34th Annual Kearns Summer Research Symposium

About

Please join the David T. Kearns Center for Leadership and Student Success as we celebrate the achievements of this year’s summer research scholars at the 34th annual Kearns Summer Research Symposium, July 29 - 30. Please use this link to RSVP to any or all of the Symposium events. https://kearns.fillout.com/t/9oGYDmGdiius

Day 1: July 29, 2026, 10AM - 3PM

Schedule:

10 AM - Opening remarks

10:15-10:30AM - Featured Student Speaker, Arianna Taylor ‘23

10:30-10:45AM - Featured Speaker, Dr. Julius M. Turner

11AM - 12PM - Panel Presentation

12PM - Break for Lunch

1PM - 3PM - Poster Presentations

3PM - Closing

Featured Student Speaker - Arianna Taylor '23, PhD Student, Syracuse University

Arianna Taylor is a University of Rochester alum and will be a Fourth year PhD student at Syracuse University. They are pursuing an English PhD with a focus on African-American cultural productions (including film, documentary, music, and literature). They are a McNair alum from the class year of 2022-2023 (they entered as a rising senior) and they have worked with Kearns for over 3 years: first through Upward Bound, later through the Kearns Center as an office assistant, and finally as a TA for the McNair program. They are 24 years old and from the Bronx, NY.

Featured Speaker - Dr. Julius M. Turner, MD, Project Director, McNair Program, Southern University

Julius M. Turner currently serves as a Project Director for the TRIO Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has been affiliated with TRIO programs in some capacity for the past 30 years. In his current role, he assists first generation and low-income college students in their quest to enter into graduate education.

Julius, a native of Vidalia, Louisiana, holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Xavier University of Louisiana, a Masters’ of Science in Public Health with a concentration in Tropical Medicine and specialization in Parasitology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a Doctorate of Medicine from Meharry Medical College.

Day 2: July 30, 2026, 9AM - 4PM

Schedule:

On day two of the 34th annual Kearns Summer Research Symposium, scholars will have the chance to present their research more in depth, with 10 minute oral presentations. Students participating in various REU Programs: Computational Methods for Understanding Music, Media, and Minds; Linguistics; Nanophotonics, Quantum Photonics, and Vision/Biomedical Optics; Physics, Astrophysics and Optics and students participating in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program will present their research at various locations on campus.

9AM - 3PM - Bausch & Lomb 106 - Physics and Astronomy REU group

1PM - 3PM - Humanities D, Rush Rhees Library - MMM REU group

10AM - 3PM - 1400 Auditorium, Wegmans Hall - Photonics REU group

10AM - 3PM - Hawkins-Carlson Room, Rush Rhees Library- McNair group

3PM - 4PM - Reception