POSTERS AT THE CAPITOL: Undergraduate Research in Northwest Ohio

Posters at the Capitol is an event for undergraduate student researchers/scholars from Northwest Ohio. Students selected to participate will design and produce professional-quality posters showcasing their research/creative academic work and its significance to Northwest Ohio. These posters will be displayed at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on Thursday, April 15, 2010. Selected students will have the opportunity to discuss their posters with Ohio legislators, legislative staff, state agency personnel, and visitors to the Statehouse on a one-on-one basis to help them learn more about the research and discoveries our students are making. 

Last year, thirty-one posters were displayed, representing forty-three undergraduate authors/co-authors. Topics ranged from medical and public health issues such as oral health and genetic involvement in cancer and depression, to environmental issues such as solid waste disposal and energy savings, to Ohio historical research into the Johnson’s Island Civil War prison.

This event is modeled after the highly successful Council on Undergraduate Research's "Posters on the Hill" display that is conducted annually in the Capitol of the United States located in Washington, D.C. Other states in the region, most notably Kentucky, hold similar events in their state capitols. The Ohio event is being planned and organized through collaboration among Bowling Green State University, Heidelberg University, Ohio Northern University, the University of Findlay, and The University of Toledo.

According to BGSU President Carol Cartwright, “student research helps immensely in linking classroom learning to the larger concerns of the world.” In commenting on the 2008 event, she added that student research “serves a major function of all institutions of higher learning: that of generating greater knowledge, which in turn holds strong potential for economic development in Ohio." 

Registration information  for the April 15, 2010 event will be made available on this site in mid-February.

      If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Lisa Root, Assistant Program Director/Doctoral Assistant at BGSU, at lroot@bgsu.edu or (419) 372-5401 or Dr. Thomas Kvale, Director of Undergraduate Research at the University of Toledo, at thomas.kvale@utoledo.edu  or (419) 530-2980.