Newswise — Washington, DC-The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) will be presenting Dr. Kerry K. Karukstis, Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Faculty at Harvey Mudd College, where she holds the Joseph B. Platt Chair in Effective Teaching, as well as Dr. Joyce Kinkead, Professor of English and Associate Vice President for Research at Utah State University, the CUR Fellows Award. The awards will be presented at the 2012 CUR Conference on June 24, at The College of New Jersey.
These awards are presented to two CUR members who have developed nationally-respected research programs involving undergraduate students. Each CUR Fellow is also awarded a CUR Student Research Fellowship that they will give to a deserving undergraduate at their respective institutions. CUR Fellows Award recipients have established outstanding records of obtaining funding for their collaborative research with their students, and have published research findings with undergraduate co-authors. They reach out to students of all backgrounds, incorporate research activities into the courses they teach, and lead efforts to institutionalize research on their campuses and across the nation. In sum, they are leaders and role models for countless faculty and students.
CUR President William Campbell stated “the CUR Fellows Award is the highest honor CUR can bestow. Kerry and Joyce have earned it by providing research, scholarship, and creative opportunities for undergraduate students; serving as inspirations and mentors for colleagues; and encouraging all of us to engage and improve our undergraduate research programs.” Karukstis has been a long-standing member of the Council on Undergraduate Research, where she has served as councilor for the Chemistry Division and currently serves as Emeritus President Councilor. She has conducted externally-funded research (NSF-RUI, NIH-AREA, ACS-PRF, Research Corporation, Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award 1994), in collaboration with over 100 undergraduates at Harvey Mudd, and publishes regularly with undergraduate co-authors. She maintains an active research laboratory with undergraduates as collaborators. Her research interests focus on using spectroscopic and light scattering techniques to characterize the structure and physical properties of surfactant aggregates and macromolecular host guest systems.
Kinkead has been overseeing and enhancing undergraduate research at Utah State University for more than a decade. A professor of English, she founded the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research (UCUR) and created the annual undergraduate research day at the state capitol. She is a member of the Conference on College Communication and Composition’s Undergraduate Research Task Force and Committee and serves as a consultant-evaluator for Writing Program Administration (WPA) and Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. She served as Councilor in CUR’s Division of Undergraduate Research Program Directors. She has been a Fulbright Scholar in Sweden and Cyprus.
###Council on Undergraduate Research: The Council on Undergraduate Research (www.cur.org) supports and facilitates high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. Over 650 institutions and nearly 8000 individuals belong to CUR. CUR believes that the best way to capture student interest and create enthusiasm for a discipline is through research in close collaboration with faculty members.
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