Four student-athletes are among 11 undergraduate students at Wesley College who had presentations accepted by the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).
The conference will be held at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. from March 31-April 2, 2011. NCUR was established in 1987 and is dedicated to promoting undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity in all fields of study.
The student-athletes who had presentations accepted are senior Chris Donisi (Woodbury, N.J./West Deptford) of the men's track & field team, Dan Canova (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) and Will Sutton (Washington, D.C./The Lab School) of the men's soccer team and Evan Day (Sewell, N.J./St. Joseph's Prep), who is a member of both the men's soccer and men's tennis programs.
The Wolverines participating in the conference espouse the characteristics of research, scholarship, and creative activity as they have varied research interests and academic majors. The groups of students have worked to develop their presentation topics for over one semester, and some for over one year. "Undergraduate research is a hallmark of the Wesley academic experience," said Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Patricia Dwyer. "I congratulate both the faculty mentors and the students for their hard work that has been recognized and accepted for presentation at the conference."
Senior Business major Jessica Szoke began her research while taking Dr. Saharat "Oak" Pongsree's course, History and Analysis of Economic Thought, in Spring 2010. During that time, she took an interest in John Stuart Mill's philosophy on economics and is presenting a paper at NCUR entitled "The Effects and Influences of John Stuart Mill's Economic Thought on Current Social Policies." Szoke is a member of Wesley's Honors Program.
"I'm very excited for our students and their opportunity to present their work at the national level" said Assistant Professor of Economics Dr. Oak Pongsree. "It's wonderful to see that they get to experience firsthand that hard work does pay off."
Among many courses, Assistant Professor of Business Administration Dr. Kraiwinee "Nok" Bunyaratavej teaches World Economy & International Trade and International Financial Management. Both courses have led students to create presentations and papers accepted by NCUR. Business administration majors Day, Ashley Murphy, and Sutton wrote an accepted paper entitled "Foreign Direct Investment Determinants: The case of the United States and China." Canova and Sutton will present at NCUR.
"I'm very proud of them. The abstracts were chosen from 3,500 submissions, said Dr. Nok Bunyaratavej. "They have been working hard on these papers and it shows what they can accomplish. This will be a great experience for them."
