Formation of Research Experience Club leads to second annual symposium

Three students researching reading comprehension with Jennifer Stiegler-Balfour, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychology, decided they wanted to further represent and showcase undergraduate research at UNE.

“Being a student in a research lab, I quickly learned to appreciate all of the opportunities offered by the University, but I wanted to make more available to my peers,” explained Ellie Leighton (Psychology, ’18).

Leighton, Courtney Parent (Psychology, ’19) and Nicole Martin (Psychology, ’21) established the Research Experience Club with a focus on student-run events.

With encouragement from Amy Keirstead, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry and interim associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the students recently held their second annual Fall Research Symposium.

The symposium is designed to provide a stress-free environment for undergraduates to work on their presentation skills, share their current findings and showcase their artistic talents.

“The symposium is a great way to talk to other students about their research,” said Martin. “Next year we definitely want to see more students take advantage of it.”

Having the symposium in December afforded an opportunity to practice presenting research to students who were graduating early, studying abroad in the spring, enrolled in a research methods course or new to a lab.

Eleven presenters took part in the Fall Research Symposium.

The organizers would like to thank the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office; the Office of Research and Scholarship; UNE President James Herbert; Sodexo; club sponsor Christina Leclerc, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychology; and all their faculty mentors for making the symposium possible.