The University of New Hampshire’s Leitzel Center for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education, in partnership with NH BioMade, hosted the annual Summer STEM Research Symposium on Thursday August 3rd.
Held at the Morse Hall atrium, the symposium provided a forum for scholars and scientists to present their research in a poster-presentation format for a large and varied audience. It featured the work of NH BioMade-funded undergraduates, high school students, and K-12 teachers.
Participating NH BioMade summer research presenters included three recent Great Bay graduates and two former students, who were awarded research fellowships for summer work through the NH-BioMade Undergraduate Research Training (URT) fellowship program.
Great Bay’s 2023 recipients are:
- Enrico Tulung of Dover. Tulung graduated with an A.S. in Bioengineering. He will work with Dr. Brad Kinsey at UNH’s Olsen Center on the project “Characterization of Twinning Kinetics Under Biaxial Street State for Biomedical Applications.” He will transfer to the chemical engineering program at UNH in the fall.
- Taylor Hartley of Hampton. Hartley graduated with an A.S. in Biotechnology. She will work at UNH with Dr. KyungJae Jeong on the project “3-D Printing of Tissue-Like Structures.” She will transfer to the UNH genetics program in the fall.
- Trinity Menard of Hampton Falls. Menard graduated with an A.S. in Biotechnology. She will work at UNH-Manchester with Dr. WonHyuk Su on the project “Protein-based Hydrogels for 3D Printing.” She will transfer to the biotechnology program at UNH-Manchester in the fall.
In addition, two former Great Bay students were awarded URT fellowships for a second year. April Weeks and Mason Jacques graduated from Great Bay in spring 2022 and are currently NH BioMade Transfer Scholars at UNH. Weeks earned a degree in bioengineering from Great Bay and is working toward a B.S. in bioengineering. Jacques earned an A.S. in Engineering Science and is enrolled in UNH’s mechanical engineering program.
Three other Community College System of New Hampshire students have been involved in NH BioMade-funded research this summer. Lois Szulk of Springfield graduated from NHTI this spring with an A.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology. She has spent the summer working with Dr. Katherine Hixon at Dartmouth College on the project “Combining Electrospinning and 3D Printing.
Also working with Dr. WonHyuk Su at UNH-Manchester have been Daryl Caudill and Trixie Vasquez Dysart. Caudill of Bedford is a continuing student in the Advanced Manufacturing Technology program at Manchester Community College. Dysart of Manchester graduated from MCC this spring with an A.S. in Mathematics and will transfer to the biotechnology program at UNH-Manchester in the fall.
NH-BioMade, funded through the National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR program, is a statewide consortium led by UNH and Dartmouth College that supports New Hampshire’s biomaterials industry through knowledge generation, academic-industrial research partnerships, and workforce development. Support for talented community college students has been a key part of workforce development for this program since its inception. This is the fifth consecutive year that Great Bay students have been awarded research fellowships through the program.
