sure award – University Honors Program Blog

Win $500 with the SURE Award

September 17, 2019January 16, 2020Extracurricular Opportunity, General News

Did you know that Honors students have the opportunity to win up to $500 for their research? Apply for the UHP/Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement (SURE) Award for your chance.

“Undergraduate Research Enhancement” may not sound the most exciting (well, to most people at least, but you are UHPers), but the funds can contribute to incredible research. Previous SURE Award winners used their winnings to conduct 3D scanning of bones at the Smithsonian, study lasers and present their findings at a national conference, and research the influence of sports rhetoric on political campaigns,

The application, due Friday October 4th, includes:

Student Application Form
Faculty Statement of Support
Unofficial GW Transcript

Good Luck!

If you have any questions, reach out to Brianna at bcrayton@gwu.edu.

2017 SURE Award Deadline: February 10th

January 30, 2017Competitions, Featured, General News

Did you know that Honors students have the exclusive opportunity to win up to $500 for their research? It’s true! Apply to the UHP/Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement Award (SURE) and we might just cut you a check.
We know “Undergraduate Research Enhancement” doesn’t sound that exciting (well, to most people at least, but you are UHPers), but what you can actually do with that money is amazing. Some of last year’s winners used the funds to study youth activism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, explore the culture of recycling in Buenos Aires, and present research findings at a national conference!
The application includes:

Student Application Form,
Faculty Support Form, and
Unofficial GW Transcript (no transcripts from GWeb please!).

The possibilities are endless, but the deadline to apply for funds for spring or summer 2017 is Friday, February 10th.

Win $500 with the SURE Award

September 19, 2016General News

Did you know that Honors students have the exclusive opportunity to win up to $500 for their research? It’s true! Apply to the UHP/Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement Award (SURE) and we might just cut you a check.
We know “Undergraduate Research Enhancement” doesn’t sound that exciting (well, to most people at least, but you are UHPers), but what you can actually do with that money is amazing. Past winners used the funds to travel to South America to study Argentinian waste management systems, fund focus groups to learn how television affects political beliefs, and cover transportation costs to examine an estimate age-at-death methodology..
The possibilities are endless, but the deadline to apply for funds in fall, winter, and spring of the 2016-2017 year is Friday, October 7, 2016.

Apply Now

Who: All UHP Students
What: Research of any kind, in any subject. For a course or for fun, it’s up to you!
When: Fall 2016 and/or Spring 2017
How Much: Up to $500 in research funds per individual winner.
Why: Settle unanswered questions from class; test your interest in a field; set yourself apart in job and grad applications; get the money you need to do the research you want!

Students can apply for grants in support of their research up to the amount of $500 for such needs as (but not limited to) equipment or supplies, travel costs to libraries or conferences, or image rights. Funds are available to support research activities conducted during the fall, winter, and spring of the 2016-2017 academic year, and applications are due October, 7, 2016.
To Apply: Complete this online form.
**PLEASE NOTE** You must have a faculty member submit a statement of support. Send them the link included in the confirmation page of the online form.

Got more questions? Leave a comment or contact Catherine Chandler at cbrady@gwu.edu for more information.

2016 Research Showcase Recap

May 2, 2016Events, Featured, General News, Research Stories

Last week’s Research Showcase saw presentations from original research performed by UHPers this year.
Eliza Goren‘s research stemmed from her research assistantship with Prof. Josef Przytycki from the Mathematics department. They spent the semester create a program based in knot theory. She helpfully explained knotting and unknotting through DNA transcription, drawing from an interest in DNA that begin with her Scientific Reasoning and Discovery class with Prof. Hammond!

Ben Helfand presented the findings of his senior thesis, researched through the Enosinian Scholars program. Advised by Prof. Nathan Brown, Ben researched the incorporation of human rights laws in constitution and domestic legal system of Tunisia after the Jasmine Revolution. He even travelled to Tunisia with the help of the SURE Award!

Eileen Emerson compared local and national TV and newspaper coverage of the 2015 Baltimore protests after death of Freddie Gray in police custody. Advised by Prof. Kim Gross, she wanted to find out which coverage was more racialized, sensationalized, legitimizing or delegitimizing through language and images. Eileen also is a SURE Award winner!
Pooja Shivaprasad worked on her senior thesis with Prof. Hossein Askari comparing the migration of refugees to oil rich and oil poor countries. Despite the frustrating lack of available data, Pooja found that oil rich countries take in fewer refugees, and that shared borders are more significant than shared language in refugee intake.
Eva Martin considered the UN’s treatment of human trafficking. Advised by Prof. Ingrid Creppell (Deputy Director of the UHP!), Eva developed an ambitious proposal for a dedicated UN Office on human trafficking, combining the resources of various offices on crime and human rights to greater effect.

Congratulations to our presenters for completing an incredible year of research!

Congrats to our Sure Award Winners

April 15, 2016Featured, General News

Congratulations to winners of the UHP SURE Award for this semester! Students who win the Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement Award use the funds to further their own research.

Victoria Luckenbaugh will be writing about the socioeconomic and political influence of Iranian immigrants to the US based on quantitative research from the Census and other sources as well as interviews with Iranian-Americans across the country. Torie has studied Persian here at GW and in Tajikistan and her work is being advised by Pardis Minuchehr, director of GW’s Persian program.

Eileen Emerson is working on a thesis with Kim Gross from SMPA on local and national media coverage in print and television during the protests in Baltimore following the death in custody of Freddie Gray. This grew from her interest as a freshmen from the rural South in policy communication in the media and inspired by coverage of racialized protests since the rise of the BlackLivesMatter movement.
Congratulations to our winners. We’ll be following up with them later in the year to check in on their research! If you are pursuing independent research and would be interested in applying for funding, watch out for the SURE Award announcements in the Newsflash next fall!

