Five students selected for Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships

In 2024 the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE) and Oregon Humanities Center (OHC) launched a new partnership to support undergraduate research and creative work in the humanities and arts, the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Humanities (SURF-H). Fellows conduct full-time summer research for a minimum of 8 weeks under the supervision of a UO faculty member, and participate in CURE summer co-curricular workshops on academic and career development topics, as well as an end-of-summer Works-in-Progress presentation gathering.  

CURE and OHC conducted specialized outreach and relationship-building with faculty in the humanities and arts to promote the fellowships and encouraged faculty to consider the opportunity for the fellowships to function as a research assistantship for students supporting faculty research as well as independent student projects. Five students were selected to participate this summer.

Caitlin Lloyd, History of Art and Architecture, is working on “Chinese Mythological Creatures in Qing Dynasty Embroidered Badges” with faculty mentor Chiara Gasparini, assistant professor of the History of Art and Architecture. 

Jesse Murphy, English, is working on “Patchwork Narratives: The Importance of Form on Reading Hypertext Literature in the Classroom and Beyond” with faculty mentor Mattie Burkert, associate professor of English and Digital Humanities.

Charlie Petrik, Geography, is working on “Socioterritorial Movements From a Comparative Perspective” with faculty mentor David Meek, associate professor of Global Studies.

Micah Primack, Folklore and Public Culture and Psychology is working on “Exploring Musical Families: Cluster and Regression Analyses to Determine Associations between Musical Preferences, Depression, and Anxiety” with faculty mentor Zachary Wallmark, associate professor of Musicology and Music Cognition. 

Danielle Richard, Cinema Studies and English is working on “Black Womanhood and Fungibility in Jordan Peele’s Us” with faculty mentor Faith Barter, assistant professor of English.