Online conference gives opportunities for undergrads to present research

The University of New Mexico participates in the UR Inspiration International Undergraduate Research Conference. It's co-hosted by UNM, the University of Arizona, Florida International University, the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Argentina, and the University Ana G. Mendez in Puerto Rico.

This year's UR Inspiration conference will be held on Thursday, Oct. 23. The conference is online and free for UNM students to attend. Undergraduate student researchers are encouraged to submit an abstract of their work for review by Friday, Sept. 19.

Last fall, 10 UNM students participated in the online conference. Madeline Hwang, an electrical engineering student at UNM said the online format was beneficial to her learning a new skill.

"I think it was great to speak on something that I am passionate about, and I think it was great to work on something with my lab and present it to other people," Hwang said. "Presenting online was actually a really great experience because it made me aware of my facial expressions and describing everything on a screen to talk about certain parts more clearly."

Lillian Walker is now a graduate student studying population health at UNM but last fall she presented her senior capstone project that was in collaboration with the New Mexico Department of Health. "I really like the opportunity to do it in front of a student audience because it's usually less stressful and easier to build up my confidence before talking to the professionals," Walker said. "We had a wider audience since there were people from different schools and programs and fields."

Both students agreed they enjoyed being able to collaborate with other students outside of UNM. "It was cool to talk about the different research that we're all doing in all these different places," Hwang said. "I remember some students from Argentina asking me these insightful questions that I never really thought about."

Walker says it's a great first step to presenting your research. "Adjusting for the audience and knowing that not everyone will be in the specific field or focus and being able to break that down is so important," Walker said. "I would say that builds science communication skills."

Hwang said she was grateful for her lab advisor and lab mates who helped her prepare for the presentation. "They'd ask specific questions to try to find holes and different areas that I wasn't as confident about speaking on."

Above all else, Walker hopes students aren't intimidated by participating in these kinds of research events. "I think if we thought about presenting research as a way for students to share their voice and not only theirs, but the voice of people that their research supports or the community that it supports, then I think that can also be an encouraging way for students to want to share more about what they're doing," Walker said.