Research is a driving force for all major universities – it steers academic study in new directions and traverses the boundaries of current knowledge. During the 2016 UCLA Undergraduate Research Week undergraduate Bruins helped add to this ever-broadening field with their academic research and scholarly exploration.

Undergraduate Research Week (URW) is an annual, week-long program created to promote and celebrate UCLA research as well as give undergraduate students the opportunity to present their own academic findings to faculty, fellow students and alumni. During this year’s research week, students participated by presenting research and competed in various competitions including research posters, oral presentations and for the Dean's Prize Awards for outstanding research.

For the second year in a row, alumni played a large role in URW. Due to engagement fostered by Partnership UCLA, alumni connected with students as spectators and guest judges for both the poster and oral presentation competitions. The augmentation of alumni engagement allowed students to converse and learn from alumni who work in an array of academic and professional fields. Nearly 80 alumni attended events, some multiple times, over the course of the week.

Assistant Director, Partnership UCLA Deborah Lin says the week of research-focused events “gives students a real-life model for the world of academic research and the ability to network with alumni.”

A poster exhibition was held on May 24 in Pauley Pavilion where nearly 650 posters were on display with a competition being conducted throughout the day. Students were able to opt into the competition that was divided into two sessions, consisting of 80 and 60 entries respectively. At the end of each session, student posters were ranked on a 1–10 scale by distinguished alumni judges with the average of each poster determining the final score.

Later on in the week students competed in an oral presentation competition held in the Powell Library rotunda. Broken into multiple sessions, students gave thought-provoking, 10-minute oral presentations on topics ranging from the impact of social media and the desire for fame to Muslim women in art. The breadth of research presented made visible the academic rigor and exploration being conducted by undergraduates at UCLA.

Closing the week, receptions and award ceremonies were held in the Powell Library rotunda to announce the winners of the week’s competitions. Although not ranked by place, awards and prizes were given to the highest evaluated posters and oral presentations, with 50 prizes in total. The awards and reception for Outstanding Oral Presentation and Outstanding Poster took place on Thursday, May 26 while the ceremony for the Dean’s Prize Awards was held on Friday, May 27.

Yet the week was not merely a competition of peers. URW was a celebration and recognition of the research conducted by UCLA undergraduates and the overall Bruin community. Presenter Stephanie Coyne perfectly captured the heart and essence of URW stating, “It enabled me to not just be a student at UCLA, but to actively participate in all of that which is UCLA, namely, a book that is forever being written and revised as knowledge, research and understanding of the human experience.”