Honors Students Present Final

Projects During Poster Presentation

By Jordan Reding, Jordan.reding@iowastatedaily.com
On Thursday afternoon, the Great Hall in the Memorial Union was filled with
honors students presenting their capstone projects to faculty and fellow students
at ISU.
At the end of each semester ISU honors students attend a poster presentation
where they present and answer questions about their individual projects.
Freshmen in the mentor program and seniors graduating from the honors
program were both presenting their projects at the poster presentation.
The presentation was open campus wide. Faculty members, academic advisors,
and students project advisors were all there to view the numerous presentations
created by the students.
Kaelee Plante is a freshman majoring in genetics in the first year mentor
program.
I was paired with a faculty member and given the chance to experience
research, said Plante. Its nice that we can present the research that we have
been doing over the past semester.
Plantes project showed research on the characterization of bone marrow-derived
mesenchymal stem cell growth on biodegradable poly-lactic acid films used to
facilitate peripheral nerve regeneration.
Stephanie De Graaf is a senior in the honors program majoring in math and
statistics. Her capstone project looked at how visual and spatial skills relate to
the understanding of statistical graphics.
I found that gender is a big predictor of how people understand statistical
graphics, and your field of study is a predictor as well, said De Graaf.
The seniors presenting their capstone projects could choose what they wanted to
do their research on.
Its generally something that youve grown interested in over the years youve
been in school, said De Graff.

Ryan McDonnell is another freshman in the mentor program. He is a business

and supply chain management major who created his project with an advisor. He
did his research on tattoo based noninvasive glucose monitoring.
Instead of people with diabetes pricking their hand to test glucose levels, its a
tattoo that goes on your arm and does the reading, said McDonnell.
Whether freshmen or seniors, the students with projects benefit from the poster
presentation.
In some cases the students are challenged and asked questions that move their
project forward, and it other cases, it gives students the opportunity to have that
skill set of presenting and improve those skills, said Laurie Smith Law,
Administrative Director of the Honors Program.
Students work hard all semester to create their research projects, and ISU faculty
think is good for the students to be able to present their research.
Anytime you are engaged in a capstone project that you have been doing
preliminary research on, its good to be able to synthesize that information and
explain it to a large group of people and get feedback, said Smith Law.