By Payton Williams
Managing Editor
From 1 – 3 p.m. on Feb. 28, Cameron University’s School of Arts and Sciences High Impact Practices Committee hosted CU Research and Scholarly Activities Day in the McMahon Centennial Complex (MCC) Ballroom.
Students of various disciplines and backgrounds within the School of Arts and Sciences gathered in the MCC Ballroom with posters showing their research, and students and faculty were invited to ask questions, comment on and critique the work.
The event was held in part to give students preparing to present at Oklahoma Research Day on March 6 an opportunity to practice presenting their research.
Dr. Ioannis K. Argyros was one of the sponsors for research presented by the Mathematical Sciences Department, and he said he was impressed with the presentations from the students.
“The students successfully answered my questions,” Argyros said. “I went around almost through every poster and asked the students questions, and they seemed to know what they were doing, which was very nice.”
Mathematical Sciences major Yauheniya Shviadok presented research sponsored by Argyros.
Her research, which she presented under the title “Developments in the Semi-Local Convergence of Newton’s Method,” has already been through some very serious testing before being presented, which makes her presentation particularly impressive, according to Argyros.
“The presentation given by my student was most impressive in the sense that whatever was on the poster is already in a paper that was published,” Argyros said. “So that carries more weight.”
Shviadok’s research has already led to her being accepted into a Graduate program for a Ph.D in Applied Mathematics at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, and
she is still waiting to hear from several other graduate programs.
Argyros said that events like this are important in a school like Cameron, and He hopes to see it grow.
“You have to take into account that we are a very small school,” Argyros said.
“But that does not mean that we do not have students that excel at what they are doing. This event proves it. I hope that next year, the number of posters will at least double.”
Another sponsor for research at the event was professor of Communication, English and Foreign Languages Dr. William Carney.
Carney was a sponsor for three of the research presentations at the event, one dealing with food insecurity in Oklahoma, another on the subject of Socialism in pre-World War I Oklahoma, and a third on a service learning project that involves students revising the guide for the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge.
Carney also said he was enthusiastic about the quality of research presented at the event. “I will tell you this, all the math posters, to me, are phenomenal,” Carney
said.
“What the math department is doing now in encouraging applied research, using math, is outstanding stuff.”
Kimb Frey, a student of the Communication, English and Foreign Languages department, was one of the students presenting research at the event.
Frey is one of the students involved in editing the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge Trail Guide, and she said the enthusiasm from the audience surprised her.
“The first hour or so, we couldn’t really leave,” Frey said. “There was a pretty constant rotation, and amazingly enough, I even managed to reel some people in for my Hyphens and Dashes presentation.”
Frey presented research titled “Of Dashes and Hyphens: the Mysterious Dash Forms Three,” sponsored by Dr. Yingqin Liu.
Frey said that it was Dr. Liu who first inspired her to get involved with presenting research for this event and for the Oklahoma Research Day event in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
“Dr. Liu is a big advocate for Oklahoma Research Day,” Frey said, “and always tries to get her students involved in it. It’s really her thing.”
This was the first time Cameron University has held CU Research and Scholarly Activities Day, and both Dr. Argyros and Dr. Carney hope that the event will grow exponentially in upcoming years.
Carney said that the work he saw presented at this event was on par with work he has seen at larger universities.
“These are the kinds of poster presentations you would see at larger institutions,” Carney said.
“It may be surprising here, but it really shouldn’t be. We’ve got some excellent students.”
For more information on CU Research and Scholarly Activities Day and other upcoming research events, contact the Cameron University Office of Academic Affairs at 580-581-2250.