Students on the Move | December 2023
Jaelin Vernon a third-year, new media design major/music tech minor and MCAS student worker will work as the Engagement Liaison for the Sphinx Conference in Detroit, Michigan in January of 2024. In making the selection, the Sphinx organization will cover all of his expenses and provide a stipend as well. The conference focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion in classical music. The Sphinx organization was founded in 1997 and is based in Detroit. Its goal is to increase the numbers of Black and Latinx artists and prepare them for professional careers in classical music. Jaelin Vernon-remember that name- plays guitar and is involved with two bands: LED and the Solstice (Rhythm and Blues) and Public Decency (Indie Band).
Congratulations to 10 students who received funding from CSTEP, LSAMP or McNair to attend and present at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) last month. They are: Temilade Adewale, third-year, biomedical sciences; Nhyira Owusu Asante, fourth-year, biomedical sciences; Rosa Rijo Benitez, fourth-year, biomedical sciences; Anupa Biswa, fourth-year, biomedical sciences; Nico Burgado, fifth-year, biochemistry; Cammie Edwards, third-year, biomedical sciences; Tahaara Gazali, third-year, biomedical sciences; Crystal Lee, fourth-year, bioinformatics and computational biology BS/MS; Veronica Mejia, fourth-year, biomedical sciences and Sandra Rodriguez, fourth-year, biomedical sciences.
The theme of the conference was “Investing in the Future.” The sessions featured cutting-edge research in 12 scientific disciplines as well as professional development opportunities aimed at community college, undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students historically excluded from STEM fields.
More good news to share about the McNair Scholars Program. Nineteen McNair scholars are graduating during the 2023-2024 academic year and fifteen of them are currently applying for graduate programs -Master’s and or doctoral programs- for Fall 2024. The goal of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program is to increase the number of graduate degrees awarded to students from underrepresented groups in graduate education.
Way to go to two first-year students who took part in the 2023 Division of Diversity and Inclusion Summer Experience. Oscar Maguina Lazor and Maria Lukowiak completed the Saunders College of Business Leadership Academy this semester and received certificates of achievement. Lazo is an engineering technology major, and Lukowiak is majoring in software engineering with an immersion in French. In describing the experience, Lazo said, “The program consisted of leaders coming in on Tuesday nights at Saunders to speak to us about what leadership means and how to manage effective teams. Then we had a project due at the end where we had to interview a leader on or off campus and ask them questions pertaining to how they manage their leadership position. Finally, we had to present our own product or service and explain how we would manage the team while describing key points of our business such as values, mediation and workplace culture. At the end we all got our certificate in leading highly effective teams. My team won the presentation contest, and I got a goodie bag that had a mug, pen, highlighter and notepad all labeled with RIT Saunders.”