Commonwealth College and the Department of Higher Education hosted the 14th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference last Friday.
Over 500 students from Massachusetts community colleges and state colleges in gathered at the University of Massachusetts campus center to present their collected research on a wide range of topics.
The day-long event kicked off at 9 a.m. and enabled students to present their thesis research, creative work in the visual and performing arts, independent studies and reports on community service and study abroad.
"This conference has been quite successful," said UMass senior and presenter Nick Straggas. "I've only been here for a few hours and have been asked a lot of questions. It's weird, I've actually bumped into a lot of friends from high school."
The conference expanded dramatically from its beginning in 1995, then including only the four undergraduate colleges of the UMass system. The conference has since progressed to involve students from all institutions of higher education in Massachusetts.
"The idea is to bring together all public universities across the state in an interdisciplinary manner," said Jill Meade the assistant coordinator of the conference. "The conference enables students to present their research and celebrate their work."
Commonwealth College, the honors program at UMass, promotes lifelong learning and engagement with society. The curriculum focuses on inquiry and critical analysis, independent research, collaborative work and effective communication skills.
"I'm so impressed with the work of these talented, young scholars," said Priscilla M. Clarkson, Professor and Dean of Commonwealth College. "The work that is being presented demonstrates the creativity and scholarly pursuits of our undergraduate students in Massachusetts."
The event featured two keynote speakers, both from UMass. Professor Raymond Bradley in the Department of Geosciences was one of the speakers, with a particular focus on climate change over time. He has written or edited 11 books on climactic change and paleoclimatology, and has authored over 120 articles on those topics.
Dr. Amilcar Shabazz was the other speaker. As a professor and chair of the W.E.B Du Bois Department of African American studies and published international scholar, Dr. Shabazz's field work is focused in historical studies with an emphasis on the political economy of social and cultural movements, education and public history.
The Massachusetts public higher education consists of 29 campuses, 15 community colleges, and nine state colleges, all of which were represented at the Undergraduate Research Conference. The Department of Higher Education oversees all 29 institutions.
"It's not often that undergraduate students spanning the entire spectrum of public higher education in Massachusetts have the opportunity to come together to share their research and best thinking with peers and faculty," said Patricia F. Plummer, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.
The Undergraduate Research Conference welcomes interested students every year and begins recruitment in January. In order to present, prospective students must have faculty oversight and receive academic credit for the acquired research.
Amara Anosike can be reached at aganosik@student.umass.edu.
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