The 36th Annual Symposium packed the Student Center, Friday, April 1. Eastern was the first university to have a campus-wide celebration and sharing of senior thesis’ in this way. There were 450 student participants this year. The day began with 189 oral presentations starting at 8:30 a.m.
Chris Mac, a professional chemistry major, presented the optical properties of gold/silver nanoparticles.
“One of the big things we’re doing is [to] see how vitamin B2 [reacts]. We add a little bit of our nanoparticles to that and see how the light changes,” Mac said.
Mac is going to being work in his field after graduating and plans to attend grad school in the future.
Exercise science major Danielle Kinczkowski co-presented her studies on the Bright Futures program. This is a youth health program for children between the ages of 10 and 13. While participating, Kinczkowski and her partner took data on the volunteer students in the beginning and end of the program to track their progress.
“It’s a really good turnout. Everyone seems to be asking really good questions and it’s been really interesting so far,” Kinczowski said.
After graduating, Kinczowski will be moving on to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital for an internship in cardiac rehab. After that, she will be applying to the P.A. program at either EMU or Wayne State.
The day-long presentations were viewed by hundreds of people and was punctuated by a free lunch, which included speeches made by alumni and the interim president.
The third floor of the Student Center was filled with posters, presenting visual presentations of some thesis’. The 124 posters in 310A were scientific works. 35 of 59 participating works of art were on exhibit down the hall in room 300. The design expo was interdisciplinary. It included everything from ceramics, to clothing, to architecture. These works of art were done in tandem between student research and faculty.
“We don’t necessarily know what we’re going to get. Every year is a surprise,” Vanessa Davis, the graduate assistant for the Symposium said, who said that turn out this year was great.
