WCU undergraduates show off their research skills in 17th annual Undergraduate Expo

Western Carolina University held an Undergraduate Expo on March 23 in the University Center’s Grandroom.

This was the 17th annual expo and the first day of the expo included students presenting their research that they had conducted.

WCU students presenting their conduct research. Photo taken by Darren Blackwell.

WCU students presenting their conduct research. Photo by Darren Blackwell.

The students from the Environmental Studies program tackled the topic of  “Evaluating Sustainability of Purchasing Practices at Western Carolina University” which focuses on energy consumptions.

Julia Robinson, one of the students involved in this research, was surprised to learn that “Western doesn’t have a policy to deal with buying sustainability products.”

The criminal justice student, Alexander Bennett looked at crime by comparing two theories  looking at the gangs and crimes in the cities.

Abigail Hall, a WCU student in nursing, conducted her research on”Accuracy of Estimated Blood Loss: Literature Review.” She was surprised by what she found on how inaccurate nurses are.

“People weren’t good at being accurate, hopefully education will help with that,” she said.

Dr. Bryan Lewis, a computational epidemiologist at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, delivered  his presentation entitled “Computing Ebola: Tales from the Virtual Frontlines.”

An Undergraduate Expo research panel presentation was also held today from noon until 1:30 p.m. in the University Center’s Illusions. The panelists had spoke about their personal research and take research-related questions from the audience.

The School of Nursing’s Research Day will be held tomorrow from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 204 of WCU’s Health and Human Sciences Building.

The Honors College sponsored the two-day campus-wide event that features the research, creative work, and service of undergraduates from a variety of fields and majors. WCU students rank sixth in the nation in the number of their research projects that were accepted for this year’s National Conference for Undergraduate Research. The Honors College also oversees WCU’s participation in NCUR each year.