Students excite audience members and share passion at Ignite USU

Nine Utah State University students shared their scholarly passions Friday at the culminating event of USU’s Research Week, Ignite USU.

“I had seen this event before in previous years and I’ve always liked it,” said Antra Boča, a PhD student in ecology and Ignite presenter. “I thought it was great this year, too.”

Ignite USU began in 2013 as part of the programming for USU’s Research Week. Presenters work for months leading up to the event writing, memorizing and perfecting their speech. At Ignite they are given five minutes to fulfill the event’s mantra, “Enlighten us, but make it quick.”

The student presenters at this year’s Ignite spoke in sequences of three, each building off one another to display the breadth and depth of student research at USU.

The presentations began with graduate student Enjie Li, who spoke about collaboration and the advantages of specialized knowledge. Following Li, the Ignite presenters covered a myriad of topics from embracing trauma while researching sexual assault in the military to developing new methods of diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Boča, at the closing of her speech, admonished audience members, cleverly, “to stop treating [soil] like dirt,” which emphasized her call to conserve and propagate soil.

Among others, she left the audience with a concise thought that encompassed the message of her speech.

C.J. Guadarrama, for instance, expressed at the end of his speech how he felt it was important he had trespassed into the abandoned buildings at the former Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah.

“Their story and their history are a lot more important than what’s written on a [trespassing] sign,” he said.

Similarly, Jeannie Woller delivered an empowering message about vulnerability and making decisions in the last moments of her speech.

“It is never about the response,” Woller said. “It’s always about being strong enough to make the decision regardless of the response.”

Presenting at Ignite is difficult, Daisha Cummins said, an Ignite presenter and senior dual majoring in biology and human movement sciences. To remedy the difficulty, the Ignite organizers work with presenters to not only showcase their individual research, but to develop public speaking skills, too.

For Cummins, Ignite was one of the largest events she had presented research at, which proved to be stressful.

“It’s nerve-wracking,” Cummins said.

The audience, however, is where Cummins said she eased her nerves.

“Everyone in the audience was there for support and that’s reassuring,” Cummins said. “They’re here to hear our research — they want to be here.”

The nerves extended past Cummins to other presenters. Boča, too, felt nervous about presenting at Ignite, but said she was able to overcome it as she went along in her presentation.

“It was very exciting, but I definitely felt nervous,” Boča said.

She found that with time, as she spoke, she felt more comfortable. And by the end, she said, she thought to herself, “You can do it.”

Ignite USU’s influence goes beyond the presenters. Its reach is wide, attracting a variety of students, professors, family members and of course, former Ignite presenters.

Geologist Shawna Olsen, a recent USU graduate and former Ignite presenter, said she supports Ignite and thinks its impact is great.

Olsen said she came specifically to see graduate student Amy Moser’s presentation, but was also excited for the others. She believes Ignite is a good event that inspires students to conduct research and gain notoriety in their field.

Cummins feels similarly to Olsen. To her, Ignite is an excellent way to showcase research and encourage other students to get involved early on in their time at USU.

“I think that when people come in as a freshman, or they hear the word research, they kind of get scared or they don’t think it’s for them,” Cummins said. “But I think as they watch these talks they’re going to see that research is a lot of different things — it’s not just in a lab with a microscope.”

Associate Vice President for Research and Associate Dean Scott Bates ended Ignite by saying he thought this year’s presenters were great and that he was looking forward to the following year.

Videos of Ignite presentations can be found at: ignite.usu.edu/videos.

This year’s videos have not yet been posted; however, all presentations since Ignite USU’s inaugural year can be found on the site.

— jordan.floyd@aggiemail.usu.edu