Students present science papers at symposium

By: Dustin Looney
Features Editor

Earlier this month, on November 3, three Monmouth College students gave presentations at the seventeenth annual Argonne Symposium for Undergraduates in Science, Engineering and Mathematics at Argonne National Laboratory.

The event lasted for two days, but the Monmouth College students only attended the first day. The presenters included seniors Kristin Mertel from Hoffman Estates, April Cook from Englewood, Ohio and Dede English from Maywood.

Each student gave a presentation about a different topic. Mertel spoke about “Vibrational Spectroscopy of the Triplet State of Deuterated Thymine,” Cook spoke on “Construction and Commissioning of a Micro-Mott Polarimeter for Photocathode Research and Development” and English answered the question: “Does MFG-E8 Aid Microglia in the Recognition of ‘Eat Me’ Signals in an Alzheimer’s Disease Brain?”

The three Monmouth College students were among nearly 200 undergraduate presenters at the private event. Over 350 people were in attendance, including students, professors and scientists from throughout the Midwest.

Any undergraduate student who attends a college or university in the Midwest was able to give a presentation at the event, and they generally spoke on research they did last summer.

Mertel, a biochemistry and physics major, spoke on the research she did last summer in the chemistry department at Ohio State University.

At Monmouth College, Mertel has been on the women’s soccer team for four years, a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Tri-Beta biology honor society, Blue Key and Mortar Board.

She said she gained a lot from this event and everything went smoothly.

“I think all of our presentations went really well this year,” Mertel said. “The symposium was a great opportunity to meet people in the science community, learn about other undergraduate research projects and practice presenting research in a formal setting. Overall, it was an excellent learning experience.”

The students were attended by two faculty advisors, Tim Tibbets and Michael Kroupa. Tibbets is an associate professor of biology at Monmouth College and Kroupa is a visiting assistant professor of physics.

They traveled to Argonne in a Monmouth College van and were gone from around 8:30 a.m. to midnight.

Each student was presenting at the event for the second consecutive year.