For more than 300 Penn State graduate students, the 28th Annual Graduate Exhibition is a chance to display their research, visual art work and musical and theater performances to the community.
The exhibition beings at noon today with visual art displays in the HUB Art Gallery in the HUB-Robeson Center and music and theater performances at 7 tonight in Eisenhower Auditorium, according to the graduate school website.
But participants and viewers are not only celebrating the exhibition’s 28th year, as this year marks the Graduate School at Penn State’s 150th anniversary.
Wanika Fisher, Graduate Student Association president, said this year’s exhibition is also going to be a celebration of the graduate school.
She said the exhibit is an opportunity for students to display their research, reveal the philosophy of graduate education and show how many different programs are within the school.
“Graduate school isn’t just about science research; it’s so many things,” Fisher (graduate- law) said. “Grad students appreciate the opportunity to present what they do in academia.”
Students will also have their works judged with the potential to win prize money, Graduate Student Assembly Judiciary Chair David Simpson (graduate - physics) said.
He said there are currently more than 200 judges, including faculty from the graduate school, other graduate students as well as community members.
Each exhibition will be placed into seven categories: arts and humanities, engineering, health and life sciences, performance, physical sciences and mathematics, social and behavioral sciences and visual arts. Winners can receive prize money from $100 to $500 that can be used toward books, research material or professional meetings, according to the graduate school website.
Bryan Aynardi, faculty senate representative for GSA, participated in the exhibition last year, presenting a poster of his research on plant pathology. He said one of the best parts of the exhibition is the ability to interact with students from different disciplines, and that without this annual exhibition, he may have never had that opportunity.
“You can see the overall diversity of research done at Penn State,” Aynardi (graduate- plant pathology and environmental microbiology) said.
He also said that while presenting, it’s important for students to emphasize why their research is important and benefiting society, because many who view it may not understand the finer, more technical details.
A reception for the Annual Graduate Exhibition will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Art Alley in the HUB, and the awards ceremony will take place after in the HUB Auditorium. All events are free to the public.
