From a press release:
WCU students earn another top 10 ranking for research conference
Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina University students have earned another top 10 ranking for their participation in the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, an annual spring gathering that allows college and university students from across the nation to present their best research.
The students from WCU had a total of 47 project abstracts accepted for presentation at the 2015 conference, which will be held April 16-18 at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington. Among the 390 colleges and universities sending students to NCUR this year, WCU is ninth in the number of projects approved by the NCUR abstract review committee, said Brian Railsback, dean of WCU’s Honors College. The college oversees the participation of WCU students in the conference each year.
WCU students have placed in the top 10 in projects accepted for NCUR since 2006 – 10 consecutive years.
NCUR provides a forum for undergraduate scholars to share results of their work through posters, presentations, performances and works of art. Forty-three WCU students are planning to fly to Washington for the conference. The experience is provided mostly free of cost to students, who have to pay only for incidental expenses, some meals and airfare costs that exceed $375, Railsback said.
This year’s trip is being financed through local tuition funds dedicated to undergraduate research. The participation of WCU students is down somewhat this year because of the travel distance, Railsback said.
The upcoming NCUR will mark the 15th year that Railsback has accompanied WCU students to the conference, and it will be his last one. Railsback recently announced plans to step down from his dean’s position to return to the WCU English faculty to focus on teaching, research and writing.
Railsback said his first journey to NCUR was a 1997 trip to the University of Texas at Austin. WCU had just two presenters at the conference, and one of those students got a case of nerves when he found himself on a math panel presenting his research paper alongside students from large research universities.
“But when the panel was over, the professor who was moderating took him aside and told him he gave the best paper,” Railsback said. “It did so much for that student’s confidence, and I realized how valuable the conference experience could be for WCU undergraduates.”
Railsback said his favorite NCUR memory is the 2010 trek to the University of Montana – despite the 90-hour roundtrip bus ride. “It was a tough trip, but we developed a real esprit de corps,” he said. “The best moment was when the bus driver became lost and we wound up at the Custer battlefield. While he checked his map, we wandered around the monument and learned a great deal. None of us had ever been there before.”
For more information about this year’s NCUR trip and undergraduate research at WCU, contact Railsback at 828-227-7383.
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