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April 29, 2008
MMC Students Earn Honors for Scientific Research Projects
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Contacts:
Kelsey Jordahl, assistant professor of physics, (212) 517-0651; kjordahl@mmm.edu
Ann Aguanno, associate professor of biology, (212) 774-4838; aaguanno@mmm.edu
 (New York, NY) Stephanie Allen ’08 and Federico Floridi ’09 were distinguished as the recipients of a Prize for Excellence at the Undergraduate Research Symposium at Dominican College in Orangeburg, N.Y. The Marymount Manhattan students were the only recipients of a perfect score at the April 26th symposium and will present their work at the President’s Medal Gala on May 1, 2008. Attendees will be able to hear about the progress these students have made in their field, a great accomplishment for undergraduate students. Their poster, “Shapes and sizes distribution of Pacific seamounts” utilized several computer programs and extensive knowledge, much of which was attained in preparation for this project.
 “There are a lot of pieces to this project,” said Kelsey Jordahl, Ph.D., who facilitated their work. “They really mastered a lot in the process.” In the process they also discovered new seamounts, or underwater volcanoes on top of old ones. “There isn’t any literature on this,” said Allen who plans to continuing working with Floridi after she graduates in May.
Jessica Stevens ’09 spent her weekend at William Paterson University in New Jersey. She attended the second annual Undergraduate Research Symposium there, having earned second place in her category last year. This year she was recognized with first place for her poster, “CDK5: A contributor to the insulin phenotype of transdifferentiated pancreatic B cells.”
Stevens estimates she attends about four conferences a year so feels she like, “an old pro by now.” She says the benefit of returning to this conference was the familiarity. “This is a close-knit group,” she said. “Many of the judges this year either saw my work last year or had heard about it.”
Stevens’ two-year project has led her to new findings. While her adviser, Ann Aguanno, Ph.D., focused on CDK5 in the nervous system, Stevens examined the pancreas. Stevens’ was able to identify protein in the cells and hopes to publish her work soon.
All three students emphasized the aid provided by their professors. Allen and Floridi said Jordhal was extremely helpful in the actual work on their poster and subsequent presentation of information. “I didn’t know much about this (underwater seamounts) before I started the poster,” Allen said. Not only did Aguanno provide her own findings to assist Stevens, she was highly active in getting the junior to conferences to meet others and exchange ideas.
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