Andrews University Hosts the First Annual Andrews Research Conference (ARC)

The first Andrews Research Conference (ARC), titled “Early Career Researchers in STEM,” was held at Andrews University May 7–11, 2014. Participants included presenters from universities around North America and Andrews University science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) faculty members. Most of the presenters were Adventist graduate students or early career faculty either at non-American or non-Adventist universities. The conference included presentations by each of the attendees in areas of chemistry, biochemistry, biology, mathematics, physics, engineering, computer science, and materials science.

The conference was sponsored by the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists and the STEM departments at Andrews University. The Office of Research & Creative Scholarship organized the event along with STEM coordinator, Rachel Boothby. Thanks to the generosity of the sponsors, attendees were able to participate in the conference at no cost except their travel expenses. Attendees traveled from as far west as the California Institute of Technology and as far south as Montemorelos, Mexico and the University of the West Indies. 

The conference consisted of oral presentations followed by evening leisure activities, such as a picnic at the beach or canoeing down the St. Joseph River. This enabled the researchers to get to know one another both professionally and personally.

Matias Soto, a materials science PhD student at Rice University, expressed his appreciation for the personal and smallgroup feel of the conference. “All the researchers had the opportunity to get to know each other outside of the conference setting,” he said. This distinguishes ARC from other conferences. “We also had the opportunity to get to know faculty and staff from Andrews at different the conference in other activities made a big difference,” he said. 

Participants appreciated the opportunity to meet and network with other researchers, and some are already looking forward to collaborating with one another on their projects. “I made some good contacts,” Johnson Luma said. Luma is an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “I never connected research to anything spiritual,” he said. “After the conference, I know that as I research, I will be dealing with what God has created. We are all learning about parts of His creation.”

The second annual Andrews ResearchConference will be held from May 13-17, 2015 with a focus on early career researchers in the social sciences. Adventist graduate students, post-docs, and early career faculty in the social
sciences (anthropology, communication, community and international development, psychology, social work, etc.) are invited to present. More information can be found at andrews.edu/research/arc.

Photo: Andrews Biology Professor, Peter Lyons, presents his research on the "Structure and function of a unique proteolytic enzyme."