Written by Heidi Tabor
Seven students from Harding presented oral reports of their NASA research at the 18th annual Arkansas Undergraduate Research Conference at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia April 1-2.
According to Dr. Ed Wilson, professor of chemistry, the conference featured presentations by undergraduate students from different fields of education and included religious presentations, as well as sociology and psychology studies. Other topics included poetry, history and mathematics.
Though the presentation topics for the conference were diverse, the students from Harding were mainly interested in the science and engineering talks. They had worked on their NASA research projects all school year and were well prepared to present the information, said senior presenter Matthew Irvine.
“The research process has been a yearlong project,” Irvine said. “After spending so much time with the material, it only took about a week to put together a presentation.”
Irvine, a member of the Harding Rocket Team, presented the group’sresearch titled “Hybrid Rocket to Measure the Irradiance of the Sun.” “The presentation covered thedetails of the Harding Rocket Team’s work with the testing of atmospheric properties at varying elevations,” Irvine said.
Presentations of this kind give students experience in their future profession and give the opportunity to practice presenting their research to a group.
“It helps them develop communication skills, and it informs other scientists and students in the state what their project was and its significance,” Wilson said. “It also helps them to get better fellowships if they go to graduate school or better jobs if they enter the workforce.”
Recognition for their hard work and connections with future education and job contacts were not the only benefits of presenting their research at a conference like the AURC. They also used the time to celebrate their academic achievement.
“As a senior, presenting the work felt like a major academic milestone before moving on into the industry,” Irvine said. “It gave me confidence about my abilities to compete with engineers from other major universities.”
The presentations were successfuland served as a good representation of the potential of students at Harding, Wilson said.
“I was very proud of our students and the way they conducted themselves and the quality of their presentations,” Wilson said. “These experiences will help them as they develop into successful young scientists and engineers.”
Wilson has organized and advised students in working with NASA research for more than 20 years. He has also been instrumental in bringing the NASA Space Grant Program to Arkansas.
“I was one of the original committee members from the state of Arkansas that wrote the initial proposal to get a NASA Space Grant Program started here in the state,” Wilson said. “We were successful, and this provided funds for about nine colleges and universities in the state to carry out undergraduate research.”
Wilson accompanied students from the Harding Rocket Team while they traveled to present the same research April 16-17 in Huntsville, Ala., at the NASA USLI competition and will present again at the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium April 22. The space grant is a major contributor of support for many of the research projects at Harding University.
