Commonwealth Honors College Hosts 25th Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference

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AMHERST, Mass. – Commonwealth Honors College at UMass Amherst will host the 25th Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference (MassURC) on Friday, April 26, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Campus Center at UMass Amherst.

Students from 24 of Massachusetts’ public higher education institutions will convene to present their research. More than 1,200 students will exhibit their findings in fields ranging from art history to public health to veterinary science.

The conference includes welcoming remarks from Patricia Marshall, deputy commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Higher Ed and UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy at 9:30 a.m. The keynote speaker is Associate Professor Maria Ivanova of the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security and Global Governance, UMass Boston. Ivanova will present a talk titled Individuals and Institutions: Leadership in Global Environmental Governance.

Ivanova is an international relations and environmental policy scholar who holds a Ph.D. (with distinction) and master's degrees in international relations and environmental management from Yale University, and a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College. She is also an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and a board member of the U.N. University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, the Global Young Academy, and the Millennium Institute.

Unique to this year’s research conference is the introduction of a customized conference app. The MassURC 2019 app conveniently allows attendees to plan and schedule their day ahead of the conference. When downloaded to any smart phone or tablet, users are able to search the full roster of presentations by topic, presenter, school and time blocks. On the day of the conference, app users can receive news and updates while navigating all conference activities, including interactive contests and games. The conference app also allows participants to network and connect with presents before, during, and after the conference. The MassURC 2019 app is available for download from the App Store and Google Play. The same features of the app are also available through the online version of the conference app, by visiting: https://crowd.cc/massurc2019.

The Undergraduate Research Conference is cosponsored by Commonwealth Honors College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, Massachusetts State University Council of Presidents, and Massachusetts Community Colleges.