The third annual Austin College Student Scholarship Conference this February included the academic work of nearly 200 students. Sponsored by the Robert and Joyce Johnson Center for Faculty Development and Excellence in Teaching, the conference brought together “in the spirit of the liberal arts, the intellectual stimulation of academic pursuit with the thrill of creative expression,” said conference coordinator Lance Barton, associate professor of biology.
The conference included poster symposia; performance from theatre playwrights; an improvisation troupe performance; media studies productions; bilingual stage readings; presentations from business startup entrepreneurial groups; chamber music performances; a reading of student-written pieces; and individual research presentations.
Barton said the conference helps to develop a more vibrant intellectual community, particularly as students engage with their peers about the work they do and the research process, and supports the campus focus on learning through discovery. The 2015 conference, he said, was nearly 50 percent larger than the previous year, and he estimated that attendance for all events also doubled, with some 800 audience members. More than 40 faculty sponsored at least one presentation. Joining Barton on the ACSC Faculty Committee were Nathan Bigelow, political science; Aaron Block, computer science and mathematics; Renee Countryman, psychology; Carol Daeley, English; Ricky Duhaime, music; Kirk Everist, theatre; Mark Monroe, art; and John Richardson, chemistry. Jeesoo Lee ’15 was a student intern for the conference.
The 2015 conference also recognized the 50th year of honors research at Austin College. The Austin College Honors Program was created in 1965 to challenge superior students in their final year of study to delve deeper into a topic of interest within their majors. Candidates are invited by a faculty committee to complete undergraduate honors theses, which they then defend in oral examinations by their theses committees. Since 1965, more than 600 Austin College students, including 14 in 2015, have completed honors theses; the bound works are located in Abell Library.
Austin College is an enhanced institutional member of the Council on Undergraduate Research.
Research presentations were not limited to campus. Students offered their work at the Texas Academy of Science meeting, the Joint Mathematics Meeting (American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America), and the Southwestern Psychological Association.
Jurassic Park at Austin College? Students in one January Term course reconstructed “Big Nibbles,” a life-size Deinonychus antirrhopus, using original fossil description and measurements—and shared their work at the conference. They sculpted, molded, assembled, painted, and feathered for weeks, combining art and science in all aspects of the creation. For more photos of the process, see the photo gallery.