Undergraduate Research
Welcome to the Office of Undergraduate Research
O.U.R. SUMMER 2025 EVENTS
Congratulations to the August Undergraduate Researcher of the Month, Cody Bishir!
Cody Bishir is a senior majoring in biomedical sciences and will graduate in the spring of 2026. He is currently in his fifth semester working with Dr. Liangyong Mei in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, where they explore the synthesis of biological and pharmaceutically significant scaffolds using visible light photoredox catalysis. During his time with the Mei Group, Cody has presented their work at multiple on-campus symposia, including the 2024 and 2025 Advancements in Research, Inquiry and Scholarship Exhibition (ARISE), the 2024 Undergraduate-Graduate Learning, Inquiry, and Distinctive Experimentation Symposium (U-GLIDE), the 2025 Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship Symposium (SOARS) and the statewide 2025 Florida Undergraduate Research Conference (FURC) at the University of South Florida this past February. Cody has also participated twice in the 成人大片College of Arts and Sciences’ Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), participating in both 2024 and 2025 with the Mei Group. Working in Dr. Mei’s lab has allowed Cody to gain and refine skills in both a laboratory and data processing setting and publish work as a first author in the journal ACS Omega. For Cody, his favorite part of the research process has been the unpredictability of experiments, where something new and different would happen often, and the opportunity to present his findings at conferences.
After he graduates from 成人大片next spring, Cody plans to pursue a PhD in organic chemistry. His advice to undergraduate students seeking research experiences is to “Just reach out and get involved early, it can be as simple as speaking to a professor in passing whose research you have interest in. The experience you gain from research goes much further than you could imagine and it all starts from introducing yourself.”
The 2025 SOARS Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year
Congratulations to Dr. Jacqueline Meier, assistant professor of anthropology at the 成人大片, on being named the SOARS 2025 Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year! One of Dr. Meier’s students who nominated her wrote, “Dr. Meier’s mentorship has profoundly shaped my academic and professional journey … She has impacted many students through both her courses and her research lab, doing everything in her power to help her students succeed. Because of her, I have found a field of research that I wish to engage with for the rest of my career.”
Dr. Meier’s award was presented as part of the 2025 Showcase of Osprey Achievements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS), which was held on Friday, April 11 in the John A. Delaney Student Union.
Congratulations, Dr. Jacqueline Meier, on this well-deserved honor and achievement!