Thank you to all who participated in the 2024 STEM Day event!
STEM Day provides opportunities to develop a broader understanding of current issues and career pathways in the STEM fields and highlights student and faculty research.
This annual event consists of scientific sessions and presentations from both professional and undergraduate research projects, giving prospective and current students, and employers, the opportunity to see the many ways Harford's STEM programs apply to relevant, real-world learning experiences. See for yourself by exploring Harford's many STEM programs, internships and research opportunities.
2024 STEM Day Recap
Dr. Angelia L. Seyfferth
Professor & Associate Dean of Research
Department of Plant & Soil Sciences
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of Delaware
Seyfferth earned her BS degree in Environmental Science and Chemistry at Towson University, her PhD in Soil and Water Sciences at the University of California-Riverside, and was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Environmental Earth System Sciences at Stanford University prior to starting her faculty position. Seyfferth’s research focuses mainly on using tools and concepts rooted in soil biogeochemistry to develop sustainable ways to lower human exposure to harmful contaminants from food. She uses both laboratory and field experiments as well as conventional and advanced spectroscopic techniques to illuminate the dynamic chemistry of the rhizosphere and to understand localization of contaminants and nutrients in soils and plants. Her research also includes understanding mineral control on below-ground carbon cycling in coastal environments that are prone to sea level rise and storm surges. She has won several awards, including the 2022 Jackson Award in Soil Chemistry and Mineralogy given by the Soil Science Society of America and the 2022 Charles S. Falkenberg Union Award co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union and the Earth Science Information Partners.
Coffee to Go
Alexis Russell, Eliana Matthews, Rowan Temby
We investigate a case scenario where a plaintiff sues a coffee company for serving
their coffee too hot, when he spills it on himself. We use Newton’s Law of Cooling
by substituting given information into the equation by solving for the cooling constant
k. By utilizing the cooling constant, as well as information from several possible
scenarios, we are able to calculate whether or not the coffee was above Maryland’s
industry standard.
ABRCMS Conference Experience
Alexandra Fender, Druscilla Darkwa, Kellie Simon, Izora Williams, Benjaporn Perkins
During the week of November 15-18th 2023, five students at Harford Community College
had the incredible opportunity to travel to Phoenix, Arizona and present at the Annual
Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists on the work done through
the biotechnology program. This was a national conference where research from multiple
disciplines was shared, including over 500 poster presentations and over 6,000 individuals
in attendance.
Secrets of the Slime: How Salamanders Tell Us about the Changing World
Andy Adams
Salamanders, like many amphibians, are extremely sensitive to even small environmental
changes in their respective ecosystems, and many can be considered "indicator species"
that sound the alarm bells for greater environmental issues that may be unseen with
the naked eye. But how do they give us these warnings? And how are the salamanders
themselves affected?
NHL Draft Player Data
Andrew Wallace
Every year since 1963 the NHL has hosted an "Entry Draft" where each team selects
prospective hockey players to join their organization. My presentation covers general
statistical insights related to various statistics collected from these events.
How would neighbors make life more dangerous?
Caoze Huang
The correlation between urbanization and disease spread illustrating an observational
study on how population density can potentially impact the rate at which communicable
diseases spread. Its implications can help gain insight into fields such as urban
planning and epidemiology.
Transfer Process and Experiences of Community College Transfer Students into a Flagship
Institution
Christopher A. Clark, Joessel A. Ruiz
Navigating the transfer process, applying for scholarships, and ensuring that our
selected courses at Harford actually transfer for credit in degree programs. How our
Harford experience prepared us for UMD and describe differences and challenges that
one might expect from transferring to UMD.
A Quick Introduction to Immunotherapy
Dan Ford
Historically, most cancer treatments have involved surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy.
Immunotherapy is a new category of treatment, which stimulates the immune system
to attack cancer cells. This covers how immunotherapy works and describes some of
the progress being made in this area of research.
Aviation Accident Data Analysis
Toby Mullan
Using and explaining the principles and processes of data science such as cleansing
and preparing data to analyze a set of aviation accident data to draw conclusions
from its contents, summarize patterns that appear in the data, and make unique inferences
about the data to gain insights into the field of aviation and how future accidents
can be limited or avoided based on the findings.
Alexis Russell
Identifying an Unknown Bacterium
The use of many laboratory methods including gram staining, FTM, catalase testing,
mobility, and many others to determine the cause and treatment for an infected patient.
Damilola Fapohunda
Hematopoietic Stem Cell-Related Transcription Factor Overexpression using Lentiviral
Vectors
Produced hematopoietic stem cell related transcription factors by utilizing plasmid
DNA found in E. coli, the lentiviral vector system, and cell culture techniques.
Jacob Chaney, Matthew Primus, Research Mentor Dr. Susan Walker
The effects of Benadryl on CHO-K1 cell viability
Histamine plays a role in allergic reactions and inflammatory responses in the body
by binding to histamine type 1 receptors (H1R). The results showed that increased
concentrations of DPH led to decreases in cell viability and changes in cell morphology.
These results suggest that higher doses of DPH may inhibit H1R and affect the cells’
ability to adhere to each other and the culture wells.
Kellie Simon, Druscilla Darwka, Alexandra Fender
Effects of Murraya koenigii Leaf Liquid Extract on the Viability of CHO-K1 Cells
The Indian spice Murraya koenigii, commonly known as curry leaf, has been suggested
to possess therapeutic properties including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and
antidiabetic effects (Balakrishnan et al., 2020). To investigate the safety of this
holistic medicine, a modified cell viability assay was performed using CHO-K1 epithelial
cells.
