{"id":305442,"date":"2026-07-25T12:02:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/305442\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T12:02:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:02:05","slug":"elon-and-queens-students-present-research-at-summer-symposium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/305442\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon and Queens students present research at summer symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens of students showcased research projects inspired by personal experiences and academic interests, guided by faculty mentorship, during the 2026 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience presentations on July 23 in Schar Hall.<\/p>\n

The most recent SURE symposium featured more than 50 students from both Elon University and Queens University of Charlotte, marking the latest example of collaboration between two institutions in the process of merging into a united community.<\/p>\n

\"IsabellaIsabella Sherman \u201927, a Queens University of Charlotte conservation biology major<\/p>\n

\u201cSURE continues to be one of the flagship events of Elon\u2019s Undergraduate Research Program. This poster session is a celebration of their dedication and growth as budding young scholars,\u201d said Justin Clar, director of undergraduate research and associate professor of chemistry. \u201cI was especially pleased that we were joined by amazing students from Queens who shared their work with the Elon community.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Elon, the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience has for years provided student researchers with a stipend to spend eight weeks working full-time on a project in collaboration with a faculty mentor with substantial and recognized expertise in the discipline.<\/p>\n

The program concludes every July with a symposium that deepens students\u2019 knowledge of the research experience while offering an opportunity to grow their public speaking and presentation skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great opportunity for the students to share their summer research in a low-stakes environment,\u201d said Kira McEntire, director of undergraduate research and creative work and associate professor of biology at Queens. \u201cIt was also fun to see the Elon students sharing their summer projects and to learn about some of the interests of Elon colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Queens, the university holds its annual Day of Scholarship and Service in the spring, a campus-wide celebration of academic inquiry and community impact. The day starts with oral and poster presentations, followed by service activities in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Personal Connections<\/p>\n

\"ThomasThomas Gress \u201927, an Elon University biology major<\/p>\n

For many students at SURE, like Elon student Thomas Gress \u201927, projects carried a deeply personal connection. Gress designed a four-week study comparing exercise approaches for people with chronic fatigue syndrome, inspired in part by his brother\u2019s experience with the condition.<\/p>\n

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the condition is a serious and often long-lasting illness that keeps people from doing their usual activities. It makes physical and mental exertion difficult, and symptoms include difficulty thinking, severe tiredness, and other issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I started this project, (my brother had) been suffering for four years, and there seemed to be no end in sight. So, this was something small that I could do to be of use,\u201d said Gress, a biology major from Savannah, Georgia. \u201cFor all of these patients, there\u2019s no other option. There are no drugs available, only a few supplements with very little efficacy. So, it seems the best option is experimenting with lifestyle. And if not this, then there is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queens student Isabella Sherman \u201927 has a love for nature that inspired her to explore plant communities at the Carolina Wildlands Foundation with mentor E. Davis Carter, assistant professor of biology at Queens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an excellent experience,\u201d said Sherman, a conservation biology major from Charlotte. \u201cIt\u2019s really close to what I want to do with my career. I love research, I love forestry, and every time I went out there, I was like, \u2018This is exactly what I want to do.\u2019 This kind of information is what people take into consideration when they\u2019re trying to develop land or provide an additional environment for fauna and flora.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mentoring Relationships<\/p>\n

A common thread among many of the projects was the close relationship students developed with their faculty mentors.<\/p>\n

\"AnnaAnna Grace Gilbert \u201927, an Elon University psychology major<\/p>\n

Anna Grace Gilbert \u201927, an Elon psychology major from Knoxville, Tennessee, says Associate Professor of Psychology Sabrina Perkins \u201ccompletely changed\u201d her undergraduate experience through their work studying infant motor development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked with (Professor Perkins) technically since the summer of my freshman year. I just reached out to her and was like, \u2018I love babies. I\u2019d love to work with you,\u201d Gilbert said. \u201cI\u2019m very grateful. We\u2019ve really bonded over these almost three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Jack VanValkenburg \u201927, a Queens student majoring in data analytics, undergraduate research provided an opportunity to apply his technical skills. He worked with Queens Assistant Professor of Biology Denni Einersson to develop a computerized system for organizing trash collected during community cleanup events.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great opportunity to work with people who know more than me. The coding that I\u2019ve done in the past is more analytical and this was more developmental,\u201d said VanValkenburg, who is from Atlanta. \u201c(Clean-up crews) would go out with field cards, like pencil and paper, and just mark things down, which was super timely and it\u2019s very inconvenient, and then that just led to a lot of data that wasn\u2019t being used.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pushing Through the Learning Process<\/p>\n

Elon business analytics major Chase Hannibal \u201928 examined the sense of belonging among Black business students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly White Institutions. It can sometimes feel isolating as a Black female business student, Hannibal said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to see if other students felt that way, and if it was a pattern, what could be fixed,\u201d Hannibal said. \u201c(I wanted to) let other students know that you\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannibal says her mentor, Shanetta Pendleton, assistant professor of strategic communications, pushed her to be better, even when she was at her \u201cstopping point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when I felt at the worst of the worst, she supported me throughout everything,\u201d Hannibal said. \u201cShe was great, and I\u2019m very excited to work with her in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amelia Weaver \u201928 also explored the experiences of college students, particularly women. Her Elon Honors Fellows research examines the motivations of college-aged women who participate in sports betting after she noticed women were less vocal about the topic in class discussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me think about why the women in the class weren\u2019t as talkative or excited about their own experiences with sports betting,\u201d said Weaver, a sport management and media analytics double major with a minor in business administration. \u201cI wondered if this was because they didn\u2019t participate, didn\u2019t care, or they just didn\u2019t want to say anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weaver said her mentor, Alex Traugutt, an assistant professor of sport management, has helped guide her through the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe immediately said, \u2018This is going to be a partnership. We\u2019re going to take steps together. We\u2019re going to figure this out together. I\u2019m not just going to throw you into everything,’\u201d said Weaver. \u201cThat\u2019s been really helpful in the learning process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SebastianSebastian Enrique Ramirez Araya \u201927, a Queens University of Charlotte international studies major<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens of students showcased research projects inspired by personal experiences and academic interests, guided by faculty mentorship, during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-305442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}