Welcome from Undergraduate Education

May 15, 2004

Dear Members of the UCI Community and Guests:

We are delighted and honored to welcome you to the 11^th annual UCI Undergraduate Research Symposium at the University of California, Irvine. The goal of this yearly event is to provide a dynamic and open forum where some of UCI’s most talented undergraduates can showcase their faculty-mentored research projects and creative activities.

Over the past decade, the symposium has evolved into a celebration of much of what the UCI Community has to offer - from the accomplishments of its students, to the efforts of its world-renowned faculty. It is our hope that this year’s symposium continues to serve as an impetus for scholarly achievement. To that end, we hope that students will recognize the benefits of collaborating on projects and sharing ideas, that faculty will be encouraged by the atmosphere of inquiry and exchange they were instrumental in creating, and that guests will gain an appreciation for the insight and depth-of-study fostered at UCI.

We are extremely proud of the accomplishments of the students presenting here today. Each has contributed to the growth of our collective body of knowledge. Through the symposium, UCI students and faculty continue, each year, to raise the standards for excellence in leadership, achievement and success. It is our hope that by sharing their knowledge today, they will realize just how far their accomplishments have taken them and will be inspired to pass along the tradition of undergraduate research to future generations of UCI scholars.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) in the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) assists UCI's students by facilitating and funding their involvement in undergraduate faculty-mentored research and creative activities. As the organizer of today's symposium, UROP has provided research assistance and funding to many of today’s presenters. Our programs also include advising undergraduate students about on- and off-campus research opportunities and publishing The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal, an annual multidisciplinary publication. In addition, UROP’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP), launched in 2001, allows students to become fully immersed in a research project or creative activity under the guidance of UCI faculty members. UROP is part of a campuswide network of faculty, departments and programs dedicated to supporting the undergraduate research enterprise at UCI.

Thank you for participating and for showing your support for the undergraduate researchers presenting here today. A special note of appreciation also goes out to all the faculty mentors who have devoted much time and effort mentoring these students. We look forward to following up with the continued achievement of these outstanding individuals, and hope that you enjoy today's program.

Sincerely,

Meredith Lee Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education	Said M. Shokair  Director, UROP

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