On Saturday, November 4th, a few members of the BETA team along with a group of other UNI students headed to St. Ambrose University in Davenport, IA. Will, Juliana, Astoria, and Nicole were there to present research on, and related to, the BETA project. BETA posters were presented during the undergraduate research poster presentations and Nicole had the opportunity to present an oral presentation along with posters on research related to the BETA project. For Juliana and Nicole, this wasn't their first research presentation, but Will and Astoria were able to present research posters for the first time! It was an excellent day best explained by the participants themselves!
Will presenting the poster related to Devonian geology
Will's perspective on the day:
I hadn’t presented research before this event. I enjoyed telling people about what BETA has been working on. Everyone who talked to me seemed interested in learning more. I thought the conference went smoothly. It was a low key event and wasn’t stressful. Everyone there seemed to be enjoying the event. I enjoyed presenting my poster and talking about the Devonian Period with people. This experience helped me feel confident for future conferences. -Will
Thoughts on some of the other research presented:
Almost all the other undergraduates were presenting research in the field of chemistry. I had the only geology poster at the event. There was one student studying the effects of diet on the mental well being of the elderly. My favorite non-BETA research project used Raman spectroscopy to analyze the cement a sea worm creates to hold sand grains together to construct its home. -Will
Will's biggest takeaways from the day:
The hardest part of the day was trying to do homework in the car. I learned a lot about how research conferences are structured and what to expect in the future. I also got to see how other students present their work. Everything I saw will better prepare me for graduate school if I choose to take that path. I got great experience presenting a project I’ve been working on. I had a really enjoyable time telling people about Devonian geology and how we can interpret Devonian climate from the rock record. Everyone at the conference seemed to be having a good time and was excited to see other students’ work.
Juliana and Astoria with a BETA poster discussing the developments of the fog team
Astoria's perspective on the day:
This is my first conference. The talks were very interesting and opened my eyes loved all the creative research ideas. It was interesting to see how many different research ideas there were. Everything from the bitterness of beer to amount of lead in lipstick to the effects of some food on dementia was explored. -Astoria
What Astoria learned from the day:
I learned about the experimental design and process of several projects as well as how to present research. I gained experience in presenting and it opened my eyes to how many different topics can be researched. -Astoria
Since it was her first research conference and first opportunity to present during a poster session, Astoria mentioned that the most difficult part of the day was actually presenting the poster. With Juliana's guidance and the opportunity to present at a lower pressure conference, Astoria is much more prepared for future conferences!
Nicole with her research poster about aerosols
Nicole's perspective on the day:
I really enjoyed getting to network with people from other schools and other areas of chemistry. It was a small group so it went really well. The audience was ready to ask questions and the presenters did a great job answering them! -Nicole
What Nicole took away from the day:
I got to gain more experience in talking in front of people which was really good for me. I always get very nervous before I present so for me it was getting over my nerves [that was a challenge]. Overall it was a great experience and it made me excited to continue doing research! -Nicole
While there were many memorable moments of the day, Nicole and Astoria mentioned one in particular that involved two UNI students, Nina and Josh (located on the left side of the above image).
The most memorable part of the presentations was the epic background music from Josh and Nina’s chromatotron video which made a few people laugh. -Astoria
Josh and Nina made quite a few people laugh with their chromatotron video! -Nicole
Who says you can't have some fun while you present your research?
All in all, for the past three years BETA has presented posters at this conference because it continues to be an excellent opportunity for undergraduates to get more experience presenting research. BETA has enjoyed each year, and this year was no exception to that tradition!