Elon students shine at National Conference on Undergraduate Research

Over 50 Elon students presented their research and creative work at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Richmond, Virginia, last week. The conference brought together over 5,000 students from across the country, and Elon was among the top 10 schools in terms of student attendance.

Elon students’ presentations spanned both the ages and the globe, with presentations ranging in focus from ancient Maya society to generative AI’s role in online public relations discourse, and spanning both the experiences of Syrian refugees and the indigenous politics of Peru.

The setting in Richmond offered a unique opportunity for mentor/mentee pair Amanda Kleintop, assistant professor of history, and Athena Vizuete ’26, a history major from Carrboro, North Carolina, who study Civil War history. In addition to presenting, they built in time to tour local historical sites that inform their research projects.

“It was amazing to see the quality of Elon’s undergraduate research in our students’ presentations,” said Kleintop. “I was very proud of Athena, who presented on her research on Reconstruction in North Carolina that was threeyears in the making! Plus, there nothing like visiting Richmond as a Civil War and Reconstruction scholar!”

“NCUR is a wonderful opportunity,” Vizuete said. “I am so happy I got to present my research on a national scale and attend so many fascinating presentations by my fellow students.”

Senior Professional Writing and Rhetoric major Caden Halberg is mentored by Travis Maynard and presented his work entitled, “The Whey Forward: Successfully Advocating for the Galactosemia Community.”

“Presenting at NCUR allowed me to raise awareness about rare disease advocacy while connecting with students across disciplines, many of whom had never encountered this topic befor,” said Halberg.

Several students presented their work from the School of Communications. Senior strategic communications and public policy major Teresa Cao is mentored by Shanetta Pendleton, and presented her project entitled, “Sorry, Not Sorry: Exploring Communication Patterns and Perceived Authenticity of Influencer Apologies on Social Media.”

“NCUR was great because I loved being able to see the range of students and how the chose to pursue their interests,” said Cao. “It reinforced to me how there’s always something to learn or dig deeper into, and in my case, that was influencer apology videos. Pop culture is often a mirror to what’s happening in society on a broader scale, so I loved being able to share my insights on something that’s seemingly very superficial. It was also really encouraging to be around students from other disciplines since I got to hear their perspectives on my research, what they admired, and advice on how they’d do things differently.”

Students were accompanied by faculty members Eric Hall, Justin Clar, CJ Fleming, Jen Hamel, Amanda Kleintop and Judy Folmar. Folmar presented two mentor-led sessions accompanied by her research students in which they shared their research process with other student-mentor pairs.

NCUR was first held at the University of North Carolina at Asheville in 1987 and Elon students have been attending the conference since 1993. Elon typically has more than 40 students present at NCUR each year. Next year’s conference will be held April 12-14, 2027 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.