Illinois State’s 33rd annual showcase of student scholarship and creative expression was a boon for the curious mind. Hundreds of students from across campus shared their research on topics as diverse as artificial intelligence in fashion, corruption in government, hip-hop in education, and game theory in investing at the Graduate School’s Research Symposium held April 12 in the Bone Student Center.
Participants exhibited their research on posters and discussed their findings with peers, mentors, and members of the general public in the Brown Ballroom. Meanwhile next door in the Circus Room, e-poster entries could be viewed on a 65-inch computer monitor, and attendees could check out prints from the Image of Research competition and visit tables promoting the work of interdisciplinary programs such as the Stevenson Center, Office of Student Research, and Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology.
“It’s a great event. Our students are really excited to be here,” said Dr. Noelle Selkow, director of the Graduate School. “And you can tell that they have enthusiasm for their projects, and they really want to share their information.”
“A day like this is a genuine act of community coming together for knowledge creation.”
Viraj Patel
Participants appreciated the opportunity to hone their presentation skills and share their research within a community of scholars.
“It’s really encouraging, I would say, seeing all these other future scholars who are here, and ISU students, and seeing what their research is all about,” said Chantal Tellez, a senior fashion design and merchandising major who presented “Review of AI Applications in the Fashion Industry.”
“One of the most beautiful aspects is knowledge creation,” said Viraj Patel, a doctoral student in the School of Teaching and Learning, who presented a research project titled “Hip Hop as Technology: A New Materialist Perspective.” “I think as scholars we have not only the opportunity but the responsibility to build, to stand on the shoulders of giants. So a day like this is a genuine act of community coming together for knowledge creation.”
More than 350 graduate and undergraduate students representing 29 programs participated in the symposium’s morning and afternoon sessions. Many of the projects were the result of theses and independent studies conducted under the guidance of faculty mentors.
“Our faculty and staff mentors are really helping our students along the way and giving them the tools and the skills that they need to not only complete this project while they’re here, but to also be able to ask questions and conduct research when they leave,” Selkow said.
As part of the symposium, students also gave oral presentations of their work at events organized by the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; School of Theatre and Dance; and the Department of Physics. New this year was the involvement of Advancing Research and Creative Scholarship (ACRS)-supported projects. The program launched last year helps fund cross-disciplinary research teams—like Drs. Lea Cline and Kathryn Jasper’s Northwest Bolsena Archaeological Project and Dr. Will Lewis’ satellite study—engaged in solving some of the world’s most complicated problems.
“We’re really trying to solve our world’s problems, and you can’t do that in a standalone discipline,” Selkow said. “It’s really important for people to learn how to work together and understand each other’s disciplines, and our students often are the ones driving that they come in with these ideas of things that they have seen within their community or the experiences they’ve had growing up. And they want to be able to do research and try to solve those problems, but it requires bringing in people with different expertise.
“One thing I’ve really enjoyed working here at Illinois State is our faculty really do embrace that interdisciplinary culture, and they work together with colleagues, they meet new colleagues across the University, and it just creates this environment of of research, creativity, and scholarship that our students are able to immerse themselves.”
Media gallery
Here are photos and social media posts from the 2024 University Research Symposium. Read more about the students’ research on the Graduate School’s website:
