The annual conference showcases undergraduate research and scholarship at the 15 ACC member schools and represents the power and synergy that can exist between athletics and academics. The event has become an opportunity for universities in the ACC to highlight the diversity of research being conducted by undergraduates and for students to share their work with peers across the ACC.

About 100 students and faculty advisors are expected to attend the event. The students will present their research throughout the day Saturday and again Sunday morning at the Belknap Academic Building.

Activities kick off Friday night with a banquet and reception at the Muhammad Ali Center. Saturday’s program includes a luncheon presentation on “The Environment, Health and Well Being” by Aruni Bhatnager, director of UofL’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute. Provost Beth Boehm and Charlie Leonard, executive director of the UofL Grawemeyer Awards, also will speak. Attendees will choose between a campus tour and a tour of the J.B. Speed Art Museum.

UofL students Maria Shields, Caleb Bridgwater, Noela Botaka, Alisha Deshmukh, Kennedy Walls and Lloyd Bartley will be among the presenters.

The Meeting of the Minds “is another example of the tremendous benefit UofL gets from being among the outstanding institutions of the ACC,” Leonard said. “This conference presents a great opportunity for the university to show off our students, our campus and the community. It also enables us to share and learn from our faculty and student colleagues throughout the ACC.”

The Meeting of the Minds is the first of two major ACC academic conferences within the next 10 days. Faculty from ACC schools will present leading-edge research projects at the ACCelerate Festival next weekend at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Noah Gripshover shared his research on swimming ants.  “I really enjoyed it” he said. “I benefited from getting feedback on my research and spending time hanging out with students from the University of Pittsburgh and Clemson University.”

UofL associate vice president for research and innovation, Pam Feldhoff, said the conferences provide an invaluable learning and networking opportunity for Cardinal undergrads who discover “their research is as exciting and high quality as that at other ACC institutions.”

That’s what Kristen Hamilton discovered. Hamilton brought her research on the ways an anti-epileptic medication (VPA) might induce autistic-like behaviors in mice.

“I think the students representing UofL were just as knowledgeable as students from elite schools like Duke or Wake Forest,” Hamilton said. “It boosted our confidence as UofL undergraduates to know that our education and experience are on par with other ACC schools.”

Hamilton adds that her UofL experiences should be a valuable selling point to high school students looking to do challenging research as college undergrads.

Kyle Bilyeu, Madison Furnish, Jared Hall and Adaleine Heitz were the other UofL students joining faculty member Paul DeMarco at the conference.