COD Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Committee on Diversity (COD) was started in order to assess disciplinary demographics and address minority representation in biological anthropology.  A survey of U.S. programs of physical/biological anthropology indicated a diversity bottleneck at the transition from undergraduate to graduate programs.

To address this bottleneck, the COD sponsors a yearly Committee on Diversity Undergraduate Research Symposium.    

Any abstract with an undergraduate as the first author is welcome.  All undergraduates are eligible to participate.  This year, abstracts are due January 31, 2025.

Please encourage your undergraduates to apply for this event!

Abstract Preparation and Submission: The COD Undergraduate Research Symposium has an online application process; the application will be available here following the e-mails of abstract acceptance for the main meetings.

Requirements: The submission of structured abstracts, following the format used in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. This format includes a few sentences each on Background, Methods, Results, and a Conclusion. Note that this format is different than the AABA abstract format used in the main meetings.

Qualifications: Any abstract submitted to the main meeting that has an undergraduate as first author can be considered provided that
1) the abstract is rewritten to comply with the structured format; and
2) it is submitted for the Undergraduate Research Symposium by the January 31, 2025 deadline.

Note that the COD Undergraduate Research Symposium abstract application is a separate process from the main submission.  If you have also submitted your abstract to the main meetings, you will be asked to notify the committee during the application process.

Mentoring Process: Each undergraduate will be paired with a graduate student who will provide mentoring advice on poster development and the poster ‘talk’. Graduate students are encouraged to volunteer to serve as reviewers/mentors (please see below).


Event: The URS will be on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in the early evening. Details will be sent to successful applicants regarding their particular cohort and their live session(s).

Graduate Student Volunteers: Graduate students interested in abstract review and undergraduate mentoring should please contact Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler (cwallsch@spu.edu).

Registration: Undergraduates participating in the symposium will receive complementary AABA meeting registration. Successful applicants will be registered automatically. Please DO NOT register on your own for the meeting.

Apply here!

Committee Chairs

Cara Wall-Scheffler

Marcie Myers

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