At the second annual LAU Research Day held as part of the university’s series of hallmark events to mark its centennial year, 55 undergraduate and 89 graduate researchers owned the room as they presented their research topics, methodology and outcomes to faculty, staff and peers.

They covered the wide-ranging fields of business, economics, engineering and technology, health sciences, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. While graduate students gave oral presentations and fielded questions from faculty members and students, the undergraduate researchers presented their work in the form of poster presentations that were set up in the lobby of the Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury Health Sciences Center on the Byblos campus.

Many of the students’ work has already been published in peer-reviewed, renowned journals.

The Research Day coincided with the 7th International Conference On Mathematical Modelling, Applied Analysis and Computation on April 18, 2024, and both events shared the opening ceremony which featured a welcome address by LAU Provost George E. Nasr.

Dr. Nasr underscored the university’s strategic plan to make research an integral part of the learning process, and to “not only educate but also to inspire and transform society through a student-centered, liberal arts education that is enhanced by rigorous research.”

Speaking about fast-changing knowledge transfer, especially in the age of Artificial Intelligence, the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Samer Saab stressed the need to grow the culture of research and knowledge generation.

Because graduate researchers enroll in a program knowing that it will have a research component, whereas undergrads are new to the dynamics of research and pursue it out of curiosity, it is much more difficult, he noted, for a faculty member to supervise and mentor undergraduate researchers. “This is where the role of the university comes in to nourish a strong base for advancing knowledge,” he added.

The soft skills that students acquire through research are invaluable. “From interpersonal skills through interviewing and presenting to critical thinking and covering a subject from all its angles, our students gain lifelong skills that will be essential no matter what professional or academic endeavors they choose to pursue,” said Dr. Saab.

The Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Walid Marrouch closed the day by announcing the names of awardees. 

To browse scholarly output by the LAU community, visit our open-access digital archive, the Lebanese American University Repository (LAUR).