Students Win Awards at 2021 PASSHE STEM Student Research Conference

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown University students Camille Kester and Stephanie Shara won presentation awards at the 2021 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) STEM Student Research Conference held at KU Saturday, Nov. 6. The conference offered opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students to present research they have conducted in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

Kester is a computer science major. Her presentation was entitled, "An Interdisciplinary Approach to Game Design." This presentation landed Kester the Best Presentation award for Category B: Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics.

Shara is a physical science major and won the Best Presentation award for Category D: Chemistry and Geoscience with her presentation, "A New Method to Dimerize Proteins Using Cooperative Binding of HAP1 to DNA."

There were two other presentation awards granted at this year's conference. The Best Presentation award for Category A: Physics and Engineering, as well as Best Presentation award for Category C: Biology, Anthropology, Health Science, Psychology and Other. Marisa Iraca of Lock Haven University took away the Category A award with a presentation of her studies on the anode of the polymer solar cells. The Category C award was given to Olivia Medina of Millersville University for her presentation, "The Effects of Vaping on Esophageal Keratinocytes."

There were more than 80 faculty members and students who participated in the 2021 PASSHE STEM Student Research Conference at KU. There were also more than 40 research presentations (in both oral and poster format) given by undergraduate and graduate students from 10 different PASSHE schools.