Student-Led Research Takes Center Stage at the Annual FW GSO Symposium
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EmailFW students will showcase their research at the annual GSO Symposium on Friday, March 20, featuring talks, posters, and a plenary by WCS One Health leader and MSU alum Dr. Amanda Fine.
If you’ve been wondering what the students of Fisheries and Wildlife (FW) have been up to, Friday, March 20 is the day to find out!
Each spring, the FW Graduate Student Organization (GSO) hosts an annual symposium highlighting student research, covering multiple topics including fish, wildlife, and human dimensions. The symposium will also include a poster session showcasing additional graduate student research, along with undergraduate research projects. In addition to highlighting the student-led work being conducted across FW, this event offers students a chance to present their research in a professional setting.
Aaron Sullivan, co-chair of the symposium committee, explains, “This event is always an exciting opportunity to explore the many research projects and brilliant minds behind them in our department. While we often become deeply immersed in our own work, seeing the innovative research conducted by our peers reminds us of the remarkable breadth and impact of scholarship across our community. It’s truly a treat and a privilege to be part of this shared pursuit of knowledge.”
Hannah Gill also led the planning of this event. “It has been a pleasure to co-chair this research symposium. I look forward to learning more about the diversity of research currently being conducted in the department and am excited to see this work shared not only with the MSU community, but also with our partners and collaborators.”
The symposium also includes a plenary presentation given by a professional identified by the students. This year, Dr. Amanda Fine, Director of One Health at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) will give a talk titled, “The Wild Side of One Health.” Dr. Fine has 20 years of experience, first based in Mongolia as WCS Country Program Director and more recently in Viet Nam overseeing WCS health initiatives in the Southeast Asia region. Besides being an international expert in her field, she is an alum of MSU where she was a veterinary resident in Large Animal Clinical Sciences, along with completing an MS and PhD in veterinary epidemiology.
Dr. Jean Tsao, a professor in FW and Large Animal Clinical Sciences and colleague of Dr. Fine’s, explains, “A large part of Dr. Fine’s career has been building professional capacity around the world to enhance the detection and prevention of emerging infectious diseases at the interface of wildlife, livestock, and human populations, while prioritizing the conservation of wildlife and promoting the inclusion and livelihoods of local stakeholders. These efforts are reflected here at MSU, where she helped found the FW Disease Ecology and Conservation Program, co-developed and taught our first course in Fisheries and Wildlife Disease, and procured funding from the Hal and Jean Glassen Foundation to support this program.”
This is the 21st year for this important event, and attendees will include colleagues from across MSU as well as many of our department’s stakeholders. Dr. Michael Wagner, an FW professor who helped establish this event, reflects on its evolution, “In 2005, we set out to build a student-run research symposium that would rival professional scientific meetings. We wanted to go big, and boy howdy, did our students rise to the challenge. Their commitment, creativity, and determination built an event that has now thrived for more than 20 years. Its continued success stands as a testament to the enduring quality of our department’s early career scientists.”
The symposium will run from 8 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. on Friday, March 20 in the MSU Union, and presentations will be followed by a mixer. The event is free, and on-site registration will be available. Participants can also watch the presentations virtually. To receive the Zoom link, please email Becca Wetzel at blundel2@msu.edu. More information about the event, including a detailed schedule, can be found here.
