Goldwater Scholar Dodson leads Murfreesboro contingent
MURFREESBORO — Goldwater Scholar Award recipient Jordan Dodson leads a contingent of eight MTSU undergraduate student researchers who will be participating in the seventh annual Posters at the Capitol from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, in Nashville.
Dodson, 21, an MTSU senior from Murfreesboro, was the recipient of a two-year, $15,000 Goldwater Scholarship in spring 2012. Joining him from MTSU will be seniors Joseph Keasler of Murfreesboro, Adam Banach of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and a native of Poland, Matthew S. “Matt” Harris of Quincy, Ill., Joshua Horvath of Rockvale, Tenn., Jacob Basham of Portland, Tenn., Paige Stubbs of Memphis and formerly from Midwest City, Okla., and senior Kevin McDaniel of Murfreesboro.
An MTSU-led event since 2007, Posters at the Capitol brings 64 undergraduate researchers from six Tennessee Board of Regents and three University of Tennessee system universities to the state capitol. Their posters are displayed publicly in Legislative Plaza and the students can meet and discuss their research with their respective state senators and representatives.
Joining MTSU for Posters at the Capitol will be Austin Peay, East Tennessee and Tennessee State universities; Tennessee Technological University, the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee campuses at Chattanooga, Knoxville and Martin.
“Our goal,” said event organizer Dr. Tom Cheatham, “is we want them to be a broad spectrum and include all the humanities, arts, science and business, and we do.”
“What’s really good about this,” Cheatham added, “is the legislators get to see what undergraduates are doing in research across the state. This is the great benefit to our universities and the state of Tennessee.”
Cheatham serves as director of the Tennessee STEM Education Center at MTSU.
Assisting MTSU’s efforts are Drs. Mike Allen, associate vice provost for research and dean of the College of Graduate Studies, and Andrienne Friedli, Undergraduate Research Center director; John Hood, former state representative and now MTSU director of community engagement; and members of state Sen. Bill Ketron’s staff.