Mary (Holly) Lafferty Among KU Undergraduate Research Award Winners

2013 Jan 23

Fifty-eight University of Kansas students will work on research projects funded by the Undergraduate Research Award program this semester, including Mary (Holly) Lafferty, of Fairway.

Lafferty, a graduate of Shawnee Mission East High School, is a junior in ecology and evolutionary biology. Her project is a study of nitrogen isotopes in two species of minnows to understand the effects of starvation.

"The Undergraduate Research Award, or UGRA, program has been around KU for over 20 years," said John Augusto, director of the Center for Undergraduate Research. "This class of recipients will be the first class awarded by the Center for Undergraduate Research. As impressive as the students' research proposals are, what is as equally impressive is the number of outstanding mentors involved with these projects."

The research awards are funded by a partnership between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Research and Graduate Studies, and the Office of the Provost. Proposals were selected on the merit of the applicant's proposal, the applicant's academic record, and the recommendation from a faculty member who is familiar with the applicant and the proposed project.