UNH Today

Horror films, drug policy and the nationalistic influence of tobacco advertisements were just a few of the topics students tackled at UNH Manchester’s Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) today.

Students, faculty and staff gathered to hear scholarly lectures and see multimedia presentations reflecting research, internships and service-learning work students completed throughout the academic year.

Among those students were Nicholas Sammartino '18, a history major, whose presentation delved into the relationship between policy and drug use in the U.S. and Portugal, while communication arts major Caroline Consoli '18 shared her research into facing fears through horror films.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Tatum '20, a homeland security major, provided insight into how technology has affected Americans’ constitutional rights, centering on fourth amendment protections in the digital age.

During the URC’s “Present and Defend” session, students in the New Hampshire Politics in Action course debated controversial legislative bills. Each student was assigned to either advocate for or against a particular bill and had 10 minutes to defend their position.

Politics & society majors Kyle Foden ’20 and Alexander Rego ‘20 debated House Bill 656, which seeks to eliminate penalties for possessing and growing small amounts of marijuana. Fellow politics & society majors Jaisha Jimenez ’19 and Kimberly Morrow ‘19 discussed the creation of a family and medical leave insurance system, which is the subject of House Bill 628.

Communication arts major Logan Frye ‘20 and politics and society major Karli Todt ‘18 presented their cases on House Bill 1709, which deals with the use of physical force in defense of a person, while politics and society majors Hassan Essa ‘19 and Meriah Metzger ’20 debated advance notice of work schedules as outlined in Senate Bill 422.

Audience participation made the session all the more interesting, requiring each student to clearly articulate their positions on the issues.

The URC continues this week with poster presentations on Wednesday and Cinema Arts Day on Thursday.