Eastern is Top School in New England for NCUR Participation

by Michael Rouleau

Willimantic, CT (06/22/2018) — Eastern Connecticut State University was New England's most prolific representative at this year's National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). Held April 4-7 at the University of Central Oklahoma, the conference was among the premier gatherings in all of U.S. academia, with more than 3,500 students representing more than 460 colleges and universities from across the country. Remarkably, Eastern was the 12th institution in terms of participation, with 45 students presenting research - the most in all of New England.

Of the top 12 schools, only four have student bodies of 6,000 or below - Eastern's enrollment is a modest 5,300. The rest range from 9,000 to 35,000 students, and two of them are based in Oklahoma. In the past five years, Eastern has sent more than twice as many students to NCUR as all other Connecticut schools combined.

"Undergraduate research is clearly a strength of Eastern," said Carlos Escoto, psychology professor and director of Eastern's Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity. "We had students from 15 different departments represented and the majority of presenters were students outside of the university's Honors Program."

Departments ranged from Environmental Earth Science to Music, Economics to Health Science, Mathematics to Visual Arts. Research topics included global water shortages; media and mental illness stigma; childhood poverty and educational outcomes; non-drug therapies and cancer patients; political rhetoric; and much more.

Escoto continued: "This ranking, coupled with our first Goldwater Scholar (Jacob Dayton '18), a second Fulbright award recipient in two years (Adam Murphy '18), and many more students succeeding in the realm of research, speaks to the quality of instruction and faculty mentorship at Eastern."

Reflecting on her experience at the 2017 NCUR conference in Memphis, TN, communication major Olivia Godin '19 said, "Presenting at NCUR has been one of the most valuable experiences in my collegiate career. I was able to give an oral presentation to several students and professors about my research, which discussed the differences between how men and women communicate - a project I spent several months working on with my advisor."

"Learning to conduct research is a major component of a liberal arts education," said Eastern President Elsa Núñez. "That is why Eastern is committed to supporting our undergraduate students so they can conduct research and present it at regional and national conferences. We know that students who are engaged in applied learning activities such as research projects get better grades and graduate at higher rates."

The National Conference on Undergraduate Research was established in 1987. From a pool of several thousand applicants, students are accepted into the conference if their research demonstrates a unique contribution to their field of study. NCUR offers undergraduates the opportunity to present their research findings to peers, faculty and staff from colleges and universities across the nation, providing a unique networking and learning opportunity.

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