New Freshman Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity Scholarship
Admitted new freshman students are invited to apply for New Freshman URSCA Scholarships. These competitive $1,000 scholarships are awarded to students interested in exploring an area of academic interest in greater depth outside of their regular classes. The scholarships are for a student's first year only and are paid out in $500 increments at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters. Through regular weekly contact with faculty mentors and other, more experienced students working in that area, recipients will have the opportunity to begin pursuing their scholarly interests in their first year at UW-Platteville. Recipients will be expected to present their accomplishments on campus by the end of their first year.
Students selected for the URSCA scholarship will have the opportunity to work within an area of interest. Applicants will have to list their top 3 choices in order of preference. Every effort will be made to place recipients with a faculty mentor working in the recipients first or second choice area.
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URSCA Areas of Interest
Number Project Title Area 1. Understanding Impacts on S. Wisconsin's Dairy Farms and Rural Communities Sociology 2. Roosting Behavior of Turkey Vultures Environmental Science 3. History of Science and Technology in Europe History 4. Developing Novel Plant Disease Management Strategies Agriculture 5. Genetic Analyses of Plant-Microbe Symbioses Agriculture 6. Isolating Novel Strains of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria From Agricultural Fields Agriculture 7. Relationship Between Stress and Sleep Quality Among Academic and Industrial Workers Business 8. Margin Management Strategies for Wisconsin Dairies Agriculture/Agribusiness 9. Animal Welfare Perceptions Among Rural & Urban Dairy Consumers - Issues and Remedies Agriculture 10. Reproduction in Dairy and Beef Animals Agriculture 11. Prototype Your Life: Exploring Entrepreneurship Mindset to Develop Success Traits Business 12. Fluorescent Staining of Mammalian Cell Organelles Biology 13. Precision Feeding Dairy Cows Using Robotic Technology Agriculture 14. Developing New Strategies for Diagnosing and Monitoring Metabolic Disease in Dairy Cows Agriculture 15. Evaluating Alternative and Byproduct Feedstuff Quality Using Rumen Cannulated Dairy Cows Agriculture 16. Porous Organic Polymers Supported Heterogeneous Metal Catalysts for Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Useful Chemicals Chemistry 17. Photon Smash: Breaking (and Making) Chemical Bonds With Light Chemistry 18. Engineering Geologic Materials for Environmental Protection Environmental Engineering 19. Computer Aided Disease Diagnosis Using Machine Learning Mechanical Engineering 20. Polymer Nanopatterning for Electronics Made From Graphene Engineering Physics 21. Energy Harvesting With Smart Materials Mechanical Engineering 22. Optical Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring Mechanical Engineering 23. Genetic Characterization of Field Mouse Species at the Sauk Prairie Recreation Area Restoration Biology 24. Microanalysis of Concrete to Understand the Science of Concrete Civil Engineering
Apply for the New Freshman URSCA Scholarship
Applicants need to apply through the UW-Platteville scholarship opportunities portal. Applicants can find the scholarship by searching for the term "URSCA."
Applicants will need to prepare answers to these three questions.
- Please describe why you selected the topic (or topics) of most interest. What interests you in those areas and/or what specific research questions might you be interested in exploring? Please limit your responses to no more than 200 words.
- Research and other scholarly activity requires persistence in order to be successful. Please describe a time where you had to persist and overcome a significant challenge as it relates to academics. Please limit your response to no more than 200 words.
- What are your career goals? How do you see the work you might do in your first year with a faculty mentor contributing to your future success? Please limit your response to no more than 200 words.
Applications are due by February 1, 2023 at 5 p.m. Central Time.