Honors Week, Undergraduate Symposium to highlight learning at its best


Inside NAU Home \| NAU in the News \| Archives \| Submit a News Tip	Vol. 6 No. 13 \| April 15, 2009

Honors Week, Undergraduate Symposium
to highlight learning at its best

Highly motivated students in NAU’s Honors Program will strut their academic stuff during Honors Week April 18 through 25.

Honors Week culminates with the university’s Undergraduate Symposium April 23 to 25, featuring undergraduate student highlights from each college.

Spotlight on student science

To learn more about student advances made in NAU’s College of Engineering, Forestry and Natural Sciences, check out its 16th annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Design in the du Bois Center on Thursday, April 23. Student presentations will include topics such as renewable energy, acoustic communication among bark beetles, wastewater treatment design, biodiesel fuels and ways to simulate battery power.

Keynote speaker Andrew Kruse, co-founder and executive vice president of Southwest Windpower, a local manufacturer of small-scale wind turbines, will speak from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in the du Bois center Ballroom.

Get in on the action early and watch engineering students on the Internet as they present their final LEGO robot system projects to their classes at 12:40 and 3 p.m., April 20 and 22.

From biology, sustainability and anthropology displays to creative writing, musical performances and photographic showcases, Honors Week is “a great way to see the incredible difference our students from different departments and programs are making to this world,” said George Gumerman, director for the Honors Program. “We hope the community joins us to learn about our students’ stellar research and creative activities.”

Honors week will include panel discussions, awards ceremonies and the Honors Symposium, “A Celebration of Ideas” featuring more than 40 students' scholarly presentations from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 25, in the du Bois Center. Click here for a program schedule.

Panel discussions include “The Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau: Connecting Place with Culture and Self” and “Indigenous Wisdom: The Development of New Knowledge in the Context of Biocolonialism.” Click here for the Honors Week schedule.

Honors Week and the Undergraduate Symposium will emphasize ways NAU students are tackling global issues.

“The symposium is one way we can appreciate the creativity, the sharp disciplinary insight and the incredible talent that our faculty and students bring to bear on real problems,” said Karen Pugliesi, vice provost for Undergraduate Studies. “It helps us see past the current crisis to ways that we can address fundamental challenges for all of us in the future.”

Romand Coles, NAU’s McAllister Chair in Community, Culture and Environment, and an associate professor of political science, will present the symposium’s keynote address, “Northern Arizona University Responding in a Time of Global Crisis” at 7 p.m. April 23 in Ardrey Auditorium.