Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Research Symposium on Friday will showcase the diverse range of research being conducted at the University. Faculty and staff members and graduate students will present their findings, and the entire MSU Denver community is invited to attend.
Created to foster collaboration and connection among faculty members and aspiring student researchers, the symposium has featured nearly 100 faculty members from every college and school across campus.
“In her role as the director of the Honors Program, Megan Hughes often came across faculty members whose research interests intersected. However, they didn’t know about each other,” said Kristy Duran, Ph.D., faculty director of Undergraduate Research and professor of Biology. “In my role, I often have students curious about the types of research happening on campus. We created the MSU Denver Research Symposium to fill those gaps.”
In its third year, the symposium is already creating opportunities for collaboration. For example, Cindy Heiss, Ph.D., associate professor of Nutrition, had been researching storytelling to improve student learning.
“At the Research Symposium, I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Christina Foust, Business Communications, who happens to have an interest and expertise in storytelling and was able to directly address how to elicit a story without evoking trauma,” said Heiss. “In-person events like the Research Symposium are instrumental in cultivating a climate of connection and collaboration for disciplines to intersect to create synergistic relationships.”
Projects will be presented in seven-minute lightning talks designed to showcase the essence of the research. In addition, a poster session allows time for discussion and networking. Kicking off the event will be Maria Cattell, Ph.D., lecturer in Biology, with a keynote address about the influence of undergraduate research on her personal and professional life.