U of L professors Dr. Marc Roussel and Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden initiated a fund to sponsor the Annual Chinook Symposium for Chemistry and Biochemistry.
The two professors felt there was a need to reward students' research at the undergraduate and graduate levels. "The U of L didn't really have any formal system to recognize the very high quality of research that students in our department were doing. They are recognized externally fairly frequently, but we felt there needed to be a celebration of their work here," says Roussel.
Recognizing this, Roussel and Wieden took it upon themselves to raise funds for student prizes awarded at an Annual Chinook Symposium for Chemistry and Biochemistry. Beginning this fall, the symposium will provide chemistry and biochemistry students with the opportunity to compete through poster presentations demonstrating their research.
"When students share their research, they get excited and it instills in them a sense of pride. This is actually part of how you foster learning - it gives them experience in another aspect of research," says Wieden.
While Wieden and Roussel claim they were naive about the process of fundraising, their efforts tell a different story. After just three months, their excitement has spread and nearly 100 per cent of their fellow faculty members have made financial commitments. When combined with matching government dollars, this means that funds are already in place to run the competition for at least two years.
"I was actually surprised by how little work it took. It seems like everyone perceived supporting students as a good thing, but were just waiting for a place to be involved. Faculty are finding satisfaction in raising money for a prize in our department for our students - it's actually building community," says Wieden.
Wieden and Roussel are quick to point out the excellent opportunities the symposium provides for students, but they also recognize the multi-faceted purposes it has in building bridges with the surrounding community. For one, the symposium will allow potential employers to come see the talent and skills that U of L students can potentially bring to their companies and organizations.
The competition also creates a chance for community members to see first-hand the exciting things happening within the U of L. "We're really hoping this will showcase students and make the community aware of what we're doing, but we also want to show the community the kinds of experiences students get at the U of L. We're hoping they get the sense that we care deeply about the students here and that we're willing to go that extra mile to give them good experiences," says Roussel.