Building on the success of Case Western Reserve University's Research ShowCASE 2003, the event's organizers have plans to make ShowCASE 2004 even better.

Eric Cottington, associate vice president for research, said that in response to requests from participants, ShowCASE 2004 will provide space for active demonstrations of some research projects. As an example, Cottington said, the Functional Electrical Stimulation Center will demonstrate hand functions for quadriplegics and standing and transfer functions for paraplegics.

Another addition to next year's event will be booths for the centers or facilities that support research on campus, such as the Center for Micro and Nano Processing, the Microarray Facility and the Transgenic Animal Facility.

"We think it's important for researchers to be aware of all the services that exist on campus to help them in their work," Cottington said. "Displaying those services at an event dedicated to research seems like a natural thing to do."

Other new features of Research ShowCASE 2004 will include:

• Extending the length of the event: It will begin at 8 a.m. and run until 5 p.m. Registration will begin at 7:30 a.m.

• All ShowCASE-related events will take place in the Veale Convocation Center and adjacent Horsburgh gymnasium. Posters will be displayed on the ground floor of Veale, while panel discussions will take place in second floor meeting rooms. Horsburgh will be the site of live demonstrations and service center/facility exhibits, as well as a cyber-cafe.

• The number of panel discussions will grow to six, each running an hour. Panel topics and their chairs include "Biodefense," chaired by James Kazura of the Case Center for Global Health & Diseases; "Bioethics," chaired by Stuart Youngner of the department of bioethics in the School of Medicine; "Nanotechnology," chaired by Mehran Mehregany of the department of electrical engineering and computer science in the Case School of Engineering; "Global Issues," chaired by Edward F. Morrison, executive director of the Center for Regional Economic Issues at the Weatherhead School of Management; "Technology, Science and Society," chaired by Miriam Levin of the Program in the History of Science, Technology, Environment and Medicine; and "Bioinformatics," chaired by Mark Adams of the department of genetics in the School of Medicine.

"We expect that the broad topics of each panel will encourage interdisciplinary discussion and scholarship," Cottington said.

Cottington also said he is encouraged by the response to the call for posters for the event. Close to 100 abstracts had been submitted by early December.

"At this time last year I don't think we had any," he said. Research ShowCASE 2003 ended up with 621 poster presentations.

The deadline for submitting abstracts for next year's event is 5 p.m. January 9.

Research ShowCASE 2004 will take place April 2. For details on the event or to submit an abstract, visit the ShowCASE Web site at http://ora.ra.cwru.edu/showcase/index.htm.

Return to the online edition of the 12-18-03 Campus News.