Student Symposium
For more than thirty years the Student Symposium at Ball State University has provided students with the opportunity to present their creative and scholarly projects while competing for cash prizes and gaining valuable insight from faculty and staff judges from across the University.
The Symposium encourages interdisciplinary discourse, allowing students to learn from each other about engaging topics. The symposium also provides an opportunity for student participants to discuss their work with a broad audience and is open to any student from Ball State University (undergraduate and graduate), Burris Laboratory School, and the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities.
April 14th | 1-3pm | Worthen Arena Concourse
Register Here View the Guidelines
Award Opportunities
We are excited to partner with the following units to recognize student excellence with various awards distributed as scholarships. The awards from the Office of Research (Keys, Litten, Smith and James and Betsy Pyle) will be awarded to the highest scoring undergraduate student presentations with the discipline-specific awards being awarded to the following highest scored presentations in a specific area.
- The Office of Research will present the Keys, Litten, Smith Awards for Undergraduate Student Achievement to the top three scoring undergraduate student presentations at $250 each.
- The Office of Research will present the James and Betsy Pyle Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Science to the top scoring student majoring in Chemistry in the amount of $250.
- The Graduate School will present the Graduate Student Excellence Award to the top three scoring graduate student presentations at $500 each.
- The Teacher-Scholar Program will present the Teacher-Scholar Award to the top three scoring teacher-scholar students at $200 each.
- The R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning will present two $250 awards to undergraduate ECAP students and two $250 awards to ECAP students in the Teacher-Scholar program.
- The College of Health will present one $250 award to the top scored undergraduate student majoring in a College of Health discipline.
- The Honors College will present two student-mentor pairs with $250 awards each. These awards will recognize the achievements of the top scoring mentor-student pairs with a $250 scholarship to the student and a $250 deposit in the faculty member's RIA account.
- The College of Science and Humanities will present two $250 awards to the top scoring undergraduate students majoring in a College of Science and Humanities discipline.
- The College of Fine Arts will present one $250 award to the top schoring undergraduate student majoring in a discipline from the College of Fine Arts.
Hear from some of our participants:
"The Student Symposium was a great experience for me because it gave me a way to be professional and also put my research out there to my faculty and my friends. It’s a really fun way for people to present the work they’ve been doing throughout the semester."
- Phillip Oechsle, Senior, Anthropology
“The Student Symposium gave me the opportunity to present my work and get feedback from people and also it was really nice seeing other people get interested in my work… come showcase your work because it’s worth seeing!”
- Olamide Ayeni, Graduate Student, Environmental Science
“Being here at the Symposium is super, super amazing. I love being involved and around all the other students who are also super passionate about [their research]. My best advice to you is to just get out there, have that hunger, do what you need to do and you’ll get ahead one way or another.”
- Angel Esquivel Vazquez, Freshman, Biology and Chemistry, Teacher-Scholar Program
Award Opportunities
We are excited to partner with the following units to recognize student excellence with various awards distributed as scholarships. The awards from the Office of Research (Keys, Litten, Smith and James and Betsy Pyle) will be awarded to the highest scoring undergraduate student presentations with the discipline-specific awards being awarded to the following highest scored presentations in a specific area.
- The Office of Research will present the Keys, Litten, Smith Awards for Undergraduate Student Achievement to the top three scoring undergraduate student presentations at $250 each.
- The Office of Research will present the James and Betsy Pyle Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Science to the top scoring student majoring in Chemistry in the amount of $250.
- The Graduate School will present the Graduate Student Excellence Award to the top three scoring graduate student presentations at $500 each.
- The Teacher-Scholar Program will present the Teacher-Scholar Award to the top three scoring teacher-scholar students at $200 each.
- The R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning will present two $250 awards to undergraduate ECAP students and two $250 awards to ECAP students in the Teacher-Scholar program.
- The College of Health will present one $250 award to the top scored undergraduate student majoring in a College of Health discipline.
- The Honors College will present two student-mentor pairs with $250 awards each. These awards will recognize the achievements of the top scoring mentor-student pairs with a $250 scholarship to the student and a $250 deposit in the faculty member's RIA account.
- The College of Science and Humanities will present two $250 awards to the top scoring undergraduate students majoring in a College of Science and Humanities discipline.
- The College of Fine Arts will present one $250 award to the top schoring undergraduate student majoring in a discipline from the College of Fine Arts.
About the Office of Research Student Symposium Awards
Keys, Litten, Smith Awards for Undergraduate Student Achievement
The Keys, Litten, Smith awards were established in memory of Dr. Linda Keys, Mr. Jeffrey Litten, and Ms. Sandra Smith who worked in SPA (then the Office of Academic Research and Sponsored Programs) for a combined thirty years.
Linda, Jeff, and Sandi were great cheerleaders for the Student Symposium and all-around supporters of student engagement in Research Projects. Accordingly, the awards recognize participants for their outstanding research or creative endeavors presented at the Student Symposium.
Dr. James & Betsy Pyle Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Science
The James & Betsy Pyle award was established in 2022 in honor of James Pyle, former Assistant Vice President for Research in the Office of Academic Research and Sponsored Programs (OARSP).
The Graduate School at Ball State University: Graduate Student Excellence
In 2019, the Graduate School at Ball State University became an official partner of the Student Symposium and sponsors the Graduate Student awards.