Research week highlights many fields, from engineers to authors
Many burning questions were answered at USU’s Research Week, including what the best substitute for cream cheese in cheesecake is.
Research Week was April 8-12 and aimed to recognize students and faculty who have been involved in research this past year.
Rose Hu, associate dean of research in the College of Engineering, said this week was very important for USU in particular.
“Utah State University — we are the public research university in Utah,” Hu said. “Research is important from that perspective, but also in general as a mission of Utah State University.”
The week kicked off with the D. Wynne Thorne Lecture on Monday, where the D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award is given to someone who has done outstanding research in their career. This year, the award was given to David Tarboton, director of the Water Research Laboratory.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Student Research Symposium in the Merrill-Cazier Library had students share their research through posters, presentations, performances or exhibits.
Exchange student Judith Tangerding participated in the symposium as part of her class, Science of Food Preparation.
“Everybody needed to come up with a topic,” Tangerding said. “My group — the title was nutrition and sensory analysis of cheesecake with cream cheese alternatives.”
Tangerding’s group used tofu, Greek yogurt and cottage cheese as the alternatives.
“It’s big to get more protein and less fat,” Tangerding said. “Could we substitute to fit into what the trends are right now in the food industry?”
Tangerding said the group made the different cheesecakes and had other students try them out.
“Texture for all of them was nice, but the taste — not everyone would do it again,” Tangerding said. “The cottage cheese was good. After the control, it was second place for most favorable.”
According to Tangerding, part of the assignment was presenting their research at the symposium.
“It was nice to be in the library, and everybody with time could walk in and look,” Tangerding said. “Showing off what you did is a good feeling and having people being genuinely interested in what you’re doing.”
On Thursday, the student research celebration was open to all students and faculty. The event offered network training and the opportunity to practice what was learned.
The College of Engineering had a special awards ceremony on Thursday. Jed Hancock, the president of the Space Dynamics Lab, was the keynote speaker. Many students and faculty in the department were given awards.
Sydney Dahle, public relations specialist for the College of Engineering, said they enjoy setting up this event and hosting a poster competition for the students each year.
“I think that it’s important for us to recognize all the work and effort that students put into these big research projects,” Dahle said. “And also for our faculty — we’re celebrating the awards that they have gotten on our department level.”
Dahle earned a degree in history and participated in undergraduate research in the humanities. She said USU has research opportunities in a lot of different disciplines.
“We are one of the few schools that puts a huge emphasis on undergraduate research as well as just graduate research,” Dahle said. “It’s really important that we honor their hard work, but we also encourage them to continue doing it because they’re making really great movements and advancements in those industries at such a young age.”
According to Hu, it’s important for students to be aware of the support their college has for them.
“We want to tell the students and faculty members first: They’re doing a great job and they deserve the recognition,” Hu said. “Second, we want to let them know that as university college departments, we do value research very much.”
The week also included the Faculty Author Exhibition, which was open all week in the library’s New Books Lounge. Thirty-two faculty authors were highlighted for publishing work within the last year.
Tangerding said getting involved in research at a young age can be helpful for both the student and the adviser.
“Students sometimes have a different approach than people that have been in the job for a long time,” Tangerding said. “At university, you learn a lot of new stuff. You sometimes don’t have experience and you’re like, ‘I’m just going to try, try and fail.’”
According to Tangerding, another reason to take advantage of research opportunities is the life skills the experiences can foster.
“Cooperating — students who don’t know stuff and want to try it out makes it so much more valuable,” Tangerding said. “You get knowledge from someone but you can give them something yourself.”
For more information on research week, visit research.usu.edu/researchweek.