It’s nearly spring and that means it’s nearly time for Penn State Altoona’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Fair, to be held on April 9 at 9 a.m. in the Adler Athletic Complex. A real highlight of the spring semester, URCAF gives students the opportunity to display their talents in many forms—posters, oral presentations, and exhibitions and performances.
After two online URCAFs, this one will be held in person. Lara LaDage, associate professor of biology and Undergraduate Research Coordinator, acknowledges that “the last two years have been challenging for faculty mentors and their student researchers. This year’s URCAF will celebrate our students and the obstacles they had to overcome to do research during COVID-19. They are a testament to the fact that curiosity, imagination, and creativity thrived in spite of a global pandemic.”
LaDage sees benefits to URCAF beyond the Altoona campus: “Communicating project results with the broader community is vital to undergraduate research or creative activity experiences. In academia, our currency is the new knowledge or creation that we share with others through presentation, exhibition, and publication,” she says.
On a personal level, though, the rewards are just as significant and possibly even more impactful: “Students experience real growth in the discipline when they have the opportunity to present project results at events like URCAF. Many students come away from the experience more confident, with a greater sense of belonging in the discipline.”
For a complete list of categories and an application form, see the URCAF web page. Registration deadline is March 1. To read about past URCAFs, follow the links for 2019, 2020, and 2021!
—Therese Boyd, ’79