Hundreds of undergrads present at research conference

By Brett Saunders

Contributing Writer

On Monday, the Undergraduate Research Conference showcased hundreds of undergraduate student presentations in the Bryant Conference Center.

Each student had the opportunity to do either an oral or poster board presentation, and all presentations are judged. The best in each category would receive an award and prizes.

“We had 300 students show up to the conference,” said Rachel Rindo, coordinator of the conference. “All of the presentations were excellent.”

According to Rindo, the conference went from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., with awards being handed out throughout the day. The College of Arts and Sciences had the highest attendance of all colleges.

“The conference was held at the Bryant Conference Center, and we used the majority of the rooms at the center for the conference,” Rindo said.

The Undergraduate Research Conference began in 2002 at the Ferguson Student Center to allow undergraduate students in the arts and sciences to showcase their research ideas. Since 2002 more colleges have gotten involved, according to Lauren Wilson, senior associate director at the office of sponsored programs.

The Undergraduate Research Conference was able to hand out $4,000 worth of prizes this year to students, according to Wilson.

“The conference went smoothly. The projects were excellent. They were on a level that masters students would present,” Wilson said. “There were many visitors along with family members of the participants there to look at the different presentations and help support.”

The research conference was able to implement new ideas within the event for students and also visitors to the conference, Wilson said.

“We had vendor tables of different student organizations and programs providing services for students on campus who would like to join, and we also had SL Pro, which students could work with to volunteer for this conference,” Wilson said. “We have already started looking forward to next year’s conference and what we can do to improve it.”

Both Rindo and Wilson said although the conference went well, there are aspects of the conference which will be improved upon.

“We didn’t really have any problems,” Wilson said. “There were some administrative problems, but those will occur and are tweaked every year.”

Wilson said coordinators of the conference will be sending out a survey to see what their strengths and weaknesses were during the conference so there can be improvement for the next year.