The undergraduate research symposium hosted research from a variety of different colleges across the University of Idaho.
Catherine Yenne, ASUI vice president and UI senior, presented two projects at the symposium, one through the Martin Institute and one as her senior thesis for the Honor’s Society.
Her poster for the Martin Institute had to be under the topic of Indigenous Studies, but students who received the scholarship could go in any direction they chose.
The poster for the Martin’s Scholars program dealt with Canadian policy toward boarding schools for indigenous children in the 19th century. Yenne recommended the U.S. should improve relationships with indigenous people.
Yenne said her other poster discussed whether or not the selection process for Idaho Supreme Court judges impacts productivity.
“I am basically doing an analysis of the Idaho Supreme Court and how those justices are chosen to sit on the bench. So, you can either be appointed if someone steps down or, if they are unable to serve out the rest of their term, they’re appointed by the governor. Or, there’s a nonpartisan election which is the more typical route,” Yenne said.
Another poster at the symposium was authored by Ty Unruh, a senior, and had been written entirely in German. It detailed how the edelweiss flower became a symbol of Austria and Switzerland.
“What I found is edelweiss as a cultural symbol of the Alps is a relatively new phenomenon, only getting started in 1875 and gaining popularity with some of the monarch and upper-class British tourists that brought it home as souvenirs. And from then on, it caught on and became the preeminent symbol of the Alps,” Unruh said.
Evan Maynard, a landscape architecture student, did his research on the aquifer Moscow receives its water from.
“Wanapum Aquifer is Moscow’s main aquifer — or resource for drinking water — so basically I’m just explaining where our water comes from, why our water quality is what it is because everyone kind of complains,” Maynard said.
McKenna Ford, a junior in agricultural education, did research to see if optimism and grit played a part in how FFA students performed in the career development events.
“When I competed in FFA in high school, the top four places in Washington state got to move on from district to state level, and in Idaho it’s only the top one. So, we started at the local level in North Idaho and we’re hoping to expand it later on,” Ford said.
Ford said the students took surveys, which evaluated grit and optimism, and then were asked to build card towers at career development events the FFA students did.
Ford said they found students who evaluated their grit as high and optimism as low had the least amount of difference in the first card tower and the second tower they were asked to build, while students while students with low grit and low optimism had a higher difference.
Since Ford is a junior, she said she would work on the project again next year and gather more data.
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected]