2021-22 REACH Students

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The Research for Aspiring Coogs in the Humanities (REACH) Program at the University of Houston is a collaborative effort supported by the Cougar Initiative to Engage and the Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards (OURMA). REACH will provide a year-long introductory research experience for students in humanities disciplines by connecting a dozen students to existing undergraduate research projects at the University of Houston. 

Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) and its US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) are among the collaborators in this program and are host to three undergraduate students. These students are gaining research and archival skills in a variety of forms, including:

  • Scanning archival documents
  • Curating exhibits
  • Database research
  • Primary document research
  • Asset management 
  • Data management (with spreadsheets)
  • Metadata creation
  • Metadata translation
  • Familiarity with Library of Congress Subject Headings
  • Digital archives (Omeka)
  • Digital humanities tools and theory
  • Archival theory
  • Academic conference presentations
  • Academic conference posters
  • Public writing (Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage blog)
  • Project management 

REACH participants will develop their research skills through their work on a mentored research project and through their participation in OURMA undergraduate research programming. Students will also learn how to apply for future research opportunities. 

To learn more about the REACH program, please visit: https://www.uh.edu/honors/undergraduate-research/our-programs/reach-program/

Meet our 2021-2022 REACH Students

Alejandro Aguilar is an English literature major and Mexican American studies minor undergraduate student at the University of Houston: “I am glad to be able to work with the USLDH program through REACH because of how important it is to recover and bring older Latin and Mexican American literature, data and other works to the forefront. I wanted to do research on primary documents because oftentimes, the documents being worked on have not been seen by very many people. Doing research on these documents allows people to build upon the research and get others interested.”

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Carlos Campos Jr. is a Chicanx undergraduate scholar studying sociology and Mexican American studies at the University of Houston. They are “interested in Houston- and Texas-specific studies relating to the intersection between broader sociological concepts and theories and on-the-ground conditions of the Latinx poor and immigrant community.” They hope the research project undertaken during the REACH program “can be used to expand the literature on Houston Latinx communities.” Carlos plans on moving forward with this research in their undergraduate thesis.

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Carolina Lopez-Herrera is a Philosophy and Political Science double major undergraduate student at the University of Houston: “I wanted to do research in primary documents because it provides rich information and insight about the past, especially from lost, forgotten or repressed history. Additionally, I wanted to help preserve the documents that portray the details and conditions of the past so that the history it contains is not lost.” 

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