WSU’s July 31, 2015 Symposium Features Work of U.S., International Undergraduate Researchers
MEDIA: Shelley Pressley, Director, Office of Undergraduate Research, WSU Undergraduate Education, 509-335-5443, spressley@wsu.edu
Beverly Makhani, Director, Communications, WSU Undergraduate Education, 509-335-6679, mailto:makhani@wsu.edu
PULLMAN, Wash.—More than 80 students are spending 10 summer weeks at Washington State University campuses to participate in faculty-mentored research. On July 31, their work will be showcased at a poster symposium from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the second-floor atrium of the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE). The public is welcome at no charge.
“These undergraduate researchers are from universities as far away as Brazil and Puerto Rico, and North Carolina and Texas, and as close as Oregon and central Washington,” said Shelley Pressley, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, part of WSU Undergraduate Education in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President. Some WSU students are in the mix, as well.
“WSU professors have hosted summer undergraduate researchers for many years. It’s always exciting to see how students from different colleges and cultures learn to work and live together around their shared interest in research. They enrich our community and they make significant contributions to our professors’ projects.”
Support for the students comes from funding by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, U.S.D.A., and faculty grants. In addition to research, the students have BBQs, go on field trips, and attend special brownbag presentations on common topics of interest.
Students are in projects such as those indicated below (listed in alphabetical order by campus).
Pullman Projects
- “Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Change: Measurements and Modeling in the Pacific Northwest”, with Shelley Pressley as the principal investigator (PI)
- “College of Veterinary Medicine SURE: Summer Undergraduate Research Experience”, with PI Samantha Gizerian
- “Gerontechnology-focused Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (GSUR)”, with PIs Diane Cook and Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe
- “Materials Under Extreme Conditions”, with PI Y.M. Gupta
- “New-generation Power-efficient Computer Systems Design”, with PI Partha Pande
- “Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA)/Biofuels”, with PI Shelley Pressley
- “Plant Genomics and Biotechnology”, with PI Amit Dhingra
- “REgional Approaches to Climate CHange – Pacific Northwest Agriculture (REACCH)”, with PI Shelley Pressley
- “Smart Environments”, with PI Larry Holder
WSU Vancouver Project
- “Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Columbia River Basic: Integrating Terrestrial and Aquatic Perspectives ”, with PI Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens