The National Conference on Undergraduate Research attracted more than 5,000 student researchers from around the country this week—and nearly 500 of them were from Virginia Commonwealth University.
VCU News spoke with VCU students on the conference floor and learned about their research. Read about what two VCUarts students thought of this experience.
Elizabeth Delcid
Junior, Dance + Choreography, School of the Arts, and Psychology, College of Humanities and Sciences
Project title: Bridging the Gap: Developing Choreographic Skills at the Bates Dance Festival
Can you explain your research in three sentences or less?
I attended a dance festival to explore and immerse myself in a collaborative environment with emerging artists and professional artists. I wanted to explore the art form of choreography and the variety of methods that there are to choreography.
What drew you to this line of research and why do you think it’s important?
I think my background in dance and psychology. As seniors in choreography, we have to create a large project where we create a work. I wanted to get a headstart on that project and how I want to go about it. I also wanted to see the different psychological aspects of how a rehearsal space is constructed and managed.
What does the experience of being a part of NCUR mean to you as a student-researcher?
It means a lot to me because I think there are a lot of other areas being represented but being able to represent the arts at NCUR is very important to me. In larger research conference environments, arts can sometimes be overlooked while there are a lot of more STEM-focused projects.
Evelyn Squires
Freshman, Honors College, Art Foundation going into Graphic Design, School of the Arts
Project title: Missing Depictions of Western Black Africans and Luso-African Ivory Carvings in 16th Century Renaissance Paintings
Can you explain your research in three sentences or less?
Basically, I am arguing that there is a piece of Black History, specifically representations of Western Black Africans in paintings, that have been overlooked in art history. My research combines cultural and historical analysis to examine the paintings and argue that there are more of them out there than previously documented and that to fully understand Black history art scholars need to go back and look at these paintings and their depictions of people.
What drew you to this line of research and why do you think it’s important?
I’ve always been interested in Black history and art history. I am from Mississippi and moved to South Carolina. I grew up around a lot of the Black community but then I would go to western art history courses, and you do not see that demographic reflected in your standardized courses.
What does the experience of being a part of NCUR mean to you as a student-researcher?
It’s been amazing to be here because I get to see so many people I already know from VCU, but I also get to meet so many new people from all over. I think all the interaction of all the different areas of study is also really interesting and unique to NCUR. It’s great to be able to learn and take from each other. Those intersections between areas of study is where innovative solutions often come from.
This article was originally published by VCU News. Lead photo courtesy of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).
