The Student Research Colloquium has grown from a hastily organized event in 2023 for the College of Science and Engineering into an occasion featuring student research from across campus. This year saw 58 poster and oral presentations by 85 student presenters, with about 70 additional students and other guests attending, making it the largest Student Research Colloquium to date.
17 academic fields from across campus were represented, including diverse fields such as Biology, History, Construction Management, and Psychology. Faculty and staff chipped in as organizers, advisors, or judges to make the event the most successful yet.
Thanks to Microbiologics and the University of Minnesota Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office for sponsoring the event. This allowed students to gain information about these organizations while also interacting with alumni judges from Microbiologics. Sponsors allowed for not only drinks and giveaways, but prizes for the students awarded with Best Poster and Best Oral presentations, along with Honorable Mentions.
Faculty judge and organizer, Matt Davis, said, “I had a huge list of judges this year from across multiple colleges and industry partners that helped judge the presentations, and many of them remarked how great it was to see such a diverse range of presentations and student research being conducted here at SCSU.”
Awards
Best Undergraduate Poster Presentation: Eryn Bloom – The Flood Risk Preparedness of Upper Midwest State Parks and Recreation Areas – Advisor Dr. Sarah Gibson
Honorable Mention Undergraduate Poster Presentation: Olivia Maus and Rebecca Brandhurst – Relationship between body composition and fall risk in older adults – Advisor Dr. Kyle Reason; and Nyra Brown – Integrating Worlds: How STEM Can Enrich Humanities Courses – Advisor Dr. Felicia Leammukda
Best Graduate Poster Presentation: Kendall Cross – The Flora of Rockville County Park – Advisor Dr. Angela McDonnell
Honorable Mention Graduate Poster Presentation: Ahmed Abdou – Who Benefits Most from Poverty Graduation Programs? Using Machine Learning to inform a 100,000 Household Scale – Up of Bab Amal (Door of Hope), Egypt. – Advisors Dr. Kenneth Rebeck, Dr. Mana Komai-Molle, & Dr. Maninder Sigh
Best Undergraduate Oral Presentation: Natalie Gneiser – Quality Short Training Videos – Advisor Dr. Mark Schroll
Honorable Mention Undergraduate Oral Presentation: Cael Kolacia – Return on Investment of Procore on Mid-Sized General Contractors – Advisor Dr. Mark Schroll; and Greta Freed – The Impact of Covid-19 on the Northwest Angle: Borders, Isolation, and Everyday Life in a U.S. Exclave – Advisor Dr. Gareth John
Best Graduate Oral Presentation: Sam Skinner – Using Traditional and eDNA Surveys to Detect Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) in Minnesota – Advisor Dr. Jennifer Lamb
Honorable Mention Graduate Oral Presentation: Elizabeth Favor – Deception in the depths: Evolution of Camouflage Strategies in Sharks (Selachii) – Advisor Dr. Matthew Davis
