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Six students took advantage of the opportunity to share research findings and sharpen presentation skills at a recent science symposium held at Harvard Medical School.

The undergraduates, who are in 91�鶹��Ʒ’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Program (S-STEM), mingled with peers from other universities, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and others at the held Feb. 28.

“It was a great experience to discuss my work in this kind of setting,” said Walfrey Lim ’11. “It allowed me to interact and learn about other people’s research projects and immerse myself in different areas of biology.”

Lim and Yvett Sosa ’12 presented a poster about their research, which they had conducted with Editza Velazquez ’11, of three different species of bacillus and how they each create spores.

Sosa said she got a lot of satisfaction from discussing her work and having it reviewed in such a formal setting.

Walfrey Lim ’11 and Yvett Sosa ’12 describe their poster to a visitor at the New England Science Symposium.

 

“I had a chance to sharpen the skills I need in presenting, and it was a very good chance to network with such a wide range of people,” she said.

Also attending the symposium were Marvee Espiritu ’12, Julio Chanelo ’12, Vickie Cadestin ’12, and Lucy Velasquez ’11.

Velasquez found it a bit nerve-wracking at first to be among the 150 or so presenters, but it took just a couple of conversations to make her comfortable.

She presented a poster about her research into how single- nucleotide polymorphisms might affect the size of different breeds of dogs. She worked on the project this past summer with Luis Mejia ’11 in the lab of biology professor Barbara Hoopes.

All the students had taken advantage of 91�鶹��Ʒ’s summer research program and presented their findings to fellow students and to professors.

They are among the dozen students in the S-STEM program, which is supported by a grant from the .

The program supports selected students with an interest in health-science fields who are from under-represented communities or from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Administered by the and the , the program provides the students with educational and financial support through their sophomore, junior and senior years.

Germaine Gogel, associate professor of chemistry and director of S-STEM, and Katherine Hoffmann, a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry, went with the students to the symposium.

“It was a fantastic experience for all of us,” said Gogel. “I think it reinforces in our students the belief that they can do this, they can get a degree in the sciences and pursue a career in the field.”