Two Wagner College students won Best Platform Presentation awards in their disciplines last weekend at the 64th Annual Eastern Colleges Science Conference. The conference was held on Saturday, April 25 at Pace University’s Pleasantville, N.Y. campus.
Anthony Rafetto, a junior from Willow Street, Pa., won the Best Platform Presentation award in Mathematics and Engineering Sciences for his paper, “U.S. Population Growth,” with research performed under the supervision of Dr. Otto Raths.
Megan Stolze, a senior from Neptune, N.J., won the Best Platform Presentation award in Psychology for her paper, “The Association Between BMI, Sweet Preference and Drug Use,” with research performed under the supervision of Dr. Laurence J. Nolan.
Several other Wagner students gave poster and platform presentations at the conference, which was well-attended by Wagner faculty and students. Among the 14 additional presentations were:
- Benjamin Serbiak (senior; Bernardville, N.J.). "The efficacy of sunscreen blockers in prevention of the clastogenic effects of long wave and short wave ultraviolet light in Vicia faba." (Platform) Research under the supervision of Dr. Ammini Moorthy.
- Stefani Fanara (senior; Middleboro, Mass.) and Megan Stolze (senior; Neptune, N.J.). "Television viewing and food intake: Is physical fitness a factor?" (Platform) Research under the supervision of Dr. Laurence J. Nolan.
- Michael Stanton (senior; Toms River, N.J.). "Behavioral responses of common tern chicks to feather sampling." (Platform) Research under the supervision of Dr. Brian Palestis.
- Leonid Denisenko (freshman, Staten Island, N.Y.). "U.S. population studies." (Platform) Research under the supervision of Dr. Otto Raths.
- Melanie Valencia (sophomore; Ambato, Ecuador), Violeta Capric (sophomore; Staten Island, N.Y.), William Etts (junior; Nesconset, N.Y.) and Yolana Fuks (senior; Staten Island, N.Y.). "Electrophysiology of the isolated and perfused midgut of adult yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti): First results." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Dr. Horst Onken, with co-authors S.B. Moffett and D.F. Moffett of Washington State University.
- Michael C. Gutkin (senior; Freehold, N.J.). "Detection of proliferating cells in surviving organotypic culture of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) optic tectum." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Prof. Christopher Corbo, Dr. Zoltan Fulop and Prof. Linda Raths.
- Anna Lysenko (junior; Rensselaer, N.Y.) and Yasemin Alev (senior; Staten Island, N.Y.). "Scanning electron microscopic imaging of the developing neuromasts of the lateral line system in 7-day-old zebrafish embryos." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Prof. Christopher Corbo, Dr. Zoltan Fulop and Prof. Linda Raths, with co-author Luesoni Johnson of Kingsboro Community College.
- Anna Lysenko (junior; Rensselaer, N.Y.). "Effects of alcohol show hormetic characteristics on development of zebrafish embryos." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Prof. Christopher Corbo, Dr. Zoltan Fulop and Prof. Linda Raths, with lead author Luesoni Johnson of Kingsboro Community College.
- Alexander Zilberman (senior; Brooklyn, N.Y.). "Use of an InvA-specific PCR primer set to validate culture-based detection of Salmonella from waterfowl eggs in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens, New York." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Dr. Adam J. Houlihan, with co-author Jessica Browning of the U.S. National Park Service.
- Medije Mashkulli (junior; Staten Island, N.Y.). "Set up of a yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) colony." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Dr. Horst Onken, with co-authors S.B. Moffett and D.F. Moffett of Washington State University.
- Julianna Maniscalco (junior; Staten Island, N.Y.). "Inhibition of strong midgut alkalinization in larval yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) with HEPES buffer." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Dr. Horst Onken, with co-authors S.B. Moffett and D.F. Moffett of Washington State University.
- Yolana Fuks (senior; Staten Island, N.Y.). "Increased expression of mitochondrial glutathione peroxidase 4 and superoxide dismutase 2 reduces cone cell death in retinitis pigmentosa." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Lili Lu and Peter A. Campochiaro of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
- Felicia Giunta (junior; Staten Island, N.Y.), Bethny Brown (junior; Enfield, Conn.) and Alexandra Videll (sophomore; Laurel, Md.). "Analyzing the effect of endocrine disrupting chemicals on Drosophila development." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Dr. Heather A. Cook.
- Peter Pisano (junior; Staten Island, N.Y.), Lauren Raynor (junior; Staten Island, N.Y.), Philip Kaplan (junior; Staten Island, N.Y.) and Glenn Muoio (junior; Massapequa, N.Y.). "Developmental changes in larval photosensitivity of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti." (Poster) Research under the supervision of Dr. Donald E. Stearns.
The Eastern Colleges Science Conference, believed to be the oldest annual conference of its kind in the United States, is an association currently consisting of 26 primarily undergraduate colleges and universities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Rhode Island and Ohio. The main function of the organization is to stimulate interest in undergraduate research in the sciences and related fields, and to provide a lively forum for the presentation of research papers.
The ECSC provides a forum for undergraduate students in science and engineering to present their research. The annual conference occurs in late April or May. Students may attend with their advisors, and students may present their research findings in platform or poster presentations as well as full-length papers. In recent years, student awards have been given for presentations in each of the modes.
The first Eastern Colleges Science Conference was organized in 1947 by undergraduate Pauline Newman at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The aim then, as now, was to stimulate interest in undergraduate research in the sciences and related fields and to provide a lively forum for the presentation of research papers. Pauline Newman received her bachelor's degree in chemistry and went on to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale. About 22 schools attended the first conference, and the theme was “Science, Philosophy and Society.”
The constitution of the ECSC was ratified on April 24, 1948 at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., making the conference a self-sustaining body. Today, Professor Donald Stearns of Wagner College is president of the organization.
Over the years, interest has increased in the conference, and more than 50 colleges and universities have attended this annual event. The range of subject matter has also expanded over time and now covers computer science and behavioral and social sciences as well as the original areas of biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics and engineering.
Over the past 63 years, there have been 44 hosts of the ECSC — including Wagner College, which has hosted the conference twice. Conferences have been held at small liberal arts colleges, at state universities, and at the United States armed services academies in Annapolis and West Point. The opportunity to experience a wide variety of different locales has enhanced the ECSC experience for faculty and student participants.
For more information about the Eastern Colleges Science Conference, contact Dr. Adam J. Houlihan, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, (718) 390-3385, e-mail adam.houlihan@wagner.edu.
