Event Showcases Summer Research

Meredith’s annual “Taste of Research,” held on Sept. 14, 2016, in Carlyle Campbell Library, was an opportunity for students to share the results of their summer research.

This session featured 24 posters by individual students and teams of student researchers. Some of these projects were funded by The Shepard K. Halsch Academic Enrichment Fund, which supports students in conducting original research in active collaboration with faculty. Others were funded by the Jessie Ball duPont Religious, Charitable, and Educational Fund, which supported student/faculty research teams that also included high school interns from the Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy (WYWLA). This partnership was a new opportunity this year.

Topics included the behavioral differences among freshwater turtles, religious themes found in Game of Thrones, the image of women on Instagram, and the ways that music affects social interactions between children with Autism and typically developing peers.

Undergraduate Research Program Director Paul Winterhoff was pleased at the variety of disciplines represented in this year’s set of summer research teams.

“There was a wide range of academic majors who participated in summer research this year,” Winterhoff said. “The increase in number of humanities students doing research has been a trend in the last few years.”

Summer is an ideal time for undergraduate research according to faculty members.

“Students are able to focus on research and get undivided attention from faculty mentors,” said Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Maria Pickering, who has worked with several student researchers at Meredith. “This kind of experience is ideal for students who anticipate attending graduate school.”

Learn more about undergraduate research opportunities