SJC Students Present at Brookhaven National Laboratory

September 08, 2013

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. SEPTEMBER 9, 2013 St. Josephs College (SJC) is pleased to announce that seven students from its Long Island Campus recently presented their research on a variety of chosen topics at the Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) located in Upton, N.Y. SJC students participate in the research externship at BNL annually.

The seven students, Eric Ruhoy 15, John Hirdt 15, Kevin Sanders 15, Anthony Sementilli 15, James Young 15, Alissa Bruno 15 and Gina Polizzo 15, participated in a 10-week-long externship along with over 230 students from other colleges and universities, were given a tour of the lab, met research scientists, chose a problem and wrote a paper exploring their chosen topics. At the end of the program, each student developed a poster and presented the results of their preliminary research for staff, administrators and faculty from the lab. Mr. Ruhoy, Mr. Hirdt and Mr. Sanders were given each the opportunity to orally present their topics.

"The students poster presentations were followed by several speeches and a compressed video of their summer experiences, said S. Jane Fritz, professor of mathematics and computer science at SJC. "We had seven students that participated this summer, which is quite an honor, considering that this program is nationally competitive.

Mr. Ruhoy, a double major in mathematics and mathematics/computer science, secondary education with a minor in music, aspires to become a professor. The title of his research project was, "Development of a Software Strategy for Tomography Experiments at the Submicron Resolution X-ray (SRX) Spectroscopy Beamline.

Mr. Hirdt, a mathematics major, plans to continue his project throughout the fall. The title of his project is "Data Mining the EXFOR Database. He is currently working on publishing his paper, with arrangements to present it at the Cross Section Evaluation Working Group (CSEWG) conference, in early November.

Mr. Sanders, a mathematics/computer science major, presented his area of research to the physics department. The title of his project was, "Linac Early Symptoms Detection.

Other students who participated during the poster session, included:

Mr. Sementilli, a double major in chemistry and biology, displayed, "Use of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Gene Expression Analysis to Study Sugar Accumulation in Sorghum Bicolor.

Ms. Polizzo, a biology major, conducted an experiment called, "Hitting the Target: Drug Discovery with in Situ Co-Crystallization of Proteins plus Fragment Libraries on Pin-Mounted Data Collection Meshes.

Mr. Young, a double major in mathematics and mathematics/computer science, presented, "Application of Linear Programming in Determining Atmospheric Liquid Water Content.

Ms. Bruno, a biology major, exhibited "Use of 11CO2 to Measure Photosynthate Allocation and Transport Speeds in Grain and Sweet Sorghum.

For more information about the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) EMPOWERS scholarship program offered at SJC, call the Office of Admissions on the Long Island Campus at 631.687.4500 or the Brooklyn Campus at 718.940.5800, or visit www.sjny.edu/stem.