NCUR
Collaborators
John Cavitt
Ryan Thomas
Lauren Fowler
Scott Wright
Erin Daniels
Amy Douangdara
The university’s executive committee for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) received the 2013 Exemplary Collaboration Award, in recognition of the teamwork demonstrated in hosting the event at WSU in March 2012.
Chosen through a competitive bidding process, WSU was selected because of its long history of actively supporting and taking a leadership role in undergraduate research.
The foremost undergraduate research conference in the country, the 2012 conference brought together 3,158 students, faculty and administrators from 333 institutions of higher education, 46 states and seven countries. Representing more than 60 academic disciplines, they spent three days at WSU presenting their original research, scholarly and creative projects.
The NCUR 2012 executive committee included John Cavitt, Amy Douangdara and Erin Daniels from WSU’s Office of Undergraduate Research; associate provost Ryan Thomas; medical laboratory sciences department chair Scott Wright; and psychology professor Lauren Fowler. In addition, a committee of 32, including students, faculty, staff, administrators and community representatives, helped with the monumental task of preparing for and implementing the event, which had an estimated $2.6 million economic impact on northern Utah and an invaluable impact on students.
“This amazing and dedicated group of people pulled together an event that continues to have an important impact on our university and community,” said Cavitt, WSU’s director of undergraduate research. “Although the conference has come and gone, we feel that the experience and learning opportunities that were afforded to WSU students, faculty, staff and alumni will carry into our future. Our students were thrilled to have the opportunity to share their research and establish contacts in their fields of study. They received national recognition and many were published in the peer-reviewed ‘NCUR Proceedings.’ NCUR 2012 put Weber State University on the map as an institution of higher education, where students go above and beyond with their education.”
