Biology symposium celebrates 142 undergrad student researchers

Pat Chow-Fraser’s solution to a problem 20 years ago has turned into a rite of passage for thousands of biology students.

Fourth-year undergrads used to defend their senior theses and capstone projects behind closed doors in front of supervisory committees. Each committee was made up of two or three faculty. Scheduling meetings for 50 to 60 students in and around final exams was a problem. “A logistical nightmare,” says Pat, who took over as chair of the Biology Undergraduate Studies Committee in 2004.

She also thought the format was a missed opportunity. As a PhD student at the University of Toronto in the early 1980s, she’d enjoyed the end-of-year research talks delivered by senior students in front of the entire department. The day ended with a reception and awards ceremony. It was a communal, celebratory and culture-defining event.

Pat adopted that the model for the first Biology Undergraduate Symposium in April 2005. Sixty-nine students presented their research in the newly opened Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery. The organizing committee was small but mighty with Pat, communications coordinator Wendy Burston and admin assistant Kathy McIntosh.

While the venue’s the same, the number of students has more than doubled. This year’s Biology Undergraduate Symposium will have 142 thesis and senior project students showcasing their work during the full-day Biology Undergraduate Symposium on April 11.

This’ll be the second symposium that Tyler Charlebois has helped organize. The undergraduate program assistant is a Biology grad and one of Pat’s former students in two of her classes. She was a tough marker, says Tyler. Tough but fair, adds Pat.

Tyler didn’t take on a fourth-year thesis – he was career rather than research-focused – so he didn’t present at the Biology Undergraduate Symposium that he now helps organize. Pat doesn’t pass up the opportunity to point out that delivering presentations at symposia and conferences is a transferable and lifelong skill.

The 20^th annual symposium’s among the department’s largest annual events. And it’s a definite celebration, with family, friends, classmates, faculty, postdocs and grad students sitting in on presentations and filling the halls.

Each student gets a maximum of 15 minutes to present their research and answer questions.

Like the number of students taking part in the day, the organizing committee’s grown over the years. Planning for the symposium begins before the academic year starts in September. Rooms are booked and the organizing committee’s recruited. This year’s team working with Tyler includes Ian Dworkin, Rebecca Woodworth, Jon Stone, Susan Dudley, Mihaela Georgescu, Lovaye Kajiura, Scott Hughes, Sonia Rehal, Rebecca Doyle, Krupa Patel, Wynter Sutchy and Natalie Belu.

Work ramps up around mid-February when registration forms go out to students, abstracts come back for review and judges are recruited.

“It’s great to see all the students gather in one place on one day with their supervisors, family and friends to showcase their research and celebrate what they’ve accomplished,” says Tyler.

For Pat, the Biology Undergraduate Symposium is also a way for faculty to give thanks. Students in capstone courses make big-time contributions to faculty research programs. “Undergraduate students are a point of pride for all of us and a source of future graduate students. I like to think that students who’ve completed a thesis or capstone course and then presented at the Biology Undergraduate Symposium have experienced the best of what Mac has to offer.”