RU student/faculty research collaboration highlights Student Engagement Forum

The Student Engagement Forum, a 23-year campus tradition of scholarship at Radford University, will take place April 22-24 in Heth and Peters Halls and the Hurlburt Student Center Auditorium.

Almost 200 presentations from RU graduate and undergraduate students will be featured in the campus-wide celebration of original research and faculty/student collaboration. The event is free and open to the public.

"The forum showcases the highest levels of academic achievement and creation of new knowledge at RU through our campus community’s undergraduate and graduate students’ creative works, scholarship and research," said Joseph Wirgau, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship. "The work on display represents a tremendous undertaking, often involving teams of students and faculty, to address important questions and issues for society, such as climate change, disease spread, acceptance of minority groups, the causes of bullying, maximizing stock market investments, the role of athletics within university missions and so many more."

Matt Dunleavy, interim director of academic affairs and associate professor of instructional technology, will open the forum at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22, in the Hurlburt Student Center Auditorium as the plenary speaker.

The trip by RU physics, geology and teacher education students to Barrow, Alaska, for polar ice research will be the subject of an Arctic Geophysics session on Wednesday, April 23, at 6 p.m. in Heth 014. A Dance Student Choreography Showcase will be in Peters 112 on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

On Thursday, Cheryl Travis, chair of the Women's Studies Program at the University of Tennessee, will keynote the Gender Studies symposium at 2 p.m. in Heth 014 with a presentation titled "The Women's Health Movement and Health Disparities."

Other symposiums will be devoted to innovations in forensic science and communications. There will be an art history panel and a panel discussion by participating students on leveraging research opportunities and the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program. Oral presentation sessions will be devoted to Appalachian Studies, biology and business and technology. Poster sessions will be devoted to nursing, chemistry, biology, psychology, geology and geospatial science.

For a complete schedule of events for the 23rd Annual Student Engagement Forum, visit their website.