Student researchers from SUNY Old Westbury’s Collegiate Science Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) returned victorious from the 25th Annual CSTEP Statewide Conference on April 7, 2017. More than 650 students and staff from 50 colleges and universities in New York participated in the conference in Bolton Landing, N.Y. Participants had the opportunity to network with fellow CSTEP researchers, participate in professional and career development workshops, and listen to prominent speakers from various CSTEP targeted fields.
The capstone event of the weekend was the Awards Gala where CSTEP researchers in the categories of Natural Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, and Technology and Human Services celebrated the accomplishments of the presenters in the Oral Presentations and Student Research Poster Competition.
Co-presenters Samantha R. Rubi and Tokunbo Jimmy Jose, both psychology seniors, won first place in the research presentation category for Social Sciences. The students were mentored by Dr. Lorenz Neuwirth on their project titled “An Assessment of Low Level Exposure on Encephalization and Cortical Quotients and its Relationships with Cortical Thinning and Neurodegeneration.”
Within the Poster Competition, four categories were represented. Aneka Philip-Francois, a senior and psychology major, mentored by Dr. Laurette Morris, received first place in the Psychology category for her research titled “Stress and Coping in an Academic Setting.” In the Biochemistry category, Marcella Gomez, also a senior, received first place for her research titled “Investigating Differential Dephosphorylation and EGFR by PTP1B.” Marcella was mentored by Dr. Youngjoo Kim. German Fuentes, a senior and biochemistry major, mentored by Dr. Ruomei Gao, received first place in the category Chemistry I for his project titled “pH Triggered Release of Porphyrin for Photodynamic Therapy.” Not only did German win in his category, but he was also a recipient of the "Dr. Henry Teoh Award for Outstanding Research Poster," which is named after the Old Westbury CSTEP director, and is given to the overall winner of the poster competition along with a scholarship award.
Other CSTEP students who presented their research included Awa Sow, and were accompanied by students Ishmael Moya, Nadia Hameed, Angela McCorkle, and Nelson Euceda.
