Senior Jade Witter and sophomore Yolanda Torres won 1st and 2nd place awards, respectively, for their poster presentations at the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Engineers’ (NOBCChE) 2nd Annual Collaborative Research Poster competition. The event was held March 17 through 19 at the University of Pittsburgh, with the theme, “Community and Opportunity in Chemistry.”
Witter presented “Design and In Vitro Antitumor Analysis of a Novel Diphenyltin Complex.” Torres presented “A Metabolomic Investigation of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Neurotoxicity in Glial Cell Cultures.”
UDC Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dr. Alexandra Taraboletti worked with the students on these projects and is extremely proud of them. “The students have accomplished so much even in the short amount of time they have worked with me – and that was shown by their respective wins,” said Taraboletti. “They went up against other students from highly funded research labs at large schools, and actually had more hands-on experience than their counterparts. I really believe our focus on undergraduate research, here at UDC and in the division of science and mathematics, plays such an important role in retaining diversity in STEM and hope to see these experiences supported.”
The NOBCChE Collaborative’s purpose is to develop a pipeline of academic career opportunities for NOBCChE undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral members that helps to achieve NOBCChE’s overall mission and seeks to improve the representation of people of color in academia.