Two Michigan State University students are two of only 60 students, out of more than 500 considered, selected to present their research work at the 19th annual “Posters on the Hill” event in Washington, D.C.
The two students – senior Jesse Whitfield and sophomore Lana Ruvolo Grasser, both students in Lyman Briggs College and the Honors College – will present their work on Capitol Hill April 22-23.
“Our students are taking part in very important research projects at MSU and this event is a great opportunity to showcase their work at a national level,” said Korine Wawrzynski, assistant dean for academic initiatives and director of undergraduate research at MSU. “Posters on the Hill offers students the opportunity to discuss the importance of their research as well as share their personal stories and the excitement of their discoveries with members of Congress and other professionals.”
The Posters on the Hill event provides lawmakers the opportunity to see how federal programs and dollars make a real difference for students and faculty and to see first-hand how students have benefited from undergraduate research programs.
Whitfield’s presentation is titled “How Can Doctors Do a Good Job of Informing Patients Without Falling Behind Their Schedules?” Her research for this project was done under the direction of Professor Emeritus Margaret Holmes-Rovner of the MSU Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences.
Grasser’s presentation is titled “The Neuroscience of Reading: Integrating Humanities and Sciences in an fMRI Study on Jane Austen.” Her research was done in the Digital Humanities and Literary Cognition lab under the direction of Natalie Phillips, assistant professor of English.
The event is sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research, a not-for-profit organization that supports and promotes undergraduate-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. The council is composed of 492 colleges and universities and nearly 3,000 members.