Undergraduate students display their research

    Student Showcase, a celebration of undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity, was the highlight of USU’s Undergraduate Research Day, held Tuesday, March 31, in the Taggart Student Center. Students gave oral presentations and displayed posters throughout the day, offering audience members the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about each student’s individual research topic.
    “Undergraduate Research Day is about giving students an opportunity to share their research results,” said Joyce Kinkead, associate vice president for research. “It encourages the development of communication and analytical skills among researchers. Dissemination of information is a key part of research, and I am happy to see so many students taking advantage of this opportunity.”
    The event originated in 1986 through the Honors Program.
    Undergraduate researchers from all disciplines presented their research at the Student Showcase and gave one-on-one information to interested observers passing through the TSC International Lounge. In all, 107 students participated in the Student Showcase with oral and poster presentations. Faculty judges selected top awards for posters in four categories. For engineering poster, Justin Koeln’s “Microgravity Experiments for the ISS” won; for humanities, arts and social sciences poster category they chose Aubree Nielsen’s “Correlates of Teacher Practices Influencing Student Outcomes;”for the life sciences poster category, judges chose Alison Taylor’s “Is Calmodulin Necessary for Skeletal Muscle EC Coupling;” for the physical sciences poster category, they chose Justin Dekany’s “Time Dependent Conductivity of Spacecraft Materials.”
    The judges noted that selecting only one poster in each category was a Solomon’s task, as the student work was uniformly stellar.
    “The undergraduate research program at USU supports students in gaining essential hands-on learning in their fields of study,” said Brent Miller, vice president for research. “It fulfills the mission of the University by offering an opportunity to enhance students’ learning, discovery, and engagement.”
    Part of Undergraduate Research Day is the awards ceremony for outstanding undergraduate researchers. Student researchers of the year were honored with the Peak Prize, an endowment established in honor of David Peak, professor of physics, and Terry Peak, associate professor of social work.
    The Peak Prize was presented to one student from each of the seven academic colleges at USU, as well as one student from a regional campus.