The Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize recognizes excellent research and effective use of library resources by Chapman University undergraduate students. Applicants are asked to write an essay about their selection, evaluation, and use of library resources for work on a research paper or project. Judges will be looking for originality, depth, or sophistication in the use of library resources and information literacy as demonstrated in the essay and other application materials. Winners will receive a certificate of achievement and a cash prize, be recognized on the Leatherby Library’s blog, and have their winning applications showcased in the Chapman University Digital Commons, along with an invitation to have their final project published there.

To be eligible, an applicant must:

  1. Be a Chapman University undergraduate (all undergraduate class levels and majors are eligible).
  2. Have completed all or a portion of a research paper or project for any past or current Chapman University undergraduate course.
  3. Agree to have one's work on display in a library exhibit and/or the Leatherby Libraries website, which may include excerpts from the essay or other parts of the application.

Application Guidelines page

Please contact Taylor Greene at tgreene@chapman.edu with any questions.

Apply to the 2023-2024 prize here: URP Submission Form

Deadline: Applications for the 2024 Undergraduate Research Prize are due by 11:59 pm on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

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Winners from 2024

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1st Place Contest Entry: Examining Students’ Perception of & Experiences in STEM Course Office Hours, Gabriella Dauber

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2nd Place Contest Entry: What's Your Hip-Hop Story? How Authenticity has Simultaneously Fought and Imposed the Commercialization of Rap, Heather Ulwick

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3rd Place Contest Entry: Cultural Attitudes Towards Ethnic Cuisine in Italy, Rachel Berns

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3rd Place Research Paper: Cultural Attitudes Towards Ethnic Cuisine in Italy, Rachel Berns

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Honorable Mention Contest Entry: The Impact of External Factors on Urban Youth Behaviors, Erin Simmons

Winners from 2023

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1st Place Contest Entry: Understanding the Filipino/a/x American Experience in Higher Education, Myra Dayrit

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2nd Place Contest Entry: L'intégration et l’assimilation: l'expérience des descendants algériens dans la societe francais, Olivia Anderson

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3rd Place Contest Entry: Using the Scientific Method to Combat the Biological and Sociological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Aspiring Healthcare Professional’s Perspective, Isabelle Dhindsa

Winners from 2022

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1st Place Contest Entry: Designing Hollow Nanogels for Drug Delivery Applications, Mo Hijazi

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2nd Place Contest Entry: Student Governance During the Free Speech Movement, Philip Goodrich

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3rd Place Contest Entry: Legume-Rhizobium Symbiosis Phenotypes, Yoobeen Lee, Teresa Hur, Isaac Min, and Sydni Au Hoy

Winners from 2021

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1st Place Contest Entry: Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures Disorder: Treatment after the Diagnostic Odyssey, Heather Andrini, Ashley Okhovat, and Sydni Au Hoy

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2nd Place Contest Entry: Loneliness as a Predictor of Physical and Mental Health Problems in University Students, Jolie Binstock

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3rd Place Contest Entry: Sovereignty, Statehood, and Subjugation: Native Hawaiian and Japanese American Discourse over Hawaiian Statehood, Nicole Saito

Winners from 2019

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1st Place Contest Entry: Countering the Current: The Function of Cinematic Waves in Communist vs. Capitalist Societies, Maddie Gwinn

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1st Place Research Paper: Countering the Current: The Function of Cinematic Waves in Communist vs. Capitalist Societies, Maddie Gwinn

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2nd Place Contest Entry: International Adoption: Its Rise in the United States and Downfall in the Education System, Nicole Williams

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3rd Place Contest Entry: Aesthetic Activism: Protest Art in the Delano Grape Strike, Felicia Viano

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Honorable Mention Contest Entry: Consonant Acquisition in Infants with Cochlear Implants and Their Normal-Hearing Peers, Minh-Chau Vu

Winners from 2018

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1st Place Contest Entry: Provisional Patent Research Process, Joshua Goldfaden

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2nd Place Contest Entry: Piracy, Policy, and Pandora: Outdated Copyright in a Digital World, Stephanie Caress

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3rd Place Contest Entry: Sulamani Temple at the Bagan Archaeological Site: Works of Art and Circumambulation in an Active Buddhist Site, Lauren Ogie

Winners from 2017

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1st Place Contest Entry: Critical Media Literacy: Liberating the "Criminal" and Empowering African American Males, Talia Cain

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2nd Place Contest Entry: Patient Activation Among Diverse Populations: A Systematic Review, Megan Kenney

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2nd Place Research Paper: Patient Activation Among Diverse Populations: A Systematic Review, Megan Kenney

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3rd Place Contest Entry: “Cry ‘Havoc!’ And Let Slip the Dogs of War!”: The Canine Experience in the A.E.F., Amanda Larsh

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3rd Place Research Paper: “Cry ‘Havoc!’ And Let Slip the Dogs of War!”: The Canine Experience in the A.E.F., Amanda Larsh

Winners from 2016

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1st Place Contest Entry: The Effectiveness of Yoga Therapy on an Adult, Post-Stroke Population: A Systematic Review, Baylor E. Hogan

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1st Place Research Paper: The Effectiveness of Yoga Therapy on an Adult, Post-Stroke Population: A Systematic Review, Baylor E. Hogan

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2nd Place Contest Entry: From a Chat in the Parlor to Viral Music Videos: An Analysis of Music as a Social Occasion, Emma F. Plotnik

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3rd Place Contest Entry: “The Good of the Country Rises Above Party”: Roosevelt, La Guardia, and O’Connor and the Works Progress Administration in New York City During the Great Depression, Kristine Avena

Winners from 2015

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1st Place Contest Entry: Moviegoers and the Moon in 1953, Hannah E. Gary

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1st Place Research Paper: Moviegoers and the Moon in 1953, Hannah E. Gary

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2nd Place Contest Entry: Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a Veteran Population: Efficacy of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Therapies, Brooke D. Snelgrove

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2nd Place Research Paper: Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a Veteran Population: Efficacy of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Therapies, Brooke D. Snelgrove

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3rd Place Contest Entry: "Make it a Woman's World": The 1911 California Woman's Suffrage Campaign, Sarah E. Smith

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Honorable Mention Contest Entry: A “Land You Could Not Escape yet Almost Didn’t Want to Leave:” Japanese American Identity in Manzanar Internment Camp Gardens, McKenzie P. Tavoda

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Honorable Mention Research Paper: A “Land You Could Not Escape yet Almost Didn’t Want to Leave:” Japanese American Identity in Manzanar Internment Camp Gardens, McKenzie P. Tavoda

Winners from 2014

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1st Place Research Paper: Conflicting Definitions of Relief: Life in Refugee Camps after the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, Emily Neis

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2nd Place Research Paper: Effects of Cognitive Interventions on the Cognition of Patients Diagnosed With Dementia, Kiersten Kelly

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3rd Place Research Paper: The Descent Unseen: Greece’s Unappreciated Place in British Political History, Kenneth Schneider