May 2008

The University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College recently had 13 undergraduate and graduate students present their research and scholarly work at the annual USM Thinking Matters Student Research Conference. The annual conference, which happened this year on April 18 on USM’s Portland campus, provides a public forum for USM students and invited guests to share the results of student research and encourages and celebrates student initiative.

All students participating in the conference were selected via a competitive review process to present their research and scholarly papers. This year over 230 USM students were invited to attend and present their work.

USM LAC students gave oral and poster presentations on a wide variety of subjects including  sustaining gains in lean manufacturing, aging, disability, and the workplace, equine-assisted therapy, and employment options for people with developmental disabilities.

“USM's Thinking Matters Student Research Conference is a wonderful opportunity for our local student researchers to showcase their work, as well as to learn from each other,” says Dr. Betty Robinson, an Associate Professor of Leadership and Organizational Studies at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College. “This year marks the largest participation ever by LAC based students.  We are seeing our students' work being accepted into the USM-wide conference at a rate disproportional to our student numbers!"

The conference organizers state that “like citizens, scholars have a responsibility to reflect on the public impact of their work and consider how to use it to make a better world. The Thinking Matters Conference locates the civic in scholarship, inviting exchange.”

A complete list of presenters and their abstracts is available online at: http://research.usm.maine.edu/thinkingmatters/