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USM Symposium Features Research Projects that Matter

March 30, 2007

Note to Editor: Over 100 posters will be presented from 1:30 – 3 p.m. in the Sullivan Gymnasium, Falmouth Street, Portland. This is a great opportunity to see a wide variety of student work in one space for maximum visual effect.

The University of Southern Maine’s annual “Thinking Matters” symposium, a public forum for local students to share their research and creativity, will be held on Friday, April 20, on the Portland and Gorham campuses of USM. This year’s topics range from cloned food to the future of the European Union to Wonder Woman. Many of the projects to be presented focus on humanitarian issues; including homelessness, learning deficits, corporate philanthropy, and domestic violence.

Almost 200 students from USM and Southern Maine Community College will present at this year’s event.

A keynote panel moderated by Judith A. Spross, associate professor of USM’s College of Nursing and Health Professions and chair of USM’s Research Council, will discuss “The Brookings Institute Report: Charting Maine’s Future.” Panelists include Andrew Bossie, 2006-2007 USM Student Senate president, Alan Caron, president and founder of GrowSmart Maine, and Charles Colgan, professor of public policy and management in USM’s Muskie School of Public Service.

Among the panels and presentations are:
-“Scabs, Scars, Solidarity: Veterans of Labor and Memory”
-“Wonder Woman! A Brief History of a Pop Culture Icon and Her Significance as a Symbol of Female Empowerment”
- “The Relationship Between Foster Care and Adult Homelessness”
-“Effective and Efficient Urban Mass Transit and Working Class Munjoy Hill Households: What This Could Mean”

Research posters include:
-“Does This Taste Cloned?” (The implications of cloning livestock)
-“Heavy Metals Research on Mount Everest” (The effects of atmospheric pollution at high altitude)
-“Diabetes and Heart Disease: Self-Management for Better Health”
-“Ecofeminism Through the Photographic Lens”

For more information on this event visit http://research.usm.maine.edu/thinkingmatters, or contact Pat Finn at 780-4284 or patfinn@usm.maine.edu.

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