Students’ projects take spotlight during Research Week

Liberty University Research Week kicked off as students presented research posters in the Jerry Falwell Library Main Atrium Tuesday afternoon.

Throughout the week, students will be hosting formal presentations of their work in various locations around the library. In addition, a variety of events will be held to promote and showcase student scholarship.

Participation in research presentations has increased by over 100 percent from last year. While the event has typically been broken up into graduate and undergraduate weeks, organizers combined them into a larger, more highly promoted event this year. Research Week also promotes Liberty’s Quality Enhancement Plan, which focuses on learning through research and scholarship. Online students are able to present using remote technology.

As students flooded the library atrium on Tuesday, they were met with displays using graphs, videos, photographs, and even a few live props to explain projects ranging from algae biofuel studies to prenatal attachment, business cultural analysis in Germany, and Civil War history. In one corner, student-doctors in white coats showcased projects they are engaged in at Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The poster presentations allowed opportunities for engagement as visitors asked thoughtful questions.

A pair of students from the Department of Biology & Chemistry — zoology major Jessie Proehl and zoo and wildlife biology major Kameron Fletcher — had a small tank with two live newts to illustrate their study of local amphibian populations.

“It is a great opportunity to be able to present what we have been doing for the past few months,” Fletcher said of Research Week. “It definitely sets us up to succeed, being able to present here at the symposium after getting out in the field and doing some good quality work.”

He added that field research is a tremendous supplement to his studies.

“That is what I want to be doing, working in the field,” Fletcher said. “It is nice to be able to get a little hands-on work outside of the classroom.”

Proehl added that while she is aware of some of the other biology students’ projects, it was nice to see projects from other disciplines as well.

“It is just interesting to see what everyone is coming up with and finding out,” she said.

Montana Drawbaugh, a psychology major, said Research Week is a great way to highlight the various ways students from different disciplines are gaining experience in their chosen fields.

“It is really cool to share ideas and learn new research methods,” she said.

Drawbaugh, who wants to work in business psychology, is on the Research Advisory Board and a member of the Daniels Program, which gives students the opportunity to collaborate with faculty on a variety of research projects intended to solve real-world problems.

She said that not a lot of schools have opportunities to engage in research at the undergraduate level like Liberty does.

“It has really helped supplement my education,” Drawbaugh said. “For those of us who want to create research and do it, potentially, as a profession, it is really good experience to do it at the undergraduate level.”

Graduate history student Alex Boggs, who produced a historical documentary on the town of New London (Virginia), said that Research Week is a good opportunity for undergraduate students to gain experience presenting and for graduate students to showcase the benefits of postsecondary education.

Boggs added that a week dedicated to showcasing research encourages greater quality.

“It is really a time for us to shine,” Boggs said. “A lot of the time our work is kept to the classroom. It adds a new flair when we create something that we have to show. It makes us create better, and it makes us more cognizant of the things that we are creating so that we are polishing our craft.”

Visit Liberty’s QEP website, Liberty.edu/QEP, for the full Research Week schedule.