Dear all, 

   There is a paid, undergraduate opportunity for eligible students for Spring 2023.  You can read  about the research opportunity and also the requirements below, and if you are eligible and interested, please fill out the attached application and return it to me: Solange Muñoz ([log in to unmask]) by November 21.  If you have any questions you can also reach out to me or directly to Dr. Kerr.  

Colleagues, please let your students know about this great opportunity.  thanks!

Sincerely, Solange. 

Departmental Research Assistantship Program 

The Office of Undergraduate Research & Fellowships would like to announce our newest program to increase undergraduate research, the URF Departmental Research Assistants Program. The Program will begin this January and run to May 2023. The program will provide direct funding for one eligible undergraduate student per UTK/UTIA undergraduate-major serving academic department. The new program will provide funding of $1500.00 for departments to hire one undergraduate student researcher in their unit during spring 2023. Assistance will be distributed by the department to the selected student as an employee and taxes will be deducted. Please be aware that this is an entry-level position, and not for students who are already conducting research with faculty. (Please see eligibility below.) 

Application due by Monday, November 21, 2023. 

Project Description:  

Dr. Matthew Kerr – The “Tuskega” Project: Geographic Investigations of an Antebellum Mansion and Plantation Site in Southeastern Tennessee 

The student hired for this project will join an interdisciplinary research partnership between the UT Department of Geography and Sustainability and Tennessee State Parks aimed at asking and answering stakeholder-driven geographic research questions regarding Fort Loudoun State Historic Park and the nearby McGhee-Carson Wildlife Management Area, which is the original site of Charles McClung McGhee’s “Tuskega” antebellum mansion and plantation. The selected student will collaborate with Dr. Kerr and Park Ranger Lauren Baghetti to develop a research question in their area of interest (e.g., physical geography, human geography, GIS, sustainability) and will work to answer that question as part of our team. Current student-led projects include (1) investigating patterns of land use and forest succession using eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) trees and (2) using archival research methods to locate and document information, artifacts, and ephemera related to the McGhee-Carson site that are held in public and private collections throughout eastern Tennessee. The selected student will present their project at one or more events/conferences on the UT campus and may receive additional funding to travel to and present at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers in November of 2023.