Five undergraduate students will present their original research at the ninth annual Buffalo State McNair Scholars Research Symposium, Friday, June 25, at noon in E. H. Butler Library.

Each student conducts independent research under the guidance of a faculty mentor. “Students are at various stages of their research,” said Sandra Washington, director of Buffalo State’s Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program.

The program provides both academic and financial support to students who demonstrate strong academic potential and an interest in doctoral studies. To be eligible, students must have a GPA of at least 3.0 and be either a first-generation, low-income college student or a member of a group that is underrepresented in graduate study.

Presentations: Vandyke Kotoroka-Yiadom, class of 2011, "Implications of 'Green Practice' for Competitiveness"; Watoii Rabii, class of 2011, "The Role of ADHD Symptomatology, Parenting, Peer Functioning, and Social Adjustment of College Students"; Bernice Radle, class of 2011, "Energy Retrofits for Multi-Family Buildings: How Much Do You Really Save?"; Susanne Ruminski, class of 2010 (August) "De-industrialized Cities and Juvenile Delinquency: A Case Study of Buffalo, New York"; and Melissa Young, class of 2012, "Exposure to a Predator Stimulus Hinders Avoidance Learning in Rats."

The McNair Scholars Program is named after Ronald E. McNair, who despite discrimination and poverty became a physicist and earned a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was an astronaut serving as a mission specialist on the Challenger space shuttle, and died when the Challenger exploded after takeoff in 1986.