Holy Cross to Hold Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium

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WORCESTER, Mass. – The twenty-nine participants in this year's Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium at Holy Cross will present their research in poster form on Friday, Sept. 12, from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at Swords Hall in the Science Complex.

The poster presentations give student researchers the opportunity to display their cutting-edge work in the fields of science, sociology, anthropology and history. The majority of the students in the program have worked on research at Holy Cross with the support of Holy Cross faculty. Off-campus research was conducted at academic, medical and industrial institutions like Pfizer and Wyeth Biopharma. A sampling of student research follows:

Sean Haggerty '04, worked with biology professor Robert Bellin researching neurofibromatosis, a disease that targets the central nervous system. Haggerty says he found the "overall research experience to be extremely rewarding. The techniques I learned will be of great aid in the future, and troubleshooting problems truly allowed me to think on a different level outside of the classroom."

Amanda McIntyre '04 worked with Dr. Susan Gearhart at Johns Hopkins Hospital researching the physical and psychosocial effects of pelvic surgery on women. Their research will aid healthcare providers in better informing their patients about the impacts of such surgeries.

This is the tenth year the poster presentations have been held at Holy Cross. Physics professor Timothy Roach, a co-coordinator of the symposium, says "both carrying out the research and presenting it have a real impact on the students. Some of them enjoy their research so much that they decide to go to graduate school. Others find they love sharing their work at the symposium and begin to think about being teachers."