The Woodrow Wilson Poster Session took place in the Glass Pavilion on Friday, April 29, and showcased the work of 19 seniors sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program over the course of their time at Hopkins.
“I would probably say it was our best event in the history of the program . . . I couldn’t be more pleased with the way it turned out,” said Dr. Steven David, director of the program.
David estimated that several hundred people came — the most in the history of the event.
“Everything meshed together really well . . . I thought the posters [were] especially enticing and informative. The students were able to give very good, concise and clear explanations of their work,” David said.
Students displayed posters outlining their research as supported by funds from the program, which were a total of $10,000 for those who enter the program as freshmen and $7,500 for those who enter as sophomores. Entering freshman apply to the program along with their application to Hopkins while sophomores must apply at the end of their freshman year.
The projects range in variety, covering topics pertaining to the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, which David highlighted as one of the many positive attributes of the program.
“I think one of the hallmarks of the Woodrow Wilson Program is that we have students doing all kinds of stuff . . . the three presentations illustrate this,” David said.
The three presentations of which David spoke of are presentations from each division of the program. Three students are chosen, one from humanities, one from social sciences and one from natural sciences, to give a formal presentation of their work, an additional feat to the other students’ poster presentations.
This year the topics presented were, “A Tile in the JHU Archaeological Museum” by senior Anna Helena Zander Denis, “Comparing the difference in resettlement of North Korean refugees in South Korea and the United States” by senior Heeyoung Sohn and “Familial Decision-Making About Female Circumcision and Obstetric Fistula Repair” by senior Sarah Hopkins Gieszl.
There was even greater variety as shown through the other poster projects that were not presented, but on display for the event.
“You can have neuroscience next to someone writing poetry,” David said.
Senior Nicole Overly’s project, entitled “Innovation, Stagnation, and the Future of Christianity in the United States and United Kingdom,” was one of such works of research. Overly was a part of the program as an incoming freshman after she applied to the program on a whim as a part of her Hopkins application. Despite her spontaneity in applying, she knew what she wanted to study immediately after a project she had done on mega churches for an AP class.
“By the end of that project I felt like I had more questions than answers,” Overly said.
“One Block at a Time: Neighborhood, Illness Management, and Economic Scarcity in East Baltimore” by senior Michael Rogers came to fruition in a different manner. Through his role in establishing the Charm City Clinic, a community clinic that provides health referrals, health-related social services and some screenings to East Baltimore residents, Rogers developed an anthropological interest in medical field specific to Baltimore rather than researching in Zambia, which was his initial consideration.
“I’ve tried to adapt my research project to the work I have been involved with in East Baltimore with the goal that the research might be useful in improving what we do and thinking more critically about how the problems we address arise and persist,” Rogers wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
Senior Annie Wu had a personal connection to her project, “Innovative DNA Vaccine for HPV-associated Head and Neck Cancers.”
“Many of my family and friends have been affected by cancer in unexpected ways, and I have always wanted to contribute as much as I can now to helping others who are going through similar tough experiences,” Wu said.
For his or her research, each Woodrow Wilson scholar is assigned a mentor to help him or her develop his or her research and determine the resources that are needed to complete it. Overly noted the vital role her mentor Andrew Cherlin had in the undertaking of her project. He acted as a friend as well as an influential force and a knowledgeable source of information during her work.
“He has really been a great advisor and someone to talk to just about life and what I want to do when I get out of school. I feel like that’s a great part of the program because it’s rare for people to come into Hopkins and have a faculty relationship right away, and that’s what Wilson allowed me to do,” Overly said.
The funds that the scholars received also played a vital role in their research and pursuits.
“The funds really help to support three years of academic exploration: from working in research labs at the NIH to taking classes at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute to traveling to science conferences in Montreal, Canada or Berlin, Germany. Meeting scientists who are experts in their fields and who are making a big difference through research really inspires you to take your schoolwork at Hopkins more seriously. You begin to realize and appreciate that what you learn in class has real life applications,” Wu said.
With what was described as the most successful poster session to date, researchers hope for the venue of the Glass Pavilion to be a doorway to the acceptance of their work as legitimate academic undertakings, illuminating their work as well as the help that they received from others.
“Whatever very modest contribution my research makes — and I hope it is useful in some way — that contribution is far overshadowed by the many individuals who have had the patience to help me begin to learn to ask good questions,” Rogers wrote.
As a finale to three or four years of work, David saw the 2011 Woodrow Wilson Poster Session as a culmination of quality academic excellence and the end of the path of countless hours of toil.
“I get a tremendous amount of pride and joy in seeing these students present their work. If you talk to them, many of them will say that this is the defining moment of their time at Hopkins,” David said.
