A West Virginia University history student from Morgantown took top honors at a recent undergraduate research symposium at the University of Pittsburgh .

Adelheid Schaupp was one of three WVU students who presented their research at the”Europe : East and West”symposium.

Schaupp’s paper,”A German Cross-Generational Comparison of the Effects of Nazis,”earned first prize. The paper was based on original data she collected while living and studying in Bamberg , Germany , in 2004, and she is developing it into a senior thesis.

The other WVU history students who presented papers at the symposium were:

• Toby Garbutt, Morgantown ,”The Repair of Broken Tools: Psychiatric Treatment and Continuity Between the World Wars”

• Austin Hovermale, Berkeley Springs,”Choking Rommel: Force K’s Interception of Axis Supply Convoys.”

All three students are graduating from WVU ’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. They are also members of the Phi Alpha Theta history honorary.

The undergraduate research symposium was a competition designed to provide the very best undergraduates from the region with advanced research experiences and opportunities to develop presentation skills. The research papers were required to be on a topic related to Western Europe, Eastern Europe or Russia .

The selected participants were grouped into panels according to their research topics and presented their research papers to an audience of faculty and undergraduates. Participants were judged on both the quality of the paper and the presentation.

Cash prizes were awarded at the closing ceremony of the symposium.

For more information, contact Katherine Aaslestad, associate professor of history, at 304-293-2421 ext. 5237 or Katherine.Aaslestad@mail.wvu.edu