The 18th annual IdeaFest was larger than ever this year.
In all, 277 students gave a total of 163 oral presentations, poster presentations, performances and panels on a wide variety of subject matter.
The two-day event, held last Wednesday and Thursday throughout the second floor of the Muenster University Center, entailed student research and other academic work.
Research ranged from an analysis of the origins of electronic rock to the effects of iron and europium cations on environmental remediation properties of titania dioxide.
Senior chemistry major Anne Grady, who presented her research on titania dioxide, said the benefits of IdeaFest are appreciated.
“Everyone who presents puts in late nights and hard work and it’s really a good feeling to be able to share what you’ve learned,” she said. “It’s certainly exciting to tell people about all the possibilities out there and hear about what others are doing too.”
Students who aren’t presenting but decide to attend IdeaFest often get research ideas from their peers at the event, said Brennan Jordan, IdeaFest chairman and Earth science associate professor.
Senior Dani Fett, who presented with four other psychology majors on the differences in sleep patterns among different genders and academic years and how those sleep habits affect academic performance, agreed and said it’s gratifying for her group’s difficult work to get some rare attention.
“IdeaFest gives us a chance to show what we’ve worked so hard to do. Research is a lot of work and we want somebody to look at what we’ve done,” Fett said.
Students, via IdeaFest, get to be involved with an experience that more closely represents a post-college environment, Brennan said.
“(IdeaFest) is like a professional conference that a student would encounter if they went to present their research or other academic work at a professional (setting),” he said, referring to the constant talks that happened in the rooms on the second floor of the MUC.
Fett said she and her research partners used IdeaFest to help them prepare for a presentation they will be giving in late April at the annual Midwestern Psychological Association meeting in Chicago.
Two keynote speeches, University of Kansas Professor David Frayer and playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, spoke in the MUC ballroom as a part of the event as well.
This year’s IdeaFest had 41 more student participants and five more presentations than last year.
Jordan said he anticipates the event will continue to grow as long as students maintain interest in IdeaFest and the student body continues to enlarge as well.
Reach reporter Joe Sneve at Joe.Sneve@usd.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!