Michael Saakyan
Staff Writer
The University of La Verne held its 10th annual Research and Professional Activity Day Tuesday at the Abraham Campus Center Ballroom where students and faculty presented works in their various fields.
The purpose of the Research and Professional Activity Day is to provide a forum for students and faculty to share their creative, professional and academic accomplishments.
The free lunch buffet was not the only attraction at the event.
Junior biology majors Monique Payne and Evelyn Coria sparked a lot of interest for their research on fermented milk proteins fighting skin cancers cells.
“(This event) makes us pin down and figure out what our story is and what we’re trying to do,” Payne said. “It also helps us get more comfortable in speaking and presenting our data to the public.”
Payne and Coria’s research on protein mediated CHO cell recovery after UV irradiation presentation showed that fermented milk could be a key ingredient in skin cancer treatment.
“We just treated normal skin cells with fermented milk and when we checked to see the recovery rate we saw a 50 percent increase in recovery,” Payne said.
“The hypothesis showed that it was because of the proteins, so we isolated the proteins, treated them to these cells which then showed over a 70 percent increase in recovery.”
Associate Professor of Education Cleveland Hayes, presented his new book with Nicholas D. Hartlep “Unhooking from Whiteness: The Key to Dismantling Racism in the United States,” which deals with approaches to addressing racism in education and society in America.
Hayes said the research event was beneficial because he got to show his work and learn about others’ research.
“I’m going to be doing my research anyway, it’s just nice to see what other people are doing,” Hayes said.
During the 10 years La Verne has been doing Research and Professional Activity Day, the number of presenters and attendees has increased dramatically, said Al Clark, associate vice president of academic affairs, professor of humanities and a presenter Tuesday.
This year’s event was no exception It filled the ballroom with eager minds learning from the research conducted.
Clark was unsure of the exact turnout as student, faculty and staff spectators moved in and out of the hour and 20-minute event.
“This is a strange hour, I was afraid nobody would come,” Clark said.
“But we’re starting to run out of food so it looks like a lot of people came.”
Associate Professor of Writing Cathy Irwin and dozens of other La Verne faculty were among the presenters at the event.
Michael Saakyan can be reached at michael.saakyan@laverne.edu.
