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2023 Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award Winners

Published on December 14, 2023

Five undergraduate students are the first to win a Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award (WLURA) for their outstanding research. 

Award recipients, Sarah Al-Saoud, Katarina Jovanovic, Richard Martinez Loyola, Caitlin E. Mungall, and Amber Yixuan Wu, come from a wide range of disciplines across Western. Their research projects cover topics such as neurodevelopmental disorders, children’s literature, pictorial encoding, polycystic ovary syndrome, and even the origins of life. 

“There is a tendency to think that only professors and perhaps graduate students ‘do research.’ But in our university context, undergraduates are engaged in various types of research as well, and some of it is highly sophisticated,” said Jason Dyck, current chair of the WLURA Adjudication Committee. 

The WLURAs are a new initiative by Western Libraries to highlight the diversity of research outputs by undergraduate students. Applications are due each year on April 30. 

To be considered for a WLURA, applicants need to submit a research project from one of their courses and answer four reflection questions on their research process. They also need to submit a bibliography in the citation style of their discipline. 

Winners receive a certificate and a cheque for $1,000. Their projects are available for viewing on Western’s institutional repository Scholarship@Western. 

“I'm delighted to see my work published and searchable now on Google Scholar!” said WLURA winner and Medical Biophysics and Biochemistry student, Amber Yixuan Wu. 

WLURAS 2023

Sarah Al-Saoud