The Center for the Humanities is pleased to partner with the College of Arts and Sciences in coordinating a panel of undergraduate students who have completed a research project in the humanities. This panel will be a joint Inquiring Minds-CAS Research Celebration event.
On Wedneday, April 28th at 5pm, student panelists will discuss their experiences in finding research opportunities, presenting their research, possible funding opportunities, and the value of humaniites research in relation to their professional goals. Attendees are encouraged to come with their questions!
Register here.
Materials to save for submission: None required if you registered using the name on record with UM
Meet the Panelists:
Nhadya Lawes, a South Florida native, is a budding arts professional, currently in her third year at the University of Miami. A true interdisciplinary scholar and practitioner, her passions and studies intersect across Black Studies, Literary and Visual Cultures, and Placemaking Practices. Initially entering UM as an Undeclared major in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Humanities have truly become her academic home and guide. Majoring in English Literature with a minor in Sociology and cognate in Museum Studies, she has done work surrounding local Black arts and history, an Augmented Reality exhibition about womanhood and sculpture with the Lowe Art Museum, and research that builds connections across Black art and literature, among others.
In her sophomore year, Nhadya completed a digital humanities project as an Adobe Library Research Scholar, "A Different Image, Another Sound: Resistant Rhetoric and Black Identity", exploring social media as a space for Black creativity and assertion of selfhood. She also recently completed an Academic Enhancement Research Fellowship looking at local Black history in Miami. She created a webpage as part of her project and took the rest of her research about popular historic and contemporary Black organizations in the Miami area and turned it into a working syllabus for a proposed university course.
Nhadya's presentations have been featured at the Adobe Creative Campus Collaboration Conference, University of Miami Undergraduate Research, Creativity, and Innovation Forum (RCIF), and the Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium at John Hopkins University. This semester, she will be chairing a panel, including her Library Research Scholar work, at Nova Southeastern University’s Crossroads Humanities Student Conference in April.
Daria Pietropaolo is a senior/1L from Boston, Massachusetts with a double major in Political Science and an Independent Major in Restorative Justice. She began undertaking research during her first semester at the University of Miami and continues to use her developed skills in law school. Over the course of her undergraduate career, she has assisted and conducted research on topics including intra-state rebel group conflict, EU-China relations in the wake of COVID-19, the origins and application of Christian theology in relation to other Abrahamic traditions, Italian history through film, domestic violence, criminal justice, juvenile justice, and restorative justice. In addition to serving as a research assistant at the University of Miami, Daria has worked for the Middlesex County Juvenile Court Clinic in Boston, interned for a judge on the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, and co-founded a not-for-profit organization which provides scholarships, school supplies, and sports equipment to secondary school students in Cameroon.
According to Daria, “humanities research has provided me a forum to integrate various disciplines to more deeply analyze cross-cultural matters.” She credits the faculty at UM’s College of Arts and Sciences for being so supportive in providing opportunities for underclassmen to take on first-hand research at an early stage of their academic careers. An opportunity for research has been particularly critical to developing her Independent Major in Restorative Justice, where she worked with the College of Arts and Sciences to develop a curriculum focused on understanding legal dispute resolution methods in both the domestic and international spheres.
Additionally, Daria has been able to share her research in multiple forums including presentations and publications to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University’s Crossroads Humanities Student Conference, and the Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium at John Hopkins University.
Brice Sewell is a Senior at the University of Miami majoring in English Literature and Biochemistry with minors in Chemistry and Biology. A native of both Spain and the US, Brice blends his passions for literature and art with his interests in biological systems. Currently serving as the President of Sigma Tau Delta’s Phi Mu Chapter, the English Honor Society on campus, Brice hopes to foster a cross-disciplinary approach to literary study that includes appreciation of art, culture, and science in relation to the text.
Having recently finished research in Biochemistry on the transport of amyloid beta across the blood brain barrier and associated meta-proteomic analysis, Brice is now shifting focus to his studies in the evolution of literary tropes across cultural paradigms. His critical analysis of the memento mori tradition in German poetry and Flemish artwork of the 17th century recently received recognition by Sigma Tau Delta International at their annual conference. Brice is excited to continue his humanities research with his senior thesis in English in which he studies the evolution of “The Wanderer” trope through European Literature and Art. Brice has remarked, “I believe my parallel studies in the Humanities and STEM fields will best prepare me to serve others as a physician.”
Between March 15th and April 30th, all UM students are invited to complete the below challenges. For each challenge, you will earn points. Every point earned corresponds to one entry in our prize drawing. For example, if you complete and submit materials for Challenge #1 and Challenge #5, that’s 8 points and 8 entries into the prize drawing!
Between March 15th and April 30th, interview a professor (by email is acceptable) about their research interests and complete a brief write up (about 200-250 words).
When attending one of the events from Challenge 2, submit a thoughtful question to the presenter. 
