2015 Jepson Research Symposium

Some people see a bottled drink and think ahhhhh.

Anne Coglianese,’15, sees a bottled drink and thinks about leadership and sustainability. She began conducting research on sustainable leadership in the fall and presented her findings this spring at the Jepson Research Symposium.  

“For multinational corporations to truly claim to be leaders in sustainable business they must ensure that products and services are produced in environmentally conscious ways and at a rate that can be sustained in an equitable world,” says Coglianese.

She was one of 10 students to showcase research at the symposium, held April 17 in Jepson Hall. Poster presentations, a slideshow, and remarks by some faculty advisors took center stage.  

Emmy Morse, ’15, who was given the Fredric M. Jablin Award for Undergraduate Research, spent the past year or so researching the “dark side” of volunteering.

“Volunteering is generally thought of as a selfless, positive act,” says Morse. “However, there are situations in which volunteers may actually do more harm than good. Examining the reasons why students volunteer as well as how effective they believe volunteering to be is important in order to help them avoid causing harm to vulnerable populations.”

Mollie Reese, ’15, and Annette Schieffelin, ’17, chose to work together to research perfectionism and how high personal standards and beliefs about growth affect leadership.         

“The purpose of the research is to increase our understanding of both perfectionism and mindsets as they relate to leadership aspirations and adaptive coping to leadership failures,” says Reese. “This study showed that perfectionism can be a good thing.”

Other topics this year included immigration and global governance, public education, ethical decision making, The Rice House Project, increasing participation in STEM, and terror management.