As one of the few universities in the United States to merit classification as an R1 school, defined by “high levels of research activity,” the University of Maine has good reason to highly regard student projects, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. The participating students had the chance to display their projects in a thoroughly enjoyable day-long symposium on April 11.
Hosted in the New Balance Field House, the symposium started with an opening speech by Dr. Joan Ferrini-Mundy, followed by a speech from the keystone figure of the day, Dr. Ali Abedi. The main events of the day began soon after, namely the presentation of the projects, of which included all of the most active areas of student research from undergraduate honors capstones to graduate-level doctoral projects.
The fields themselves were generous as well, ranging from business to natural sciences, not to mention the impressive offshoots of the engineering program. The engineering program at the University of Maine has sometimes garnered animus for its outsized funding allocations, yet I couldn’t help but feel impressed with the projects, with many of them being worked on by undergraduate level students. Several of the engineering projects had a Space Age/Comic book-level vibe, and all looked worth funding.
However, the race did not go to the flashiest poster, and my attention was soon drawn to a project sponsored by Northern Lights Medical Center for improved nursing training. Given the sharp need for registered nurses, as well as the high level of the UMaine nursing program, I was interested in the project findings. Kendall Doyle, the presenter of the nursing project, was very thoughtful and gave me a thorough rundown of the major problems facing newly graduated nurses, informing me that the attrition rate is remarkably high, and that this often comes from a sense of being overwhelmed with the professional duties.
According to Doyle, these workplace shocks can be diminished by simply shifting the internship experiences to the responsibility of nurse preceptors, or nurses who are already experienced in the profession, teaching nursing students how to apply their classroom knowledge in the hospital.
Doyle’s project focused on improving the mentorship and training offered by the nurse preceptors, with participants registering their knowledge of useful teaching techniques before and after the project. The nurse preceptors were mostly familiar with these techniques already, leading Doyle to wonder if there had been a level of experience which these preceptors already had. Either way, the project still gave them new ways of imparting their knowledge, as well as new resources to deal with questions about nursing.
This project is a fair example of the student works displayed at the symposium. Such projects should always have their place in the academic world, and UMaine justified its recognition as a research school by promoting them.
