Undergraduate Scholars to Present Research at Honors Convocation

Oct. 6, 2006 -- Two undergraduate scholars, Jenelle Marie Clark of Cheyenne and Karissa McNiven of Riverton, will present their independent research during the Keith and Thyra Thomson Honors Convocation Friday, Oct. 13, at 3 p.m. in the University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences auditorium.

College of Arts and Sciences students who, during the previous academic year made the President's, Dean's, or Freshman honor rolls, will be recognized. A&S alumnus Doug Owsley, curator and division head for physical anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, will be the the keynote speaker. He will discuss "17th Century Hard Knocks: Life in Jamestown." Owsley is a 2006 UW Distinguished Alumnus.

The college also will showcase UW dance students performing "Of a Mind," which was presented last spring at the American College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

A student in both the Department of Art and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, Clark researches how these disciplines are interrelated. Clark says she is fascinated by incorporating art and landscape using a form of sculpture known as Earthworks.

Funded by an A&S Independent Study Award, Clark explores Earthworks created by prominent artists in this field, Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt, and Walter de Maria. Her talk, "Changing the American Landscape: Environmental Awareness through Earthworks Art," will show how viewing such sculptures helps individuals see the western landscape more completely and personally.

McNiven is a senior majoring in zoology and physiology with a minor in chemistry. She worked in a UW research lab that studies hypovolemic shock, a form of shock in which the heart is unable to supply the body with sufficient blood. McNiven's research is funded by an EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Fellowship and by the National Science Foundation. It centers on the use of over-the-counter acid reducers to influence the tolerance of heat stress.

The Keith and Thyra Thomson Honors Convocation is open to the public and free of charge. For more information, visit the Web site at www.uwyo.edu/A&S, or call the College of Arts and Sciences Development Office at (307) 766-2755.

Posted on Friday, October 06, 2006