UCM students were recently honored for their research papers through the McNair Scholars program and will be published in the fall issue of the McNair Journal.
The first-place winner was Danielle Buchanan-Burke, senior anthropology major, with her paper, “Testing Sex Determination Techniques in a Known Sample of Hispanic Individuals.” Second place went to Noah Goodwin, senior art education and studio painting major, for his paper, “Painting the Suburban Landscape” and third place went to Matthew Enlow for his paper, “Multiplicative Factorization in Numerical Semigroups.”
Buchanan-Burke said the McNair Scholars Program is an achievement program designed to prepare first-generation undergraduate students for graduate studies.
“As a scholar, the program provides you with research training, GRE prep, preparing your graduate school applications and provides you with valuable information for pursuing your academic career,” she said. “Winning first place to me means many different things. First, it acknowledges all the hard work and dedication that I have put into my studies. It also assures me that I have chosen the right field: forensic anthropology. By winning first place, it encourages me to pursue my graduate degree and provides me the assurance that I am prepared to do so.”
Goodwin said he was honored to receive second place for his research paper, especially because he knew how hard the 14 members of his cohort worked on their research.
“Receiving first, second or third allows a member’s full paper to be published in the annual McNair Journal as opposed to just the abstract,” he said. “I am interested in pursuing a master’s in fine arts and researching how other artists and writers related to my work has helped strengthen my portfolio.”
Robert Hallis, professor of library services, was one of Goodwin’s mentors for the paper.
“Noah’s work provided thought-provoking views of landscapes we often overlook, and this recognition is special because artistic contributions are frequently overlooked in the scholarly conversation,” Hallis said.
For more information about the McNair Scholars, email Margaret shull at [email protected].