Undergraduate Research

For the second consecutive year, Elon University junior Amanda Leigh Clark has been recognized with an honorable mention in the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Program, which awards scholarships to students planning for careers in science, math or engineering.

To many Americans, healthy living involves counting calories, watching medical segments on the morning news, or drinking diet soda. Health elsewhere on the planet takes a more active approach, according to Elon University senior Ryan Bleam, the third student to be featured in a monthly series of E-net profiles on the inaugural class of Lumen Scholars.

If the maker of Big Red and Juicy Fruit thinks its chewing gums have a monopoly on boosting your memory, it should think again. New work by Elon University faculty member Amy Overman and her undergraduate researchers show that gum itself isn’t special – any candy or oral activity probably works just as well at sharpening the mind.

If, like the famous advertisements claim, Red Bull does “give you wings,” it may not be the sugar and caffeine that makes you feel like Pegasus. New work by an Elon faculty member and his undergraduate researchers points to something else that happens when guzzling the popular energy drink – and it has more to do with your mind than anything else.

This year 36 Elon students will be presenting at the 23rd National Conference on Undergraduate Research set for April 16-18 at the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse. Read this note for a list of the students and their research topics.

Larissa Ferretti, a senior Honors Fellow and psychology major, will share her research this spring with lawmakers in Washington about the effects of parental involvement in teaching math and number skills to young children. The May presentation is part of a highly selective program that features leading undergraduate research from around the nation.