Liberty Students Take Home Awards at BigSURS

Fourteen Liberty University students placed third or above in the Big South Undergraduate Research Symposium two weeks ago. The event, which allows students from each school in the Big South Conference to perform and present their research, was held at Liberty for the first time April 13-14.

Another first for the event was a category for performing arts where students could present their research with performances to better demonstrate their research.

Rebecca Edmiston, a Liberty junior majoring in piano performance and choral music education, took first in the performing arts category.

“Dr. Hardin suggested that I get involved in Research Week/BigSURS because of the new performing arts category this year and because I had already been working on Chopin’s Fantasy in F minor in order to perform in various recitals,” Edmiston said. “My love for the piece itself was the first thing that motivated me to do the research, and as I went deeper, it became more fascinating as I learned about the historical, musical and philosophical influences behind the piece.”

Liberty senior and biomedical sciences major Caleb Schreiner took first place with his brother Christopher Schreiner and Caroline Roberts for the poster presentation, “Vitamin B9 Can Change the Activity of Genes in Your Brain.” Schreiner had been working through the topic for two years prior to BigSURS.

Their advisor, Dr. Gary Isaacs helped the students through each part of the process and oversaw the research being done on a regular basis.

“If something went wrong, he was very understanding and would usually help us think through what might have happened by asking guiding questions,” Shreiner said. “Overall, I wouldn’t have chosen any other professor to work with these last two years.”

Schreiner said he accredits his success in research and his pairing with a great professor to Liberty’s excellence in equipping its students for quality research through classes and labs.

“It was a great opportunity, and I had fun presenting our research and seeing what my friends and classmates were working on,” Shreiner said.