The UNC Pembroke Undergraduate Research and Creativity (PURC) Symposium will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10.
The 13th annual symposium will be held in the University Center (UC) Annex. The event is a campus-wide celebration of undergraduate research scholarship, creativity, and scholarly entrepreneurship.
Work presented represents faculty-mentored work funded by PURC, students involved in course-based undergraduate research experiences, and students who have taken coursework beyond the class and developed their ideas with a faculty member further.
This year’s keynote is Dr. Ryan E. Emanuel, an associate professor and University Faculty Scholar in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State University whose research focuses on environmental processes in natural and human-altered ecosystems.
Dr. Emanuel is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe and also studies policy issues surrounding environmental justice and indigenous rights, using data-driven analysis to advise tribal governments and American Indian organizations on decisions related to environment and culture.
His talk, “Strengthening your Networks of Support and Mentorship through Undergraduate Research,” will focus on his experiences of undergraduate success as based on a family network model, rather than a professional pipeline.
The PURC Council is pleased to announce that Dr. Bob Poage (associate professor, biology) has been named the winner of this year’s Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.
This recognition rewards individuals who make significant contributions to forwarding undergraduate research, creative scholarship, and entrepreneurial scholarship. It highlights demonstrated excellence in supporting undergraduate researchers, encouraging mentoring relationships with undergraduate students, and conveying the campus' high regard for contributions made by the academic and research community at UNC-Pembroke, particularly if a mentor supports and influences students’ educational and career paths.
Dr. Poage arrived at UNCP in 2003 and he has been at the forefront in promoting and encouraging undergraduate research ever since. His scholarly expertise in neurobiology, skill in teaching the scientific method’s application in the classroom and lab, and role as co-PI on the RISE grant let him nurture and mold biology students at UNCP as they develop, execute, and disseminate their own research projects.
His students have sought and received internal and external funding, presented their work on campus and off, and his research activities are broad—they not only advance his personal scholarly interests but also consider the role and implications of undergraduate research in the curriculum. Poage, thus, is a figure whose work emboldens research and creativity among his colleagues from across campus and encourages their mentorship of UR mentorship.
The symposium schedule is as follows:
- 8:30 - 9:00 am Registration begins
- 9:00 am Greetings from UNCP administrators and faculty
- 9:20 -11:45 am Oral Presentations and Creativity Performances
- 12 pm Lunch
- 12:30 pm Dr. Emanuel’s Keynote Address
- 1:15 pm Creative Performances
- 1:30 - 3:00 pm Poster Session
- 3:00 pm Dr. Charles Humphrey Undergraduate Panel
- 3:30 pm UR Mentor Award
- 3:45 pm Closing Remarks
Contributions from Duke Energy help make this program possible. Their commitment to higher education helps PURC continue to offer this extraordinary opportunity to our UNCP undergraduates.