Student researcher teams win Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research at UROP symposium
By Carol Jean Tomoguchi-Perez
June 27, 2023
June 27, 2023
Two teams of student researchers from the Working Memory and Plasticity Lab (WMP) won the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research for their poster presentations at the 30th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, hosted by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).
Brisa Bernal and Laura Moreno won first place in the Diversity and Inclusion category for their presentation “The Impact of Familismo and Academic Self-Efficacy of Latinx Students on their College Adjustment.” Moreno is the WMP summer assistant research coordinator and was responsible for having Bernal join the lab. “As self-starters, they brainstormed and initiated this project pretty much on their own,” said Susanne Jaeggi, professor and director of WMP. “Besides working with WMP Lab, they also reached out to other graduate students seeking guidance. Besides their great leadership, we were so impressed and touched by their passion to bring awareness and support students in sharing their identities and experiences.”
First-year research assistants Luis Parada Ramirez and Jiexiao Wu won third place in the Memory Mind and Learning category with their entry “Reframing Bilingualism and Investigating Cognitive Performance in Relation to Linguistic Distance.” Of the team, Jaeggi said, “Since the beginning, they’ve both shown great interest in learning research and helping others. Their involvement in the linguistic distance projects first started as students assisting with coding, but soon transformed into researchers exploring questions on their own.” After winning the poster award, Ramirez and Wu won a UROP Travel Award, which assists with travel-related expenses for undergraduates who are presenting at a conference.
View the complete list of winners.
Brisa Bernal and Laura Moreno won first place in the Diversity and Inclusion category for their presentation “The Impact of Familismo and Academic Self-Efficacy of Latinx Students on their College Adjustment.” Moreno is the WMP summer assistant research coordinator and was responsible for having Bernal join the lab. “As self-starters, they brainstormed and initiated this project pretty much on their own,” said Susanne Jaeggi, professor and director of WMP. “Besides working with WMP Lab, they also reached out to other graduate students seeking guidance. Besides their great leadership, we were so impressed and touched by their passion to bring awareness and support students in sharing their identities and experiences.”
First-year research assistants Luis Parada Ramirez and Jiexiao Wu won third place in the Memory Mind and Learning category with their entry “Reframing Bilingualism and Investigating Cognitive Performance in Relation to Linguistic Distance.” Of the team, Jaeggi said, “Since the beginning, they’ve both shown great interest in learning research and helping others. Their involvement in the linguistic distance projects first started as students assisting with coding, but soon transformed into researchers exploring questions on their own.” After winning the poster award, Ramirez and Wu won a UROP Travel Award, which assists with travel-related expenses for undergraduates who are presenting at a conference.
View the complete list of winners.