Three years after it started, the Undergraduate Research Forum, a magazine in its second year, celebrated the publishing of its second edition which features the published works of students, aiming to help them prepare for future careers in academia.
- Jess Cox
- Ukranian Roots: LSA Ukrainian language student Abby Czap (right) and mother Lynn Czap participate in the Ukrainian “Pysanka” workshop.
(ALEX DZIADOSZ/Daily)
The staff of the magazine was joined by students who were published in the current issue, as well as faculty mentors for a banquet at the Michigan League yesterday.
LSA junior Shailesh Agarwal, the editor in chief of the research magazine, said the publication aims primarily to expand the opportunities students have to publish their work.
“Undergraduates have the least voice and most creativity. I wanted to empower them and give them an opportunity to (publish their work),” he said.
The magazine features the work of undergraduate students who have researched topics ranging from education to the natural sciences.
Other universities across the nation also have magazines like the Undergraduate Research Forum. These include Stanford University and the University of Texas. Agarwal said the Undergraduate Research Forum hopes to work with these other magazines to carry on the tradition of publishing undergraduate research in the future.
LSA junior Nabeel Obeid published a paper in the magazine on a study of the way estrogen can protect the heart against heart attacks and other cardiovascular disease.
“I feel that it is wonderful opportunity for undergraduate students to get exposed to the research process and publish their work and gain experience with the scientific writing process, and I am looking to pursue a more active role (with the University),” said Obeid, who learned about the Forum through an e-mail.
Lin Ho, a chemical engineering senior and an assistant editor for the magazine, benefited from the experience in a different way.
“I plan on submitting articles for publications in the future while I am in grad school. I wanted to be on both sides of the fence. I learned about the selection process and the different stages of putting together a journal,” she said.
Agarwal said he initially wanted to create “a forum in which people would sit and talk about their research and swap ideas.” However the forum has taken the written form.
Among the attendees was the assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University’s Flint campus, Roy Barne, and Sue Davis, program director of Women in Science and Engineering.