2008 Woodie Awards
Biology 230 travels to Texas
Students present research at national science conference
Neill Herbert
Date created: 10/25/04 Section: NEWS
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 Media Credit: Lou Sian Former disclocated workers within Skyline´s workforce development program retrain for new careers in the biotechnology industry. |
Mars and mouthwash. Pollution and pets. What do they all have in common? They are the inspiration for some of the scientific research projects done by Skyline biology students that were chosen to present their work at a national science conference in Texas.
Nine students from Dr. Christine Case's spring 2004 Biology 230 class were chosen to show their original research projects at the annual conference put on by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), held this year in the city of Austin on Oct. 22 and 23.
"The SACNAS conference is huge; thousands of students attend," said Tiffany Reardon, director of Skyline's Mathematics, Engineering, Science, and Achievement program (MESA). "The fact that our students are going and thinking about graduate school is wonderful, but, even better is that they're actually presenting alongside people from major four-year universities."
The 2004 SACNAS conference is the third at which Skyline College students have presented. Other schools presenting work alongside Skyline included the University of California, various Ivy League schools, and other prominent universities and graduate schools from around the United States. The students representing Skyline this year are Jacklyn Cheng, Jennifer Frankot, Philina Mui, Kimberly Richardson-Kubitsky, Elena Robles, Sasha Rose, Anna Sverchkova, Amber Thet and Tresca Truong.
The research of all the students in attendance will be published by SACNAS after the conference.
Case said that Skyline was the only community college in the nation in attendance at the 2002 and 2003 SACNAS conferences. At press time, that appeared to be the case for the 2004 conference as well.
According to Reardon, community college students' attendance at SACNAS is "a great achievement."
Natalie Alizaga, one of the Skyline students who attended last year's SACNAS conference, agreed.
"It motivated me a little bit more," she said. "You see people your age that are doing so well."
In order to be eligible for presentation, the students' projects had to go through a comprehensive selection process. The projects started out as original research that the students chose to present in class. At the end of the spring semester, Case chose the projects that stood out to her as the best in the class. The students then further developed and refined their research over the summer. Finally, the projects were sent to be reviewed by scientists appointed by SACNAS who officially approved them for presentation.
