Scholars’ Day starts at 1 p.m. on April 22, and will feature senior honors theses, poster projects, an art juried show and a fine arts recital.
Dr. Amy Sonheim has been helping put the event together and said more than 150 students are scheduled to present.
“The honors program organizes Scholars’ Day as a service for the whole campus,” Sonheim said. “But it’s not only for honors students. It’s for all Ouachita students.”
This year 11 seniors are presenting honors theses covering many different subjects among which are a new type of cataract surgery, piano injury and whaling in Antarctica.
Senior Abby Brumley is going to describe the new cataract surgery. During her research she had the opportunity to shadow world-renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Robert Osher of the Cincinnati Eye Institute who developed the new cataract surgery in the 1980s.
“There’s no telling exactly how many hours I’ve put into researching and writing on my thesis,” Brumley said.
Sonheim said writing an honors thesis is a long process that usually requires many years of work from the students presenting them.
“It’s just unbelievable the sort of discoveries that are being made all during the year but only individual departments know about it,” Sonheim said. “Scholars’ Day is a way for students to see the research their peers are doing all over campus in every area.”
This year the honors thesis presentations can be viewed live online Wednesday from 1-7 p.m. at The Signal’s Web site, www.obusignal.com. These presentations will also be archived on the site.
Brumley’s said her sister lives in Philadelphia and cannot come to see her present her thesis but will be watching it through the online simulcast.
“I have to admit that it makes me a bit nervous to think that people will have the chance to watch me present my thesis live,” Brumley said. “However, it doesn’t really bother me. I’m glad my family will get to share that moment with me.”
Besides the student projects, the art department is going to have a display set up to show the process of print making and the English department is holding a mock trial of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov from “Crime and Punishment” with a real judge presiding.
To fit everything into the day, there are multiple places on campus where the projects are being presented and some of the presentations and events will be happening simultaneously.
Sonheim suggests to students they “pick out your friends or pick out a subject and go see what your friends have been discovering and researching and investigating. It’s a wonderful celebration, especially at the end of the academic year, of how refreshing it is to be curious.”
The Scholars’ Day schedule is on The Signal’s Web site and a copy is going to be delivered to students in their mailbox.
“Come watch,” said Daniel Graham, a senior presenting a poster project. “You feel stupid if you present a project and prepare and only two people show up.”
