Penn State Lehigh Valley will be hosting its annual Undergraduate Research Symposium from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. April 4, in Room 135 at the campus in Center Valley. An awards presentation will follow at 1:30 p.m. The symposium is free and open to the public.
Eric Stephen Boyd, assistant research professor, Montana State University, will be the keynote speaker. His presentation, "Yellowstone through Space and Time: A Guided Tour through the Evolution of Life," will focus on the extant volcanic terrain of the Yellowstone hot spot, its influence on geography, and its ability to bridge our understanding of the diversification of life through space and time. Boyd's talk is sponsored by the Penn State Faculty Invitational Lecture Series.
The symposium celebrates the participation of its undergraduate students in their scholarly research journeys. Undergraduate students will present posters to display research in all disciplines. Academic research projects completed since the end of the spring 2012 semester are eligible and include independent research or research-based course projects, honors research projects and traditional course-related projects that required significant research.
The projects will fall under one of two judging categories: arts and humanities (including behavioral science such as business studies and economics) and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Students who win at the local level will be invited to compete in the third annual Penn State Regional Undergraduate Research Symposium, to be held April 18 at Penn State Hazleton. Lehigh Valley professors Jacqueline McLaughlin and Tai-Yin Huang have been selected to serve on the 2013 Penn State Regional Undergraduate Research Symposium Steering Committee.