By Carroll College held their annual Student Research Festival (SRF) on April 23-24. More tha 160 students signed up to present their research.
The Thursday night keynote speaker was Mauricio López Oropeza, co-founder and current lay Vice President of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA).
“It was interesting to see a different viewpoint that took Montana as the last best place, and compared it to our own Amazon, and how we have to take good care of it,” said Junior James MacDonald. MacDonald is a nursing major from Great Falls. He presented a poster at SRF on Pharmacological vs. Combined Thromboprophylaxis on Mobility-Impaired Inpatients.
On April 24 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., students shared more than 160 research and scholarly projects through oral and poster presentations.
The event welcomed the community, faculty, and all students to attend. Students were encouraged by professors to attend by cancelling classes, in hopes that everyone would support their peers.
There were a variety of project topics ranging from business, chemistry, psychology, and more.
One group project investigated the relationship between soil microbiome diversity and immune function in deer mice. Seniors Tiffany Altermatt, from Newman Lake, Washington, double majoring in anthrozoology and biology, Abbie Amend from Spokane, who is double majoring in biology and environmental science, and Junior Joel Moore from Spokane, who is majoring in biology, spent nearly a year preparing their project for their professor, Dr. Ashley Beck.
Dr. Beck is an Associate Professor at Carroll College and specializes in Genetics, Metabolic Pathway Analysis, and Microbial Community Interactions.
“The opportunity and experience of being able to pursue research here at Carroll helped me truly discover my passion and love for biology,” said Moore. “Dr. Beck was instrumental in this aspect as she provided me with close guidance and encouragement through the summer and into the school year. Her push for me and my research partners to present in SRF and at two other research conferences helped me find new confidence in myself and trust in those around me.”
The students’ presentations spanned sciences, humanities, social sciences, and arts. Whatever the topic, each one was able to showcase their hard work and dedication to deepening their critical thinking, communication and problem-solving skills.
