Hundreds of Fredonia students prepare for this year's OSCAR Expo April 26

Biology Professor Scott Ferguson (right) listens as a student explains his poster at last year's Student Research and Creativity Exposition.

SUNY Fredonia’s Office of Student Creative Activity and Research (OSCAR) will proudly welcome roughly 400 student exhibitors and presenters as it hosts its 14th annual Student Research and Creativity Exposition. The event will take place on Thursday, April 26, from 1 to 6 p.m. in the Dods Hall Multipurpose Room.

Student posters and projects will be on display throughout the day. Oral and poster presentations will give students the chance to talk about their scholarly research, and various samples from the campus’ visual and performing arts disciplines will take place, including a performance at 3 p.m. by the Fredonia Guitar Quartet, which completed a European tour during this past Spring Break.

A formal program will begin at 4 p.m., including a keynote address to be lead by President Dennis Hefner, who will give a talk titled, “Join Student/Faculty Research: Why It Matters.”

Last year’s event featured more than 300 participants and close to 400 visitors who attended the event. OSCAR director Jack Croxton is hoping for an even larger turn out this year’s event, since the number of student participant is 25 percent greater.

Preparation for the expo began in February, with applications for proposals submitted in March. Those proposals were reviewed by Dr. Croxton with the help of the Student Creative Activity and Research Committee.

The event originally began as a science research exposition. In 2006, Dr. Croxton broadened the event, drawing in a range of studies from across the campus. Today’s expo now features a wider scope of creative work put together by students involved with science, visual art, dance, music, humanities, business, education and volunteer work, and it continues to grow each year.

“To me, this is the best part of my job, getting to put this together,” Dr. Croxton said. “It’s like a celebration of all the good things students have been up to this year.”

The Student Research and Creativity Exposition is free and open to the general community. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be provided by Faculty Student Association.

For more information, contact Dr. Croxton at croxton@fredonia.edu or 716-673-3123.