Collo Event: Boland Undergraduate Research Symposium

On March 27, I attended 3 presentations at the ETSU Boland Undergraduate Research Symposium which was held at the Millennium Center. Along with 3 friends, I attended the research presentations of Walter Dominic Espejo, Dustin Gilmer, and Sarah Zimmer. All of these students were undergraduate students working on research for their thesis. Each presentation was about 15-20 minutes long, and the students introduced their topic and discussed methods and results of their research. Espejo's research was about developing a carbon quantum dot that targets specifically cancer cells and could be used in the treatment of cancer. They developed carbon quantum dots that have a better compatibility biologically with the body than existing similar carbon dots. Gilmer's research was quantifying the success in research based on funding. Gilmer and those he worked with gathered information on the funding of each department at ETSU and about the research in each department at ETSU and compared the two variables. Zimmer's research included identifying a specific gene in R. leguminosarum bacteria. She worked to sequence a part of the gene and find its role in the utilization of heme by the bacteria. These presentations were very interesting to watch and I thought it was awesome that undergraduate students get to present their research in a formal setting like that. It was very beneficial to me to see these presentations, because I will most likely be doing research in my undergraduate years, so a presentation like the Boland Symposium might be something that I will be a part of in the next few years.

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