The College of Natural Sciences held the second annual Poster Celebration Monday, in the Nora and Hashem Naraghi Hall of Science.
The Science Poster Celebration is held to give students the opportunity to showcase their work to professors, peers, friends and family.
Dr. Megan Thomas, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science, headed the event.
Thomas described the camaraderie that occurs between disciplines in the annual celebration.
“I like watching students in different disciplines learning about what the others have been up to. There is cool stuff going on in all the sciences, and students working hard in courses for their own major don’t often get the chance to see what the other majors are up to.”
The event took place in the Naraghi Hall lobby from 2 to 4 p.m., with students’ work on display and complimentary food for visitors.
“I did not expect this many people or presenters,” said Leticia Sanchez (junior, Biology) presenter of “Sequencing a Eukaryotic Gene.”
“It is a great experience. Not only does it help us tie in together what our project means to us, it helps us project our enthusiasm, and our love and passion for science.”
Other presenters also found the celebration as a kind of outlet for their research developments that few campus communities have seen.
“It is nice to represent the College of Natural Sciences,” said Emmanuel Ware (senior, computer science) presenter of “Predicting WPST Performance by Application of Data Mining Technique.”
The project predicts students’ performance on the Writing Proficiency Screening Test (WPST).
“We have been doing this for over a year now and not many people knew about our research except the office of WPST.”
The celebration provides an opportunity for students of all majors to see student research.
“I think it’s really cool that we get to see all the scientific minds here come together and show off what they have been learning because as a music student I had no idea this is the kind of stuff they are working on,” Justin Swicegood (sophomore, Music) said.
“This gives me a chance to see what else is going on at our college.”
The poster celebration was created by professors interested in improving and encouraging students’ research development at universities.
“Scientists need to get better at telling people what they are doing, what it means and how it works,” Dr. Thomas said. “This is giving the students a chance to start practicing those skills.”
For information on participating in the next annual Poster Celebration contact the Department of Natural Sciences or [email protected].