Most of the time, students are on the receiving end of information in the classroom. But today, Methodist University students shined bright as they presented their own research during the University’s Symposium Day.
Most of the time, students are on the receiving end of information in the classroom. But today, Methodist University students shined bright as they presented their own research during the University’s Symposium Day.
For a 12th year, MU’s Center for Research and Creativity (CRC) is hosting a week-long series of events – known as CRC Symposium Week – which provides students an opportunity to showcase their research and creativity in various disciplines of study. You can find more information about the entire week on the CRC web site.
On Wednesday, Methodist University undergraduate students received a day off from their typical academic schedule for the week’s Symposium Day. It allowed students to either present their own research while having the option to attend their classmates’ presentations throughout the day.
“Symposium Day is an important part of MU because it features the work of our best students,” said Dr. Cameron Dodworth, director of the Center for Research and Creativity and professor of English. “It’s the academic centerpiece of the entire academic year at MU, and it’s really fun, interesting, and uplifting to see our students can center stage to discuss and display their work.”
This year’s Symposium Day featured ten events and more than 50 presentations from MU students – many of which came from the Symposium Day’s morning and afternoon oral presentations, which typically occurred in front of a few dozen students, faculty, and staff in an auditorium. Students touched on a wide range of topics including digital interfaces, medicine, global economics, transportation, computer science, ethics, mathematics, and more.
Seniors Ian Davis and Jesse Leyble – both Engineering majors – presented their ideas for the redesign of the Kuraray Plant storage system in Fayetteville. The three students collected data during a visit to the storage plant and developed a system that could potentially categorize, organize, and efficiently store, retrim, and recycle polyvinyl butyral (PVB) sheeting – a common glass interlayer used in car windshields and architectural windows.
“This 100% helped me prepare for the workplace once I graduate,” said Leyble. “We received an opportunity to report our findings and solutions to Kuraray Plant a few weeks before today’s event, which allowed us to receive professional input. It helped us a lot to think about how we could come up with ideas and improve them.”
More than 50 students presented their research in the always-popular poster sessions. Different from the oral presentations, the poster sessions allowed students to present their research multiple times in much shorter time spans to small groups.
One of the students, senior Victoria Martin delivered a strong presentation involving the detection of heavy metals in common commercial foods. She found, contrary to popular belief, many organic foods contain similar amounts of heavy metal in them compared to common foods.
“This Symposium research helped me problem solve. Initially, my research wasn’t linear enough so I had to figure out how to improve the data.,” said Martin, who is majoring in Chemistry. “It’s also helped me realize I’m most interested in instrumental analysis. Instead of only reading about it in a textbook, I could learn in a practical way.”
New Events on Symposium Day
This year’s Symposium offered new events such as the “Are You Booked for Breakfast?”, which featured the work of Dr. Eric See, head of the Justice & Military Science Division, and Sarah See, assistant professor of Criminal Justice, in a newly published book, “Guns 360”.
During CIRCUIT, six MU students provided their testimonies of their time in Costa Rica, where they spent their spring break serving assist local laborers and leaders while on a mission trip. Students also served attendees a traditional Costa Rican meal.
The Nursing Department also welcomed Dr. Noel Vest, an advocate for social justice issues and public policy concerning substance use disorder recovery and prison reentry. Vest presented a discussion titled “Justice Involved Scholars: When Second-Chance Students Succeed, We All Succeed”.
Award Winners
Methodist University also took the time to honor and celebrate its students during the annual Spring Awards ceremony. The following students took home awards for their accomplishments in the classroom:
- Anthony J. DeLapa Art Achievement Award: Nicholas Heller
- Willis C. Gates Music Award for Excellence in Performance: Zachary Keyes
- Cumberland Choral Arts Award: Keegan Foyles
- Robert S. Christian English Achievement Award: Leann Sessoms
- George and Lillian Miller Award: Madysen Scarborough: Rebecca Woodward
- Wendelken History Writing Award: Jordan Matheney
- Plyler Award in Humanities: Keegan Foyles
- Plyler-Knott Award in Religion: Madysen Scarborough
- Sue Kimball Creative Writing Competition: Adriana DeMercurio (1st place), Sydney Wixtrom (2nd place), Carolina Elliott (3rd place)
- Walter B. Clark Maximum Effort Award: Asifa Noori
- Samuel J. Clark Award in Accounting: Danielle Pilon
- David G. Wilson Community Service Award: Kenneth Plant
- Coach Larry Kirchner Gold Medal Award: Andre Cotton-Samuel
- Theresa P. Clark Legal Writing Endowed Award: Matthew Malone
- PGA Golf Management Outstanding Senior: Timothy Carlson, Jack Hoover, Ingrid Steingrimsen
- PGA Golf Management Outstanding Junior: Matthew Lonto, Margaret William
- Director’s Award in Nursing: Karma Choki
- Kinesiology Department Student of the Year: Tatum Hubbard
- Wenda D. Johnson Physical Education and Health Education Student of the Year: Christopher Arnold
- Deborah Murray Outstanding Social Work Student of the Year: Tanner Hendricks
- Outstanding Social Work Senior: Megan Molter
- Outstanding Criminal Justice Service Award: Haylee Ellis
- Outstanding Justice Studies Graduate Award: Sydney Bird
- Outstanding Applied Forensic Science Service Award: Ally Mason
- Outstanding Applied Forensic Science Graduate Award: Andrew Clark
- Trevor Morris Outstanding Political Science Student Award: Bishra Sulaiman Al-Ali
- Lura S. Tally Award for Leadership Excellence: Tanner Hendricks
- Outstanding Computer Science Student: Marie Michel Ishimwe
- Outstanding Computer Information Technology Student: Jesse Aasman
- Ott-Cooper Science Award: Victoria Martin
- Mendelevium Medallion: Victoria Martin
- Marie Curie General Chemistry Achievement Award: Katrina Coolman
- Clark Memorial Science Service Award: Tabetha Johnson
- Outstanding Engineering Service Award: Scott Coleman
- Outstanding Engineering Graduate Award: Kalkidan Gebrehiwot
- Outstanding Environmental and Occupational Management Award: Lungelo Ndzimandze
- Balaez-Ambrose Mathematics Award: Andrew Topoly
- McRae-Klein Math Endowed Award: Charles Gaffney
- Pauline Longest Award: Roland Benavidez
- Distinguished Pre-Service Teacher of the Year Award: Caroline Stubblefield
More to Come
If you missed today’s Symposium Day, there are plenty more events worth considering such as the 26th B.F. Stone Lyceum on Thursday, the Class of 2024 Pinning Ceremony for the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program on Friday, and the fourth annual Occupational Therapy Student Scholarship Symposium on Saturday.
You can learn more by accessing the entire CRC Symposium Week program, which contains an exact schedule of the week’s events. The Methodist University Flickr page will also provide the top photos of the week in the near future.