Presbyterian College students continue to demonstrate their public commitment to research after participating last spring in the 20th annual S.C. Upstate Research Symposium.
Held on USC Upstate’s campus in Spartanburg, the event inspired the largest turnout of student presentations from all across the state, including a dozen students from PC.
Professor of chemistry Dr. Latha Gearheart said the symposium features research presentations across a variety of academic disciplines and from undergraduate and graduate students, professors, postdoctoral graduates, and even professionals. Gearhart said he was proud that PC’s contingent to the event included representatives from departments across campus.
“Our group this year was a little larger than usual and multidisciplinary, so we had more students present their research,” he said. “In the past, there were times when we had only a group from the sciences present or a group from the social sciences, but not this year. This year, we had a large group from humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences representing education, business and economics, chemistry and biochemistry, biology, physics, history, and pharmacy.”
Gearheart said this symposium and others like it give students – particularly undergraduates – an opportunity to demonstrate their hard work and develop their public-speaking skills.
“The Upstate Research Symposium is mostly undergraduate students, so they’re not presenting in front of a lot of graduate students or professors presenting their research and it’s a little more comfortable,” Gearheart said. “It’s a very good initial conference for our students to get used to presenting professionally amongst their peers instead of being surrounded by grad students and professors, which can be a little intimidating.
“It’s also a great experience for students who are going to grad schools or professionally where they’ll have to make presentations. Anytime they have an opportunity to present, it’s going to be a good thing for them to experience.”
PC Class of 2024
The Upstate Research Symposium is also competitive for those who choose to participate in the competitions. Several students from PC won awards, including recent graduate Emily Whitaker ’24, who was the first-place winner in the business category for her project, “Queues in Customer Service,” and senior Jacob Clerc, the first-place winner in physics for his poster on “Investigating the Unjamming Transmission for the Development of a Soft-Robotic Gripper,” a project he worked on with fellow student Ashton Shannon.
Other students who presented at the symposium include:
- Andrew T. Polatty – “Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)-Triggered Carbon Monoxide (CO) Prodrugs for Targeted Delivery”
- Lauren T. Driggers – “SERS and UV-Vis of Rhodamine B on Au and Ag Nanoparticles”
- Sarah D. Duvall – “Exploring Elementary Teachers’ Implementation Journey with Reading Programs”
- Madison E. Pruitt – “Mobile Device Use Among 4- and 5-Year Olds: Perpectives from Parents and Teachers”
- Carter J. Baytes – “Multidrug Resistance in Lung Cancer Cells”
- Lucas C. Payne – “The Future of the Pet Industry”
- Eva Marie M. Hinkleman – “The dendroclimatic signal of Quercus alba in the Blue Ridge Ecoregion near Brevard, N.C.”
- Simran K. Chhatwal – “Leaf Breakdown Rates and Aquatic Insects in Piedmont Headwater Stream”
- Patrick Buchanan – “Racial Democracy, and Contemporary Race Relations in Brazil”
More important than the presentations, however, is the process that led up to them – the hours of research and the knowledge discovered as a result. That, said Gearheart, is what really motivates students.
“I think research is a what gets students excited about their discipline,” he said. “It’s a personalized experience for them to study one thing they’re excited about. In the sciences, research may be the best opportunity for them to really understand the scientific process and how that works. We teach a lot of the tools, a lot of the background, in these lectures and labs. But not until they do their research projects do they really fully understand the scientific process. The ownership of that is really important for them. For most of our students, their research project is probably the most enjoyable, rewarding thing they do here in college.”
Gearheart said he is grateful for PC’s ongoing support of students presenting at the Upstate Symposium and thankful for the hosts, who allow each student to attend free of charge.
“The folks at USC Upstate do the heavy lifting every year to put this symposium together and they do a wonderful job,” he said.
