Overlooking the 2025 National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

This edition of From Our Eyes features Emily Kinney (‘25 Political Science, Communication Studies; Business Administration minor). Kinney is a Henley Research Lab Fellow and was recently invited to present her research at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Pittsburgh, PA.

As I boarded the airplane to Pittsburgh, PA, to present at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR), I had no idea what to expect. Armed with my poster presentation on echo chambers and their impact on trust in government, I had hopes of connecting with other student researchers, learning about new and innovative research methods, and most excitingly, sharing the senior thesis I had completed the semester prior.

To me, this presentation represented everything I had been working towards during my four years as a political science major in the Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and I was excited to showcase the analytical and investigative skills my classes had pushed me to develop.

I became involved in student research in my sophomore year at Chapman University. I enrolled in the Research Methods class taught by Dr. Ann Gordon (Political Science) and immediately became enamored with the ability social science research gives you to quantify phenomena that one reads about in textbooks. I was hooked and, with the help of Dr. Gordon, began working as a research fellow in the Henley Social Science Lab. There, I participated in a variety of projects ranging from messaging analysis for the National Weather Service to helping publish materials for Chapman’s own Fear Survey. Somewhere in there, I also completed a virtual Tent Census of Seattle! These experiences, as well as my classes and support from other faculty members, prepared me well for undertaking my senior thesis. When decisions for NCUR were released, I was ecstatic to have the chance to represent Wilkinson College on a national level.

A poster presentation consists of a science-fair style symposium where researchers stand next to their work and interested students, faculty, and members of the public walk around the floor, stopping if a title or statistic catches their eye. From the beginning of the session, I received visitor after visitor, some hoping to understand my methodology, others looking to chat about their own experiences with echo chambers and government, and finally, one student who had completed their research on a similar topic. She had used political psychology to investigate the beliefs of Americans, which differed from my political science-based approach. We had a fruitful discussion, and I discovered a new way to combat the negative effects of echo chambers that I had not researched. This led me to a profound academic lesson: intellectual humility.

Intellectual humility is the practice of admitting you might not know everything and being open to learning from others. Not only can this combat echo chambers, but it serves as a great reminder for students during their time at Chapman University and at conferences like NCUR. There is always more to be learned, and often, this knowledge can come from those around you. Opening your eyes to new information and knowledge makes one a more informed, productive, and worldly citizen, and it is these values that make education so important! I am so thankful for my research experiences here in Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Science, and I cannot wait to see where this intellectual humility brings me next!

(Pictured in header: Emily Kinney (‘25 Political Science, Communication Studies; Business Administration minor) presenting at 2025 NCUR.)