Proceedings with Abstracts

Welcome/Special Opening Session: Oral Presentations

“Faculty-Student Collaborative Research” Prof. Mark E. Yuly, Daniel Haas, and Stephen Thomson, Houghton College

How can professors and students work together collaboratively on significant research projects?  One way is by building time for collaborative research right into the curriculum.  What are the benefits?  To answer this question, we will examine the physics curriculum at Houghton College, which for the past seven years has included a considerable collaborative research component.  In this program students receive credit hours to work with faculty members over a period of at least two years, and they are required to present the work at a scientific meeting and write an undergraduate thesis. Several examples of significant student-faculty research projects will be presented, and student perceptions of the program will be examined.

“Faculty/Student Collaboration:  A Shared Exploration” Prof. Charles E. Bressler, Matt Hepler, Zac Rhone, and Kyle Vitale, Houghton College

This presentation will highlight the personal interaction, subject matter, research methodologies, and results of research collaboration between a faculty member (Prof. Charles Bressler) and three students:  Matthew Hepler, Zachary Rhone, and Kyle Vitale.  Each student will explain his research project, the methodology used to investigate his topic, his interactions with his research director, and the results of the study.  All projects culminated with the students presenting scholarly papers at a variety of academic conferences:  Matthew Hepler (The International Popular Culture Conference, Boston, MA, 2007 and Oxenmoot 2007, the National British Tolkien Society, September 2007); Zachary Rhone (The New Voices Conference, Georgia State University, 2006; the Undergraduate Conference sponsored by Susquehanna University, 2006; and the International Romantic Literature Conference, October 2007).  Professor Bressler will then explain his procedures for and his understanding of faculty/student collaboration, highlighting the joys and the necessary work ethic required for successful shared exploration when both a faculty member and a student investigate an academic topic in the humanities. 10:30-11:50 a.m. Session I: Oral Presentations