Symposium for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Scheduled for May 3 & 4

Two-day event to showcase the work of more than 100 UC Riverside students

By Ross French on April 30, 2012

RIVERSIDE, Calif (www.ucr.edu) — The sixth annual Symposium for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, May 3 & 4 at the Highlander Union Building at the University of California, Riverside. Sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Education, the symposium is the opportunity for undergraduate students to present their faculty-mentored projects to an audience of peers, faculty and administrators.

Undergraduate research and creative activities opportunities are open to students in all disciplines, including arts, humanities, sciences and engineering. The symposium features oral and poster presentations and reports from undergraduates who conducted their research with community partners. Students also have abstracts summarizing their work published in the symposium proceedings.

“We have more than 100 presenters and the quality of the work is very good,” Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Steven Brint said. “This is an opportunity for the campus community to see what our students have accomplished in their research and creative activities.”

One of those presenters is sophomore entomology major Tina Kim. The Anaheim native has been conducting research under the guidance of Professor Michael Rust and will present a poster titled “Comparative Water Loss Rates of Turkestan and Oriental Cockroaches.”

“This is my first time participating in something like this, so I am both nervous and excited,” said Kim, who had worked with insects as a volunteer at the Discovery Science Center. “I plan on going to graduate school or medical school and find research in entomology to be interesting and fun. So I decided to get more involved on campus by doing research as an undergraduate.”

“It makes going to college more exciting since you are discovering things that no one else knows about,” she added.

Brint said that conducting research as an undergraduate can be one of the “most beneficial activities a student can be involved in.”

“It is one of the best ways to develop critical thinking ability as well as writing and oral presentation skills,” Brint said. “And these skills are transferable to a wide variety of fields.”

The two-day symposium is free to attend and open to students, staff and faculty, as well as the general public. For more information, including the complete Symposium Proceedings with schedule and abstracts, visit http://ugr.ucr.edu/symposium.html. A full schedule of events will also be published in the UCR Highlander newspaper.

Archived under: Inside UCR, patsy oppenheim, ress release, Steven Brint, Symposium for Undergraduate Research, undergraduate education, undergraduate research

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