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Graduate students share research with public By Celena E. Kusch
The graduate student team of, from left, B. Nicole Dunn, Manal Boushra, Sojourner Ruth Marable and Laura Donnelly (not shown), discussed “Thinking Green,” a study of environmental marketing, during the 17th annual Graduate Exhibition. Dr. S. Shyam Sundar (right), associate professor of communications and director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, advised the team. Commenting on the exhibition, Donnelly praised the new focus on creating posters that are accessible to audiences beyond the students’ specialized fields. “We’re in communications, so that is what we’ve been trained to do. It’s important to be able to explain your work and communicate with different audiences,” she said. Photos by Curt Krebs—Penn State Image Resource Center Architecture and architectural engineering graduate student Fulya Kocak says she wants to use architecture to help the disadvantaged. She presented her poster “Public Plazas in the Contemporary Age: The Role of Everyday Rituals” at the 2002 Graduate Exhibition. Kocak, whose adviser is Dr. Jawaid Haider (right), professor of architecture, explained how improving public spaces can improve communities. “Information Age technology and globalization are changing our public spaces. Public plazas should be responsive, comfortable, allow for engagement with the environment, promote democracy and be accessible to many different people,” she said. Although they still must serve the same public functions as the town squares of previous generations, today’s plazas are often designed by private developers. In order to foster community, plazas must not all look alike; they must be relevant to wider cultural contexts and contain meaning through monuments, rituals and public events that allow people to be attached to the place. “To achieve this, we must increase public involvement in decisions about public plazas being developed and keep the public as a priority,” Kocak said. Workforce education student Utem K. Watba presents his research on “Leadership Issues in Postsecondary Occupational and Technical Education” during the Graduate Exhibition. Working with his adviser, Dr. Edgar I. Farmer, associate professor of education and director of Postsecondary Technical and Community College Leadership in the Workforce Education and Development program, Watba surveyed deans of technical education programs in Pennsylvania to identify the issues they consider important in the next five years and to determine the best ways to provide career training opportunities for them.	Each spring, the annual Graduate Exhibition draws approximately 200 Penn State graduate students who present their research and scholarly works to University faculty and peers across a range of disciplines. This year marked the 17th annual event and a shift to a more outreach-centered approach to research findings.   “The goal of the Graduate Exhibition is to showcase the quality and diversity of graduate student research to the University community and to the community at large. It is a wonderful opportunity to make what we do more visible outside of individual departments and colleges,” said Dr. Eva Pell, vice president for Research and dean of the Graduate School.   The 2002 exhibition guidelines challenged students to present their work in clear, comprehensible terms to people outside their fields of study and emphasized communicating research and creative endeavor to a general audience.   Pell explained the reason for this shift in style.   “One of the biggest concerns about research and scholarship—for both scientists and humanists—is that we do not often do a good job explaining to the public what we do and why we do it. The public are our constituents, and it is very important for our students to learn to share their research with wider audiences,” she said.   The 2002 exhibition was held in the Hetzel Union Building-Robeson Center and Esber Recital Hall and included performances, poster presentations and a visual arts display. According to Pell, the new venue offered a beautiful space for large works of arts and one that she expects will become a new tradition in the exhibition.   Exhibits were judged by faculty representing a variety of fields. Winners in the poster categories were selected based on the quality of content, display and oral presentation. Students were required to communicate their research across disciplines and faculty interests.   “The shift in audience was very successful. We were delighted with the quality, which lived up to the consistently high-quality entries of the past, and the diversity of the presentations and performances,” Pell said.   “From our exit survey of participants, we found that many of the students really appreciated the opportunity and the challenge to present their work to audiences outside their own areas of expertise. They also felt a great satisfaction to be able to meet other graduate researchers and performers,” she added.   A total of 48 posters and performances received awards ranging from $100 to $500 in seven different categories. The overall value of the awards was approximately $10,000.   First and second-place winners were: Arts and Humanities First Position Heather Michelle Norton, adviser: Dr. J. Michael Hogan, professor of communication arts and sciences Second Position Barbara Ann Gannon, adviser: Dr. Mark Neely, McCabe Greer Professor in the American Civil War Era Engineering First Position Jin Cao, adviser: Dr. Themis Matsoukas, associate professor of chemical engineering Second Position Aaron Mulivor, adviser: Dr. Herbert Lipowsky, professor and chair of bioengineering Charles W. Walker, adviser: Dr. Robert Shannon, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering Health and Life Sciences First Position Fathima Ameena Nalim, adviser: Dr. David M. Geiser, assistant professor of plant pathology and director of the Fusarium Research Center Jenny Ledikwe, adviser: Dr. Helen Smiciklas-Wright, professor of nutrition Second Position Alicia Marie Ellis, adviser: Dr. Eric Post, assistant professor of biology Dae Joon Kim, adviser: Dr. Jeffrey Peters, assistant professor of environmental toxicology Rasika Kalamegham, adviser: Dr. Esther Siegfried, assistant professor of biology and biochemistry and molecular biology Performance First Position Sik Lai Sung, adviser: Dr. Steven Smith, professor of music Second Position Tyrus Matthew Lemerande, adviser: Mark Olsen, professor of theatre arts Physical Sciences and Mathematics First Position Jason Robert Stairs, adviser: Dr. Albert Welford Castleman Jr., Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry Second Position Eric Wisniewski, adviser: Castleman Social and Behavioral Sciences First Position Corey Sparks and Michael Aitkenhead, adviser: Dr. James Wood, professor of biological anthropology and demography Second Position Carl John Wendt, adviser: Dr. Kenneth Hirth, professor of archaeological anthropology Claire M. Kamp Dush, advisers: Dr. Catherine L. Cohan, assistant professor of human development and family studies, and Dr. Paul R. Amato, professor of sociology and demography Denise Kathleen Wallin, adviser: Amato Kristina Elaine Gibson, adviser: Dr. Roger Downs, professor and head of geography Visual Arts First Position B. Jenny Ann Rogers, adviser: Thom McGovern, associate professor of art Second Position Matthew Steven Everett, adviser: McGovern   The 18th annual Graduate Exhibition is planned for 2003: Performances: Music, Theatre and Dance; Music Building, Esber Recital Hall; 7 to 10 p.m., Friday, March 28 Posters: Presentations Tailored for the Non-Expert; Alumni and Heritage Halls, Hetzel Union Building (HUB)-Robeson Center; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, March 30 Visual Arts Display: Sculptures, Photography, Paintings and More; Gallery, HUB-Robeson Center; March 28 to 30, additional dates to be announced Awards Ceremony: Announcement of Winners; Auditorium, HUB-Robeson Center; 4:30 p.m., Sunday, March 30   All events will be held on the Penn State University Park campus. For more information, call Penn State’s Graduate School at 814-865-2516. An outreach program of the Graduate School
© 2002 Outreach Communications,   Outreach & Cooperative Extension,   The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108,   fax: (814) 863-2765,   e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu