Amy Calfy, Guest Writer
Over 30 students from Southern Nazarene University presented their original research at the 2014 Undergraduate Research Symposium last week.
The 8th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium was hosted on Friday, April 4th at Southern Nazarene University. Proposal submissions were accepted in early March. The symposium is open to not only SNU students but also to students from other universities. This year, there were several students from SCU and one from OU.
The symposium followed the same format of prior years. Throughout the day there were nine separate panels, some of them taking place simultaneously. Each panel consisted of 3 to 4 students who all shared a paper or research project that they had worked on. In the middle of the day, there was a break from the panels for lunch, a poster session and the keynote address. The keynote speaker this year was Lauren Brand.
The research symposium concluded at around 5 with a closing ceremony. During the ceremony, awards were presented to the winner of each panel.The panels were all judged individually. The scores for each student were determined by the quality of their research and how well they presented that research.
Every year, the Undergraduate Research Symposium continues to grow. It is a great opportunity for students who want or need experience presenting research. One can perform completely new research specifically for the symposium or present an old paper or project written for a previous class.
Not only is presenting at the Undergraduate Research Symposium a useful experience for any student, it’s also a great addition to a resume. The research symposium accepts proposals from any field and is open to all students. So, over the coming year, find that research project you were always fond of, brush off the dust and submit your own proposal next spring, for the 9th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in 2015.