Conference to Feature Student Research and Egyptian Mummy Expert

Truman’s Student Research Conference, the university-wide celebration of undergraduate and graduate research, scholarship and creative achievement, will be on campus April 7. 

All daytime classes will be canceled to allow everyone to attend the events on campus. The Conference continues to grow in the number of students participating and the variety of work presented. This year there will be both undergraduate and graduate research presentations in the form of papers, performances, posters and other displays.

There is a luncheon “round table” with creative writing presentations by 20 students and a play by French students, as well as art exhibits and music performances, and papers and posters representing students from all departments on campus. Papers and other presentations will be in Violette Hall and Ophelia Parrish throughout the day. The poster session and closing reception will be in Pickler Memorial Library.

A program book, including the full schedule of presentations, maps and other information, will be available the day of the conference. Registration will begin at 7:30 a.m. in Pickler Memorial Library where presenters, moderators and mentors can pick up nametags. Abstracts for the presentations are available online at the Student Research Conference website http://src.truman.edu. Attendees may design a customized schedule of presentations and events.

In addition to providing the opportunity to explore and honor the outstanding and varied work of Truman students, one of the highlights of the day will be the Plenary Address by Salima Ikram of American University in Cairo. Ikram is a world-renowned expert on mummies, who comes to Truman direct from excavations in the Valley of the Kings.

As founder and co-director of the Animal Mummy project at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Ikram has emerged as one of the leading scholars in Egyptian funerary archaeology. Combining an interest in and understanding of the past with a passion of preserving it for the future, she has brought the little known world of animal mummies to light.

Highlights of her professional career include a visiting scholar at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; a consultant Egyptologist at Giza, Saqqara, Abu Sir, and Valley of the Kings; and co-director of the North Kharga Oasis Survey.

Her series of books include a line of children’s books and three authoritative works: “Divine Creatures,” “The Mummy in Ancient Egypt and Death” and “Burial in Ancient Egypt.” Her television credits include “Da Vinci Code: Decoded,” “Tomb Raiders: Robbing the Dead” and “The Real Scorpion King.”

For those interested in Ikram’s work, some links to interviews, audio/video discussions of her research and mummification in general are available online. The University Bookstore in the Student Union Building has several of her books on sale, and she will sign books from 4:15-4:45 p.m. in Pickler Memorial Library.