Students Show Off Best Work During Showcase 2019

On Friday, May 3, subjects ranging across the academic divisions of Arts & Humanities, Physical and Life Sciences, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences will be covered by Hartwick College students as they put their best work of the 2018-19 academic year on display during the College’s 12th annual, day-long “Student Showcase: An Exhibition of Liberal Arts in Practice.”

Showcase 2019 will feature 109 presentations, exhibits, performances, and discussions of work that involve more than 200 students. This celebration of student scholarship and achievement is open to the public.

“Showcase lives up to its name: this one intense day showcases the best a Hartwick education has to offer, and the best of what our students do,” said Student Showcase Co-Coordinator Rich Barlow, associate professor of art. “It is easy, as a faculty member, to be narrowly focused on what happens in one’s own classroom or department, but at Showcase you can sample the breadth of work that is happening on campus. The presentations on research into a huge range of topics give the students a chance to educate us, while students in art, theatre and music share with us their own original and interpretive works.”

Throughout Showcase, students will present their work in several formats: oral presentations, readings and performances, poster presentations, table talks, panels, class demonstrations, and group discussions. These exhibits are well attended throughout the day, and hosted primarily in Golisano Hall, Johnstone Science Center, Yager Hall, and the Anderson Center for the Arts.

A sampling of this year’s entries includes:

Abbigail Lipp ’19 – Grain crops such as barley and wheat that are used for brewing beer can be contaminated with Fusarium, a mold that develops during wet growing seasons. The fungal infection can cause excessive foaming in beer, which reduces the market value of the grain. As an alternative to chemical disinfection methods, which are less desirable by brewers and consumers, Abbigail’s research attempts to find a more natural approach to inhibiting the growth of the fungus using lactic acid bacteria, which may have anti-fungal properties.
8:40 – 8:55 a.m., Johnstone Science Center, Room 205

Rebecca Nathan ’19 – By studying soil properties and quantified soil development, Rebecca analyzes the effects of the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid on hemlock forests locally in Robert V. Riddell State Park and Mine Kill State Park.
9:20 – 9:35 a.m., Johnstone Science Center, Room 205

Sofia-Eleni Kerchoula ’20 – Sofia-Eleni experimented with the art department’s Digital CNC Router, creating a functional guitar with a design based on surreal aesthetics. In her presentation, she will review the process of bringing a design from a digital vector file to a final working prototype.  9:40 – 9:55 a.m., Golisano Hall, Room 203

Yatin Patel ’19 – Yatin discusses four weeks he spent in villages in Livingstone, Zambia providing home-based healthcare.
10:20 – 10:35 a.m., Golisano Hall, Room 203

Rachel Robidoux ’20 – Rachel and several co-presenters and assistants from the Creative Exhibits class produced an exhibition exploring Willard Yager’s 1911 fly fishing trip to the Temagami region in central Ontario, and the indigenous fishing traditions of the Anishinaabe culture.
2 – 4 p.m., Yager Museum of Art & Culture

Rachel Shaver ’19 – Rachel and co-presenters Emily Ambrosino ’19 and Anjali Nair ’19 will discuss how sleep deprivation and fatigue are associated with increased risk for negative effects in healthcare providers and their patients.
2 – 4 p.m., Anderson Center for the Arts, Poster Hallway

This year’s recipients of the Freedman Prize for Student-Faculty Research, the Semenenko Clark Award for Excellence in Art & Art History, the Fred L. Emerson Foundation International Internship Scholarship and Duffy Family Ambassador Fund Scholarship – as well as those to be honored during the upcoming Honors Convocation Ceremony – will also be highlighted during Showcase.

For more detailed information on student presentations from this year’s Student Scholar Showcase, visit the Showcase webpage or contact Barlow at 607-431-4628 or [email protected].