Five Saint Vincent College students attended the 19^th annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR 2005) hosted by Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University in Lexington Virginia. Watershed Summer Institute 2004 Researcher, Casey Conroy, and four 2004 Lancy Scholars, Alexander Duranko, Alandra Kahl, Thaddeus Pajak, and Jared Wilson traveled with Dr. John Smetanka, director of the Lancy Scholars Program, for the three-day conference, April 21 – 23.

Alandra Kahl, Thaddeus Pajak, and Jared Wilson presented a poster titled "Statistical Bioassessment of Abandoned Mine Drainage: Impacted Streams Before and After Passive Treatment Wetland Construction." Their presentation described the results of their work in the Lancy Scholars summer program under the supervision of Dr. Cynthia Walter (Biology Department) and Dr. Dean Nelson.

Casey Conroy presented a poster titled "The Chemistry of Abandoned Mine Drainage" that described her summer research with the Watershed Institute supervised by Dr. Steven Gravelle, chair of the Chemistry Department.

These Saint Vincent students joined 2,500 other undergraduate researchers from across the nation at the conference. More than 1,900 different presentations were made from every academic discipline. The conference included three plenary speakers and numerous activities including a graduate school fair and tours of the campuses. Next year’s conference will be on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Asheville in April. Any student interested in presenting their research work at this national conference should consider applying for an A. J. Palumbo Student Research Grant to support their travel. Application deadlines to both the NCUR and the A. J. Palumbo Student Research Grants are in November, 2005. Contact Dr. John Smetanka, Physics Department, for more information regarding the NCUR.

Shown in the photo are from left, Jared Wilson, Alandra Kahl and Thad Pajak.