Tiernan Mulrooney ’06, presenting. Photograph: Bart Boatwright

Seven Boston College undergraduates traveled to Clemson University on April 23 for an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) event that brought students together not as athletic rivals, but academic colleagues.

The first annual “Meeting of the Minds,” a showcase for undergraduate re­search and scholarship, drew nearly 150 students from the league’s 12 member schools. Participants presented their work in poster sessions, lectures, live performances, and exhibitions. The aim of the three-day event was to promote intercollegiate conversation and collaboration and foster graduate student recruiting within the ACC, according to Donald Hafner, a professor of political science who, as director of the University Fellowships Committee, selected BC’s student participants. The conference included faculty talks on the undergraduate research programs of member schools and a graduate school information session for students.

Representing Boston College were Emily Cersonsky ’07 (English and philosophy), William Hillmann ’06 (biochemistry), Mark Irvine ’06 (international studies), Rebecca Kraus ’07 (English), Tiernan Mulrooney ’06 (biology), Emily Neumeier ’08 (art history), and Richard Paul ’07 (environmental geosciences). Among their topics: deterrence and incentive strategies in counterterrorism; Don Quixote and “the problem of making lies real”; and “efforts toward the structural characterization of LnmQ, a novel adenylation domain.” Richard Paul spoke on the roots of the Orisa songs of Trinidad and the research he undertook in the country of Benin, West Africa—wearing a colorful traditional African two-piece suit and singing his examples. It was “definitely one of the most memorable talks,” said Neumeier, who had presented her research on a centuries-old Islamic manuscript, the Blue Koran, earlier that day.

Next year’s conference will take place at the University of Virginia.

Cara Feinberg

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