2023 Research Summit Summary
Theme: Thrive in a Brave New World
The theme of this year's 2023 conference was "Thrive in a Brave New World," which provided attendees a chance to hear about a wide array of research presenter's explorations into topical matter that broadens the expanse of research.
Below you will find a recap of the 2023 conference stats concerning this year's summit, including videos from main-stage events, and a downloadable PDF from our Keynote speaker, Dr. Cheryl Lentz.
Highlights
- 10th annual conference
- 523 registrants
- 14 countries represented
- 38% are students
- 21% are faculty
- 16% are alumni
On behalf of all of us in the College of Doctoral Studies and the leaders of the Research Centers, we thank you for a wonderful event and already look forward to next year's conference!
2023 Summit Stats
This year's summit was well attended. We had 523 registrants, which makes this, our 10th annual conference, the second consecutively largest one we have held for two years in a row!
Our Summit Eventbrite page alone received over 2100 page views.
Registrants who attended represented these 14 countries:
- United States
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- Italy
- Algeria
- United Arab Emirates
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Philippines
- Peru
- Nigeria
- Mexico
- Japan
- Jamaica
- Ghana
Additionally, 61 states or provinces were represented amongst registrant attendees.
How guests identified themselves:
- 38% of attendees were students (92% identifying as doctoral students, with the remaining 8% as Bachelor/Masters level students)
- Most students were from business, education, and healthcare disciplines
- 21% were faculty
- 16% of attendees were alumni
- 13% were presenters
- 11% were staff
- 2.4% were external visitors
Professions represented:
- Executive Director
- President
- Chief Technology Officer
- Chief Officer
- Financial Industry Leader
- Director
- Educator
- Professor
- Secondary school professional
- Middle School Professional
- Principal
- IT Analyst
- Vice President
- Healthcare professional
- Life Coach
- Sales
- Law Enforcement
- Cybersecurity
- Behavioral Health
- Military
- Human Resources
- Religious Leadership
Many of our attendees work for some major industry players like: Bank of America, Amazon, DeSales University, Mayo Clinic, Google, US Army, JPMorgan Chase, Kings County Hospital, Chicago Public Schools, Walmart, Purdue University Global, Walden University, Capella University, Grand Canyon University, Rowan College of South Jersey, Blue Cross, Methodist Texsan Hospital, US Air Force/Gov, American Heart Association, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, Optum, US Department of Homeland Security, California Dept of Human Resources, Clarke University, St. Vincent Medical, Baptist Memorial Hospital, and DeSales University.
Zoom login summary
Overall, the Zoom report shows a total of 2,376 various [participant log in] events. This is an amazing level of activity over 3 days!
- Day 1: 1,174 participants active over 428 minutes
- Day 2: 779 participants over 423 minutes
- Day 3: 339 participants over 249 minutes.
Some of the variation recorded here may be from those logging in and out of the day at various times, as well as those who may not have registered but were invited by guests as well.
Day 1 Keynote-Dr. Cheryl Lentz
Author and TEDx speaker Dr. Cheryl Lentz provided guests with an outstanding presentation that covered facets of what she calls "The Einstein Perspective" discussing how researchers must learn to engage the deeper introspective side of self and research. Topics covered inside the keynote address included Gesellschaft, refractive thinking, building a career with research, the path forward, choice, failure has no alibi, the 3 pillars of publishing, and legacy thinking.
Dr. Lentz also graciously bestowed to guests in attendance a copy of her book which can be dowloaded below. You can also view Dr. Lentz' keynote address here.
Day 1 Mainstage events
Day 1 was the opening of the Summit and included a presentation by Dr. Hinrich Eylers who did a retrospective look at all the conferences from their inception to now, alongside some stats on the centers themselves and the evolution of the research arm of the university. The audience also heard from Dr. Cheryl Lentz, author, and TEDx speaker, in what was a riveting and motivating keynote address that truly set the tone of the first day. As well, the following were some great presentations that brought in some dynamic subject matter. There were 24 presenters on Day 1.
Day 2 Mainstage events
Day 2 was yet another fantastic day as our own University of Phoenix President, Chris Lynne, alongside our moderator Dr. Kimberly Underwood, introduced Day 2 and the first-ever DEIB Recognition awards. President Lynne announced the 2023 winners of the President's Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging that morning and it was exciting to see the various recognitions and see the honorees accept their awards. The first awards went to Drs. Sessoms-Penny and Joy Taylor, Julie Ballaro, Levon Russell and Kevin Meade, and LeQwan McDowell. Day 2 saw again some great research presentations in sessions 9-11.
Day 3 Mainstage events
Day 3 provided another exceptional conference day led by Dr. Mansureh Kebritchi who kicked off the main-stage events and moderated alongside Dr. Eylers for the 2023 Dissertation of the Year Awards.
Dissertation of the Year Winners
This year's awards were exciting, with some great dissertations recognized. Awards were presented to Daniel Collins, Elif Kalemdaroglu-Wheeler], and Eric Johansen.
We also were able to hear from each of these recipients about their dissertation in a formal summary that was insightful and riveting. You can learn more about them here. Day 3 followed with sessions 16-19 and again, some awesome presentations this year.
Comments:
"I would like to thank you all for organizing this event and praise your leadership in this immense task. Thank you all for leading the way and embracing all of us: new and experienced researchers. The diversity of knowledge of the event was humbling. I have learned so much, and some of these studies have sparked new inquiries that are worth exploring in future research"
"What an experience as a moderator! There is no doubt in my heart that Academia is the place to be!"
"Fantastic conference!"
"Excited to everyone and more next year!!"
From all of us at the College of Doctoral Studies and the Centers for Research, Thank you to our moderators, our presenters, and guests.
WE WILL SEE YOU AT NEXT YEAR'S EVENT!
