MSTC Seniors Finished the Year with Senior Symposium
The MSTC Senior Symposium was held at Dunbar on April 15.
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On April 15, the MSTC seniors presented their 360 hour research projects to parents, underclassmen and teachers.
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Seniors also created posters which were on display in the glass hallway.
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Senior Eric Bernard’s poster on time dependent random matrices was displayed among others in the foyer.
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Underclassmen applaud for a senior.
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Senior Aurian Vaez explains the methodology he used to conduct his trials.
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Senior Francesca Macchiavello opens the floor for questions.
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MSTC underclassmen converse before a senior begins to present.
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Attendees take part in a reception before the symposium begins.
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Students gather at a reception between presentations.
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Senior Yoon Cho describes her results.
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Junior Anna Susini takes notes on a presentation.
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MSTC underclassmen, parents and students gathered to watch the seniors presentations.
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Senior Yoon Cho poses before her presentation on gene deletion in eye cells.
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Seniors Emily Liu and Francesca Macchiavello both presented their 360-hour research projects at the MSTC Senior Symposium.
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Senior Emily Liu explains the results of her project.
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Senior Ben Xie presents his project on functionalized electrodes.
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Dunbar’s MSTC program is designed for students who are competitive in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines. Each year every senior is required to partake in a research study that accumulates about 360 hours and present the project at Dunbar’s MSTC Senior Symposium.
“Finishing off my research project at symposium was a relief, as it marked the end of a year-long journey at my lab. It also had a bit of sadness too. While I can’t say I loved every moment of it, I learned a lot from my experiences at research,” said senior Ethan Tan.
Most students conducted their research at the University of Kentucky where they learned from a mentor who helped them develop research on a specific topic. Senior Spandan Buch conducted his research at the University of Kentucky’s cancer laboratory.
“My research project was looking into a gene known as ‘c-Myc’ which is a gene that researchers have discovered to be a big driver of cell growth in cancer cells,” said Buch. “My research was looking at ‘c-Myc’ in skeletal muscle, because we don’t know a lot about how it works in our muscles. Understanding how it helps muscle growth, if at all, could lead to potential gene therapies for treating muscle loss, which is important because muscle is really important for overall health and fighting other diseases in our bodies.”
This years symposium took place on April 15 at Dunbar from 8 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. Every senior was given the opportunity to present their year long research to their families, while also gaining more knowledge about their peers’ research.
“Senior symposium was a great experience. Presenting all our hard work to family and friends and showing them the potential for change that can be brought by students was truly enlightening,” said senior Hemanth Sontenam.
