About the prize
The UBC Undergraduate Prize in Library Research is a way to showcase students’ effective and innovative use of library services, information experts and resources provided by the UBC Library. Applications for these prizes also provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their information-seeking experience, showcase their research beyond the classroom, and promote scholarship excellence at the undergraduate level at the University of British Columbia.
The Prize was established by UBC Library to encourage more and deeper use of its resources and collections, to advance information literacy at UBC, and to promote academic excellence at UBC.
Q: Could you tell us a little bit about your project?
My research project focuses on the character of Portia in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. My methodology was to analyze her use of rhetoric and bodily harm as they relate to the traditionally masculine principles of violence and integrity. I concluded that Portia performs the role of a man better than her husband and the other conspirators, making her a threat to conceptions of gender and identity in Ancient Rome.
Q: What does winning this prize mean to you?
“The prize allows me to worry less about the financial stresses of being a student and focus more on what I love.”
The UBC Undergraduate Prize in Library Research is a terrific funding opportunity for students, and I’m so grateful that my research project was selected. In a practical sense, the prize allows me to worry less about the financial stresses of being a student and focus more on what I love. It also validates the time, passion and effort that my classmates and I put into our research. Shout out to Diana Andrews, Kyla Terenzek and Alexei Villareal for the accomplishment. I’m excited to learn more about their projects.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
My long-term plans definitely include graduate school and working towards a career in academia as either a researcher or educator. My main research interests include early modern literature, moral philosophy and science fiction. I also want to continue dabbling in theatre. This summer I’m directing a Shakespeare cabaret with a mix of monologues and original music.
Q: Do you have a favourite research spot at UBC Library?
Anywhere with a view! I love sitting up on the fourth floor of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and looking out the windows.