Georgia Gwinnett College recently held its 25th annual Creativity and Research Education, Arts, Technology, Enterprise and Science (CREATES) Conference. The event is designed to bring together students from all five of the college’s schools for a day focused on interdisciplinary research and innovation.
This year’s conference featured 146 presentations in various formats, including poster sessions, oral talks, and online demonstrations. Students chose topics that interested them, conducted research with faculty guidance, and presented their findings to peers and mentors.
Sophomore Daijua Scott drew on her childhood experiences for her project. “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.” Her later observation that she rarely gets sick inspired her to study the antioxidant properties of cod liver oil. Scott noted her reasons for choosing Georgia Gwinnett College: “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 interest in soccer into research about caffeine’s effect on athletic performance. “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.” Manriquez added that conducting this research changed his personal 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.” He plans to work as a lab assistant after graduation before pursuing a master’s degree.
Uyen Nguyen, an IT sophomore, combined creativity with technology by presenting a Java-based video game called Platform Press at the conference. “My game starts you at the bottom of the screen and the goal is to reach the door at the top,” she explained. “You have to avoid obstacles, but you can move in any direction using the arrow keys – including jumping.” Nguyen hopes this blend of technical skill and creativity will support her goal of becoming a visual effects artist.
Dr. Shuting Xu, professor of IT at Georgia Gwinnett College, described the event’s broader impact: “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.”
