Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity Scholarship-New Freshman

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. For more information and to view the available research opportunities click here. They are also listed below under the scholarship criteria.

The following criteria shall be used in the annual selection of the recipient(s):
1. Applicants must be new freshman
2. Applicants must have a high school GPA of 3.0 or higher

Students selected for the URSCA scholarship will have the opportunity to work in one of the areas below. 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 recipient’s first or second choice 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 Consumers (Dairy) – 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)