Idea exchange Graduate students, faculty members and others explore the 2010 Graduate Research Symposium. This year's symposium will be held March 25-26. Photo courtesy of Chasity Roberts
Hundreds of graduate students from 16 institutions will gather at the College of William & Mary on March 25 & 26 for the tenth annual Graduate Research Symposium. The theme of the event is “Preparing Scholars/Presenting Excellence.”
“The symposium has developed into a highly successful student-organized event focusing on graduate students’ innovative and top-notch research ,” said Laurie Sanderson, William & Mary’s dean of graduate studies and research in Arts & Sciences. Sanderson noted that the symposium will feature ongoing poster sessions, an ambitious slate of oral presentations, and many opportunities for networking.
She explained that the symposium has expanded to encompass the research and scholarship of grad students in all W&M Arts & Sciences Master’s and Ph.D. programs—American studies, anthropology, applied science, biology, chemistry, computational operations research, computer science, history, physics, psychology and public policy. The event also will include 51 presenters from 16 visiting institutions, including Georgetown, George Mason University, Hampton University, UNC-Chapel Hill and UCLA.
Interdisciplinary and inter-institutional exchange is enhanced by coffee breaks and by a Friday evening networking reception sponsored by the W&M alumni who form the Arts & Sciences Graduate Studies Advisory Board.
A number of awards recognizing excellence in scholarship or undergraduate mentoring will be presented at a Saturday awards luncheon, following remarks by William & Mary President Taylor Reveley, Provost Michael Halleran, and other administrators.
Erik Siedow of the Department of Anthropology will receive the Market Access International, Inc. Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences for his paper “An Archaeometric Examination of Barbadian Redware During the Early Colonial Era” His advisor is Frederick Smith.
Wei Wei of the Computer Science Department (Advisor: Qun Li) will receive the Northrop Grumman Corporation Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Natural and Computational Sciences for “SybilDefender: Defend Against Sybil Attacks in Large Social Networks.”
Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring, sponsored by the Graduate Studies Advisory Board, will go to Adam Stackhouse, American Studies Program, M.A.; Zachary Elmore, Biology Department, M.S.; and Fengyuan Xu, Computer Science Department, Ph.D.
The symposium is hosted by William & Mary's Graduate Student Association of Arts & Sciences and the Arts & Sciences Office of Graduate Studies and Research. It is free and open to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni and the general public. A detailed schedule and full list of award winners is available online.
