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The events in Davies Center and other campus buildings will celebrate undergraduate research and creative activity with a total of 264 poster presentations and 123 oral presentations from UW-Eau Claire and UW-Eau Claire – Barron County students. The students are supported by 178 UW-Eau Claire faculty mentors.

A total of 31 Chippewa Valley Technical College students also will be presenting.

CERCA gives students an opportunity to showcase not only the hard work they've put into their research and creative endeavors but also their presentation skills, says Dr. Erica Benson, executive director of UW-Eau Claire's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Many students have presented their projects at regional, national and international conferences and are contributing to publications as well as clinical or teaching practice, Benson says.

“The projects being presented are at various stages of development and many are cutting-edge projects advancing knowledge and creative inquiry in their respective disciplines,” Benson says. “I am so impressed by the caliber of the scholarly projects our undergraduate students are engaging in and by their ability to communicate their work to experts and non-experts alike.”

Hayden Kinstler, a third-year student from Eau Claire majoring in materials science and engineering, will present his research project on REBCO superconducting tape. The research examines the difference in tape samples from different manufacturers to determine best practices to reduce costs and increase applications for the material.

Kinstler says CERCA is a great opportunity to practice presenting his work in a comfortable on-campus environment where he can discuss his project in simple terms. Kinstler says last year’s CERCA prepared him to present and discuss his research at the Applied Superconductivity Conference with students from around the world.

“Research at UW-Eau Claire has truly opened many doors,” Kinstler says. “This summer I'll be working in Florida at the National High Field Magnetic Laboratory — an opportunity that wouldn't have been possible without investment from my professors and different ����Vlog programs in supporting my research endeavors.”