By Rawda Shahin and Kitty McKay
For the first year ever, Carleton University hosted Capital Research Day. The event was created to draw focus on the vast research accomplished by CU’s undergrad students. Held at Dominion Chalmers Church located in Centretown on March 13th, 2019 from 4:00pm – 8:00pm, the occasion can be commemorated as a day to remember.
With over 70 students participating, a variety of diverse work from over three departments and two faculties was shown. This included contributions from two first-year seminars and a third-year architecture class. Each student presented their term-research project either orally or through a poster. The event worked similarly to that of a sci-fair; other students, professors and faculty circulated while presentations took place. During this time, students were also being evaluated in different categories for different aspects of their research as participants in a poster competition.
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The day was divided into sections, with poster session 1 lasting from 4:00pm to 4:30pm, the oral research presentations from 4:30pm to 5:30pm and poster session 2 from 5:30pm to 6:00pm. The last two hours of the event were dedicated to the discussion panel and award ceremony. The hour-long panel included discussions regarding the city from Councillor Catherine McKenney, Denise Deby, Equity Ottawa Coordinator at Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership, and Stan Leinwand of the NCC Urbanism Lab. After the panel discussion, awards were handed-out to the students with the most exceptional projects. The event itself served as an opportunity for students, faculty, and community members to making new connections.
As two second-year students, neither us had ever participated in such a diverse event. The event not only included work from but was also funded by, the Faculty of Arts and Socials, the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, the Teaching and Learning Services, the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. It was an incredible experience to see such a variety of work focusing around our nation’s capital. It was fascinating to see other student’s presentations and posters, but along with this, it was also rewarding to be recognized and appreciated for our own contributions, even being lauded as the future generation of Ottawa by the select panel representing the city.
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Overall, the event was truly a magnificent day that provided us with a glance of what the future has in store for us. A huge thank you goes out to those whom helped organize the event; our remarkable professor, Tonya Davidson of the Sociology and Anthropology department, Jennifer Ridgley of Geography and Environmental Studies and Catherine Bonier of the Architecture department. Capital Research Day has since inspired both of us to become more involved in our school’s community, we hope to see more fulfilling occasions like this in the future.
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