Undergraduate Research

Why do sports teams perform better in their own stadiums or arenas than they do on the road? New research by assistant professor L. Kimberly Epting and Kristen Riggs ’10 suggests that it may not be the overwhelming applause that gives athletes a “home field advantage,” so much as it is the taunts that can ding their opponent.

Fifteen rising juniors at Elon have been named recipients of the 2011 Lumen Prize, the university’s premier award that comes with a $15,000 scholarship to support and celebrate their academic achievements and research proposals.

Elon University senior Drew Gardner presented his research this week on concussions in student-athletes at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Denver.

Elon freshman Todd Calnan presented his research on the energetics of the supermassive black hole in one of our nearest galactic neigbors, Centaurus A, at the 218th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Boston on May 25.

The 2011 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience begins on May 31. Fifty students were accepted into the program from nearly 70 applications. This year’s SURE program is the largest and most competitive in the history of the program.

Heart attacks and other cardiovascular conditions kill thousands of Americans every day, and as a high school student, that statistic turned personal for Elon University senior Amanda Clark. The biochemistry major focused her undergraduate research while at the university on identifying some ways that heart disease develops, which could in turn lead to better treatments, and her work is the latest to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on Lumen Scholars in the Class of 2011.

Hundreds of Elon University students will be involved in activities during CELEBRATE! 2011, a weeklong celebration of student achievements in academics and the arts that begins April 26 and runs through May 2. Programs include seminars, art exhibitions, plays, a film festival, dance and music performances.

Though most news coverage of the Catholic Church focuses on its scandals, the positive impacts of the world’s largest organization can often be understated, which Elon University senior Stephen Ferguson argues based on his research into the emerging public perception of the institution. His work is the latest to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on undergraduate research to be presented during CELEBRATE! 2011.

Work by Elon University students and professors took center stage Wednesday in the opening hours of SURF 2011 with a new morning format for the annual event that recognizes faculty and undergraduate research. Twenty-two professors took part in third annual "Celebration of Faculty Scholarship" in McKinnon Hall, where they shared work in a poster presentation side-by-side with students who had been accepted to display findings of their own endeavors.

What can dance instructors do differently to help novice students avoid injury? And how do advanced students help in that regard? For Elon University senior Bridget Kelly, answering those questions has earned her acclaim at a major international conference, and her work is the latest to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on undergraduate research to be presented during CELEBRATE! 2011.