First campus-wide Undergraduate Research Festival at ACU, April 13-15

Abilene Christian University will hold its first campus-wide Undergraduate Research Festival, April 13-15. More than 75 students from physics, chemistry, education, music, biology agriculture and other fields, will make research presentations over the three-day event.

"The aim of the festival is to strengthen our research culture campus-wide," said Dr. Chris Willerton, dean of the Honors College at ACU and festival chair. "Several departments have excelled for years in training student researchers, and we want that kind of achievement to spread across campus."

The festival celebrates both pure and applied research, and will include special sessions on commercial development of research products. Guests at the opening luncheon include Dr. Jon Weidanz, founder of biotech companies and director of the Center for Immunotherapeutic Research at Texas Tech University, and James Porter, ACU entrepreneur-in-residence and founder of the Springboard Ideas Challenge, Willerton said.

Dr. James O'Brien, professor of chemistry at Missouri State University, will speak on "Famous Mad Hatters." O’Brien will describe the unsuspected harm done by industrial chemicals not only on hat makers, but on celebrities such as Faraday, King Charles II, Renoir and Clare Booth Luce. While the luncheon is limited to participating students and mentors only, the speaker’s presentation is open to the public at noon at the Hunter Welcome Center.

The festival, organized by the ACU Honors College along with the Adams Center for Teaching and Learning, the McNair Scholars Program and the Brown Library, is open to all ACU students.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the top presentations. All student presentations are open to the public. To learn more about the festival or to find a schedule of events, please visit the Honors College website.

If you are a member of the media who would like more information about this release, please contact ACU's Public Relations Office or call (325) 674-2696.