August 02, 2011-
Clockwise, from top left: David Ho, Oliver Holmes, Luke Heidbrink and Sara Bangloria
This summer’s 11 SURF-IT undergraduate students successfully navigated a stressful rite of passage last week as they presented results from the first half of their research to an audience of fellow participants and CALIT2 staff. For many of them, it was their first research presentation.
Each fellow had five minutes to present his/her work, after which audience members asked questions about the research. CALIT2 staff members then critiqued each presentation, offering constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement. Among the most frequently offered advice: project your voice, move around a bit, establish your research question early in the presentation, make eye contact with the audience and speak more slowly.
The participants were asked to define the specific problem they are researching and why it is important, summarize previous related work, discuss the data and tests they are using, and share their partial results. They were also urged to discuss any unexpected difficulties.
“Research usually involves unforeseen problems; that’s normal. What’s important is how you handle the problem,” said program co-director Stu Ross.
Several students admitted to a slight case of jitters, which Ross told them was completely normal. He also congratulated them. “Everyone was very successful, and I look forward to the final presentations at the end of the program,” he said.
Jeffrey Tse, Kier Groulx and Rachel Ulgado
Huy Nghiem, Johnathan Do, Andrew Karman and Kiruthika Paulvannan
