The Office of Undergraduate Research hosted the 23rd Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Forum on Thursday, Nov. 21st. The conference showcased 63 presentations over the course of the day.
There were three different types of presentations the conference hosted this year: emerging research, poster presentations and oral presentations.
Emerging research projects are longer projects that may not be fully finished by the end of the fall semester.
Poster projects provide a different presentation format. Researchers create a poster that they stand and speak in front of.
Students who do oral presentations stand in front of an audience and present with slides.
With various types of presentations available, the conference allows all disciplines to show what they are researching.
“We encourage all different disciplines because we want to show what they do in their discipline. And I think that’s very important because it shows what is actually happening on our campus, what are our students interested in, what are they passionate about, and all those kinds of things,” Director of Undergraduate Research Stacia Miller said.
Undergraduate research allows students to research what they’re passionate about, and teaches students valuable workplace skills.
“There’s so many skills. Like communication skills, you’re seeing that today. But just research skills in general. Critical thinking, problem solving, some of those key things that college students really need to be able to go into the work world in their future careers. I think it really provides a platform for really honing on those skills. I also think the relationship with mentors. Getting to know your faculty in another way than just in class is great. That also builds that professional networking,” Miller said.
The conference offers undergraduate MSU students the opportunity to present to any on campus.
“Anyone who puts in an abstract, as long as they meet the criteria of being faculty mentored and a MSU undergraduate and they’re currently enrolled as a student, then they can present. So we don’t really have any criteria for the presenters because we want people to come. We want people to present,” Milled said.
Senior early childhood through sixth grade major Brylie Green researches why out-of-state students don’t come to MSU.
“When I told my professor about the question I had, she told me I needed to do a research project. So then I roped in my partner Lauren Connor and two different professors and we decided we were gonna do a research project and why not it be EURECA because that’s an opportunity we have at MSU,” Green said.
Green believes that if given the opportunity to research, you should take it. “I think if you have a question that’s a very interesting question, it might not even be interesting to the person next to you, but if you have a question you think is really interesting, find a professor and they will be three out of four times likely to decide to do the EURECA project. I think it’s a really great opportunity and every student should look into it,” Green said.
Miller shared a similar belief about research questions.
“I think if there’s a driving question that someone wants to answer, and I think that’s how you start research. And build on that and try to answer that question,” Miller stated.
