Richard Macksey National Undergrad Humanities Research Symposium

The UCI School of Humanities supports undergraduate research at UCI and for opportunities outside of UCI.

Every year, the School sponsors students to present their research at the Richard Macksey  National Undergrad Humanities Research Symposium at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore! Symposium participants also have the opportunity to develop their presentation into articles for publication in the Macksey Journal.

For the 2024 Symposium, taking place March 21-23, 2024, on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus in Baltimore, the School of Humanities and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) will sponsor up to six Humanities majors to present their paper at the Symposium and reimburse them for registration, lodging, and airfare up to $1,500!

To apply for funding from the School of Humanities and UROP, you must:

  1. find and work with a faculty member as your mentor;
  2. submit your abstract, research paper (if completed), and an endorsement from your faculty mentor to humcareerdevelopment@uci.edu by November 13, 2023 (before you submit your application online for the Symposium at Johns Hopkins University);
  3. plan to present at the UCI Undergraduate Research Symposium in May 2024.

Learn more about previous Macksey participants and their research below! 

2023 Macksey participants - Coming soon!

2021 Macksey participants:

Michael Inbar
Inbar is a junior at UCI, and is currently pursuing a bachelor's in history. She is graduating a year early and plans to take a gap year with City Year, an Americorps program that works to confront education inequities in the public K-12 system. Inbar plans to return to school for graduate studies after her gap year. In her free time, Inbar enjoys reading, going on hikes, playing her euphonium, and exploring new places in the Irvine area.
Localized Voices within the Mexican Oil Industry
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Audrey Garcia
Audrey Garcia is a recent graduate from the School of Humanities who double majored in Comparative Literature and Philosophy. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Audrey was involved including UCI’S FRESH Hub Basic Needs Center, UCI’s Global Connect, and assisted in the French Department. As an undergraduate researcher, she has conducted two original research projects for both UROP and its summer program. This spring, she will present her project “Captain America: Disassembling Traditional Narratives” at UC Irvine’s Undergraduate Research Symposium and Johns Hopkins Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium. Audrey has spoken about her research experience on UCI’s podcast “We Are UCI'' and was interviewed for an article on undergraduate research for UCI’s Division on Undergraduate Education. Audrey is now preparing for graduate school where she aims to pursue a Ph.D. in English and plans on working in education in her gap year.
Caption America: Disassembling Traditional Narratives
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Arina Lurie
Arina Lurie is a 4th year art history student and an incoming MA student of art history. She became interested in art and history at a young age and learned about combining the two through an AP Art History class in high school. Since coming to UCI, she has been lucky enough to take extremely diverse classes with new subjects and areas of focus taught by the best professors. She enjoys studying art involving women, food, labor and socialism, colonialism and the impacts and effects of war. Some of her favorite artists include Vincent Van Gogh, Lorraine O’Grady, Ernst Kirchner, Faith Ringgold, Alison Watt, and Käthe Kollwitz.
The Personal is Public and Political: Käthe Kollwitz’s Final Lithograph
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