Five UMKC students will present their research on topics ranging from civil rights movement photography to exoplanet habitability to historic preservation in Kansas City at the annual Lucerna Symposium scheduled from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 11 via Zoom. 

The five students are among the 10 undergraduates whose scholarship appears in the new volume of Lucerna, the undergraduate research journal of UMKC produced by UMKC Honors College students that publishes the work of students in all disciplines. UMKC Provost Jennifer Lundgren will speak at the Lucerna Symposium, which will conclude with a panel discussion by presenters.

The 10 contributors and their topics are Samantha N. Hays, “Failing the Fight: The Historical Context of US Environmental Conservation and How Endangered Species Are Mismanaged in the Current Legislature; Sophie Jess, “Panhandlers: Why Kansas Citians Can’t (Pan) Handle Them;” Anna Ryan, “From Decreptitude to Diamonds: The Value of Preserving and Repurposing Historic Buildings in the Kansas City Area;” Lillian Taylor, “Intersex Adolescents and Medically Accepted Abuse;” Johnny Waggoner, “The Promise of Progress: Apollo and American Values;” William Burrus, “European Rail Nationalization and Income Inequality: An Empirical Analysis;” Annie Spencer, “Finding Eleanor of Acquitaine;” Yujay Masah, “Civil Rights Photography and Consensus Memory;” Kylie Brous, “The Mystery of Negative and Imaginary Logarithms;” and Gregory R. Troiani, “Thermal Constraints on Exoplanet Habitability.”

The faculty advisors of contributors also will be recognized at the Lucerna Symposium. They include Peter Bayless, Virginia Blanton, Diane Mutti Burke, Richard Delaware, Sandra Enriquez, Zhongjin Li, Lee Likins, Jess Magaña, Linda Mitchell, Aaron Reed, Paul Rulis, April Watson and Henrietta Rix Wood.

The Lucerna Symposium is free and open to the public. Register for the event online. For more information about the symposium, contact Henrietta Rix Wood.