Symposium to Feature Work of UVI Student Researchers

The University of the Virgin Islands' 11th Annual Fall Student Research Symposium will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20. Fifty UVI student researchers are expected to participate in the event that will take place in the first floor conference room of the Administration and Conference Center on UVI's St. Thomas campus.

Sponsored by UVI's Division of Science and Mathematics and the Emerging Caribbean Scientists (ECS) program, the symposium's goal is to showcase the outstanding quality and diversity of undergraduate and graduate student research that UVI students have conducted over the summer and during the past year. The symposium is designed to demonstrate the importance of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and psychology oriented research to the greater UVI and Virgin Islands communities.

Symposium presentations will explore the projects students conducted under the direction of mentors at UVI and at other universities and laboratories across the nation. Their topics include number theory, bacterial flora, the St. Croix sheep population, reef fish, DNA classification, acetaminophen absorption, ovarian cancer, and the risk factors of adoption in shelter puppies and kittens. Several of the students conducted their research during UVI's on-campus Sophomore Science Research Institute and the Science Undergraduate Research Experience programs. Other institutions where UVI students conducted research include the Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, Rutgers University, Purdue University's School of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Maryland, the University of Iowa, Carnegie Mellon University, San Francisco State University, Mount Desert Island Biological Lab, Boston University and the University of South Carolina Medical School.

Symposium presentations are evaluated by a panel of judges from the community for their scientific content and their clarity of presentation.

Student research projects are supported by grants from many sources, including the National Science Foundation's HBCU-UP program, the South East Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (SEAGEP), the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Scholars programs, VI-EPSCoR, the MARC and RISE programs of the National Institutes of Health, and by grants supporting faculty mentors' scientific research. General support is also provided by UVI's Division of Science and Mathematics.

Persons interested in participating in or helping to sponsor this event should call UVI's Amanda Wright at (340) 693-1397, or send email to awright@uvi.edu. Additional information is available from the Emerging Caribbean Scientists program web site: http://ecs.uvi.edu.