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Undergraduate Research: Awards, Events, and Resources

This guide provides information about AU support for undergraduate research, including events, competitions and prizes, and research methodologies.

SPA Undergraduate Research Symposium )

SPA Undergraduate Research Symposium
April 25
4:00 to 8:00 pm
Ward Terrace Level

This is an annual forum for undergraduate students to present their original scholarly and creative work before colleagues, friends, and faculty. Cash awards will be given for the best presentations, and top students will be recognized at the SPA Awards Ceremony. Presentations and Posters judged by faculty.  The deadline for proposal submission is Friday, March 21, 2014. Students can apply as a group or as an individual by registering online. Students will be asked to identify a SPA faculty sponsor and submit a 100-125 word description of your research project on the registration page.  The symposium is open to all levels of undergraduate students, from freshmen to seniors. To apply, students only need to be enrolled in a course in SPA during AY 2013-2014. Students from CAS, KSB, SIS, and SOC are welcome to present their work if it was done for an SPA course. Please be aware that the symposium uses the term “research” to include creative and performance work as well as formal research.

Intro to Political Research Spring Poster Session

Introduction to Political Research Spring Poster Session
Monday, April 28
5:15 to 6:30 pm
Ward Terrace Level

Informal judging by SPA faculty.  Open to students enrolled in GOVT-310. 

Political Theory Institute Essay Competition

Prize for Best Undergraduate Essay on Classical Liberalism
April, 2014

The Political Theory Institute awards a prize of $500 at the annual SPA Awards Ceremony.  The essay contest is open to all AU undergraduates and is intended to foster critical reflection on the key authors, concepts, and arguments of classical liberalism, including but not limited to individual liberty, equality, democracy, constitutionalism, and commerce. As used here, classical liberalism denotes a topic, not an agenda, and the prize will be given to the most intelligent and well-argued essay on these topics regardless of philosophical or political perspective. Essays about the place of classical liberalism in the American political tradition are welcome.