On April 8-9, more than 620 students will present their research at the CURO Symposium at the Classic Center in downtown Athens. Hosted by the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities, the annual event is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024.
The CURO Symposium begins on April 8 at 10:20 a.m. and includes 152 oral presentations and 382 posters. The 623 undergraduates participating are pursuing 188 different majors. Collectively, they are conducting research with 279 faculty members in 75 departments.
During the two-day event, undergraduates will present individually and in teams at oral and poster sessions. This year’s presentations cover a wide range of projects, including the social implications of e-mobility, Joro spiders as a threat to monarch butterflies, business perspectives on AI implementation, patterns of antibiotic resistance in salmonella and bioprinting vascular grafts, among others.
“A celebration of 25 years of the CURO Symposium is a recognition of the tremendous support of UGA faculty and administration and the exceptional quality of our students’ work,” said Andrea Silletti, program coordinator for the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities. “We are proud to host this signature event at UGA each year. It is a fantastic opportunity to see undergraduates at work in so many areas of research at UGA.”
CURO will celebrate its 25th anniversary with several unique additions. First, it will host an Introduction to Mentoring session for graduate students on April 8 from 1:50-2:40 p.m. in Athena Room D. It will also hold a special, two-day Café CURO in Athena Room A, providing additional opportunities for students, mentors and others to discuss undergraduate research in an informal setting.
A solar eclipse will cover much of the U.S. in darkness on April 8. To celebrate this event— which will reach a magnitude of 84 percent in Athens—the CURO Symposium will host a viewing from 2:40-3:05 p.m., with the keynote and awards session to begin at 3:15 p.m. Solar eclipse glasses will be available to attendees at registration.
Ron Walcott, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School and professor of plant pathology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will deliver the keynote address at 3:15 p.m. in Athena Ballroom E. The poster session and reception will follow at 4 p.m.
Finally, Stamps Scholars from universities around the U.S., including UGA, will be sharing their research. They will be featured in poster slots 1-12 as attendees enter the poster session on the first floor of the Classic Center. The Stamps Scholars Program was founded by E. Roe Stamps and his late wife Penny in 2006, with the purpose of enabling extraordinary educational experiences for extraordinary students through partnerships with institutions across the nation.
Oral presentations will continue April 9 at 9:35 a.m. with the last session ending at 5:10 p.m.
A UGA bus marked “Special” will provide transportation to the Classic Center, with stops at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education & Hotel, the Tate Student Center and the Arch.
The CURO Symposium is sponsored by the Morehead Honors College, the Office of the President, the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, the Office of Instruction, the Office of Research and the UGA Libraries. For more information, visit https://curo.uga.edu/symposium/.