Original research by students on topics ranging from the effect of urbanization on birds, to the relationship between spirituality and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, to the connection between geography and democracy will be highlighted during the annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity at Hope College on Friday, April 22, from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse.
The public is invited. Admission and refreshments are free.
The celebration, first presented in 2001, is designed to spotlight the quality and importance of student-faculty collaborative research at the college. The event will feature 153 research projects conducted by 252 Hope students in collaboration with peers and faculty mentors.
The presentations will feature posters illustrating the projects, with students on-hand to discuss their work. The displays fill the basketball and volleyball courts and concourse of the fieldhouse.
The students and their projects will represent all of the college’s academic divisions — the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural and applied sciences — and 22 departments and programs.
Hope College is nationally recognized for the extent and quality of its undergraduate research program. Students regularly present their research at regional and national conferences and publish their research as co-authors with their faculty mentors. Among other examples, the Best Colleges guide published by U.S. News & World Report ranks Hope 24th nationwide among only 56 colleges and universities recognized for providing outstanding undergraduate research/creative project opportunities, counted among universities like Yale, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Princeton and Northwestern.
Research has a long and storied history at Hope. More than 100 years ago, biologist Dr. Samuel O. Mast designed research laboratory space for the college’s Van Raalte Hall, which opened in 1903. The late Dr. Gerrit Van Zyl, who taught chemistry at the college from 1923 to 1964, is widely recognized for developing research-based learning at Hope in its modern sense.
The fieldhouse is located at 222 Fairbanks Ave., between Ninth and 11th streets.