by Grace Hwang, SCEC Education Program Assistant, USC

Larger imageThe 11th Annual Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work

On Tuesday, April 14th, 2009, Southern California Earthquake Center interns from the University of Southern California submitted their projects to the 11th Annual Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work. Sponsored by the Vice President for Academic Planning & Budget at the University of Southern California, this symposium allows USC undergraduates to exhibit and share examples of their significant research through posters, art exhibits, and electronic media. Over the span of two days, a panel of USC faculty members judged the submissions of more than 160 students under five different categories: Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Life Sciences, and Physical Sciences, Mathematics & Engineering.

SCEC’s five interns were sponsored by Tom Jordan, Director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, and received funding for their research through URAP (the Undergraduate Research Associates Program). Interns Ryan Berti, Brittney Miller, and Andrew Whitesides displayed their individual research projects within the Physical Sciences & Engineering category, with project titles “Earthquake Shake Velocity Visualization,” “Pioneering a digital archive for the importation, preservation, and accessibility of Southern California Earthquake Center records,” and “The Grand Challenge- Documenting the SCEC UseIT Interns of 2008,” respectively. Interns Grace Hwang and Christina Gotuaco submitted a group field research project titled “The Usefulness of Social Networking Sites for Tracking Past Interns” under the Social Sciences category.

Larger imageGene Bickers, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs, giving his keynote speech

Tuesday began with closed judging in the Friends Lecture Hall at Doheny Library. Over the span of eight hours, panelists within each category perused the various poster and exhibit displays, taking down notes and questions regarding each project. Then on Wednesday, battling huge gusts of wind and chilly air, each student displayed their work on Trousdale Parkway for three hours to both judges and curious passersby. Each intern presented to one or more of the approximately seven judges and was given a maximum of fifteen minutes to detail an entire year’s work to them.

Following the judging, all of the participants gathered for the awards ceremony and dinner reception at the Davidson Conference Center in the evening. Beginning with a key-note speech by Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs Gene Bickers, the awards were declared and $1,000 was given to the first place winner of each category and $500 to the second. Although none of the SCEC interns received any prize money, each left with a sense of recognition and a feeling of inspiration from their peers.

Larger imageAndrew Whitesides with his poster ‘The Grand Challenge- Documenting the SCEC UseIT Interns of 2008’

Larger imageRyan Berti with his Earthquake Shake Velocity Visualization project

Larger imageChristina Gotuaco and Grace Hwang displaying their project 'The Usefulness of Social Networking Sites for Tracking Past Interns'