USD Holds Research Week and IdeaFest
An event that has brought students and faculty together for the last 30 years has continued its tradition at USD. In addition to celebrating faculty research for the second year on campus, the annual IdeaFest took place on April 15 and 16 .
Research week, on April 13 and 14, was the precursor to IdeaFest. As a fairly new event, its goal is to recognize research that others may not be familiar with.
“We had done some surveys with our faculty that do research and just wanted to find out how they wanted to be recognized,” Melinda Robinson, Coordinator of Research Week, said. “A lot of them said a lot of people don’t know the research that they are doing in their labs and just wanted it to be celebrated in some way.”
The first events of Research Week consisted of student and faculty training for those doing research involving chemicals, labs, etc. Following that, an awards ceremony took place, celebrating accomplishments of faculty, including research and book publications.
“This year we tried to focus more on celebration and acknowledgement,” Robinson said.
IdeaFest was held later in the week. For the last few decades, undergraduate and graduate students have had the opportunity to present their findings.
This year’s keynote speakers included Kaushik P. Patel, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Manser Payne, DBA.
IdeaFest is an innovative experience for students and faculty all around campus.
