Student Research Week organizers are calling on students to submit and present research at the event that students say gives researchers real-world experience.
Undergraduate and graduate students can participate in Student Research Week, SRW, by presenting a research project, original work, class project or class paper. SRW includes expert panels, resource tables, research symposiums and keynote speakers to recognize and celebrate student research. The deadline to sign up for SRW was Monday but has been extended to March 11.
Vineet Bhambhani, biotechnology graduate student and student research director, said SRW is a great place to practice presenting and see how judges organize research.
It’s very applicable to the real world, Bhambhani said. Whether it’s engineering or any other topic, it helps students out with real-life skills that theyll need in the work force.
Jenny Gvillo, agriculture economics graduate student and judge coordinator, said judges can range anywhere from faculty to graduate students to industry professors and are generally associated with the topic theyre judging. The judges role is to help the participants become better presenters and ultimately better prepare them for entering the job market.
Its a great way to network, whether youre a judge or participant, Gvillo said. You get to meet so many people who are interested in the same research. Its a great way for people who are interested in judging to get exposed to other areas of research.
Bianca Smith, former participant and food science and technology graduate student, spent three weeks preparing for research week. Her project focused on electron beam irradiation technology, which is used to process fresh fruit for the neutropenic diet. Smith participated in the oral competition and had to prepare an abstract for the submission process as well as a slide show presentation.
Both my abstract and presentation went through a lot of changes before I felt confident that they were ready for final submission, Smith said.
Smith said she had a great experience and was surprised how positive and friendly the environment was.
[SRW] was very comfortable in that everyone was there to just share what research they had done and were interested and supportive of others, Smith said. I wasn’t expecting to meet and befriend other students, but that’s, surprisingly, how it turned out.
Students will also gain experience answering questions about their research to help prepare them for the future.
My favorite part was the interaction with other students, Smith said. Hearing and learning about their research triumphs and downfalls helped to give me some helpful insight on what to expect.