The craziest day of the year for celebrating academic achievement is here.

We’re talking about the annual student symposiums hosted by the School of Arts and Sciences and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. (What, were you thinking about Commencement when we said celebrate?) 

More than 300 students will present posters, give formal presentations, and guide the community through art exhibits as part of both showcases. It is the largest single event of the year when we focus on student academic achievements. Many of these students have been working on some projects since they arrived on campus.

“Faculty-mentored research opportunities play a signature role in our students’ education,” said Patrice Rankine, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. “The Student Symposium showcases the breadth and depth of undergraduate research across the School of Arts and Sciences.”

The topics range all over the place, from whether virtual reality can help train you to play a better pool game to how sustainable logging practices affect jaguars’ activity in Belize. Our three Goldwater Scholars will present on their research as well.

Some of the projects, particularly in the sciences, can be so complicated they are nearly impossible for a layperson to decipher. Luckily for us, our students are equally as strong at explaining their research to the uninitiated as they are at producing results in the lab, the field, or the library.

For more snapshots of the research being presented, you can follow the University’s social media coverage for highlights from the Symposium.