On November 21, the Graduate Student Union hosted Notre Dame’s first Graduate Research Symposium. The symposium, which was supported by the Graduate School, showcased the accomplishments of Notre Dame graduate students by bringing together research from all colleges of the graduate school in five divisions: Engineering, Social Sciences, Sciences, Humanities, and a special division for the 2008 Notre Dame Forum topic, Sustainable Energy. The goal of the event was to provide a scholarly but informal environment to facilitate conversations between graduate students and symposium guests.
Earlier this semester, the Graduate Student Union announced a call for abstracts to all graduate students. From the 77 abstracts submitted, five or six student delegates were selected for each division by a panel of faculty reviewers. The student delegates presented their research in a poster format. A poster presentation of research provides the presenter with a visual aid to describe their work, and was intended to allow the guests of the symposium to receive a presentation tailored to their interests and background knowledge. Students attended their posters for the duration of the symposium, making themselves available for discussion and questions.
The Graduate Research Symposium was also a competition. The best presentation of research in each division, as selected by a panel of judges, received a $500 prize.
A sample of presentation titles at the Symposium are below. A complete list can be found at the GSU website.
Helping Discover What Causes CdSe Molecules to Blink
Joseph B. Herzog, Engineering Division
“This is plenty”: Mapping Persecution, Puns, and Palimpsests in/on Geoffrey Hill’s “September Song”
Jacquilyn Weeks, Humanities Division
“Don’t Mess with Curly:” God and the Gang in Central America
Robert Brenneman, Social Sciences Division
Patterns of Historic Landscape Modification Impact Modern Beech Population Genetics
Jessica Mikels, Sciences Division
TiO2 Nanotube-Gold Arrays for Hydrogen Generation
Ben Meekins, Sustainable Energy Division