What happens when you mix the majors and disciplines of all five schools at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) for a day?
You get the 25th Creativity and Research Education, Arts, Technology, Enterprise and Science (CREATES) Conference, a campuswide showcase of curiosity, innovation and interdisciplinary scholarship.
This fall, the event featured 146 poster, oral and online presentations. Students selected topics that sparked their interest, conducted research and presented their discoveries – all with guidance and mentorship from GGC faculty.
For sophomore Daijua Scott of Lithonia, her project began with a childhood memory.
“I would get colds a lot when I was a kid, so my aunt would give me cod liver oil,” she said. “I hated it because the smell and taste are so bad.”
Years later, Scott realized she hardly gets sick anymore. That observation inspired her to investigate the antioxidant properties of cod liver oil and how it might have helped her recover from colds.
Scott chose GGC because of its affordability, small classes and the strong relationships students can build with professors.
“I considered going to a larger university, but GGC is smaller, it’s affordable and I like the small class sizes,” she said. “You get to know your professors and you can reach out to them any time when you have questions. My goal is to go to medical school.”
Senior biology major Andrew Manriquez turned his lifelong experience playing soccer with his brother into a research project on how caffeine affects athletic performance, factoring in sleep and nutrition habits.
“I was curious how caffeine affects athletic performance,” he said. “What I found is that caffeine does give you that boost, but it helps more in the area of endurance than strength.”
A caffeine consumer himself, Manriquez said the research changed his own habits.
“Before I did this research, I had to have coffee to wake up in the morning, then I would drink a Coke on my way to class. Now, I drink less coffee and am more aware of how much caffeine I drink a day.”
After he graduates in December, he wants to work as a lab assistant and later pursue a master’s degree.
For sophomore IT major Uyen Nguyen, creativity and technology came together in her demonstration of a Java-based video game she created called Platform Press.
“My game starts you at the bottom of the screen and the goal is to reach the door at the top,” she said. “You have to avoid obstacles, but you can move in any direction using the arrow keys – including jumping.”
Nguyen hopes to become a visual effects artist.
“I like the technical aspect of IT, but I also like to be creative,” she said.
The purpose of the event, said Dr. Shuting Xu, professor of IT, is to inspire students to think critically and see the real-world impact of their academic work.
“CREATES brings students from all five of GGC’s schools together to share their work and learn from one another,” she said. “Even students who aren’t presenting walk away inspired. This conference shows them that what they learn in the classroom has real-world power.”