Junior Poster Session highlights work of Elon College Fellows

An annual program for top scholars in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, featured a panel discussion on Dec. 1, 2014, led by an accomplished alumnus now earning his doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Elon College Fellows held their annual Junior Poster Session on Dec. 1, 2014, in Moseley Center. 

Elon College Fellows take a research seminar in the fall semester of their junior years and also begin independent research with their faculty mentors. The seminar provides a collaborative academic setting in which Fellows discuss their developing research plans with classmates.

Fellows enroll in one of three seminars based on major and collaborate with Fellows in related fields. The culmination of the fall junior seminar is a formal, written research proposal that, once approved by the student’s mentor and Fellows directors, serves as a plan for the two-year research experience. 

Juniors presented their proposed research plan in a formal poster session on Dec. 1 to an audience of faculty and second-year Elon College Fellows. Following the poster session, sophomore and junior Fellows attended a dinner and program related to the scholarship experience. 

Damon Ogburn ’07 moderated a panel of three senior Elon College Fellows at the dinner. The panelists, Molly Burgoyne ’15 (exercise science), Shannon Temlak ’15 (political science) and Quinn Czejkowski (dance performance and choreography) discussed elements of research including overcoming challenges, professionalism and how research has integrated into their overall Elon experience. 

Since graduating from Elon after majoring in biology, Ogburn earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. He is currently completing a doctorate in epidemiology at the same institution. 

Elon College Fellow Eden Esters Brown ‘07 introduced Ogburn. Brown is currently an adjunct instructor in music at Elon.

– Information submitted by Nancy Harris, associate dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences