Graduate research poster competition debuts

The multitude of research done by Tech ' s approximately 5000 graduate students was spotlighted at the first campuswide Graduate Student Research Symposium Friday, April 1.

Held in the Student Center Ballroom and sponsored by the Graduate Student Government Association (SGA), the six-hour event featured almost 80 submissions by graduate students from all six colleges.

Posters displayed a wide range of research topics, including technology development in China, the role of NGOs in the coffee market, biologically-inspired odor localization, nanogels for cancer therapy, decision tools for effective management of bio-terror attacks and the effect of creep of high performance lightweight concrete.

The posters were also judged, and the best ones in each school received monetary rewards. A networking reception also followed the event.

The research symposium was the first one of its kind. Kasi David, graduate student body president, said the event was part of SGA ' s mission to " increase a sense of community among graduate students. "

Civil and Environmental Engineering major Leonardo Duenas-Osorio was one of the interested graduate students who took part in the event.

" I really wanted to display my work, " he said. " I have [prepared] presentations in the past for conferences, and I was always wondering why...we have so much research going on and we never have the opportunity [to present]. "

Pelin Pekgun, a graduate student in Industrial and Systems Engineering, was also one of the contestants who enjoyed the experience.

" It is a nice event to see all the people, what they are doing and how the research is going [at] Georgia Tech, " she said.

According to Pekgun, a good number of students stopped by the event to view the posters and talk to the students presenting them.

In addition to students, " judges from faculty and industry were seeing the posters, asking question about research and evaluating it based on clarity of presentation, research content, motivation, method and the computation, " she said.

Samuel Graham, an assistant professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering, was one of the judges.

" I just wanted to come out and see the kind of research that goes on [at Tech], " he said. " It has been intriguing and interesting. I asked a lot of questions and I learned a lot. "

The inter-college participation was a unique aspect of the event, Graham said. " It has been a great experience, because you get to see lot of things that are going on in different departments, " he said.

" I was not looking just at Mechanical Engineering, but at ISyE, Civil Engineering, " Graham said.

The students who participated also benefited. " It is important to hear comments from people who have a completely different point of view which you may not have because you are completely immersed in your work, " Duenas-Osorio said.

Many of the participants agreed that the event should definitely be repeated.

According to David, SGA will continue its efforts to make the symposium an regular event, and perhaps even extend its scope to undergraduate students.

However, the newness of the event also drew plenty of suggestions for future improvement.

William Rouse, chair of the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, was part of an attentive audience and came to the event to support the school ' s graduate student efforts.

" I was definitely expecting more people, both presenting and viewing the posters, " he said.

His suggestions for improvement included greater publicity of the event.

Pekgun suggested reevaluating competition categories.

" I think it will be fairer if they split the judging by department instead of schools...Industrial and Systems Engineering is very different [from] Electrical and Computer Engineering, for example. It would more fair if they evaluated on a different basis, " Pekgun said. Other suggestions included increasing the number of judges and providing poster board materials for participants.