Over 200 students came together to present their work at the 16th annual creativity symposium celebrating campus-wide scholarship, Create@State.

Each year, students can participate in poster, art and performance showcases and events, including a business pitch and three-minute thesis competitions. Students are evaluated by judges and can even win awards for their work.

Director of the Office of Student Research and Scholarship, Kari Harris, said this event is a way for students to get experience in presenting before going off to larger conferences.

“This is their chance to talk about their research and the work they’re doing to a live audience,” Harris said. “The really good thing about Create@State is they are getting to do this practice among their peers and among their faculty mentors and in their own community, so the stakes are a little lower.”

This year, there were 176 poster presentations, 12 creative showcase presentations and eight business pitch competition participants. It was also the first year for the 3MT, or Three Minute Thesis competition.

This research symposium offers the Jonesboro community a chance to see the research A-State students are working on behind the scenes.

Katelin Kellar, a junior biochemistry major from Cabot, Arkansas, presented her research on using plants to create recombinant proteins to make medicines cheaper. She said that Create@State allowed her to meet students and faculty she wouldn’t normally meet.

“I think my favorite part of today was having a bunch of people that I’ve never met before come up to me and just talk to me, and I got to talk to people from different departments, and they were all really interested in the research that I was doing,” Kellar said. 

Over 100 judges, made up of faculty, staff, and community members, helped with the event. They each judged four to six students based on both physical presentation and research communication. 

Harris said this event is made of many moving parts and requires a large number of volunteers to keep it running smoothly. 

Ella Edwards, a sophomore biology major from Little Rock, shared her research on reforming brachycephalic breed standards. She said Create@State was a great opportunity. 

“Pick a topic that you are overly passionate about. Don’t just go into a topic that you know. Join that you truly have passion for, because it doesn’t feel like it’s work,” Edwards said. “It’ll feel like it’s an opportunity more than a burden.”

To get connected with next year’s Create@State, be on the lookout for an email from Harris in the fall or contact the Office of Student Research and Scholarship.

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