ESE Symposium
Ecological Sciences and Engineering
Our 20th annual student-led Ecological Sciences and Engineering (ESE) Symposium will be held in fall of 2026. Below you’ll find information from our fall 2025 Symposium. Check back soon for more information for the upcoming event!
We are excited to announce our 19th annual student-led ESE Symposium with the theme of “Ripple: Act Locally, Inspire Globally.” ESE is an interdisciplinary program that values the contributions of multiple perspectives and prioritizes collaboration that transcends academic, community, and disciplinary boundaries.
In support of this mission, the 2024 ESE Cohort has designed the 2025 ESE Symposium to showcase interdisciplinary and community engaged work. Our two-day event will focus on tangible skills building and local action, sparking a ripple of climate optimism within and beyond the Purdue community. Our schedule below features a graphical abstract workshop with a lunch and learn, a creative works exhibit, trivia night, and local volunteer event.
Open to the entire Purdue University, the Greater Lafayette community, and beyond, we invite students, faculty, staff, and the public to join us in celebrating community, collaboration, and action.
Agenda and Event Details
- Graphical Abstract Workshop/Lunch and Learn
- Friday, September 26, 2025 | DLR 131
- Refreshment at 12:00 PM | Workshop 12:30-1:30 PM
Presented by Ishraq Awashra, Graduate Research Assistant and Purdue Center for Community and Environmental Design.
This workshop introduces students to the concept and practice of creating graphical abstracts — visual summaries that communicate research clearly and effectively. Graduate and undergraduate students from all disciplines are welcome to participate.
Participants will:
- Learn the purpose and structure of graphical abstracts.
- Review examples and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
- Explore tools such as PowerPoint, Canva, and Miro.
- Develop their own graphical abstract through guided sketching and design.
Please bring a device with your preferred design software (PowerPoint, Canva, Miro, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator), a pen or pencil for sketching, and your research paper or project. If you are not in a stage of active research, you may work on a research paper you recently read. Completed graphical abstracts will be eligible for entry into the Creative Works competition with prizes for selected designs.
- Creative Works Competition
- Friday, September 26, 2025 | DLR 131 Display Time 2:00-3:00 PM
We’re launching the Creative Works Competition — a space for students, researchers, and artists to explore how research can connect with people through creativity with a shared goal to advance a sustainable path. Open to graduate and undergraduate students across all areas of study. Works should center themes of interdisciplinary collaboration and the environment. Because research and its knowledge aren’t only found in labs or papers — it’s also felt, sung, drawn, imagined.
Ripple Effect: How can we connect research and everyday life through creativity?
Create a piece that brings people together through knowledge. We welcome visual art, poetry, short videos, infographics, graphical abstracts—any format that showcases knowledge into something people can feel, understand, or see in a new light and connect with it. Submit your work electronically to esesymposium@purdue.edu or in person on September 26th between 9:00 and 11:00 AM. in DLR 131.
- Friday, September 26, 2025 | 4:00 – 6:00 PM
- Tick Tock Tavern and Family Eatery, 1816 N. 9th St. Rd., Lafayette, IN 47909
Join us for an evening of community building among students! All ages are invited to an environmentally-focused trivia night. We will have refreshments available and prizes for those who know their eco-facts!
- GrowLocal Lafayette
- Saturday, September 27, 2025 | 9:00 – 11:00 AM
- Location Determined by Sign-Up
In order to foster a stronger connection between the Purdue and Greater Lafayette community, we will be organizing a local volunteer day in the community.
Coming soon is a guide to local organizations that you can volunteer with. Community engagement and local activism are the beginning of how change ripples out from local to global!
