Student Innovation Featured at EFSC Research Conference


January 30, 2018

Some of the best young minds in the nation will gather at Eastern Florida State College in February for the 2018 Florida Undergraduate Research Conference.

The conference, which runs Feb. 23-24 on the Melbourne Campus, will feature more than 700 participants presenting more than 400 innovative research projects in a wide range of fields.

They will represent more than 30 colleges and universities from around state, making it the most important event of its kind in Florida.

“The conference is a showcase for the impressive work underway in undergraduate research,” said Eastern Florida President Dr. Jim Richey. “The students are among the best and the brightest whose ideas will help define the nation and world we live in tomorrow.”

Eastern Florida is the first state college in Florida to host the normally university-based event, a reflection of its commitment to providing students excellent opportunities for the future.

More than 200 students have participated in EFSC’s Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) since it began a few years ago.

The OUR program operates on all four campuses with research in 18 disciplines, many of them in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and others in liberal arts.

About 100 Eastern Florida students have previously presented their research or attended state or international conferences, broadening their academic experience.

The EFSC program has also been used as the model by six other colleges and universities in Florida to build their own undergraduate research courses.

They are Valencia College, Santa Fe College, South Florida State College, Florida State College in Jacksonville, St. Leo University and Nova Southeastern University.

“That shows the foresight of our faculty who launched our program and have steadily grown it, serving as mentors and role models for our students,” said Richey.

The conference also will feature recruiters from undergraduate colleges and universities across the U.S, undergraduate research programs, graduate research programs, internship programs and employers.

For more information, visit easternflorida.edu/furc