The Week in UR - March 13, 2026

Happy Friday! And a joyous Spring Break to one and all. To say that the past few weeks have been busy ones in the life of UR at TSC would be laughably inadequate. And so I won’t say it. Because I daresay the English language is incapable of capturing the full extent of peripatetic energy that has been pulsing through the UR Program oe’r these waning weeks of spring semester. And I’m an English professor, so I suppose I get to have an opinion on these things. But spring semester is the busiest season in the world of UR, and for TSC’s UR Program, it has been the busiest yet. Like ever. So what is it that has kept our little UR alliance so active these past few weeks? Well, let me explain.

First and foremost, we are just off a fine jaunt to the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference (FURC), now the nation’s second largest conference on undergraduate research. This year’s conference was held at the University of North Florida, in Jacksonville. A record 11 TSC students were selected to present at FURC this year, though we were able to sponsor travel for just 7. One of the unique challenges of operationalizing UR at a community college, we’re finding, is that students sometimes transfer before they can access all of the research experiences we have on offer, which is, unfortunately, what transpired in this case. But of course, we’re proud of each and every one of our researchers selected to present at FURC. Our student researchers presented their research alongside students from colleges and universities throughout the state of Florida, including Florida State University, the University of Florida, the University of South Florida, and other research-intensive institutions. And…after a hard couple days of conferencing, we may have also had a bit of time to enjoy some of the abundant natural resources on offer in Northeast Florida, which just happens to be my birthplace. Here’s our group at the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and Jacksonville’s Kathryn Abbey Hannah Park. A great time was had by all, as you can see. Rising TSC sophomores should be on the lookout for upcoming announcements about the opportunity to present at FURC 2027!

From left, Dr. Daniel Beugnet, Halden Euridge, Mikayli Ingram, Vanessa De Freitas, Kathryn Kofler, Moises Chacon, Sunny Thomas, and Dr. Joseph McNeil

Annabeth Norris

Halden Euridge

Annabeth Norris, Halden Euridge, Moises Chacon, Vanessa De Freitas, and Mikayli Ingram

And speaking of large undergraduate research conferences, you may have noticed I said that FURC is the second largest undergraduate research conference in the country. “And so what of the first?” One might ask. “And might TSC students have the opportunity to present there, as well?” Well. Let me tell you. The largest undergraduate research conference in the country would be none other than the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). And yes indeed! For the first time in these pages, or anywhere else, for that matter, I am at once delighted, elated, and positively overjoyed to announce that 3 TSC students were selected to present at NCUR this year, the nation’s largest, and most competitive, undergraduate research conference. Our three TSC presenters, Moises Chacon, Sunny Thomas, and Mikayli Ingram, were selected to present at NCUR through a rigorous, double-blind review process, carried out by disciplinary experts in the presenters’ respective fields. We’re all so proud of their incredible accomplishment. And so our three TSC NCUR presenters will be off to Richmond, Virginia, in the coming weeks, and you’ll certainly be hearing more about their experiences in a forthcoming issue of The Week in UR. Moises, Sunny, and Mikayi, congratulations on this incredible accomplishment.

And speaking of conferences (It is conference season, after all.), we’re gearing up for our own campus-based Undergraduate Research Symposium, which is now just a little less than three weeks away! TSC’s annual Undergraduate Research Symposium will take place Wednesday, April 1, at locations across TSC’s main campus. This year, more than 110 TSC students were selected to present their research, and we’re anxiously anticipating their presentations. Selected presenters should be closely monitoring their TSC email accounts for additional communications about the symposium, particularly during the week of March 23, when a full conference program will be published. Additional information about presentation times and locations, and other symposium-specific information, will also be sent out during that week. And presenters should remember that required visual aids are due on Monday, March 23. Lots of resources are available on the UR Symposium webpage, linked below, and the video of this week’s visual aid workshop, sponsored by OSPUR, our UR student organization and embedded below, should also be helpful to presenters working on their visual aids.

https://www.tsc.fl.edu/academics/academic-enrichment/undergraduate-research/howtoparticipate/

 

That about does it for this Week in UR. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with some additional symposium-specific updates. Until then, I wish everyone a splendid Spring Break, even, or maybe even especially, if you’re putting some final touches on a research presentation. Because these things are really a labor of love, aren’t they? And what better way is there to spend one’s time. Nonetheless, I do hope all readers of this newsletter take at least a little time for some much-deserved rest and recreation amid this little interregnum that we get at this particularly frenetic time of the academic year. Happy Spring Break, everyone.