NEWS
New Mexico Research Symposium Showcases Scientific Excellence
Angelah Magofna, NMSU; Jacqueline Chavez, ENMU; Stone Davis, NMSU; Elena Pearson, NMSU.
On November 4th, researchers from across the state convened for the 2023 New Mexico Research Symposium (NMRS), an annual event jointly organized by NM EPSCoR, New Mexico Academy of Science, and the Central New Mexico Local Section of the American Chemical Society.
This year's event opened with a keynote talk by Demitri Maestas, a machine learning practitioner at Sandia National Labs. His talk about the role of artificial intelligence in education, research, and everyday use was the first of many highlights of the day.
Next, 25 oral presenters from five institutions shared their work in six thematic sessions including Water, NASA EPSCoR, Biochemistry and Genomics, Research in New Mexico, Quantum Photonics, and Directed Energy and Renewable Energy.
Shortly after the poster session began and featured poster presentations from over 40 researchers hailing from 14 different institutions.
As the attendees sat down for lunch, the 2023 Outstanding New Mexico Science Teachers Awards were presented by the New Mexico Academy of Science and the Central New Mexico Chapter of the American Chemical Society. The awards were given to Chris Speck (left) from Garfield STEM Magnet & Community Middle School and Roy Biñas Basa (right) from Twin Buttes Cyber Academy.
The New Mexico Academy of Science also honored Lynn Brandvold with the Director Emeritus award for her exceptional tenure with the Academy and over 30 years of promoting young student scientists.
In the afternoon, local meteorologist Byron Morton from KOAT emceed the second annual Rio Grande Research SLAM. The dynamic competition featured nine postdoctoral researchers from three New Mexico research institutions (NM EPSCoR, Sandia National Laboratories, and Los Alamos National Lab) and tasked contestants with presenting their research to a public audience in three minutes with one static slide.
This year's SLAM winners are:
1st Place
Michael Lively, LANL
Giving a Supernova a Shower
2nd Place
Nikki Maphis, NM EPSCoR
Drinking to Dementia
3rd Place
Brian Jun, LANL
From Animals to Chips: The Future of Drug Testing
The event closed with an awards ceremony announcing the poster competition winners and thanking event partners. Extra gratitude to the poster judges for lending your time and insights.
Congratulations to the poster winners:
2023 Poster Competition Winners:
1st Place - Graduate Category
Soneya Shakya, ENMU
“Stock Price Prediction using Sentiment Analysis and Machine Learning”
2nd Place (tie) - Graduate Category
Nicholas Adu-Effah, NMHU
“Computational Study on Structure, Electronic, and Optical Properties of Non-Canonical Adenine Dimers”
2nd Place (tie) - Graduate Category
Ange Gloire Zaina Demeyo Yamba, NMHU
“Synthesis of Amidine Copper Complexes with First Row Transition Metal”
2nd Place (tie) - Graduate Category
Andre Ortiz, NMT
“Genome-Wide Patterns of Homoeologous Gene Flow in Allotetraploid Coffee”
1st Place - Undergraduate Category
Elena Pearson, NMSU
“Effects of PKCαβ and mROS Inhibition on Streptozotocin-Induced Alzheimer's Disease in Mice”
2nd Place - Undergraduate Category
Jessica Weber, NMHU
“Establishing the Biological Production of Perthiols by a Human Enzyme”
3rd Place - Undergraduate Category
Scott Kilgore, ENMU
“Identifying Code Quality Issues Among Computing Undergraduates”
*In honor of the exceptional keynote address given by Demitri Maestas on artificial intelligence, we used AI to help compose the first draft of this article.
