The 2014 Celebration of Women in Science will be held on Wednesday, October 22, in the Education Building, room 212. The goal of this annual event is to celebrate the accomplishments of women students in the School of Science at TCNJ and to encourage them to continue on to further studies or a career in science or mathematics.
This year’s event brings a full pipeline approach to the celebration. The event will feature TCNJ alumni via oral presentations and a panel discussion, current TCNJ students via research poster presentations, and include area high school students, along with their science teachers and guidance counselors – so that they can learn of the opportunities available to them and to encourage the high school students to pursue a college degree in these fields.
Event Schedule
All sessions in Education Building, room 212
10:15-10:30
Welcome and Introductions
Tracy Kress, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology, TCNJ
Jeffrey Osborn, Ph.D., Dean of the School Science, TCNJ
Grecia Montero, Director of Admissions, TCNJ
10:30–11:15 am
Oral Presentations by TCNJ Alumni and Faculty
Alexa Cain ’14, Computer Science
Developer, Investment Management Systems, Vanguard Group
Yi-Hsuan (Cindy) Lin ’11, Physics
Ph.D. student, Drexel University
Jana Gevertz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Mathematics, TCNJ
11:15–11:30 am
Break
11:30–12:30 pm
Panel Discussion by TCNJ Alumni – “The Personal Side of a Career in Science”
Leighanne Hsu ’14, Computer Science
M.S. student, Columbia University
Kayla Spector ’13, Biomedical Physics
Clinical Laboratory Scientist, Main Line Health
Jennifer Urban ’12, Chemistry and Mathematics
Ph.D. student, University of Rochester
Rachel (Sherman) Jones ’09, Physics
TCNJ participant in NASA Zero Gravity Project
Physics teacher, Hunterdon Central High School
Heather McGowan ’08, Psychology and Biology
M.D./Ph.D. student, Rutgers University/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Alexa Beshara ’08, Mathematics/Statistics
Associate Dean of Research and Planning, Hudson County Community College
Rebecca (Gilbert) Gentile ’96, Chemistry
Senior Specialist, Vaccine & Biological Chemistry Division, Merck & Co.
12:30–2:00 pm
Lunch and Poster Presentations by TCNJ Undergraduate Students on their Research
Kylie Gorman, Computer Science major
“Dense Color Moment: A New Discriminative Color Descriptor”
Faculty Mentors: Dr. Andrea Salgian, TCNJ and Drs. Drs. Mubarak Shah & Neils Lobo, University of Central Florida
Alexa Cain, Computer Science major
“The Vanguard Group: College to Corporate IT Internship”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Peter DePasquale, TCNJ
Joie Murphy, Computer Science major
“Advancing Computational Phylogenetic Stemmatics”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dimitris Papamichail, TCNJ
Leighanne Hsu ‘14, Computer Science alumna
“Automatic Conducting with the Microsoft Kinect”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Andrea Salgian, TCNJ
Kelly O’Connor and Krishna Sheth, Physics majors
“Mapping Neuronal Connectivity with Laser Photostimulation & Calcium Imaging”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tuan Nguyen, TCNJ
Kellie Olear, Physics major
“Laser Beam Interference Patterns”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. David McGee, TCNJ
Jessica Perez, Mathematics major
“Continuous and Discrete Modeling of Tumor Growth and Invasion”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jana Gevertz, TCNJ
Alana Huszar, Mathematics major
“4-equitable Tree Labeling”
Faculty Mentors: Dr. Chamont Wang, TCNJ and Dr. Zsuzsanna Szaniszlo, Valpariso University
Katarina Rose, Mathematics major
“A Function on the Moduli Space of Triangles”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Andrew Clifford, TCNJ
Susan Knox, Chemistry major
“Synthesis of 2,2’-dimethyldodecanoyl ACP to understand substrate specificity in LasI catalyzed Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing”
Faculty Mentors: Dr. Danielle Guarracino, TCNJ and Aubrey Johnston & Dr. Rajesh Nagarajan, Boise State University
Taylor Maney, Chemistry major
“Studies Toward the Preparation of Acylated Derivatives of Resveratrol”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. David Hunt, TCNJ
Kayla Gentile, Chemistry major
“Development of ‘Artificial’ Peptides that Bind Collagen as Potential Anti-Thrombosis Agents”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Danielle Guarracino, TCNJ
Amy Solinski, Chemistry major
“The unexpected aromatization of 1,2-cyclohexanedione”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. David Hunt, TCNJ
Mackenzie Mosera, Biology major
“Genetic analysis of YqgF, a predicted Holliday junction resolvase in Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Elliott, TCNJ
Aparna Yarram and Shai Bejerano, Biology majors
“Evaluating the Effects of Ocean Acidification on the Mechanical Properties of King Crabs and Tanner Crabs”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gary Dickinson, TCNJ
Alanna Cohen, Biology major
“Virulence Factors in Pathogens of Maize, Cochliobolus and Setosphaeria”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Wendy Clement, TCNJ
Natella Maglakelidze, Biology major
“Investigation of Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation in Zebrafish Embryogenesis”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Marcia O’Connell, TCNJ
2:15–2:45 pm
Optional Sessions for High School Visitors (by reservation only)
Departmental laboratory tours and visits
TCNJ Planetarium show