The 12th annual University of Wisconsin Undergraduate Symposium today will see a huge increase both in overall student participation and representation in the arts and humanities fields.

Between 535 and 540 undergraduates, up from last year’s 400 participants, will present projects including posters, displays, oral presentations and performances in the symposium, according to Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning Aaron Brower.

Brower said the growth in participation is encouraging and he is pleased to see so many students showcasing their research and projects.

“One of the best ways to take advantage of this university is to … get involved in research and other kinds of service and scholarship and so it’s just really catching on,” Brower said. “This is a terrific experience — it’s great practice for students who will go off into careers where they’ll be presenting to different audiences.”

This year’s symposium also features larger numbers of students from the arts and humanities, areas that are traditionally not well represented at an event dominated mainly by research in the hard sciences.

According to Assistant Vice Provost Laurie Mayberry, this is the first year the symposium has been able to set aside a room to showcase 11 student projects juried by the art department.

Pediatrics assistant professor Megan Moreno, who works with students presenting at the symposium, believes the event’s broad range of topics benefits all participants.

“Through the symposium, I think students get a really wide range of what research can be — from social science to more bench science and then there’s arts and humanities,” Moreno said. “I think it’s wonderful at broadening the horizons.”

One of Moreno’s students, UW junior Katie Egan, will present a poster and oral project about how UW students display drinking on Facebook, marking her second consecutive year in the symposium.

For Egan, the most valuable part of participating is the experience she gained in both research and presentation.

“For me the symposium was a really good way to get to know a little bit more about the research world because presenting at different conferences is a huge part of doing research,” Egan said.

Since presenting at last year’s symposium, Egan has shown her work at a number of other conferences and encourages other students to utilize the event to keep presenting research.

“I really think the symposium is just a stepping stone and a really great experience for any student,” Egan added.

According to Brower, the Undergraduate Symposium was designed as a way to provide students with the experience of exhibiting their scholastic research.

“There’s real benefit to being able to talk about work that excites you and being able to get other people excited about your work,” Brower said.

The Undergraduate Symposium will take place today in Memorial Union, with poster displays and presentations from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.