The Weber State University campus was filled with over 3,000 students on Thursday for the largest undergraduate research conference in the nation.

Thursday marked the first day of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, which is being held at WSU.

Associate Director of the Shepherd Union Building Chad Mosher said the first day of NCUR has gone well, and that the preparation that was put forth previously has paid off.

“Things are excellent and running very smoothly,” Mosher said. “We haven’t had a lot of major issues, just a lot of people, but it’s been handled very well, so the planning has paid off.”

Mosher said the turnout has been good for the event and was happy to see so many people on WSU’s campus.

“There are easily over 3,000 students. Our registration was just a little over 3,100.”

On Thursday, there were poster sessions held in the Union Ballroom, oral presentations throughout the day in classrooms and a main speech offered for NCUR participants. WSU students are also free to attend any of the events for the rest of the conference.

Each day of the conference, a main speaker will be featured, which will take place at 10 a.m. in the Val A. Browning Center Austad Auditorium. A live feed will also be provided in an overflow area.

Also on campus Thursday for the conference were many graduate schools from across the country. Mosher said students were offered a chance to meet with representatives from many diverse schools.

“It’s a great opportunity for Weber State students to see what grad schools are out there,” Mosher said.

There were representatives from more than 20 graduate schools in the Union building during Thursday’s activities.

Former WSU student Hailey Cox, who has been helping with the NCUR conference, and said she has enjoyed helping out and was happy with the way the first day of the conference went.

Cox also said she’s enjoyed being able to meet many different people.

“It’s gone really smoothly so far and hopefully it keeps going smoothly,” Cox said. “It has been fun. I’ve enjoyed meeting different people from different parts of the country.

Melissa Duong, a sophomore from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Penn., was at WSU to present her research on N-cells and the effect they have on cancerous cells.

Duong said she hasn’t given her presentation yet, but has enjoyed being at NCUR and seeing the other research students have done.

“It’s pretty interesting,” Duong said. “I’ve been to a couple of pretty interesting oral presentations. I’ve stuck mostly to oral (presentations).”

This is the second time Duong has given a research presentation, but she said that NCUR is a much larger event.

“There was one presentation we did after a summer of research,” Duong said, “but it wasn’t anywhere near as big as this one. It was a lot smaller.”

Cox said she has enjoyed working with students from around the country and hearing what others think of the WSU campus.

“It’s been really cool to talk about what their impressions are of Utah and Weber State,” Cox said. “They’ve commented on how beautiful our campus is. I’ve seen a few people taking pictures of campus and of the mountains.”