This past Saturday, November 9, Professor Laurie Dashnau and ten Houghton students attended and participated in the 14th annual Penn-York Undergraduate Research Conference held at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. The university hosted the conference in conjunction with their 50 year celebration of the university’s operation.
The Penn-York Conference is an opportunity for students to make a brief presentation of their research to a group of their peers and to “learn a lot of interesting material from areas outside of their disciplines” said Prof. Dashnau. The conference provides an opportunity for learning and for honing presentation skills. “The conference went very well. I had an opportunity to attend approximately 25 paper readings…. All of the presentations went very well.” said Dashnau.
Seniors Caleb Johnson, David Smith, Jessica Dreiling, Hannah Lily, Ben Murphy, Taylor Ross, Elizabeth Wallace and juniors Sylvia Morrow, Meghan McCuistion, and Stephanie Ford gave oral presentations at the conference. In addition to oral presentations, there were also poster presentations displaying student research and projects.
There was a varied representation of academic areas at the conference, both from the Houghton students and the conference presenters overall. From Houghton, “Five were presenting writing specifically; Caleb Johnson’s paper was from… [an] economics class and the same for Taylor Ross’s paper titled ‘How does Health-Care Affect Economic Freedom?’… Sylvia Morrow presented a physics paper,” said Dashnau. Johnson’s presentation was entitled “Free Trade Agreements,” Smith’s was “The Effects of Nonverbal Communication in the Writing Center,” Dreiling’s “Rapport in the Writing Center,” Murphy’s “The Case for Inclusivity at Houghton College,” and McCuistion’s “Electroencephalographic Measures of Negative Priming Effects on Event-Related Potentials and Reaction Times.”
Junior Sylvia Morrow’s presentation was entitled “Searching for Rigid Triaxial Deformation in 70Ge” and focused on her research that she conducted over the summer on rare nuclear shapes at low energies in 70Ge. Morrow said that “it was a good opportunity to practice bringing science to the public.” For Morrow the conference also presented a chance to “practice my presentation and public speaking skills” she said.
Senior Hannah Lily’s presentation was entitled “Personal Repertoire in Writing Center Consultations” and focused on “how the sharing of details builds repertoire,” said Lily. Lily also commented on her participation in the conference, saying “it was a good experience being able to see everyone else’s presentations and the methods that they presented in, there was a wide variety of topics.”
Besides Houghton, students from Hilbert College, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville, Alfred University, St. Bonaventure, and Clarion University of Pennsylvania also presented at the conference.
Dashnau was optimistic for the conference’s growth and development next year. “I’m delighted that next year more students from St. Bonaventure University will be joining us in larger measure… one professor there who also went to the Penn-York Conference has agreed to be the keynote speaker; his name is Gregory Privitera,” said Dashnau. Houghton has hosted the conference in 2007 and there is an expressed hope to host the conference next year.