Eric Martell Exhibits Undergraduate Research in Albany

2014 Apr 24

Two accomplished SUNY Potsdam undergraduates recently presented their research at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, in an event attended by legislators and SUNY officials. Students from 47 SUNY and CUNY campuses presented more than 100 poster displays highlighting their research in a range of academic disciplines. Entitled "Innovative Exploration Forum," the event included work by SUNY Potsdam students Eric Martell and Veronica Lavia.

Eric Martell is a senior history and political science major from Wayland, N.Y. He presented the research project he completed over two years through the College's Presidential Scholars Program. Working with Dr. Kevin Smith and Dr. Thomas Baker from the Department of History, he researched the planning and approval of the 1961 invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. Martell used declassified documents and memoirs from the Kennedy and Eisenhower administrations to understand how and why the Bay of Pigs operation was executed, who was at fault for its disastrous ending and how the invasion caused a rift in the relationship between President John F. Kennedy and the defense establishment. Martell has served as an undergraduate learning assistant and a teaching assistant for the history department and the College's Equal Opportunity Program and Bridges Program. In addition, he has been the treasurer and Student Government Association senator for the History Association, and is the president of the Political Student Association. After graduation, Martell plans to attend the University at Albany for its Ph.D. program in history.

Student research at SUNY Potsdam encourages a professional student-faculty collaboration or mentorship, aimed at contributing to the understanding of a discipline through the examination, study, creation and communication of new knowledge, by means of an original scholarly or creative project. For more information, visit http://www.potsdam.edu/academics/specialprograms/cur.