Students Present Research at Brookhaven National Lab

January 15, 2013

PATCHOGUE, NY JANUARY 16, 2013 St. Josephs College (SJC) is pleased to announce that three students from its Long Island Campus recently presented research on a variety of topics at the Brookhaven National Lab located in Upton, NY.

As part of a week-long externship, Cortney Crespo, Eric Ruhoy and John Hirdt, along with 34 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 week, they presented the results of their preliminary research for staff, administrators and faculty from the lab, as well as other colleges and universities.

"I was fortunate enough to hear these presentations firsthand and the energy displayed by the group was tangible, said S. Jane Fritz, professor of mathematics and computer science at SJC. "Our students were part of an elite group of math and science students, and I am sure we can all agree that we should be very proud of the work they did.

Ms. Crespo14, a biology major who plans to attend medical school after SJC, investigated gender differences and the effects of nicotine including depression, anxiety, neurological tasks, memory and learning.

Mr. Ruhoy 14, a double major in mathematics and computers, worked with researchers who are studying the new gluon-plasma state that has been discovered with the labs accelerator known as RHIC the relativistic high-energy ion collider. This study allows them to take a "step back in time to the beginning of the universe near the moment of the Big Bang.

Mr. Hirdt 15, a mathematics major with a minor in chemistry, explored infrared micro spectroscopy at The Center for Functional Nanomaterials to investigate the interaction between matter and radiated energy.

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