The nation’s largest student-run university research symposium is about to wrap up after students from different disciplines presented their research in a three-day competition.
The 20th annual Student Research Week, or SRW, allows students to present their research — ranging from many subjects such as chemistry, physics, kinesiology and biology — through posters and oral presentations to a panel of judges. SRW began on March 27 and will end March 31 with an awards ceremony, and students have presented throughout the week on the second floor of the MSC incorporating this year’s theme: Inclusivity.
Lindsey Alderink, kinesiology senior and sessions coordinator, said SRW tries to include all majors and encourages every college to participate.
“This year’s theme was inclusivity, so we went out of our way to encourage all the colleges to push their student to register,” Alderink said. “We got a panel going this year, one with faculty and one with students. I thought it was a good way to get these students involved with sharing their experience and research and also allows other students to come and ask questions.”
Alderink said it’s really important for students to learn how to communicate their research to other students not in their field and has encouraged students to visit the presenters to gain a new perspective and learn about other majors.
“I think it’s important for students to be able to share their research with other people and share the work they have been putting so much effort into throughout the year,” Alderink said. “It gives the other non-presenting students a chance to learn and see what else is going [around] campus. These are other people who are doing things here and then will be taken out into the world.”
Kinesiology sophomore Ann Anderson researched how bone loss is affected by age and lack of use. She tested a group of 30 rats and data showed a higher percent decrease in bone mineral density in younger rats than older rats. She said her professor inspired her to do bone research, and she enjoyed preparing and presenting for student research week.
“I met this kinesiology professor and she introduced this project to me,” Anderson said. “At that time I didn’t know much about bones, and then they taught me and I really began to love it … I [like SRW] because it is a little more informal and allows you to have a conversation verus standing on a stage and presenting. I like that people can ask questions whenever they have one.”
Chemistry senior Anita Vinjamuri presented her research about a technique to separate ionized molecules, known as ion spectrometry. She started her research at the beginning of last summer and said she was inspired to pursue this research from her adviser.
“At first I did not know what I wanted to do,” Vinjamuri said. “I was going into research because I had to. Then, I had heard really good feedback about an adviser from one of my friends and once I met him, he was really helpful. I think that is an important thing to have. I joined their project and I really started to like it.”
