Vol. 5 No. 1 (2015)

Dear Reader,

With pride, we give you the fifth annual issue of The Owl, Florida State
University’s undergraduate research journal. In this issue, we are honored
to present an astounding selection of interesting and diverse research
endeavors that the undergraduate students at Florida State have undertaken.

Our mission is to share the finest undergraduate research with other
undergraduates at Florida State and the general public, to embrace the
strength of our research-driven university.

With this volume we examine a multitude of issues, from exploration of the
conflict in Northern Ireland to the historical significance of Horace Greely
to the diversity of dietary habits in West African immigrants. We highlight
in this issue our diversity as a university, featuring five articles from five
different departments at Florida State. Intermixing local and national issues
with groundbreaking research in each field allows us to embrace powerful
knowledge that also functions on a practical level. We are thrilled to uphold
Florida State’s long history of excellence with top-tier research completed by undergraduates. We continue to uphold our commitment to undergraduate research, increasing our audience and increasing the range of support to include expansive funding for stellar undergraduates to share their research through travel to conferences.

This year, as we enter our fifth year at Florida State, we embraced new
challenges and improved our reach more than ever.

This year saw the first ever workshop hosted by The Owl, in conjunction
with the Student Council for Undergraduate Research and Creativity
Research Ambassadors. This year, we also increased our cooperation
with the FSU Libraries to launch our new website, theowl.fsu.edu. We are
extremely excited to continue working with the FSU Libraries to publish
more content electronically in conjunction with our yearly print edition.

In Vires, Artes, Mores,

Sean Freeman
Edior-in-Chief