SURE Award Deadline: January 29th

January 14, 2016Competitions, General News

Student Application Form,
Faculty Support Form, and
Unofficial GW Transcript (no transcripts from GWeb please!).

The possibilities are endless, but the deadline to apply for funds for spring or summer 2016 is Friday, January 29th.

Congratulations to our SURE Award Winners

December 15, 2015Competitions, General News

Congratulations to winners of the UHP SURE Award for this semester! Students who win the Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement Award use the funds to further their own research.
Yaron Ginsburg will use the UHP SURE Award to purchase written works related to Zionist thought and the Philosophy of Nietzsche. Yaron intends to explore the influence of Nietzsche’s philosophy of power, authenticity, and morality on early Zionist thinkers and the Zionist endeavor.
Bejnamin Helfand will travel to Tunisia with the help of the UHP SURE Award, using the the recently ratified Tunisian Constitution as a case study to explore how international human rights instruments can be used to effectively protect and promote human rights.
Paul Scotti will be attending the Vision Sciences Society Conference in May using the UHP SURE Award. His winnings will also be used to reimburse participants in his research to investigate the degree to which object-based attentional guidance depends on the strength of object representation.
Congratulations to our winners. We’ll be following up with them later in the year to check in on their research! If you are pursuing independent research and would be interested in applying for funding, watch out for the Spring SURE Award announcements in the Newsflash.

SURE Award Deadline: Friday, October 2

September 21, 2015General News

Hey UHPers!
If you’re SURE you want to do independent research this semester or next (or even next summer), apply for a UHP-exclusive Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement Award! You could win up to $500 for travel, supplies, software, or other research expenses.
In the past, SURE awards have funded all kinds of research across the world! Learn more about past SURE winners and their projects here: [SURE Stories] on the UHP Blog
We know UHP students have mad research skillz and creative ideas. Fund yours by applying here by October 2, 2015. Don’t forget to ask a faculty member (Honors or non-Honors) for a statement of support!

Let’s Talk About Bosnia [SURE Stories]

July 16, 2015General News, Research Stories, Student Voices

The following blog post was written by UHP student and SURE Award winner Sarah Freeman-Woolpert.
This past winter, I traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina to conduct interviews for my senior thesis on how divided ethno-national identity affects collective youth activism and civic engagement in Bosnia today. With funding from the Sigelman Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Award, I spent two weeks interviewing young activists and university students about methods of youth engagement with the country’s current socio-political problems, like a 60% recorded youth unemployment rate and the corrupt, ineffective political system divided along ethno-national lines.
Traveling during the holidays gave me an intimate lens into the lives of local people who hosted me during my stay. I was welcomed warmly into the homes of many families who treated me as a member of their family during their holiday celebrations. I spent New Year’s Eve in the divided city of Mostar, in an unheated house with an older couple. Together, we huddled under blankets and had a long, wonderful conversation despite not speaking more than a few words of each others’ language. A week later, I spent Orthodox Christmas with a family in East Sarajevo. We ate roast lamb for breakfast, then I lay around watching the Kardashians with the family’s two teenage daughters.
At the end of my trip, I had recorded 16 hours of interviews and gained a more nuanced understanding of the issues facing young people in Bosnia today, and the ways youth engage with these problems—or choose not to engage at all. But I also left with a deep appreciation for the local culture and customs, which has influenced my desire to return to the region after graduation. I plan to continue researching inter-ethnic youth relations in post-conflict societies to get at the heart of how conflicts perpetuate between generations, addressing the roots of disagreement to prevent these from transforming into future violent conflict.

To Democracy or Not to Democracy? [SURE Stories]

July 2, 2015Courses, General News, Research Stories

The following post was written by UHP student and SURE Award winner Jenny Hamilton.
Research doesn’t always go as planned.
That’s what I learned with the help of a UHP SURE Award, and it is a valuable lesson to be sure. My research explores the impact of popular definitions of democracy on democratic legitimacy – essentially, it investigates the idea that how people define democracy impacts whether they consider it to be the best form of government.
I applied for the SURE Award last fall to finance electronic crowd sourcing of a survey in the United States. Most of my data came from Afrobarometer, a survey conducted in thirty-three African countries. I wanted to create a matching dataset for the United States, so that I could have a consolidated democracy as a comparison case. After considerable research, I decided that electronic crowdsourcing was the way to go. The results would not be nationally representative, but they would be as close as you could get on a budget. Having secured the funding, I looked up coding to create the survey. I obtained permission from Afrobarometer to use items from their questionnaire and worked with GW’s Internal Review Board to ensure the project met ethical standards. After a beta round and a few modifications, I launched the survey and results poured in. Everything went (roughly) according to plan.
A few weeks later, I presented my thesis for peer review. During the session my friend said, “Jenny, I’m going to tell it to you straight. The United States does not belong in your paper.” I has a sinking feeling, but I knew she was right. Almost an entire continent reduced in comparison to a single country… it had seemed like a good idea, but now I wondered I had been thinking. A few weeks later, my friends celebrated when I told them I had excised the United States from my draft.
Even though it won’t be in my paper, I know that my data is not useless. Obtaining that data taught me how to deal with ethical review forms, how to apply for funding, how to construct a survey, and a little bit of coding. It made me a more capable researcher. I also know that the data still has an interesting story to tell, perhaps in another paper.
Despite your best laid plans, you never know where your research will lead you. But almost always, you will discover something new, even if it’s not what you intended.