Academic conferences provide students with an opportunity to connect with others, share their research, and gain valuable real-world experience. Monmouth College takes students throughout the year across the nation, including 4 recently. Many of these conferences are typically limited to graduate students or higher, but Monmouth College does a great job of getting opportunities for undergraduates to attend and present their work.
Melissa Bivolarov presenting at ACS. Photo by David Wright
The American Chemical Society Conference took students to Atlanta, Georgia. Eight students and three professors participated in the conference, presenting research they have been working on. One student, Alayna Earle, explained that ACS is one of the biggest conferences where chemistry and biochemistry majors can present research. “I learned how to present on a larger scale, but I also got confirmation that I am doing what I am meant to do…that confidence and confirmation that I am doing the right thing.” The trips are made possible by the school and the hard work of advisors like Professor Goach. “If I could do it one hundred times over, I would,” concluded Earle.
At the same time, students in the Physics department were at the APS Global Physics summit. The conference took place in Denver, Colorado, and allowed students like Nataile Morrow to explore and share ideas with other curious minds.
A few students went to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference in February. Student Ella D’Ingonito went because she wants to pursue research in her career. “SPSP was crucial to cement my understanding of how psychological research works. I got so much out of the experience….it was so much fun and felt like being home.”
The humanities also got in on the conference action, with members of the classics honors society Eta Sigma Phi going to Missouri. Students in the classics department have been travelling to this conference for some time now, collaborating with Professor Simmons or exploring their own interests when presenting. Calvin Wellman participates for the connections the conference offered. “With it being such a small major, it’s nice to be able to talk to people about my own research, experiences, and passion for classics.” The knowledge gained at these conferences pushes students to dig deeper into their research and gives them confidence about the work they are doing, and the shout-outs by other schools are a bonus. “I always come away from Eta Sigma Phi being much closer to the other Monmouth Classics majors and also the field of classics as a whole.”