UNC-Greensboro hosted the Undergraduate Research Symposium at the Elliott University Center Saturday, where students representing all fields of study came from colleges and universities across the state to display their research projects and answer questions.

More than 30 N.C. State students presented their projects, varying from tiger conservation to recreation benefits research, for other students, professors and symposium attendees.

Melissa Turner, a senior in fisheries and wildlife sciences, conducted research on endangered tigers in India with her partner Tara Sivamani, a senior in biological sciences, and attended the symposium to raise awareness on the issue.

“A lot of people we talked to don’t know anything about what is going on with tigers,” Turner said. “The most important thing is to educate people.”

She said she hopes her research will raise awareness among conservationists as well.

“There are a lot of people here with backgrounds in science who understand conservation,” she said. “We want to introduce those people to this issue. That’s what we’re here for.”

While Turner and Sivamani researched an issue they were passionate about, Felisha Whitehead, a freshman in meteorology, worked on a research project about the collapse of the Akkadian Empire due to climate changes to get her feet wet in the research pool.

“I couldn’t do lab research yet because I’m a freshman, and I do not have any lab experience,” she said. “Working on this project and presenting at the symposium have helped me gain experience.”

Although it was not an ideal topic to perform research on, Whitehead said she found interesting results applicable to the drought situation in North Carolina.

“From my research, I learned that the drought that we are now experiencing is similar to the situation in the Akkadian Empire,” she said. “Although it would take years of drought to bring us to that point, I learned what could happen.”

Trevor Hudspeth, a senior in parks, recreation and tourism management, researched intramural sport programs and their benefits and methods for development at Moore Square Museums Magnet School in downtown Raleigh.

He said he felt research in the area of youth sports was important, and his project faculty adviser Jason Bocarro, assistant professor in parks, recreation and tourism management, played an instrumental role in making the research a reality. “Dr. Bocarro recruited me to become involved with this because obesity and healthy lifestyles are growing issues,” Hudspeth said. “He was the primary investigator and an excellent mentor for the project.”

Jonathan Clemmons, a senior in business management, worked with Hudspeth in data collection and analysis for the intramural sport programs research project.

Beyond the hours spent conducting the research points and presenting at the symposium, Clemmons said it all came down to professional experience for him. “It was important to me to develop a professional working experience with the faculty in the PRT department who were working on this project,” Clemmons said. “Being able to present at the symposium and meet people who could be good future contacts was also important, especially since I’m graduating in May.”