CELEBRATE!, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s annual, weeklong celebration of student achievements in academics and the arts will be held April 27 - May 2, 2015.
The week includes seminars, presentations, art exhibitions, plays, student showcases, dance and music performances and more. Hundreds of students take part in the event, which bridges the stimulation of academic inquiry and scholarly pursuit with the exhilaration of creative expression.
As part of CELEBRATE! Week, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ will also host the 22nd annual on April 28. The daylong event includes poster sessions and classroom presentations from students who teamed with faculty mentors to explore questions related to their fields of study.
Last year’s forum, more commonly known by its “SURF” acronym, featured a record number of student participants. Organizers attribute a growing interest in the program to an increasing number of incoming students each year citing undergraduate research as a personal and intellectual goal. They also point to interest among faculty members who take pride in students doing work outside of class.
That growing interest led the national Council on Undergraduate Research to rank ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ among the nation’s top 57 colleges and universities “leading the way” in student participation.
The has recognized ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ and other top schools across the nation that promote high-quality faculty-undergraduate collaborative research and scholarly work. were selected based on the number and/or percentage of student participation at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) over the past four years.
Professor Paul Miller, director of undergraduate research at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, said undergraduate research helps students improve writing skills, public speaking techniques, their identification of meaningful questions, and their levels of self-confidence.
“We can interact with our students and help them strengthen their abilities to problem solve and to think about situations from a variety of perspectives,” he said. “Undergraduate research knows no disciplinary lines and contributes directly in a meaningful way to the intellectual climate on campus.”
Twenty-two percent of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ graduates complete an undergraduate research project, and every year the university provides travel funding to support scores of students who present their original research at NCUR. The annual event has been the leading national venue for the presentation of undergraduate research for the past 28 years.
In addition to SURF, students also may participate in ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s Summer Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE), which offer intensive experiences led by faculty mentors. Many ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ scholarship and grant programs support undergraduate student research activities.
For more information about undergraduate research at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, visit the program’s website: