The deadline for applications to the Undergraduate Student Symposium, a showcase of academic work organized annually by the Farquhar Honors College, closes Feb. 10 at midnight.
To apply, students are required to secure a faculty sponsor and submit an abstract of their presentation. The faculty sponsor must approve the abstract prior to submission. Students will be notified in March regarding their project’s acceptance in the symposium after submissions are reviewed by NSU administration.
The symposium will take place on April 7. The event highlights student scholarship, research and creative works. Students can submit a poster presentation, oral presentation or film. At the symposium, the projects will be judged and awards will be given for first, second and third place projects.
Vanessa Mezquia, manager of academic programs for the Farquhar Honors College, said the symposium is good practice for students who go on to further their research and present at national conferences. Joshua Braverman, junior psychology major, presented along with a research team at the 2016 symposium with a poster on human lie detection ability. He presented the complete findings at a professional conference last month.
Mezquia also said that the symposium helps participants become comfortable with public speaking, answering questions and communicating complicated topics.
“Once you’ve been selected to participate, you’ve already won,” Mezquia said. “You’re getting something out of it.”
Alexis Good, sophomore marine biology major, said that her oral presentation on how society views the differences between environmentalists and environmental scientists was stressful and took a lot more work than she thought it was going to. Her team placed second for oral presentations. While she is not applying for the 2017 symposium, she said she is glad she participated last year.
“I really hate public speaking, so it helped me get over that fear of presenting something that I believe in,” she said. “I think that’s one of the hardest things – to present to a group of people when you don’t know how they’re going to take what you’re saying.”
Qaas Shoukat, sophomore biology major, read original first person biographical poems of historical figures at the 2016 symposium, placing first for oral presentations. Shoukat said he felt like an outsider at the symposium because his project wasn’t as scientifically-based or analytical.
“But when I did [my presentation] and got a good response, I realized that there is a place for this and it is appreciated,” he explained.
Shoukat is submitting to the symposium again this year.
“You learn a lot, not just by doing the research, but through the process of finding a mentor…and appreciating other people’s work,” he said.
“Anyone who’s done any kind of research as a class assignment or anything like that, just talk to your faculty and say, ‘Is this something that I should submit for the student symposium?’” Mezquia said.
For more information or to submit to the 2017 Undergraduate Student Symposium, go to honors.nova.edu/student-symposium/index.html.
Credit: V. Mezquia
Caption: Undergraduate students present their research at the 2016 symposium.
