{"id":32442,"date":"2025-05-30T10:32:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T17:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/?p=32442"},"modified":"2025-10-21T16:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T23:16:28","slug":"annual-symposium-recognizes-undergraduate-researchers-and-their-mentors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/30\/annual-symposium-recognizes-undergraduate-researchers-and-their-mentors","title":{"rendered":"Annual symposium recognizes undergraduate researchers and their mentors\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Undergraduates at the University of Washington are invited and called upon to contribute to groundbreaking and innovative research as part of their academic journey. At the close of each year, the UW celebrates the hard work and achievements of its student researchers in an annual symposium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 28th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium held at Mary Gates Hall and the HUB Lyceum in Seattle, more than 40 students from UW Bothell presented their work on 39 different research projects and topics, from \u201cHow the Global Gag Rule affects Uganda\u2019s Reproductive Health\u201d to \u201cCorn Subsidies and Price Dynamics: Evidence from Four Decades of U.S. Data.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

足彩app哪个是正规的 annual event not only recognizes students but also honors the mentors who supported them along the way. During the symposium, Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Awards were presented to nine recipients across the UW, including Dr. Subramanian Ramachandran, lecturer in UW Bothell\u2019s School of STEM<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResearch for an undergraduate student can be an empowering experience,\u201d Ramachandran said. \u201cI believe a strong collaborative experience enables the student to feel confident, and enables the mentor to grow their scholarship and to develop a comprehensive experience for future students through a strong alignment between classroom pedagogy and research opportunities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Creating space to learn<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

足彩app哪个是正规的s presenting at the symposium each year can nominate mentors who have had a profound impact on their education and research. Ramachandran was nominated by three of his students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am grateful, pleasantly surprised and humbled to be recognized as an Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor,\u201d Ramachandran said. \u201cTo learn that the students are benefitting from research experience has been a motivator.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carol Miu, a Physics major who continued working with Ramachandran on her research after graduating in March, was one of the students who nominated him. At the symposium, Miu presented on \u201cAnalog Circuits Project-Based Learning: Designing and Building Pulsed Laser and Photodetector Circuits for a Speed of Light Measurement Device.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr. Ramachandran always makes time for the many students who ask for his mentorship,\u201d Miu wrote in her nomination letter. \u201cI love his hands-on learning approach, in which I am supposed to tinker and make mistakes while learning. Dr. Ramachandran is patient and respectful, creating psychological safety for his students. I am not afraid of being wrong, and he is not afraid of telling me I\u2019m wrong and then correcting my understanding. It is unique to have this level of candor and trust with a mentor.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I am not afraid of being wrong, and he (Dr. Subramanian Ramachandran) is not afraid of telling me I\u2019m wrong and then correcting my understanding. It is unique to have this level of candor and trust with a mentor.”<\/p>Carol Miu, Physics \u201925 <\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Miu\u2019s project partner, Joey Patrick Del Gianni, a senior majoring in Physics, also nominated Ramachandran \u2014 as did Amaya Leilani Cook, a sophomore pre-major, who presented her project, \u201cSynthesis and Characterization of Films for Interaction with Methane and Hydrogen,\u201d at the symposium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Left: Dr. Subramanian Ramachandran with Amaya Leilani Cook and Carol Miu. Right: Miu and Joey Patrick Del Gianni with Ramachandran.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Healing through art<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In her project \u201cHeartistry: Healing from Relationship Abuse through Art,\u201d senior Media & Communication Studies major Allie Perez draws from her own personal experience as a victim and survivor of relationship abuse. \u201cHeartistry\u201d is a digital art gallery that showcases a journey of healing and empowerment, embodying the intersection of heart and artistry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring my own healing journey, working through therapy, art therapy was suggested. I wanted to use it as an experiment on how effective it could be and how I could approach art therapy with a little more intention,\u201d Perez said. \u201cArt became an outlet for me to express my feelings, reclaim power and honor the complexity of resilience. My goal with this project is to establish a general understanding of how recovery is non-linear and deeply personal while also a universal human experience.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

足彩app哪个是正规的 digital gallery consists of nine art pieces that represent three theoretical frameworks for healing exploration \u2014 resilience theory, narrative therapy and trauma-informed care. On the website Perez created to house the gallery, she includes descriptions of the art in connection to the framework, as well as resources for victim-survivors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy hope is that other victim-survivors may feel empowered to share their art with me, and the site can adapt into a gallery of many artists\u2019 work,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was incredibly important for me to approach the art, my language and site design sensitively, intentionally and inclusively. 足彩app哪个是正规的 biggest takeaways from Heartistry are that healing is not linear, victim-survivors are not alone, and art is therapeutic.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cHeartistry: Healing from Relationship Abuse through Art,\u201d presented by senior Media & Communication Studies major Allie Perez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A passion for education<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For first-year pre-major Sarah Sami, her passion for both research and education came together in her project, \u201cExploring the Resilience of Afghan Women Through Underground Education.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI chose this topic because it\u2019s very near and dear to my heart as an Afghan woman,\u201d Sami said. \u201cI\u2019ve known since I was 6 years old that I wanted to become a teacher, so that\u2019s also why this topic is really important to me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her research, Sami gathered qualitative data by interviewing activists and nonprofit leaders in the grassroots movement to support education for Afghan women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy research highlights the brave and selfless Afghans who have committed themselves to empower Afghan girls through underground education by sharing their stories,\u201d she said. \u201c足彩app哪个是正规的 goal here is to counteract the continuous turn of limitations on Afghan women\u2019s rights that are holding back prosperity in Afghanistan. This examination of underground education and the people who make it possible paves the way for positive intervention.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sami hopes that her research will open the discussion on what more can be done across the globe to support education for Afghan women. Continuing to amplify the voices of those impacted by the underground education movement is critical to its success, she noted, adding that people in the West can help by supporting the nonprofits and other organizations who are doing the on-the-ground work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Left: first-year pre-major Sarah Sami presents her project \u201cExploring the Resilience of Afghan Women Through Underground Education.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A taste of what\u2019s possible<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

足彩app哪个是正规的 many presentations in this year\u2019s symposium represent the broad range of research, scholarship and creative practice projects that students can undertake during their undergraduate studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of this year\u2019s other oral, poster and visual arts presentations included: <\/p>\n\n\n\n