Graduate Students Win Big at Graduate Student Research Symposium

Two Graduate students at Texas A&M University-Commerce won awards at this year's Federation of North Texas Area Universities' Graduate Student Research Symposium.

The Federation of North Texas Area Universities was established in 1968 with guidance from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The Federation permits the sharing of resources between A&M-Commerce, the University of North Texas, and Texas Women's University.

Each year, the Federation hosts the Graduate Student Research Symposium. The annual event gives graduate students the opportunity to connect and share their research via poster presentations with students and faculty from each of the three universities. The winners receive cash awards with third place receiving $100, second place receiving $250, and first place receiving $500. There are two categories for the awards, one being Education, Humanities, Social Sciences and Business, and the other category being Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

“This event is always a capstone experience for graduate students from our three institutions,” said Arlene Horne, vice provost for research and dean of graduate studies. “The Federation Symposium this year was especially noteworthy because of the exceptional presentation by the keynote speaker, Dr. Larry Lemanski. We have received many comments on the lessons learned from the presentation, especially the encouragement of graduate student participation in research, presentation of that research, and publication of that research while still in graduate school. Many comments were also received from our faculty judges on the outstanding quality of the graduate student presentations. Overall, this year's Federation Symposium was a rousing success!”

This year, two A&M-Commerce students won prizes in their categories. Nelly Shora won first place in the Education, Humanities, Social Sciences and Business category, while Jacob McCabe won second place in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math category.

“I had a great experience at the Graduate Student Research Symposium,” said Shora. “This was my second year participating, and I enjoy it because it allows us to have the opportunity to meet and learn from students in other disciplines. As graduate students, we don't always have the chance to meet students outside of our own area, so events like this help us to expand our networks and appreciate the work being done across the university. There was excellent competition, and I am so impressed by the outstanding work A&M-Commerce students are doing.”