized that many of the resources I needed
were missing from the library. After speaking to some of the employees, I discovered that
the newly-appointed governor of Utah, Olene Walker, had been in the library a week before
me to do some very similar research and had borrowed many of the items I was interested
in. A few days later I had the opportunity to be in a forum with the Governor where she
spoke of the importance of Utah's early prominent female politicians. Governor Walker
plans to incorporate their histories into her upcoming election campaign. It was exciting
for me to know that the women I'm researching are also important to current leaders,
because it adds validity to my own interest in the legacy of early female politicians.
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| 5. What are your future plans and how
has being involved in research helped to prepare you to meet your goals? |
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| I will start a Ph.D. program in History next year with the hopes of
eventually becoming a professor at a research university. |
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| 6. What advice would you give to a
student interested in pursuing a faculty-mentored undergraduate research project or
creative activity? |
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| Get started! Find some aspect of your discipline that interests you
and then seek out a faculty mentor with a similar interest. Be assertive and don't be
afraid to ask a lot of questions. |
