Adventure Week: Research Fair

By:  Jenna Ellis

Day 1 of adventure week: the start of countless info meetings, first group lunch dates, and, my personal favorite, the introduction of faculty-led research. Today, Derick introduced the juniors to faculty-led research with a brief meeting, and then held the research fair with various WKU professors.

Professors gathered while the juniors had their session with Derick to set up their research information posters, computer demos, and other tactile tools to present their work. While research topics are increasingly specific for a given mentor, professors’ broad interests ranged from applied mathematics and physics all the way to geography and manufacturing engineering sciences. When it came time for juniors to make their way to each professor, I noticed a mixture of confused and excited looks coming from each student. While they likely had little to no experience with a lot of the very detailed work these great professors were discussing, many obviously found a small spark of interest. The adventure week research fair is a great way for students to get a head start on considering a research project, and it often has a large influence on the project a student will pursue at any given time during their Academy career.

Seeing the juniors showing their personalities and explicit STEM interests was very exciting, and honestly a great way to hype students up for their very first semester. I can’t wait to see all the great connections and relationships my juniors will make with their research mentors and all the amazing work they will accomplish!