Students who received research grants have been preparing for the annual Student Research Symposium.

In spring 2015, the College of Science and Engineering awarded 26 grants of up to $1500 in order to help fund student research. One of the requirements for the recipients of the grants was to present their work and research at the Student Research Symposium.

This year’s Student Research Symposium is set to have the highest number of participants in its 14-year history. The symposium showcases student research, giving students a chance to present their work to faculty and prospective employers.

Two students who received research grants have been working and preparing to showcase their work at the symposium.

Nathan Loewen, a junior electrical engineering major, said he and his research partner started working at the beginning of the school year.

“The fall semester was a lot of research and conceptual stuff,” Loewen said. “Whereas the spring semester has been all focusing on design and actually getting the parts, putting it together and really testing it.”

Parker Wise, a junior electrical engineering major working with Loewen, said they have used the grant money to purchase materials needed for their project and research.

Loewen and Wise have been working to create a prototype that would allow orthotists and practitioners to measure people’s posture without using pressure sensors.

At the symposium, both students hope that visitors will learn something about their research and be able to see how much work has gone into the project.

“Hopefully, this design that we’ve come up with can be used in the future as something that is applicable to health and orthotics,” Loewen said.

For now, both students hope to leave a work-in-progress that future students can continue to work on.

“My hope is that more students will work on it after we’re gone,” Wise said, “and [that] we can actually have a real and effective product by the end of four, five years that is sophisticated and easy to use and easy to get data back from.”

At the symposium, awards will be given out to students with the best research in various science-based categories.

The symposium will be held in the Tucker building on Friday from noon to 4:40 p.m. An awards ceremony will follow the symposium at 5 p.m. in Sid Richardson lecture hall 1. Connie Guttersten, a TCU nutrition graduate, will be the keynote speaker.

All students are encouraged to come out to view the posters and projects to support their peers, said Becky Bittle, the symposium’s co-chair.

Chris Rios contributed to this report.