Isabella Helinski, Brenna Franklin
Forensic and Medicinal view on SIDS and Possible Prevention Methods
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a condition where it is the abrupt death of
an infant or any small child. While the causes are unknown, it is presumed that factors
such as genetic, environmental, social, homeostatic, and socioeconomic factors could
explain why an infant or small child succumbs to SIDS. Review the data and discuss
methods that every parent may employ to mitigate SIDS.
Wayne Manrakhan
Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences in Physics
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been identified as a
means of positively impacting students' interest and retention in the sciences, with
the additional benefits of accessibility and impacting large numbers of students.
I will also discuss how students' experiences during their research project impacted
their perceived growth on completed the CURE.
Santino J. Fazio, Gabriel Q. McGill, Weslie Wade
Thermal Expansion of Industrial Grade Metal Samples
Non-destructive testing of industrially produced alloys and structures is fundamental
to ensuring that the tested material is of high-quality and reliability. Interferometry
is an excellent method for low temperature determination of thermal expansion due
to its high precision and accuracy.
Clarissa DeSalvo, Zachary Mittman, Nickolas McClelland, Andrew Goff, Joshua Shatto
Wilson
Construction, Testing and Evaluation of CosmicWatch Desktop Muon Detectors
The CosmicWatch Desktop Muon Detector is a self-contained, low-cost cosmic ray muon
detector designed to be built, evaluated, and used by university students with access
to electronics and machine shops. Our experience constructing these detectors from
sources parts and troubleshooting issues during and the construction process.
Professional Panel
Dr. Mina Izadjoo, Integrated Pharma Services, President and Chief Science Officer
Prior to her current position she was the Vice President and Chief Science Officer of Trideum Biosciences. Formerly, she was “Senior Distinguished Scientist” and Director of the Diagnostics and Translational Research Center (DTRC) of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation (HJF) for Advancement of Military Medicine. She served as the Chief of Microbiology and Wound Biology and Translational Research (WBTR) Division at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in Washington DC prior to her position at HJF. While at AFIP, she was awarded the title of “Distinguished Scientist” in accordance with the Public Law 94-36 for demonstrated ability and experience to enhance the activities of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in consultation, education, and research.
Dr. Izadjoo received her PhD in Microbiology from Louisiana State University in 1992. This was followed by six years of post-doctoral fellowships at Texas A&M University and NIH in molecular biology and immunogenomics. Her research efforts have been focused on developing and evaluating diagnostics and therapeutics.
She has several patented technologies including platform technology for standardized
growth of polymicrobial communities and biofilm research. Dr. Izadjoo is the recipient
of numerous national and international awards for her work in infectious disease research.
Today, she continues pursuing her research interest in the private sector focused
on developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for infections caused by
drug-resistant pathogens and other hard-to-treat infections related to women’s health.
Dr. Jared DeCoste, XpeRience Science, President and Founder
Throughout the years, Dr. Decoste’s research interests have mainly focused on the
development of novel porous materials such as metal-organic frameworks for the targeted
adsorption and destruction of toxic threats. Working as a principal investigator,
his research expanded into the use of synthetic biology for the development of novel
materials and biomanufacturing of critical material. While the research aspect of
his career has always been important, the development of the current and future STEM
workforce has continued to be Dr. DeCoste’s passion. Mentoring and STEM Outreach have
always played an important role in everything he does. In the past few years, Jared
assumed a more active role in developing programs and relationships that help foster
the development of the next generation of great scientists.
Mike Dickerson, US Army Test and Evaluation Command, Director
Mr. Michael Dickerson serves as the Director of Capabilities Integration for the US Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. In this capacity he is responsible for the management of ATEC test capabilities, the development and training of T&E policy, and serves as the functional proponent for T&E Enterprise IT Systems. Mr. Dickerson began working for the Army in June 2008 as a Test Officer at Yuma Test Center, Arizona. In 2021 he was selected for a broadening assignment in the DUSA-TE office.
Mr. Dickerson graduated from the University of Arizona in 2008 with a Bachelor of
Science in Mechanical Engineering. He also holds a Masters in Engineering Management
(2015) and Business Administration (2019), both of the University of Arizona. Mr.
Dickerson is a native of Sierra Vista, Arizona. He and his wife Kimberly have been
married for 17 years and have one son (Jacob, 14).
Courtney Miller, Capital Diagnostics, LLC, Clinical Laboratory Manager
Ms. Courtney Miller is a Clinical Laboratory Manager for Capital Diagnostics, in Laurel,
Maryland, a physician owned and operated laboratory. Courtney oversees toxicology
testing and associated results as part of developing a treatment plan for patients
suffering from chronic conditions. Before working for Capital Diagnostics, she was
a Toxicology Certifying Data Scientist & Interim Technical Supervisor at Vibra Health
Laboratory. Ms. Miller earned her MS in Chemistry from the University of Saint Joseph,
her BS in Chemistry from Towson University, and is a graduate of Harford Community
College. During the Fall 2023 semester, Courtney served as a full-time professor of
Chemistry at Harford. She continues to teach Chemistry as an Adjunct Faculty member
at Harford while in her full-time role as a Clinical Laboratory Manager for Capital
Diagnostics.
Student Awards and Closing Comments
Hosted by Dr. Pamela Pape-Lindstrom
Student Awardees will be published following the event.
“Participation in an undergraduate research experience is known to be a high-impact educational practice. Engaging students in undergraduate research has become an emerging best-practice at community colleges in the last decade. Harford faculty across multiple disciplines embed research experiences into traditional lab courses. For example, our biotechnology students participate in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program."
~Pamela Pape-Lindstrom, Dean of STEM
NOTICE REGARDING PHOTOGRAPHY: Be advised that photographs and/or video may be taken at this event for use by Harford Community College. By taking part in this event, you grant the event organizers full rights to use the images resulting from any photography or video taken. Photos and video become the property of Harford Community College.