Student research on display April 10

April 02, 2012

Student researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater spent the year exploring, analyzing, performing and creating.

Now, they'll get to show off their findings at the annual Undergraduate Research Day. The event is Tuesday, April 10, from noon to 3:15 p.m. in the James R. Connor University Center Hamilton Room, and is free and open to the public.

Students from every college and 25 academic departments conducted research this year. The result is a diverse research mosaic with topics ranging from bullying in public schools to environmental effects on pig DNA.

"Research is not limited to science," said Catherine Chan, interim director of UW-Whitewater's undergraduate research program. "Many people imagine students working in a lab mixing chemicals. While we have a strong foundation in the sciences, we're seeing more and more students from other majors participate."

For example, Justin Brockmann uncovered mathematical messages in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books.  Jason Parry looked at 1950s media coverage of U.S. covert missions in the Middle East and Central America. Rachel Walling explored home manufacturing of watercolor paints.

These students, along with nearly 150 others, will display their work on large and colorful posters filled with graphs, charts, photos and project synopses. Several students will give oral presentations throughout the day. Click here for the full list of projects.

Chan says students who participate in undergraduate research often acquire new skills, making them more competitive in the workforce and more attractive to potential employers.

"We have education graduates go into job interviews having already designed lesson plans that they can talk about," Chan said. "We have art graduates employed in the jewelry industry who learned techniques while doing undergraduate research. It gives them a real head start."