Voorhees University hosts research symposium highlighting student innovation

At Voorhees University’s Wright-Potts Library, student research on microbiomes, CRISPR and biomedical case studies pointed toward something bigger than a campus showcase: a possible pipeline for health care, faculty collaboration and workforce training in Bamberg County.

The Center of Excellence for Research and Program Innovation hosted its 2nd Annual Research Symposium on the Denmark campus on April 21, bringing together faculty, students and invited guests around oral and poster presentations. Dr. Carole A. Oskeritzian, a professor and president of the South Carolina Academy of Science who also chairs the Women in Science and Medicine Committee at the University of South Carolina, delivered the keynote address and framed student research as the point where curiosity turns into discovery through practice, inquiry and problem-solving.

That message fit the range of projects on display. The program included work on student success in higher education, microbiome research, CRISPR technologies, biomedical case studies and other interdisciplinary topics. For Bamberg County, those subjects matter because they connect directly to the kinds of challenges rural communities face: keeping students on track in college, building health-care talent and creating opportunities that do not require leaving Denmark for every advanced academic or professional step.

Dr. Zhabiz Golkar, CERPI’s founding director, said the symposium serves as a platform to elevate student scholarship, foster faculty collaboration and advance ideas with real-world impact. The event ended with a poster session, recognition of presenters and a group celebration, reinforcing that the university wants students to keep returning to research, not just presenting once and moving on.

The symposium also built on a steady expansion of Voorhees research activity. The first VU Research Symposium Day was held on April 3, 2025, at Wright-Potts Library and drew more than 50 attendees and presenters. In March 2026, CERPI received a Faculty-Student Research Grant from South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities for a project titled Computational Evaluation of AI-Guided Design for Bacteriophage Development, another sign that the university is moving toward applied work with health and science applications.

Voorhees is tying that research push to new professional pathways as well. The university recently announced a memorandum of understanding with Western Atlantic University School of Medicine that creates a conditional admission route through the VU 10 White Coat Scholars program.

That work is unfolding on a 365-acre campus in Bamberg County that Voorhees says is a South Carolina Historic District. Founded in 1897 by Elizabeth Evelyn Wright-Menafee, the HBCU sits in Denmark, a town of 3,186 people with a median household income of $27,451. In a place that size, research training, health partnerships and student retention can shape more than campus life. They can help define what opportunity looks like for the county itself.