Holy Cross Academic Conference to Showcase Student Work

The College of the Holy Cross will host Academic Conference 2010 from April 21 through April 24. The four-day conference provides students from across academic disciplines with an opportunity to present the results of their independent work. The programs, projects, poster sessions, and performances by students are the results of student work over one or two semesters under the guidance of faculty members.

Approximately 300 Holy Cross students will be involved in the conference this year. Academic Conference 2010 is free and open to the public.

Representing a fraction of the independent and group-project opportunities of which Holy Cross students have taken advantage this year, the conference includes works from the arts, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. Students will present an array of topics including:

* “The Artistry of Architecture” * “An Acoustically Ideal Outdoor Amphitheater” * “Tree Homes: A Sustainable Solution for the Communities of Tomorrow” * “Climate Change and Poverty: States’ Ethical and Moral Obligations” * “A Study of Television Writing: A History of the Sitcom, An Exploration of ‘30 Rock,’ and the Creation of a Spec Script” * “The Conception of Mental Illness: What It Is, What It Means, and What It Should Be” * “Miles Davis: The Early Years” * “In Search of Black Men’s Masculinities: Hip Hop and ‘The Street’ Culture” * “Chocolate: Not Just a French Staple, a Cultural Cornerstone” * “Bank Failures and Bailouts: A Closer Look at the Current Banking Industry” * “Emotional Facial Memory: An Investigation of an Own-Age Bias in Younger and Older Adults” * “Cognitive Control in Opiate Addiction” * “A Voice for the Silent: A Creative Approach to Ending Violence Against Women” * “The Female Athlete: How Is She Depicted by the Media?” * “Life With Cancer” * “Using Peptide Isosteres to Investigate Antibiotic Resistance” * “The Advent and Early Evolution of Audio Recording and Its Impact on the World of Music” * “Social Class Embodied: Understanding How Body Image, Power, and Resistance Operate across Socio-Economic Class”

The conference will open with a lecture by this year’s Fenwick Scholar, Owen Fenton ’10. The Fenwick Scholar Award is one of the College’s oldest and most prestigious academic distinctions. Departmental nominees design, with several advisors, a program of study leading to a significant research or creative project that will be an entire senior-year curriculum.

Fenton has spent the academic year working with chemistry professor Richard Herrick. His lecture, “Chemical Body Armor: A Study on Phosphorus,” will be presented at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library on Wednesday, April 21.

A reception, open to the entire Holy Cross community, will follow the lecture at 5 p.m. in Moran Lounge, on the fourth floor of Smith.

The conference is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Dean of the College.

View the complete schedule [PDF].

April 20, 2010|nm