Fred Ernst, clinical psychologist and associate dean for Faculty Research and Development for the College of Liberal Arts, explains his study on anorexia dysphoria as a keynote speaker during the Engaged Scholar Symposium presentation held Thursday on the Brownsville campus. Michelle Espinoza/The Rider
Undergraduate students at UTRGV showcased their research, service learning projects and creative works at the Engaged Scholar Symposium.
Fred Ernst, associate dean of Faculty Research and Development for the College of Liberal Arts, was the keynote speaker of the symposium, which took place last Thursday in the PlainsCapital Bank Gran Salón in the Student Union on the Brownsville campus.
“There’s a lot of information on here, especially from experts like Dr. Ernst,” said Adrian Nava, a psychology senior. “There is no better way to get the information than to come here and really apply yourself and pay attention. Get as much as you can. I mean if they are free, take advantage.”
It was an all-day event, which consisted of four creative work sessions, 11 oral and 26 poster presentations.
Biomedical seniors Edward Yao and Michael Roa conducted an oral presentation, titled “Testosterone Replacement Therapy for the Treatment of Diabetes and Obesity in Males.”
“The symposium is an important event because it gives a lot of students who usually don’t have access to a stage to speak to other students and other professionals regarding topics of their concern,” Roa said. “With our presentation we had a topic that we were concerned about that we would like to bring to light and this gave us the opportunity to show that to a bunch of like-minded individuals.”
“We have some amazing work that’s been done at UTRGV that can transform a lot of fields of study.
Amy A. Weimer
Student Academic Development associate dean”
The event was not specifically focused on one major; students of all majors could submit their research.
The presentations consisted of business and entrepreneurship, education, engineering, technology and computer science, health affairs, humanities and social sciences, life sciences, life sciences, math and physical sciences, multidisciplinary studies and service learning projects.
Poster presentations in the top fifth percentile received an award of excellence certificate. Judging was based on research questions, data collection, implementation of their project, methodology and creativity.
In Brownsville, one award went to service learning and two for undergraduate research.
“This is a wonderful moment for our students to be able to share what they’ve been producing,” said Amy A. Weimer, associate dean for Student Academic Development in the Office of Student Academic Success. “We have some amazing work that’s been done at UTRGV that can transform a lot of fields of study.”
The event also took place last Friday at the Ballroom and the Student Academic Center on the Edinburg campus with keynote speaker David Hicks, a professor in multidisciplinary sciences and director of the School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Science.
Five creative works, 80 posters and 17 oral presentations were showcased in Edinburg.
“We made sure to host this event at both campuses so that everybody would have a chance to participate,” Weimer said
