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is the largest undergraduate research conference in the country, and each year brings together thousands of undergraduate students from across the globe to present their research through posters, oral presentations, visual arts and performances.  The conference offers a unique environment for the celebration and promotion of undergraduate student achievement; provides models of exemplary research, scholarship and creative activity; and offers student career readiness development.  Unlike meetings of academic professional organizations, the gathering of student-scholars welcomes presenters from all institutions of higher learning across all disciplines.

The Hope student researchers who attended represent together each of the college鈥檚 four academic divisions: arts, humanities, natural and applied sciences, and social sciences.  Their participation reflects a decades-long tradition for which Hope has repeatedly received national recognition.

Hundreds of Hope students engage in research with faculty mentors part-time during the school year and full-time for several weeks each summer.  They regularly present their research at regional and national conferences and publish their research as co-authors with their faculty mentors.

The Hope students participating in NCUR, and their academic disciplines, research projects and (in parentheses) faculty mentors, are:

• Rachel M. Amicucci: French, 鈥淟e Chlord茅cone鈥� (Dr. Brigitte Hamon-Porter, professor of French);
• Shaynah Anderson: education, 鈥淓xploring Teacher Educators鈥� Practices and Challenges in Preparing Preservice Teachers for Emergent Bilingual Students鈥� (Dr. Mihyun Han, assistant professor of education);
• Steven Awad: biology, 鈥淭he More the Better? The Influence of Greater Genomic Material in the Stress Response of Related Organisms鈥� (Dr. Jennifer Blake-Mahmud, assistant professor of biology);
• Elizabeth I. Burchart: nursing, 鈥淓xploring Demographic Factors and Mental Health Personal Stigma Among Undergraduate Nursing Students鈥� (Dr. Anita Esquerra-Zwiers, associate professor of nursing);
• Grace Critchfield: education, 鈥淎n Exploration of Beliefs and Boundaries in the Classroom鈥� (Dr. Yooyeun Hwang, professor of education);
• Kate E. DeMann: neuroscience, 鈥淟oss and recovery of olfactory function following acute hypoxic exposure鈥� (Dr. Erika Calvo-Ochoa, assistant professor of biology and neuroscience);
• Margaret L. Hartman: education, 鈥淭he Taxonomy of Evidence-Based Practices for United States History Education鈥� (Dr. Jane Finn, the Susan M. and Glenn G. Cherup Professor of Education);
• Jacob Humbert: education, 鈥淎n Exploration of Beliefs and Boundaries in the Classroom鈥� (Dr. Yooyeun Hwang, professor of education);
• Sion Kang: education, 鈥淭he Transformative Impact of Translanguaging Pedagogy in Bilingual Read-Aloud Activities鈥� (Dr. Mihyun Han, assistant professor of education);
• Madeline Kenney: biology, 鈥淭he More the Better? The Influence of Greater Genomic Material in the Stress Response of Related Organisms鈥� (Dr. Jennifer Blake-Mahmud, assistant professor of biology);
• Sebastian Lema: sociology and social work, 鈥淏eyond Ethnicity: Experiences of Racism and Perceptions of Belonging Among Latina/o/x Students at an HWCU鈥� (Dr. Rodrigo Serrao, assistant professor of sociology);
• Jacqueline Rivera: dance, 鈥淭ap, Music, and Dance History: Shifting Tap Pedagogy by honoring Oral Traditions鈥� (Heather Cornell, assistant professor of dance instruction);
• Nereyda Sanchez Gama: neuroscience and biology, 鈥淥lfactory system alterations in a model of dopaminergic bulbar loss by 6-OHDA in zebrafish鈥� (Dr. Erika Calvo-Ochoa, assistant professor of biology and neuroscience).

The students were accompanied by Hope faculty members Dr. Mihyun Han, assistant professor of education, and Dr. Rodrigo Serrao, assistant professor of sociology.

Hope has received national recognition in a variety of ways through the years for its success in teaching through collaborative faculty-student research, and for the high quality of the research itself.  As one current example, the most recent Best Colleges guide published by U.S. News & World Report, published this past fall, ranks Hope 31st nationwide among all of the country鈥檚 4,000 degree-granting postsecondary institutions for student research experiences.  In February, the 鈥�2025 Research Activity Designations鈥� report released by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching included Hope among the top 30 undergraduate-only institutions in the nation for extensive research activity.

Among other acclaim historically, in 1994 Project Kaleidoscope named the program in the natural applied sciences a 鈥淲hole Program That Works鈥� 鈥� a model for other institutions to emulate, and in 1998 Hope was one of only 10 liberal arts institutions in the nation to be recognized for innovation and excellence in science instruction by the National Science Foundation (NSF) with an 鈥淎ward for the Integration of Research and Education鈥� (AIRE).   Based on the college鈥檚 proven history of excellence, CUR chose Hope to present the national webinar 鈥淭ransformational Learning through Undergraduate Research and Creative Performance鈥� in April 2011. In 2017, Hope was one of only three colleges or universities nationwide to receive a Campus-Wide Award for Undergraduate Research Accomplishments (AURA) from CUR, and one of only nine to have received the recognition since the award was established in 2015.