The SUNY New Paltz Student Research Symposium returned on Friday, May 5, as students from across academic disciplines shared outcomes of a variety of experiential learning experiences.
The Symposium is the University’s annual showcase of faculty-mentored work by undergraduate researchers exploring varied topics. This year’s edition saw a total of 55 presentations by 93 students in 14 content areas, from speech communication to mechanical engineering. Use this link to view the full Symposium program.
Many of the projects had received financial support through the Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities program, which in addition to organizing the Symposium also provides resources for students and faculty involved in this work.
In practice, this support can take many forms: funding for supplies, participant payments, travel, and other necessities for good research processes.
“Going to Puerto Rico gave us a sense of how these centers work and how the community responds to them,” said Juliana Frieberg ’23 (Sociology), who was part of a team examining barriers in digital communication for mutual aid centers on the island post-Hurricane Maria. “It was wonderful to be able to meet with them and observe and participate in their interactions with Puerto Rican citizens.”
Other projects hit a little closer to home for University students. A team mentored by Psychology Professor and Director of Evolutionary Studies Glenn Geher looked at how people represent (and misrepresent) themselves on dating apps like Tinder and Hinge. The study included a survey of people here at New Paltz.
“It’s a modern study for an interesting field of research,” said Ethan Eisenberg ’23 (Psychology). “The goal of the survey was to gauge people’s reactions to a betrayal like this, and how quick they would be to forgive.”
Eisenberg plans to use this research as a springboard to continuing his psychology studies in New Paltz’s graduate psychological sciences program.
“It’s an opportunity for me to refine my research skills,” he added.
Undergraduate research projects on campus have also served as a launching pad for careers, as alumna and 2023 SUNY Chancellor’s Award winner Katie Gudzik ’22 (Theatre Arts) can attest.
The young theater director returned to campus to present the outcome of her fall 2022 honors thesis adaptation of the children’s musical “Frog & Toad,” which is now touring in local children’s showcases such as Overlook Elementary School in Poughkeepsie, New York after a successful debut in Parker Theatre last November.
“To see all those little kids in the audience smiling, laughing, clapping, and having a great time with some of their first experiences in the arts was so rewarding,” she said. “I didn’t realize I would be taking this production on the road until after we had the first show, so I’m glad I was able to let the universe take me and the show in the direction it has gone in.”
The RSCA Advisory Board continued an annual tradition with the recognition of one exceptional faculty mentor at the Symposium, honoring their devotion to the often time-intensive work of guiding one or more students in an open-ended project. This year’s Faculty Mentor Award went to Oksana Laleko, associate professor of English and director of Linguistics.
