By ALISON DORF Published January 19, 2013 at 11:05pm Updated January 19, 2013 at 11:05pm

Scientists, mentors, parents and members of the community bustled through the hallways of the Thomas W. Keating building at the UA on Saturday, on their way to listen to students presenting their scientific research and findings.

The Undergraduate Biology Research Program held an annual conference to give students an opportunity to present the results of their projects to members of the general public.

Since UBRP began 24 years ago, it has helped students from many diverse backgrounds advance their science education. Students presented their experiments and research in the form of posters, which are often used at scientific conferences because they can convey a lot of information very quickly, said Carol Bender, director of UBRP and program director of molecular and cellular biology.

The people who are going to be walking around and talking to them, some of them are scientists and they may have suggestions for how they [students] can tweak their experiments or how they can address problems theyve encountered, Bender said.

Other attendees were parents and general members of the public.

Its really important they are able to explain their work in terms that anybody could understand, Bender said.

The presenting students ranged from high school to post-baccalaureate students with diverse majors and interests. A vast majority, 70 percent, are majoring in life sciences, while the rest vary from engineering to social science to psychology majors. The most unusual in UBRP history was a cello performance major, said Bender.

The posters covered topics including black-tailed prairie dogs, and the protein composition of epidemic and non-epidemic strains of clostridium difficile a bacterium that commonly affects hospital patients.

It was quite nerve-wracking because this is my first time presenting data at all scientifically related, besides my lab experiments like during school, UA physiology sophomore Ashwini Kaveti said. Im glad Im getting this experience.

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Students present research to community at UA Undergraduate Biology Research Program Conference