Veterans’ issues, best college coaches, shape-shifting cell phones and much more on tap at JU Symposium March 26-28

JU’s 2014 Faculty & Student Symposium March 26-28 features results from more than 100 projects, with topics including everything from shape-shifting smartphones, veterans’ college transition issues and using yoga in kindergarten classrooms to the best college coaches of all time, how social media use affects SAT scores and reviving oyster harvesting in Jacksonville.

The free symposium, which runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  each day in the JU Davis College of Business Conference Rooms B and C, spotlights the excellence of JU students and faculty who engage in cutting-edge research in intriguing topics across a range of disciplines (see a .pdf of the full schedule below). Students and the community can stop by DCOB any time during the event and learn about JU’s exciting research, teaching, service, study abroad and internships, said co-organizer Dr. Brian Lane.

“The JU Symposium is a venue for faculty and students to share their work with the rigor and expectations of a professional conference in JU’s friendly campus environment,” Lane said. “We receive abstracts of all topics, allowing students to learn about work in fields very different from their own.”

For example, he said, research in history is very different from research in mathematics, and a business major’s internship is very different from a sociology major’s service learning project, so the JU Symposium is an excellent opportunity for students to learn about what their classmates are working on.

“Many of these presentations will later be delivered at national conferences (such as the National Conference on Undergraduate Research) or lead to papers submitted for publication, so the feedback that presenters receive at the Symposium is vital to the further development of their work.”

Another great feature of the Symposium is that professors and students present side by side, sometimes even co-presenting, Lane noted.

“As students near the end of their projects, the Symposium marks a rite of passage to becoming a professional in their fields.”

This year’s Symposium Planning Committee included Dr. John Buck, Dr. Laura Chambers, Dr. Teri Chenot, Dr. Janet Haavisto, Dr. Jesse Hingson, Dr. W. Brian Lane, Prof. Ed McCourt and Dr. Chris Robertson. The 2014 Symposium is funded by ECHO: JU’s experiential learning program.

Follow the Symposium on Twitter (@JUSymposium) and Tweet about it using hashtag #JUSymp2014.