Living Sustainably: Research Fest celebrates learning

By Laura McMullen and Karey Frink’18 , Hope College
Hope College invites all community members to come to the 18th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity.
Each year Hope College students work on a variety of research projects in all academic divisions and display their results at the Celebration. This year, more than 200 projects from 27 departments and programs will be on display. Poster topics range from economics to theatre, gender studies to chemistry.  Even the location where the research was gathered ranges from local to global studies.

The Celebration will be held 2:30 to 5 p.m. April 12, in the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse at Hope. This is a free event with no registration required.

Most projects will be presented in a poster format with the researchers available to answer any questions. Visitors can plan their visit at the Celebration’s website, celebration.hope.edu. The website lists the titles of the projects and provides a floor map.
“Come when you can and leave when you must,” said Laura McMullen, program manager of the Celebration. “We recommend to allow yourself plenty of time to explore the posters. There are always more presentations than time.”
At the Celebration, be sure to look out for green sustainability ribbons. This is the third year that ribbons have been awarded for projects that explore environmental sustainability. Last year, more than 100 ribbons were awarded.
The awarded projects are categorized along the seven sustainability framework categories developed by the City of Holland. The categories are clean energy, community and neighborhood, economics, environmental awareness, transportation, and quality of life. To learn more about the framework categories, descriptions are available at HollandSustainabilityReport.org.
Come find out more about our local community through a variety of topics. Topics cover a wide range – from exploring the effect of the Vietnam War on the Hope College campus to finding out about the value of trees in the City of Holland, from learning about environmental factors that influence the Macatawa watershed to discovering how project-based learning in STEM classrooms impacts local students’ attitudes toward school.
Be sure to bring curiosity and questions, grab free popcorn, and celebrate the research these students have worked hard on!

Learn more about research at Hope College at  https://hope.edu/research.

 Laura McMullen is the program manager for the Office of Research and Scholarship at Hope College. Karey Frink is an assistant for the Holland-Hope College Sustainability Institute.

This Week’s Sustainability Framework Theme
Community Knowledge: The collective knowledge and energy of the community is an incredible resource that must be channeled to where it is needed.

ABOUT THIS SERIES
Living Sustainably is a collection of community voices sharing updates about local sustainability initiatives. It is presented by the Holland-Hope College Sustainability Institute, a joint project of Hope College, the City of Holland and Holland Board of Public Works. Go to www.hope.edu/sustainability-institute for more information.