Nearly 400 SUNY researchers attend conference at Binghamton University

Binghamton kicked off its annual Research Days events with the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC) on Monday, April 28, welcoming almost 400 students and faculty mentors from across the SUNY school system.

The day included student presentations, lab tours, career development sessions and a graduate school fair with representatives from institutions such as Cornell University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, SUNY Plattsburgh and Binghamton.

SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. gave the keynote address, highlighting the significance of university-based research as well as the critical role that students play as budding academics and scientists.

“This conference demonstrates the awesome power of research and scholarship,” he said. “Far beyond any multimillion-dollar investment or fancy state-of-the-art laboratory, the work here is a reminder of the intangible benefits of research, too. We see the sense of discovery, wonder and excitement a novel investigation, a new idea or creative work generates in students and their mentors and everyone who engages with it.”

Throughout the day, hundreds of students presented their research findings in short talks and poster sessions at the University Union, with topics ranging from horse health to adolescent social media usage to influenza viruses.

Projects like these, King said, “create lifelong learners.”

Poster sessions gave students like Farmingdale State College senior Saifullah Amer the opportunity to network and connect with students from across New York state.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people. I love the people here, and I learned a lot,” he said. “I’ve seen different topics I’ve never thought of before.”

With his background rooted in data analytics and machine learning, Amer said one highlight of SURC was the creativity everyone brought to their projects.

“Someone actually found that fish have more bacteria than we can actually imagine,” he said.

Amer’s own research poster originated from his senior project, which focused on predicting claims, or the money that companies must pay in order to cover damages, as well as minimizing risks, using the programming language MATLAB. Beyond its applications for insurance companies, it could also be used for cybersecurity, natural disaster prediction and health management risk.

For SUNY New Paltz senior Abigail Petteys, conferences like SURC allow her to practice her ability to present her research to others.

“I’m going to grad school in the fall, so I really wanted to up my chops, in a way, for presenting and talking and being social, things like that,” she said. “That’s really big in grad school, and it’s kind of difficult for me. So I wanted to be able to talk to people about my research and network.”

Petteys’ senior thesis concerned the unexpected intersections between motherhood and conspiracy theories, from the 1970s to the present day — titled in part, “Mommy’s Gone Down the Rabbit Hole.”

“My original question that put me down this rabbit hole, so to speak, is, ‘Do women believe in conspiracy theories different than men?’” Petteys said. “I really focused on the idea of motherhood and how motherhood is a motivator that men that think conspiratorially don’t have.”

The variety of research presented at SURC also opens new avenues and possibilities for students like Shivani Shah, a junior at Stony Brook University.

Shah, who presented her research on the impact of stress on Candida albicans, a common and naturally occurring fungal pathogen in humans, always knew she intended to conduct research during her gap year after graduating. Learning from fellow SURC students who, for example, conduct clinical research in pediatrics, has broadened her interests and potential pathways.

“Coming into [the conference], I was kind of dreading it, but it has been the most fun day ever,” she said. “Meeting all these new people, hearing everybody’s research, it has been so much fun.”

Despite this year’s federal funding disputes and challenges, the seemingly endless scope of projects presented at SURC was a reminder that enterprising student research is pushing onward.

“I just met one guy who did his presentation on drag in theater, which I thought was really cool. And I love stuff like that,” Petteys said. “I love finding people who have totally different interests than I do, but they’re equally as passionate and excited about it. I think that’s really awesome.”

King concluded his address with encouragement to students. He said: “No robot or AI application, no budget shortfall, no government, no leader walking away from funding commitments can take away your curiosity, your creativity, your ingenuity and your passion.”