ASH Scholars
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Writing History
Through the MU Honors College and Office of Undergraduate Research’s long-running ASH Scholars Program, undergraduates at the Kinder Institute can apply to be a part of a faculty-led, multi-year cohort of researchers who produce original scholarship on topics central to understanding the past, present, and future of democracy.
Current Kinder ASH Teams
The Kinder Institute currently sponsors three separate ASH Scholars teams which provide hands-on research experience for undergraduates with a wide range of interests.
The ASH Border War Team researches the well-known and unknown stories surrounding one of the most contentious places and times in American history, with proslavery and antislavery forces in Missouri and Kansas squaring off on battlefields and in the backwoods and participating in a spiraling cycle of atrocities and reprisals that left an indelible mark on the region’s history and memory. Our team is developing an original narrative podcast series to shed light on the world that made the Border War to demystify and dig into the complexity of this period.
With an emphasis on sharing our work with a public audience, the Public History ASH team’s research explores the variety of ways in which the United States’ 250th anniversary is being commemorated at home and abroad and how our current experiences compare with previous milestones in American democracy. Conducting oral history interviews with community members and recording video toasts (or roasts) from international scholars, the team will create public digital projects that share what they have learned about our present moment as the United States turns 250.
This ASH team explores how states operate as laboratories of democracy that address pressing issues of the day in the face of national polarization and gridlock. We investigate how states function in a federal system and how they look to each other for policy solutions. This includes tracking bills as they work their way through the state legislative process and understanding the motivations of policymakers, with a particular emphasis on how Missouri compares to its peers. The lab is currently focused on the emergence of AI regulations, such as bans on deepfakes in political campaigns.
Former ASH Teams
The Kinder Institute’s first foray into the ASH Scholars world came in 2023-24 when a dedicated team of undergraduate researchers, led by then Predoctoral, now Postdoctoral Fellow Kyle Jackson spent a year digging into the history of the Santa Fe trail. Hear more from the students in the video below, and use this link to sample the ten-episode “Wheels Across the West” podcast series that they produced as a culmination of their time in the ASH program.
ASH Scholars Application Logistics
Applications open each summer on Scholarship Universe and can be accessed using “ASH Scholars” as a search term. All teams are open to students of any major and year at Mizzou, including incoming students, and come with a $3,000 scholarship.
ASH Scholars applications are currently closed and will re-open in Summer 2026. Check back here for a link to apply.
Other Research Opportunities at the Kinder Institute
In addition to our ASH Scholars teams, students looking for outside-the-classroom research experience often find work on other faculty-led projects, such as Kinder Institute Professor of British History Rob Fletcher’s current Derailing Empire research team, or as research assistants for professors on the fourth floor of Jesse. Students should contact Kinder Institute Director of Undergraduate Studies Dr. Thomas Kane, KaneTC@missouri.edu, to find out about current research opportunities as well as funding for independent undergraduate research projects.
