 "Photo: Michael J. Wyen")
 "Photo: Michael J. Wyen")
Smith, a senior in biology from the Lima campus, could talk about it with authority - it is his undergraduate research topic.
"The more we looked into it, the more interesting it got," he said.
Smith presented his work at the 12th annual Denman Undergraduate Research Forum Wednesday afternoon. The forum was held at the French Field House, across from Ohio Stadium.
About 350 students from all branches of the university were on hand to display information about their research projects, said Shannon Dowdall, program manager for Honors and Scholars. She said students of all ranks and from any discipline were invited. There were also performances from students in fine arts.
Long rows of display posters, summarizing months of research, lined the green indoor-outdoor carpet. The student researchers stood next to their posters and explained them to anyone in the steady stream of onlookers who had questions.
"The advantage of this is that you get to talk to OSU faculty outside of your adviser," said Amiee O'Reilly, a senior in psychology. "They give you ideas, things that you can do to better your project, or further it."
"I've been judged by all three judges now, but I've also had a lot of people that are just interested in it, so that's nice, it's fun to talk about my work that I spent so much time on," said O'Reilly, who researched children's understanding of verb endings.
Reena Patel, a junior in molecular genetics, displayed her fruit fly research. She said she likes coming to the Denman Forum because it's a good networking system, a place to make contacts and find work. "It's a prestigious forum," she said.
Dowdall said that some of the judges are from the business sector, and that can lead to internships for students who are involved.
Smith, standing next to his poster about the toad call, talked about the knowledge he gained from his research.
"It's just interesting to be able to apply what you're learning in the classroom and see it in the field," he said. "It's not going to cure cancer or anything, but ... every little bit we can glean from this tells a little bit more about our world."
There were about as many judges as student presenters, according to Lisa Abrams, associate director of Honors and Scholars. Each judge had three to five students to judge, and each student in turn was judged by three different judges. The projects were judged on poster design, poster presentation, the expertise of the students and the quality of the research. Each project was assigned a score.
"I really don't try to compare the individual ones, I just judge it based project by project and let the scores fall where they may," judge Stephanie Allen said.
Dowdall said there were monetary awards for projects in each category and up to $700 for first place.
The presentation time was followed by a reception and an awards ceremony for the winners.
Andrew Sharp can be reached at sharp.201@osu.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!