UMA President Jen Cushman welcomes everyone to the UMA Student Research Conference.

Various scholars and community members, including US Senators Susan Collins and Angus King as well as Governor Janet Mills, share their personal reflections on UMA's theme, Education as a Public Good.

Presentations on a variety of topics by students who could not attend in real time.

Chair: Prof. Juyoung Shim Moderator: Prof. David Welch Augusta in-person: Randall 248 Bangor in-person: Eastport 136

Chair: Prof. James Cook Moderator: Prof. Valerie Rubinsky Augusta in-person: Katz 7 Bangor in-person: Eastport 105

Session Q&A Recording: https://video.maine.edu/media/Exploring+Minds%2C+Bodies%2C+and+Art+Q%26A+-+UMA+SRC+2024/1_kb6dtys2 Chair: Prof. Sarah Hentges Moderator: Prof. Valerie Rubinsky Augusta in-person: Katz 7 Bangor in-person: Eastport 105

Chair: Prof. James Cook Moderator: Librarian Donna Maher Augusta in-person: Katz 7 Bangor in-person: Eastport 105

UMA President Jen Cushman hosts a community discussion on the academic theme, Education as a Public Good. All conference participants are encouraged to attend! Augusta in-person: Katz 7 Bangor in-person: Eastport 105

Chair: Prof. Amy Rahn Moderator: Prof. Robert Kellerman Augusta in-person: Randall 248 Bangor in-person: Eastport 136

This panel by the student researchers “Team CHASM” includes four presentations about an ongoing climate change communications research project. Presentation One discusses the difficulty of communicating complex scientific uncertainties and the growing field of narrative cognition research. Presentation Two explores the science behind whether narrative communication improves learning and understanding of data-driven uncertainty over technical description. Presentation Three discusses the research methods. Uncertain climate change data was presented in either narrative or technical format in an empirical survey. Hypotheses are that participants will: 1) better understand, 2) have a stronger emotional response; 3) and have a stronger likelihood of belief or behavior change; and that data-uncertainty 4) will be better understood by participants, 5) without undermining participant confidence in the uncertain data when using narrative versus technical format. Presentation Four discusses the statistical analyses being conducted, the search for meaningful relationships in respondents’ answers, and presents our early results. Chair: Prof. Kati Corlew Moderator: Librarian Donna Maher Augusta in-person: Katz 7 Bangor in-person: Eastport 105

Chair: Prof. Valerie Rubinsky Moderator: Prof. Sarah Hentges Augusta in-person: Katz 7 Bangor in-person: Eastport 105

Chair: Prof. Robert Kellerman Moderator: Prof. Michelle Lisi Augusta in-person: Randall 248 Bangor in-person: Eastport 136

Chair: Prof. Greg Fahy Moderator: Prof. Lorien Lake-Corral Augusta in-person: Katz 7 Bangor in-person: Eastport 105

Join us for a virtual social hour where conference attendees can continue discussions, congratulate one another, and celebrate everyone's work. We'll (hopefully) also be announcing UMA's 2024-25 Academic Theme! Augusta in-person: Katz 7 Bangor in-person: Eastport 105