The Center for Social Work Research welcomed faculty, staff, students and community partners to the School of Social Work on Friday, April 20^th for the annual Social Work Student Research Symposium. The event was designed to give our students a chance to highlight research or a project based on work they have done, which included thesis work, directed study projects, faculty-student projects and community engagement initiatives. The event also featured a keynote lecture by doctoral program alumna Jessica Camp, PhD, LMSW, CAADC, entitled "Creating Connection between Research and Social Work Practice". The presentation by Camp, currently an assistant professor and research lead, and social justice and diversity co-lead at the University of Michigan-Flint, explored her journey from practitioner to researcher and her overall assessment of the role of research in social work.  

Awards were given for the best BSW, MSW and PhD research poster presentations. Students were judged on clarity, professionalism, strength of their research and a demonstrated understanding of the research material. Congratulations to our award recipients!

• BSW Student: Cassandra Northrup (center below) presented The "Education Crisis" in Detroit and Potential Policy Solutions
• MSW Student: Kendra Wells (far left below) presented An evaluation of student engagement in research: Challenges and promising practices
• PhD Student: Alexandra Cameron (far right below) presented Utilization and understanding of health care services for former foster youth

Thank you to our student participants, their mentors, attendees and judges. View the event program here, to see a full list of the student participants and their poster titles. View all of the photos from the Student Research Symposium here.