A longstanding research conference designed specifically for undergraduate kinesiology students will still take place, but like many – if not most – other things, will be online.
The Bruya-Wood Undergraduate Research Conference will be held virtually from 2-4 p.m. on April 24. More information on the conference is available on the College of Education’s website.
Since it began in 1995, the Bruya-Wood Undergraduate Research Conference has taken place twice a year, giving students the chance to present academic research, participate in a professional conference, and highlight the kinesiology program.
Traditionally, that has a typical academic presentation portion to it, in the form of a poster session, as well as a video presentation. The judge’s scores determine awards such as best presentation, most creative topic, most innovative poster design, and best professional attire.
However, due to the novel coronavirus, this year, all the presentations will be video recorded and uploaded to an online resource, after which judging will occur throughout finals week.
Judges come from across the entire WSU community. This creates an opportunity for students to learn how to talk about their research not only to Kinesiology faculty, but also other experts in other fields.
Past winner Bryce Richard said the Bruya-Wood Conference gave him the opportunity to connect personal life experiences with information he was passionate about in his future career field.
“The conference gave me the ability to use research to vocalize how teachers, parents, and schools could help support a younger generation of kids who were experiencing ADHD like I did,” he said.
Participant Shweta Mohan said the most valuable experience for her was learning how to take large amounts of information and condense it into something that was easy to understand.
“Bruya-Wood forced me to accurately interpret scientific language,” Mohan said. “It also helped me understand myself better because it provided clarity to my true academic interests.”
