Undergraduate students at the College of Staten Island recently put their research on display to the College community at the eighth annual Undergraduate Conference on Research, Scholarship, and Performance. This year’s event highlighted scholarly and creative projects by students majoring in all disciplines, showcasing academic excellence through student-faculty collaboration and interaction in all aspects of teaching and learning. Overall, the conference featured the work of close to 200 CSI students, with a total of 71 posters with 43 faculty mentors, as well as six performances that spotlighted student musical compositions and theater.
Notable posters included a study of the use of the spice curcimin in the treatment of breast cancer, research concerning the progress and development of preterm babies, an investigation of the popularity of physics in public schools, a cross-cultural study of stress and coping mechanisms among college students, and a wireless smart car project that aims to allow cars to communicate with each other, among others.
Click Here to view the CSI Today photo gallery for the event.
Susan Holak, CSI Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and the coordinator of this year’s event said, “…this annual conference represents the culmination of a semester or a year’s worth of work on the part of our student-mentor pairs. In higher education, undergraduate research experiences are considered among the high-impact practices at our institutions—meaning that they foster relationships, increase persistence levels and graduation rates, and may be just the turning point in an undergraduate career.”
The students at the conference were happy to gain research experience and have the opportunity to share their hard work with the College community.
Psychology major Marierose Polis noted, “It’s a really good experience in getting research out, especially for grad school because schools definitely want to see research in your background.”
Dorothy Caldone, a Spanish major, said, “I think that it’s great to be able to explain what we’re doing to our peers and to other faculty.”
Biology student Allison Baranski commented, “It’s nice that everybody gets together to see all the hard work that you’ve been putting into [your research].”
Sharmila Mohammed, a junior who is studying psychology, agreed with that assessment, but took it a step further, “I think it’s a great opportunity because it gives me validation, especially when faculty, the chairpersons, the dean, and the President stop by and look at [my research], and they acknowledge the good work and they ask questions. That gives me a sense of pride and fulfillment.”
Holak noted that significant benefit of the CSI Undergraduate Conference on Research, Scholarship, and Performance is that it gives students a first opportunity to see what it is like to present their research. This event often serves as a starting point for students to present at conferences at the regional and national levels, and gives these undergraduates an experience that is usually reserved for graduate-level students.
The Undergraduate Conference on Research, Scholarship, and Performance was sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs with financial support from both the CSI Foundation and the CSI Student Government.
