The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) hosted its spring Research Day on Tuesday, April 5 at Sykes Student Union.
Research Day is a time for students and faculty to talk about the research and scholarly activities that they’ve been working on.
The research is from all disciplines and fields that have been done outside of the classroom.
Faculty can benefit by their own professional development and contribute to the fields that they’re in, and students can benefit by gaining learning experience and applying what they’ve learned in the classroom to real life situations.
The research can start from a faculty member having an idea and going from there, or sometimes a student may have an idea and seek out a faculty member to consult with.
“We’re here to help faculty and students fund the research and connect each other,” said Dr. Pillay, the university’s chief research officer. “If students don’t know who to talk to, they can come to our office.”
This is the first time where there were two Research Days in an academic school year, one in the fall and one in the spring.
“We wanted to give more opportunities for faculty and students to talk about their work and not just once per year because research goes on all the time on campus,” Dr. Pillay said.
Research Day has been going on for over 15 years.
There were around 80 faculty members and students giving presentations this Research Day, with PowerPoint, poster and oral presentations.
This does not include the special presentations, being that there were three invited speakers and five student presenters who won the Student Research and Creative Activities (SRCA) Awards last year.
Research Day started at 9 a.m. with the three invited speakers. One of the speakers was Dr. Eleanor Brown, a professor in the Department of Psychology, whose research was titled “The Art of Emotion Regulation for Children Facing Economic Hardship.” The other speaker was Dr. Michael Antonio, an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, whose research was titled “Local, National, and International Research Experiences for Students: Get Involved.”
The last speaker was Dr. Kristen Crossney, an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Planning, whose research was titled “Rural Homeownership in Pennsylvania and the Impact of Demographic and Market Differences.”
After the invited speakers, there were the SRCA Award winners. Sam Brady, whose faculty member was Dr. Monica Joshi, presented on “A Study of Microcrystal Tests for Emerging Psychoactive Substances.”
Brynne Fitzgerald, whose faculty mentor was Dr. Simon Conliffe, presented on “Gym Use and GPA: An Economic Analysis.”
Joseph Jordan, whose faculty mentor was Dr. Sheri Melton, presented on “The Effects of Head Impacts on QTVI in Soccer Players.”
Beatrice O’Hara, whose faculty mentor was Dr. Daria Nikitina, presented “Blue Carbon Sequestration in Delaware Bay Estuary.”
Corin Stratton, whose faculty mentor was Dr. Allison Kolpas, presented on “Optimal Mating Strategies of Hermaphroditic Snails.”
After that was the first poster session, then lunch with a faculty-led information session, another poster session, and finally, the oral presentations.
During the lunch session, there were eight faculty members that discussed students’ research, how to get started, what to expect in graduate school, and discussed the Summer Undergraduate Research Institute (SURI). In SURI, 10-12 undergrads are paid to work with an individual faculty member for a month in the summer to focus on a research project of mutual interest. This is the third year that the university is doing this.
“What I hope students take away from this [Research Day] is its importance to expose students to the research that’s going on on campus because the faculty does research to benefit students,” Dr. Pillay said. “That’s why we do it. This wouldn’t exist without the professors and students.”
Dana Perkiss is a fourth-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. Contact them at DP785965@wcupa.edu