The second annual Undergraduate Research Symposium nearly doubled in participation after 40 students from all but one college presented their research in the Centre at Millennium Park on Wednesday.
“We expanded with students in departments that weren’t involved last year,” said Dr. Foster Levy, director of ETSU’s undergraduate research and creative activities office. “There was a much broader range of participation.”
Dual sessions went on during the morning and afternoon sessions as students presented a diverse range of research from various colleges like the arts and sciences, business and technology, education, and public and allied health.
“We wanted to make sure that students from all over campus had a chance to participate,” Levy said.
Along with the presentations this year, eight art students displayed their work in the main floor lobby on Thursday and Friday.
A majority of students presenting their work received research grants on projects that took at least one year, sometimes three or four depending on the discipline. This five-step process included: developing a topic, conducting research, presenting the project at the symposium and publishing the work.
“This will help me with my dissertation when I get my masters in business administration,” said Shana Hartman, a senior marketing major.
Hartman’s topic, “Avatar Based Marketing: Exploring Marketing in Second Life,” discusses the strategies of marketing on secondlife.com, a virtual reality world for social interaction.
“My main issue was, ‘How do you market to someone in a virtual world?'” Hartman said. “Usually that is based on knowing a person, their behavior and personality, but on Second Life you don’t know them. You’re marketing to an Avatar (a virtual identity someone created).”
Since projects like these are time consuming, particularly for students taking a full-load of classes, Levy said the majority of students take an independent study credit or conduct research as part of a work-study program.
This encourages more student participation from those who otherwise would be unable to invest the time or resources into the program.
Andy Drinnon, a senior history major, compared two radical apocalyptic religious movements that were separated by 450 years, but had many similarities.
Drinnon looked at the Anabaptist take-over of the German city of Munster in 1534 and compared it with the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas, during the ’80s and early ’90s under the leadership of David Koresh.
Drinnon said this not only gave him an idea of what it would be like to present his master’s dissertation, which he plans to begin in fall 2007, but also provided an outlet for his honor’s thesis.
“All honors students have to present their thesis before they graduate,” Drinnon said. “The symposium is a good chance to do this because it is more casual and less stressful than other presentations.”
Opportunities for undergraduate students at ETSU to do research-related work are endless. Perhaps that’s why Levy wants students from all over campus to have a chance to get involved. “Everything that you do that is novel should be considered research,” Levy said.
Students interested in participating in next year’s Undergraduate Research Symposium can e-mail Levy at levyf@etsu.edu.

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