The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s third annual Undergraduate Research Showcase is occurring April 22-26, a widespread display of current research conducted by the university’s undergraduates.
The showcase will be hosted by UL Lafayette’s Student Center for Research, Creativity and Scholarships and Advance Student Research Experience.
Students interested in showcasing their research should sign up by April 17.
Dupre Library’s first floor will be lined with various student-works from all the colleges at the university, from the arts, sciences, music and more.
Jessie White, academic content coordinator for Advance Student Research Experience, elaborated more on Advance, the Undergraduate Research Showcase and its means for the students.
Advance Student Research Experience first began in 2020 and aims to enhance undergraduate student research by providing students with the resources needed to start research or further grow in their field of expertise.
“One of the biggest things that we do is to provide resources that students don’t necessarily know they need, so with that comes research; a lot of students don’t know what research looks like in their field,” White said.
White continued that one of their goals remain in “showcasing our student’s research and getting out there the different variety of research that students can get involved in.”
All of the university’s colleges–nearly 85% of the university’s departments– are involved with Advance, highlighted White.
The Undergraduate Student Research Showcase will serve to highlight student’s work over the past year.
“The showcase is a free event for all of our undergraduate students at UL, and it is to showcase and highlight what they have been working on this whole year,” White said.
“Going through every department, every major and making sure what people know about what they can do in their field of study; we want them to know that this is research.”
Students can anticipate a wide array of research work, from posters to sculptures and beyond during the showcase.
“They can expect to see projects from all over campus and all different walks of life–art pieces, science pieces, engineering–something from every department,” White explained
White additionally mentioned the eligibility criteria for those students wishing to participate in the showcase.
“We accept all projects from undergraduates; we want to highlight our undergrads and if they want to show their work, we are happy to put it in our showcase.”
Students can participate in the showcase simply by submitting a forum online by April 17.
“There is a participation forum to sign up; they’ll sign up and they can bring their projects in that week.”
The forum can be accessed online at advance.louisiana.edu or through the QR code on the showcase flier on Advance’s social media outlets.
Finally, White shared what students can take away from participating in the showcase.
“Research is made to learn something. The point of doing research is to share it, to show other people so they can learn what we just learned. That’s the biggest thing–getting your work out there to share it and show other people so they know what you know.”
“Then again, just highlighting the awesome work that our students do because we haven’t been able to do that in the past, especially with our undergrads. Getting their work out there helps them feel more confident about their work and also network and let other people know what they are capable of,” White concluded.
Once more, for those undergraduate researchers interested in showcasing their extraordinary work on April 22-26, sign up at advance.louisiana.edu by April 17.