 "Photo: Nargis Hakim Rahman -- For The South End")
 "Photo: Nargis Hakim Rahman -- For The South End")
More than 200 people gathered at Wayne State’s McGregor Memorial Conference Center on Nov. 14 for a research conference that hosted student projects in various fields.
Students gave presentations, showcased posters and opened doors for future research at the fifth annual Undergraduate Research Conference. Rashida Tlaib, state representative for District 12, said research is not only used in university settings.
Tlaib collected data in aggressive door-to-door campaigning against seven opponents. She said research helped her find out what people needed.
“[The] best of legislatures do research, research is the key,” she said.
Students were required to have faculty mentors, apply for presentations and were given $2,300 in grants by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Students’ research ranged from dance to the sciences.
Biology major David Hermiz participated in two presentations — one on Chaldean-American identity and values, another on the role of dopamine in Parkinson’s disease.
In the Chaldean- American studies, Hermiz and partner Stephanie Karmo studied 13 Chaldean Americans and distinguished differences in gender roles, religion and other values between the two cultures.
Hermiz became interested in the project after mentor John Brendor, director of the Confucius Institute, did a similar study for second- generation Japanese Americans.
“I’m a second-generation Chaldean-American, where do I fit in?” Hermiz said.
Presenters Martha Dobbs and Kate Vincek did research on solo dance choreography by Jan Van Dyke. For their research, they traveled to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to rehearse with Van Dyke and other performers, for five days. Dobbs and Vincek said, as dance majors, there is a lot of group choreography, not solo.
“Getting to perform solo was something we wanted to do,” Vincek said.
Accounting major Veronica Topolewski compared national-brand products with seven retail stores’ products to study common marketing trends across retailers. Her research was for an honors option.
“In the business school, we’re not exposed to research as much,” Topolewski said. “It’s not a requirement.”
Kevin Rashid, a coordinator in the Office of Undergraduate Research and curriculum coordinator in the Honors College said OUR-funded participants were required to apply for presentations.
Nine members of the Academy of Scholars — elected faculty members recognized for their achievements — served as judges. Arthur F. Marotti, interim chair of the English department and distinguished professor of English, was a judge.
Preparation, research, evidence of hard work, clarity, presentation skills and participation in the project were criteria students met to win awards, Marotti said.
“Students put their minds and hearts into their projects and came up with very interesting results,” he said.
“Many presentations were worthy of special recognition, we could not give out as many awards as we would have liked.”
Journalism and biology major Nicholas Bashour said students benefited from the conference by “putting research out there and practicing presentation skills.”
“The conference reimburses students for hard work and provides an opportunity to challenge students outside of classroom,” Topolewski said.
Students were able to better understand what they learned through presenting, Rashid said.
“It’s one thing to accumulate research, it is powerful to translate that to an audience,” he said.
Ten students were awarded for presentations: William Bryan, Stephanie Neal, Holliness Nose, Jeremaiah Moore, Joseph Roberts, David Hermiz, Karam Bollis, Cevan Castle, Martha Dobbs and Kate Vincek. Poster winners were Correy Black, Jeffrey Kangas, Adrianne Stefanski and Monika Wadehra.
“The best paper I heard, which won the competition among the eleven papers was a genuinely original piece of work that was publishable,” Marotti said.
“Those who did not function on this level of sophistication did a fine job, and showed a lot of potential for future work.”
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