Exploration and Discovery are fundamental to the experience of students and faculty at Franklin & Marshall. Collaborative student-faculty scholarship, creative production, and intellectual inquiry are hallmarks of a liberal arts education here at F&M. These faculty-student collaborations provide the opportunity for new ideas to emerge through intellectual partnerships. The Spring Student Research Fair presents a venue to view the tangible results of F&M’s collective efforts to engage their intellectual curiosity and produce new knowledge during the past summer and current academic year. 

Student-faculty research collaborations have been ongoing for decades at F&M . A generous gift from the Hackman family established the Hackman Summer Research Scholars program in the early 1980s which has provided critical ongoing future support for such collaborations in all divisions of the College. Since the Hackman bequest, other generous and supportive donors have endowed additional research funds, including the Eyler Biochemistry Fund, the David Schuyler Urban Studies Fellowship, the Bolton Humanities & Social Sciences Student Exploration Fund, the Harring-Wittenbraker Student-Faculty Fund, and the Shilling Family Student-Faculty fund. 

During each academic year, students also receive support from the Leser, Nissley, and Lutrey endowments and research sponsored by other internal and external faculty grants, including a substantial number of awards from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Some of the research students supported through these funds are here today to share the results of their research and discuss the impacts these research experiences have had on them. 

The work presented today expands our definitions of what constitutes a classroom and what defines "teacher" and "student." The number of interdisciplinary projects also provides evidence of the vibrancy of the research environment at Franklin & Marshall. We invite families, students, faculty, alumni, and all members of our community to share in this exposition of new knowledge.

Mary Osirim

Interim Provost and Dean of the Faculty