The second annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at Hope College on Wednesday, Oct. 2, will feature work by approximately 100 students.
The symposium will run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the college's Haworth Inn and Conference Center.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The symposium will feature "poster presentations" chronicling student involvement as co-investigators in original research and other beyond-the-classroom learning experiences. The student participants will represent a variety of academic disciplines.
The college has received recognition through the years for its research-based approach in teaching students, particularly in the sciences. The new "America's Best Colleges 2003" published by "U.S. News and World Report" has included Hope among the top five in "Academic Programs: Undergraduate research/Creative projects," along with the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University in California and Furman University in South Carolina.
The Undergraduate Research Symposium is an opportunity to celebrate the solid, significant research work done together by Hope students and faculty, according to Dr. James Gentile, who is dean for the natural sciences and the Kenneth G. Professor of Biology at Hope.
"Hope is known nationally for finding ways to integrate students into a research mode of learning, often in collaboration with a faculty member on her or his own scholarly endeavors," he said. "Sometimes we take this for granted, and we should not. It is special, it is unique, and it is the foundation of the integrated research and educational experience that defines this institution."
"We are holding this second symposium, with many, many more to follow, so as to celebrate the discovery experience with our students, to give us all an opportunity to marvel at the diversity of subjects undertaken and the skill with which the research has been accomplished, and to encourage others--students and faculty--within our community to explore ways in which they can participate in comparable scholarly endeavors in their own areas of interest," he said. "We want, and expect, this community of scholars to grow."
The Haworth Inn and Conference Center faces College Avenue between Ninth and 10th streets.