The Summer
Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Symposium 2012 will be
held on Wednesday, September 19, starting at 5 pm in the Aquinas
Atrium. This event is open to the public, and we encourage all
students, faculty, and staff to attend.
Symposium Schedule
5 pm: Student poster presentations
6-7 pm: Keynote Speakers Dr. Sam Bowser and
Laura Von Rosk in Aquinas 163
About SURE
Through the Mount's Summer Undergraduate Research
Experience (SURE) Program, all Mount Saint Mary College
students have the opportunity to apply for paid summer research
positions with participating faculty mentors.
Students who are chosen for this program work closely with
faculty members to carry out a research project, and analyze and
present their results. While participating in this summer program,
students and their mentors have many opportunities to interact with
participants across disciplines, both academically and socially,
through weekly progress updates and activities such as hikes,
picnics, and volleyball.
This year we have students and faculty participating from the
divisions of Arts and Letters, Education, Business, Math and IT,
Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences.
Keynote: “Art, science, and understanding Antarctica"
Dr. Sam Bowser is a polar biologist and
art/science enthusiast specializing in "forams," unicellular
creatures that play a crucial role in marine environments. His work
has shown that Antarctica is populated with forams that evolved
hundreds of millions of years ago. These Antarctic species are well
within the reach of scuba divers – a fact that has taken him to
McMurdo Sound 20 times where he has logged over 180 dives under
ice-covered waters. Some may recognize him as one of the characters
featured in Werner Herzog's documentary, "Encounters at the End of
the World."
Painter Laura Von Rosk traveled to Antarctica
last fall to work with Dr. Bowser and his research team. She was
there to assist with the scientific research and dive teams and, in
one way or another, incorporate this experience into her own work
as a visual artist. Von Rosk is well known for her small surreal
paintings of expansive landscapes. By recombining, emphasizing,
manipulating, or inventing elements of the landscape she explores
the tension between natural forms and memory. She will show images
from a series of recent paintings depicting her interpretation of
the Antarctic landscape.
Dr. Bowser and Ms. Von Rosk will share their experience of
working in Antarctica, and discuss how artists and scientists can
inspire each other, as well as collaborate on projects that enhance
their ideas and practices.