2014 LSURF a Success!

by Margaret A. Lynch, PhD

In November several hundred members of the Harvard community congregated at the Knafel Center for the fifth annual Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Fair (aka the “LSURF”). Here Harvard faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students presented posters of their lab’s research to an audience of aspiring undergraduate researchers.

At the event there were more than 90 posters by researchers from the Faculty of Arts & Sciences (FAS), the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard School of Public Health, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, the Rowland Institute, and Schepens Eye Research Institute.

The research presented spanned disciplines including bioengineering, bioinformatics, biomedical imaging, chemical catalysis, development, epigenetics, evolutionary biology & molecular evolution, immunology, microbial sciences, molecular and cellular biology, neuroscience, plant physiology, ecology, and phenology.

The purpose of the event was to foster communicate between Harvard’s life scientists and undergraduates interesting in starting research. Ethan Plotsker, Class of 2018, declared:

“The LSURF exposed me to numerous research labs that I would normally not have been able to meet with. I spoke with researchers who were extremely passionate about their projects and who wanted to welcome undergraduates into their labs. The event opened doors that allowed me to obtain a position in a lab whose work piqued my interests.”

A new facet of the 2014 fair was poster presentations by Herchel Smith Undergraduate Summer Research Fellows. The LSURF thus gave these undergraduate researchers a chance to talk about their research with their undergraduate peers.

We had a great team in 2014 for event setup and breakdown. Many thanks to Ricardo Mora, James Poolner, Tom Torello, and Lisa Fountain of Life Sciences Education, and to the energetic and enthusiastic students of the Harvard College Undergraduate Research Association (HCURA): Velina Kozareva, Mimi Yen, Jimmy Lin, Kevin Ma, and Jessica Herrmann. Also thanks to Jamie Romine of URAF for the much-appreciated refreshments.

The LSURF is sponsored by the Life Sciences Undergraduate Education Office in collaboration with the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URAF) and the Harvard College Undergraduate Research Association (HCURA).

If you have questions about the event or any aspect of undergraduate life sciences research, contact me:

Margaret A. Lynch,  the Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Advisor.

 We hope to see you in 2015!