Four City College students attended the annual Sigma Xi Meeting and Student Research Conference on Nov. 2-3 and ranked as one of the only winners of multiple awards.
The conference was held in Orlando, Florida as a celebration of scientific research accomplishments of nearly 100 colleges from North America and abroad.
City College was the only community college in attendance, represented by students Jess Crossno, Alison Morrison, Lamar Bush, and Stacey Churchitt.
Jess Crossno won in the category of Physics and Astronomy for his poster presentation titled, “Terahertz Plasmonic Detector.”
Alison Morrison won in Chemistry for her poster presentation on “Synthesis of Nanoparticles of Hybrid Inorganic-Organic Frameworks Using Hydrothermal & Emulsion Methods.”
City College was one of 3 colleges that received awards in more than one category. The other two schools were the UC Berkeley and UC Irvine.
“We scored 50 percent in wins, and Irvine with 18 people only won one out of nie,” Bush said.
The other college students attending were largely undergraduates as well, but were mostly juniors and seniors from four-year universities.
The fact that they won over all these other colleges is really impressive,” said Dr. Nick Arnold, a City College engineering professor. “The other students were taking upper-division, more advanced classes.”
More than 200 posters were judged, with 2 winners in each category. There were 12 posters being judged in physics and between 50-100 posters in chemistry.
In preparation for the event, the four students were accepted into the 8-week INSET program (Internships in Nanosystems Science, Engineering and Technology) at UCSB.
There they teamed up with researchers and were able to work with physical and chemical apparatus, as well as attend seminars, weekly meetings, and develop presentations skills.
The winning posters were based on research done in the INSET program.
Both winners were surprised.
“Alison was a lot more surprised because she was competing against graduate students,” Bush said. “They had gotten their degrees, and she hadn’t even gotten her bachelor’s yet.”
Most other community colleges do not provide undergraduate research, but through the program they were able to, Arnold said.
“Not many research fellows here (SBCC), so we’re a little handicapped. It gives people a head’s up, an opportunity to get into a school,” Bush said.
As a part of INSET, the four students agreed to represent the program in a scientific conference.
In return the program would sponsor them going to the event.
Judges included faculty and scientists from all over the U.S. with approximately 3 to 4 judges in every category.
In addition to the undergraduate students, there were 25 oral presentations from graduate students and doctoral candidates.
Editors of scientific journals were also in attendance.
“It was really invaluable to meet the editors of scientific journals. It was really very interesting,” Bush said.
The conference allowed what society is based on, a free exchange of information so that people can improve upon what is already being done, Bush said.
Both Crossno and Morrison received medals and cash awards for their wins.
-Lauren Parks is a Journalism 101 student