Student Researchers to Present Work March 27; $8,000 in Prizes to Be Awarded

With projects ranging from a possible cancer therapeutic, to regenerating the suburban strip, more than 100 University of Virginia graduate students and some 14 undergraduates will present their work March 27 at the 13th Annual Robert J. Huskey Research Exhibition.

Students from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. the School of Architecture and the School of Nursing will display their work from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Newcomb Hall. There will be poster exhibits in the ballroom and presentations in various rooms throughout the building.

The exhibition is named for biology professor Robert J. Huskey, who started teaching at the University in 1969, served as associate dean for graduate studies and strongly advocated for improving the graduate student experience at U.Va., especially in developing assistantships and providing adequate and affordable health care.

“The first Graduate Research Exhibition in spring 2001 coincided with Dr. Huskey’s retirement,” said Morgan Bolden, a graduate student in organic chemistry, a member of the Macdonald Lab in the Department of Chemistry and one of the organizers of the exhibition. “He came to the event last year and we always send him an invitation.”

Associate professor Brian Nosek of the Department of Psychology will give the keynote address, “Getting Credit for Doing Good Science,” as part of the awards ceremony at 4 p.m.

For the second year, the exhibition will feature a “Two Hoos” oral competition, in which a graduate student and an undergraduate who have been performing research together jointly present their work. Approximately 14 undergraduate students will take part.

“We encourage undergraduates who are interested in research and/or going to graduate school to come by and talk to the presenters,” Bolden said.

More than $8,000 in prizes for posters and presentations will be presented at the end of the day. GSAS council, Office of the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Office of the Vice President of Research, the School of Architecture, and the Center for Undergraduate Excellence have all contributed funds to the event.

Among the presentations are a biology exhibit on Sphingosine Kinase inhibitors containing N-based heterocycles as a possible cancer therapeutic; an architectural presentation on “Regenerating the Suburban Strip”; a biology offering on “Differential impacts of fisheries loss on national water footprints”; a social and behavioral science study on “Inflation, Default and the Currency Composition of Sovereign Debt”; and a physics presentation on “Quantum Computing by Colorful Graphs of Light.”

Aside from graduate students in chemistry, psychology, nursing, mathematics and biomedical engineering, students from the Architecture School are participating with their own poster presentations.

For information on the exhibition, click here.