LEWISTON – More than 250 Bates College students will take part in the third annual Mount David Summit Friday, April 2. There will be poster presentations, panel discussions, exhibits and performances,

The event will begin at 2:30 p.m. in Pettengill Hall, Andrews Road.

This year’s event – the largest yet – will include more than 150 students presenting posters, talks, videos and a one-woman play; another 40 exhibiting photographs; and 60-plus performing in musical ensembles, which include the college orchestra.

In sessions from 2:45 to 4:15 p.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m., students will display and explain nearly 100 research posters in Perry Atrium, Pettengill Hall.

Poster topics include the effects of carbaryl pesticides in Maine, a case study of autism, and the potential cancer-fighting effects of a chemical extracted from hyacinth beans.

Concurrent panel presentations will take place in ground-floor classrooms in Pettengill. Topics include the acculturation of Somali students in Lewiston schools, a study of the effects of micro-credit in developing countries, and an examination of Appalachian Baptist music that includes shape-note singing by the student a cappella group Northfield.

‘Signs of Intelligent Life’

Two performances start at 8 p.m. For her thesis project, Saida Cooper, a senior theater major from St. Albans, will perform Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin’s “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” in Gannett Theater, Pettigrew Hall.

In the Olin Arts Center concert hall, Lecturer in Music Philip Carlsen will conduct the Bates College Orchestra and guest artists Frank Glazer, pianist, and senior Cass Panuska, soprano, in works by Mozart, Debussy, Corigliano and Franck.

The full summit schedule will be on the Web at www.bates.edu/mt-david-summit.xml.The summit is open to the public at no charge. For more information, call 786-6065.