Students showcase at Symposium

The Augustana Symposium might offer fewer presentations this year than in the past. Because of scheduling conflicts, some students in the sciences cannot present at the Symposium on April 9.

Instead, BRIN research students will be presenting at the South Dakota Academy of Sciences Conference.

"It could hurt our level of participation, given that the Symposium has traditionally been a major venue for science students to present their work," Symposium convener Darcie Rives-East said. "We hope to establish a permanent date for the Symposium in the future so that we can avoid as many conflicts as possible."

Senior Brian Juber did research on DNA repair this past summer and will be presenting in April, but not at the Augustana Symposium.

"We would all be doing a poster session at the Symposium if we weren't going," Juber said. "There are about 15-20 of us missing this year."

Despite the conflicts for a certain group of students on campus, the Symposium committee hopes students will take the opportunity to present if they can.

"The Symposium is extremely important for the students and the faculty at Augustana," biology professor and Symposium organizer Jennifer Gubbels said. "For many students it is their only chance to talk about and display the research that they have done, and it is also a great experience for the faculty to see the research that their colleagues across campus are doing."

Last year, 75 students submitted either a poster or an oral presentation, and more than 125 students, faculty and community members attended.

Junior Dawn Wille hopes to present her paper "Uncle Tom's Cabin, Theatrically Different" at this year's Symposium and Dakota Conference. Because it will be her first year presenting, she is seeking advice from previous presenters.

Wille chose her topic after writing a term paper on Uncle Tom's Cabin for a Civil War literature class.

"I enjoy that I can combine my interests in literature and theatre," Wille said. "I'm happy that I can present at the Augie Symposium because my topic is not something that many people know a lot about that deals with history, literature and theatre – the topics interest people from different disciplines."

Any students interested in presenting this year should submit a proposal to Rives-East by March 28. Proposals must include the presentations title, student(s) name and e-mail address, name of a faculty sponsor, the presentation format, time required, technology required and a 250-word abstract.

Those submitting research papers might also consider the Library Associates Research Award, which is given in recognition of outstanding achievement in research methodology and writing. More information is available at www.augie.edu/pub/symposium or by e-mailing any members of the Symposium Committee.