Passion for Science on Display at Fall 2024 Casabona Competition

The Mario M. Casabona Future Scientists Competition returned, now in it’s tenth year, bringing together a vibrant community of scholars, students, and entrepreneurs to celebrate the innovative and impactful work of the College’s student researchers. This semester seven students representing five of our departments presented posters and talks on their research projects. Awards were presented to recognize outstanding contributions, celebrating both the academic rigor and the innovative spirit of the participants.

The presentations reflected not only the depth of academic inquiry but also the students’ ability to connect their work to real-world applications, addressing some of today’s most pressing challenges. Their topics were expansive, and included:

• Human computer interactions, using a Multimodal Collaborative Robotic System to ensure safety in areas where robots will cross paths and interact with humans
• Gene therapy and the variations that arise between different sexes
• Improving detectors for nuclear physics exploration
• Carbon loss in tidal salt marshes
• A potential new treatment for Tuberculosis

The competitors maintained the high standard of presentation this event has come to expect, but where this group excelled was in their ability to discuss their work in the Q&A portion with the judges. Their knowledge and passion provided the foundation for them to confidently take on all comments, questions and criticism. Through comments and in their deliberation, the judges expressed how impressed they were with this group and how their passion really came through in the presentations. That was a key component of the winner’s edge when the rankings were decided. The results were announced as follows:

First Place

Ava Distaso, representing the Earth and Environmental Studies Department, mentored by Dr. Jorge Lorenzo-Trueba (award accepted by Chair, Dr. Clement Alo)

Second Place

Nour Shalash
Biology Department

Third Place

Maxim Lyons & Garrett Modery
School of Computing

Audience Favorite

Sarah Estupinan-Jimenez
Physics Department

We thank our judges for their time and insight providing invaluable feedback and guidance to the competing students. To all the competitors this semester, your work and efforts were unquestionably impressive, congratulations on representing yourselves, your Departments and the College with such professionalism! Providing students with opportunities to present their work in a supportive and dynamic environment, the event not only highlights the academic excellence within the College but also inspires a broader conversation about the critical role of research in shaping our collective future.