Berea Undergraduate Research and Internship Symposium (BURIS)

The Berea Undergraduate Research and Internship Symposium (BURIS) is hosted every year by Division I (Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Nursing). Participation is open to all Berea College students. In recent years we have structured the symposium with both talks and poster presentations as well as a plenary session. In 2019 we introduced a second oral presentation category for internship presentations that might not fit in the standard research presentation model. Both types of oral presentations are scheduled for 12-15 minutes with 5 minutes for questions/speaker transition. Posters may be submitted from various fields across campus (previous posters from chemistry, biology, physics, psychology, sociology, education, African American Studies, economics, industrial arts, computer science, physical education & health, and mathematics). The format for these will be a 4-foot wide by a 3-foot tall poster that will be hung after poster stands are assembled and in place on Thursday night or Friday morning. All students who pursued substantial research projects over the previous year are encouraged to present their research.

Registration for BURIS opens normally in September each year with BURIS held on the 2nd or 3rd weekend in October. Many students will also want to register for the Kentucky Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting held in November each year. Another opportunity to present research is the UK Department of Chemistry Regional Undergraduate Poster Competition.

The program for Fall 2025 will take place on Friday, October 17th. Student oral presentations starting at 2:40 PM (MAC 307, 355, 356, 357, 457, and 406) with a concurrent poster session starting at 2:30 PM until 4:30 PM in the MAC atrium (odd-numbered posters from 2:30-3:30 pm and even-numbered posters from 3:30-4:30 pm). These sessions will be followed by a 45-minute plenary talk (with 10 minutes for questions after) at 5:10 PM.

Our plenary speaker for this year’s event is Dr. Sudipa Kirtley from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN. Dr. Kirtley will speak about her journey to Berea, her accomplishments and experiences while an undergraduate student. She will also discuss her career after Berea. Dr. Kirtley earned her B.A. in Physics from Berea College in 1983. She earned her PhD in Physics from the University of Kentucky in 1991.

Dr. Kirtley's Biography

As a young girl, an inquisitive Sudipa Mitra Kirtley once took apart a lamp inside her home in India to examine the intricacies of how a light switch worked. She can’t recall if an electrical shock resulted from the project, but the mission helped inspire her lifelong career as a scientist and award-winning physics and optical engineering educator at Rose-Hulman.

For more than 30 years, Kirtley has explored the chemical structures within elements by using high-power photon beams at the nation’s leading synchrotron radiation facilities. Along the way, these trips have provided unique undergraduate research projects for Rose-Hulman students and inspired special postgraduate opportunities. 

As Kirtley says, “One of my (laboratory X-ray absorption spectroscopy) proposal reviewers mentioned in his comments that this synchrotron work is not meant for undergraduates.”

Proving those science professionals wrong, Kirtley once took sophomore physics and mathematics student Tony Ragucci on a 72-hour exploration of the near-edge structure within asphaltenes by using the innovative X19A beamline at Brookhaven’s National Synchrotron Light Source in the summer of 1994.

“It was exhilarating, exhausting, and taught me what professional experimental research was like,” said Ragucci of his first experience working at a national laboratory.

Kirtley and Ragucci spent the following school year analyzing the peaks in the x-ray absorption spectra for comparison with model features. They also collaborated with an industrial scientist to provide even more insight into experimental research while working under tight timelines.

The professor organized other research journeys with undergraduate students to the Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Advanced Light Source.

“These opportunities are rare, not easy to obtain, and I enjoy seeing the students’ eyes opening to the endless possibilities of physics,” states Kirtley, a distinguished Professor of Physics and Optical Engineering.   

That’s what happened to Ragucci. His undergraduate research experiences paved the way toward earning a master’s degree at Penn State and a doctorate at Ohio State University in condensed matter physics. Ragucci is now the senior director of sensor science and engineering at Leonardo DRS, Inc., developing infrared imagers for ground, airborne, and space applications.

“I think back fondly on my time working with Dr. Kirtley at Brookhaven and try to impart some of what I gleaned from that experience to young scientists and engineers in my organization today,” remarked the 1996 Rose-Hulman graduate who earned the Alumni Association’s Career Achievement Award in 2016. “Dr. Kirtley was patient, kind, and more than generous with her time explaining details of sample preparation, X-ray beamline operations, and data collection techniques.” 

Those personality elements continue to be shared in the Rose-Hulman classrooms, as Kirtley takes meticulous care while teaching physics classes and their lab sessions along with specialized courses in the fundamentals of nuclear physics and synchrotron radiation, theoretical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and biophysics. She also advises the campus’ Society of Women Engineers and the physics honor society student organizations. 

“Dr. Kirtley has a bondless enthusiasm for the scientific process and is always willing to try new ideas,” said Physics & Optical Engineering Department Head Galen Duree, PhD. “She looks for interesting things to put into her classes to enhance the learning experience and creates incredible opportunities for our students.”

That’s why, in 2009, Kirtley earned the Board of Trustees’ Outstanding Scholar Award, honoring faculty who demonstrate a commitment to excellence in creative scholarly activities. She was the first Rose-Hulman professor to implement hands-on experiences in the physics laboratory to accentuate student learning – a practice that’s now used in most academic departments on campus. Kirtley also was the institute’s first female faculty member promoted from assistant professor to full professor, with tenure status.

Kirtley was a finalist for Indiana’s Women & Hi Tech organization’s Leading Light Award, recognizing women of achievement in STEM for making great innovations in their industries, and was a nominee for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s Professor the Year Award, for implementing the studio lab techniques and other innovative educational technologies into the classroom.

“I had a headstrong love of physics and have always wanted to share that love with others,” said Kirtley, who earned a doctorate in physics at the University of Kentucky after a bachelor’s degree in the field at nearby Berea College. “I want to use technology to encourage students, especially women, to go into physics and other science fields. There should be no barriers to their success. The way I see it, if you have the interest, you should pursue it regardless of whatever anyone says.”

Oral Research Presentations

Research and Internship Posters

Registration form for 2024 BURIS to be held on October 18th. The registration deadline is Friday, October 11th.

Oral presentations will be 12-15 minutes in length with normally one presenting speaker with 5 minutes between them for questions and/or speaker transition. The posters shall be printed as single pages that are 4-foot wide by 3-foot tall and may be hung on the poster stands once assembled on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. For samples of past BURIS posters, follow this link.

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