College students spend almost an entire academic year working in the classrooms for themselves and for their professors. On Thursday though they were given the chance to share their works with the rest of the college community during the 13th annual Student Research and Creativity Expo.
According to Psychology Professor and Director of the Office of Student Creative Activity and Research Jack Croxton, the expo gives students a chance to present, speak, or perform their best works to the rest of the campus.
"It's really a compilation of many of our students accomplishments throughout the year," he said. "The Expo goes for about six hours and it's a great opportunity for us to celebrate the many great things our students have been accomplishing throughout the year."
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Expo
The days events began with some high-energy dance and musical performances in The Spot/Campus Grind with a tap dance performance by the Zoot Suit Gang, followed by a violin demonstration and a theatrical performance called "Trunk Trouble."
"Most of the academic disciplines are represented here," Croxton said. "We also have oral presentations taking place throughout the day in other rooms in the William Center; and we have musical performances that will be occurring, including some students singing some of the songs from the college musical The Sound of Music."
Oral presentations included, but were not limited to, a discussion on "How Reception Shortchanged Feminist Theory," Shakespeare's Thersits, Simulating Human Memory in Wireless Robots using Semantic Networks, The Discover India Project, and Conversations with Ghosts.
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Part of the Zoot Suit Gang tap danced to Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies as part of the many musical performances Thursday.
"Some of it is research projects, some of it is creative activity that students have been doing in the classroom and outside the classroom, student volunteer work is also on display," Croxton said. "We're trying to get it to grow every year, we're getting up to close to about 350 students now who are participating in the Expo."
The Expo, Croxton said, started primarily in the science's for students in the natural and social sciences to share their research.
"We've decided to expand it because we wanted to include the arts and the humanities, the school of music, and we've tried to broaden it to get more and more students involved each year in the festivities," he added.
This year's keynote address was given by Dr. Matthew Hurtgen, a 1996 Fredonia alumnus and currently an Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University.
The annual event is coordinated by SUNY Fredonia's Office of Student Creative Activity and Research to provide an opportunity for students to become closely affiliated with faculty mentors to develop skills and knowledge that will benefit them well into the future.
Comments on this article may be sent to mrukavina@observertoday.com
