On Wednesday October 23, 2024 through Saturday October 26, 2024, five BOREALIS Scholars, Rose Leader, Ciara Nuesi, Youse Garcia, Joshuana Korvie, and Habiba Boureima, attended the 2024 Biomedical Engineering Society National Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.
A part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Educational Diversity (ESTEEMED) Research Education Experiences programs, the BiOengineering Research Education to AcceLerate Innovation in STEM (BOREALIS) Scholars program is a research education program designed to advance the diversity of the bioengineering research workforce by creating a pathway to graduate study and research in bioengineering for students from sociodemographically diverse backgrounds. This competitive cohort program currently enlists six Clarkson University undergraduate students in their first and second years.
As part of the conference programming, the students had the opportunity to attend plenary and keynote talks, network with peers from other institutions as well as faculty and industry leaders from around the world, and attend concurrent scientific oral and poster presentations. Three of the BOREALIS Scholars had scientific abstracts accepted for presentation and presented posters on research conducted in their first and second years at Clarkson University:
Rose Leader, a second-year student majoring in Mechanical Engineering, presented on ‘Novel Method of Delivering Low Dose Ionizing Radiation to Breast Epithelial Cells’, work done in collaboration with Dr. Delphine Dean from Clemson University during a summer National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program.
Ciara Nuesi, a second-year student majoring in Civil Engineering, presented on ‘RNAi Analysis of Patterning Factors in the Drosophila Thoracic Peripheral Nervous System’, work done in collaboration with Dr. Ginger Hunter.
Youse Garcia, a first-year student majoring in Aerospace Engineering, presented on ‘Evalulation of Grasps and Manipulation to Advance Prosthetic Hands’, work done in collaboration with Dr. Kevin Fite.
As part of BOREALIS support, the Scholars also had the opportunity to have a private networking dinner with Clarkson University alum Deja Robinson, who currently works as a Medical Device Reviewer for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as Dr. Laurel Kuxhaus, who currently serves as a Program Officer at the NIH, allowing the scholars to explore bioengineering careers and build networks outside of academia and industry.
Check out more information on the BOREALIS Scholars Program here: https://www.clarkson.edu/academics/research/borealis-scholars-program