Students Selected for Spring 2016 Eagle SPUR Program

More than 20 University of Southern Mississippi undergraduate students have been selected for the spring 2016 class of the Eagle Scholar Program for Undergraduate Research (Eagle SPUR). The University's Center for Undergraduate Research and the Office of the Vice President for Research selected the students based on the quality of their research proposals.

These students received up to $1,000 for research grants that will be used to conduct a scholarly or creative project in collaboration with a faculty mentor. Each student will have up to one year to present their findings in a scholarly context, such as a conference paper or publication.

The new Eagle Scholars, their major, hometown, and faculty mentors include:

*Paige Allen, microbiology, Carriere, Miss. (Shahid Karim)
*Joshua Daniel Bowman, geography, Petal, Miss. (Grant Harley)
*Joel Coutu, psychology, Ocean Springs, Miss. (Hans Stadthagen/Elena Stepanova)
*Rose Curtis, chemistry, Hattiesburg (Karl Wallace)
*James Fountain, construction, Utica, Miss. (Sandeep Langar)
*Sarah Givens, dance, Hoover, Ala. (Elizabeth Lentz-Hill)
*Stephen Guthrie, geography, Purvis, Miss. (Joby Bass)
*Matthew Harris, construction, Laurel (Sandeep Langar)
*Amy Henderson, social work/political science, Navarre, Fla. (Laura Richard)
*Jamie Henton, history, Gulfport, Miss. (Douglas Bristol)
*Alexander Jackson, computing, Pass Christian, Miss. (Weihua Zhou)
*Joseph Jelinski, chemistry, Diamondhead, Miss. (Shahid Karim)
*Mary Ryan Karnes, English, Purvis, Miss. (Andrew Milward)
*Jamairus Marion, dance, Mooreville, Miss. (Elizabeth Lentz-Hill)
*Janine Nowak, polymer science, Gulfport, Miss. (Joseph Lott)
*Rachel Paris-Harbison, psychology, Daphne, Ala. (David Echevarria)
*Ivry Rayborn, psychology, Hattiesburg (Alicia Williams/Claire Kimberly)
*Mary Donise Travis, geography, Hattiesburg (Mark Miller)
*Alexis Tymkiw, marketing, Slidell, La. (Jamye Foster)
*Cheri Voth, biological sciences, Hattiesburg (Hao Xu)
*Suzete Wafford-Turner, biological sciences, Hattiesburg (Hao Xu)
*William Walker, polymer science, Magee, Miss. (Jason Azoulay)
*Aaron White, Long Beach, Miss.; and Felicia Gray, Hattiesburg, psychology (Michael Mong and Hans Stadthagen)

The Center for Undergraduate Research was established in 2011. Its mission is the enhancement of the undergraduate experience through the promotion and support of student-faculty collaborations in research, creative projects and scholarship. For more information, visit http://www.usm.edu/research/center-undergraduate-research.