One of the wonderful opportunities and advantages of attending college is the opportunity to do in- depth projects that meet students’ interests. Here’s how students are presenting their work.
Queens University of Charlotte Students Present Geospatial Science Projects to Charlotte Officials

In Dec 2015, student groups from Dr Reed Perkin’s ENV 320 course, Geospatial Science, presented to two community groups.
One group presented their analysis of food deserts. Food deserts are locations where fresh and healthful foods are scarce. Such areas only have stores which mostly offer for purchase processed and unhealthy foods for area residents. The students mapped the area. The Mecklenburg County Food Policy Council will use the maps to shape food policy and improve nutrition in the area.
The second group presented their analysis on the work done by Trees Charlotte. This non-profit is attempting to regenerate the county’s tree canopy. The findings will be presented to the Charlotte City Council.
http://www.queens.edu/News-and-Information/Students-Present-Environmental-Research-to-Community-Officials.html

Pfizer gives College of Saint Elizabeth equipment for student projects

“Our recent grant from the Pfizer PURE Initiative will allow us to pursue several research opportunities with our students,” says Dr. Kimberly Grant, professor of chemistry. “These projects encompass a number of pertinent questions in the fields of organic, bioorganic, biochemistry and environmental science.”
The College of Saint Elizabeth recently won a grant that allowed them to buy a high performance liquid chromatography column to analyze aspirin product purity; a gas chromatography column to analyze fatty acid methyl ester components of biodiesel; a rotational viscometer; a spectrophotometer and other highly specialized equipment as well as software for data collection and analysis.

Grace Bailey ’17, a chemistry major from Vernon, N.J., says, “The viscometer has made my research so much easier and faster. Before, I would have to spend many more hours on my research, and this equipment has cut my time by more than half.”

Bailey is conducting the research on synthesis and analysis of biodiesel fuels and will be presenting her research to the Independent College Fund of New Jersey (ICFNJ) in March, 2016.

Accompanied by Gary Deaton, professor of writing, rhetoric and communication (WRC), these young women presented their original research to a crowd of scholars, students and faculty from across the southeastern part of the United Stated and the nation. Projects conducted included developing an original communication model for music students; describing the stages of preparation leading up to “flow” during a performance; creating the term “philanthropic imagination” in a paper about how society can put the heart back into philanthropy; and an ethnographic study on how Transylvania supports first-year English as a Second Language writers.
One of the students noted that each of the students’ had the “ability to take concepts and apply them in interesting ways to current concerns… in a way that is clear and cogent and even entertaining.”
http://transyrambler.com/6282/campus-life/four-student-research-papers-selected-for-undergraduate-honors-conference/

Columbia College women present senior projects at Spearfest conference.
Every April the women of Columbia College participate in Spearfest, a celebration of service, learning, and leadership, spotlighting projects done with the assistance and cooperation of community partners and faculty. Hundreds of students demonstrate their projects with displays, presentations and performances. Many of the presentations are the Senior Capstone Leadership experiences in dance, business, English, Art, social work, music, speech/language pathology, science, education, child & family studies, and history.

http://c2postscript.org/spearsfest-featured-student-learning/