The Undergraduate Symposium for Research and Creative Activity (UGS) is an annual event in Southern Miss that recently took place on campus in Scianna Hall this year. The UGS is a showcase for the research being done on campus and is co-hosted by the Drapeau Center for Undergraduate Research (DCUR) and Honors College (HC).

The event started with oral presentations. Poster presentations were done after some oral presentations were over while some oral presentations were still going on. There was an art showcase after the poster presentations where different students showed their dance, music, and poem performances. Finally, there was an award ceremony where the winners were awarded depending on different categories.

The oral presentation panel began with the presenters presenting on different categories. The poster presentation started at 1 pm, where the presenters had their own section where they could talk about their research and the audience could walk around exploring different topics. The research shown at the event was diverse.

There was research from various fields of academia. From research in various fields of STEM to education and liberal arts, research from almost all fields of academia was presented at the symposium. The judges were from different fields of academia too. Each research was put into a category and competed against other presentations in the same category. Judges judged the research that was in their field.

The art showcase followed the poster presentation. The art showcase consisted of students performing or presenting their creative arts. The creative arts included a poem recital, dance presentations, and a musical number.

There were different judging criteria for the presentations. The first criterion was purpose and content. The presenters had to display the proper purpose of their research. The second criterion was the project design where the presenters were judged on their understanding and justification of the project methods. The third criterion was the conclusion of the project where the research was judged on its scholarly contribution. Another criterion was how efficient the presenters were at answering the questions and their ability to explain their research in simple terms. The presenters were also judged on their ability to present their research in standard English, the visual appeal of their project, and the body language of the presenter.

The award ceremony consisted of awarding the winners and giveaways to the participants whose names were drawn from a name draw. The awards were given based on different categories and there were giveaways between each category.

“I was a little nervous at first because I had never done a presentation like this before,” said Jessica Shrestha, the winner of the Mississippi INBRE Prize for Excellence in Biomedical Research. “It was a little intimidating but I enjoyed presenting once I got used to it.”

The Undergraduate Symposium is open to all the students involved in research and will be held again next April. Any student who is involved in research and wants to present their research can apply to present in the symposium through the school website.