A record-breaking 59 students will be going to NCUR, the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research, to present their research in the coming weeks.
The 29th annual conference is slated to take place April 16-18, 2015 at Eastern Washington University.
According to the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), the conference is devoted to promoting undergraduate research, scholarship and creativity in all fields of study.
Coordinator of Undergraduate Research Nancy Peterson has noted a change in the college’s culture through the years that can be attributed to the trend in success seen.
“What is happening is that we are having a larger emphasis on professional work,” Peterson said. “When people are being hired as faculty, they’re being asked how much you include undergraduates into your professional work, as we have highlighted that through the Rall Symposium as well as the Richter. What we’re doing is saying it’s a priority.”
Peterson talked about what students can expect when attending the conference.
“They’re going to be able to see people from other institutions and I think they’ll find out that they match up pretty well,” Peterson said. “Our students tend to do extremely well when they go to NCUR.”
CUR defines undergraduate research as a student effort to present original, intellectual or creative contributions to their field.
The conference is inviting in its ability to bring students across all-college lines to present the work of their discipline in a professional setting.
“Students are going to be able to go, to be able present their work to audience that is familiar with their discipline,” Peterson said. “They’re also going to be able to present their work to people outside their discipline.”
The fact that North Central has widespread involvement says a lot about the college.
“This I think is an indication of how hard our faculty at North Central work to make sure that students in their field are able to participate in the professional work of the discipline,” she said.
But of course the widespread involvement that’s seen is no coincidence. This is a trend that has been in the making for a number of years.
“I think one of the things that you see at North Central is that faculty take an interest in the academic success of their students,” Peterson said. “I think you find faculty who want to work with students and students who want to work with faculty.”
Peterson commented on what makes being able to create student-faculty relationships an attractive offering in lieu of creating professional works.
“It’s fun to do research,” she said. “It’s fun to make new knowledge. It’s fun to make discoveries. It’s fun to create new things. It’s that kind of excitement that student-faculty relationships can build.”
Senior Anthony Nuccio will be presenting a section of his honor’s thesis at the conference. He said he has been working exclusively with Dr. Wolf through the research process.
“Having a one-on-one relationship with a professor is extremely important for the research process because it allows both parties to address issues that have occurred during the research process, talk about the positives of the research process, and discuss the overall educational experience that comes with research,” Nuccio said.
Peterson noted why research is important at the undergraduate level.
“When you have the experience of doing independent scholarly work and then presenting that work, you are showing that you’re of the caliber that both graduate schools as well as employers are looking for,” she said.
Senior Rachel DiPietro shared why it’s important for her to present undergraduate research in her fourth and final year at North Central.
“I’ve really grown pretty specific as far as all the projects I’ve worked on,” she said. “With the off-campus experience I had in the summer of 2014, I really feel like this is the one I’m going ahead with, especially on applications for grad schools since this is the kind of experience they’re going to be looking at—various presentations, publications, research that is really going to make a difference both in your discipline as well the general public.”
Senior Olivia Lopez shares how it feels to be among those making history.
“First, it’s an honor to represent North Central at this national event,” Lopez said. “With the new science center installment and new campus and academic advances happening yearly, North Central is a hub for fostering intellectual and capable students.”
