Summer 2024 Program
|
Date |
Time |
Event Description/Location |
|---|---|---|
|
Tuesday, May 28 |
9:30am |
Lab Safety Training (Park 278) |
|
Tuesday, May 28 |
1:00pm |
Orientation: Park 100/Park 126 (Dr K., Sarah Robertson, Abby Gilman) |
|
Friday, June 7 |
11:59pm |
Project title and abstract due |
|
Friday, June 14 |
2:00pm |
Transitioning from Physics to Neuroscience and Cognition: Challenges, opportunities, and perspectives Speaker: Candida Da Silva Ferreira Barreto, PhD (Park 25) |
|
Thursday, June 27 |
11:00am |
Speaking and Posters: Presenting Your Work and Yourself. Public Speaking Workshop Matthew Ruben, PhD (Park 25) |
|
Tuesday, July 16 |
12:00pm |
Traveling in space and time: Mudflats, mollusks, and my journey Speaker: Christy Visaggi, PhD (Park 180) |
|
Friday, July 26 |
3:00pm |
Development of MK-7845 as an investigational treatment for COVID-19 Speaker: Shorouk Badir, PhD (Park 25) |
|
Friday, August 2 |
|
Program end date |
|
Friday, August 9 |
11:59pm |
Student posters due Summer research summary (four PowerPoint slides – ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ and Beyond) due |
|
Friday, September 20 |
10:00am-2:00pm |
Summer Science Research Poster Session |
2024 Speakers Series
Candida Da Silva Ferreira Barreto, PhD
Dr. Barreto has a multidisciplinary background. She has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Cognition from the Federal University of ABC (UFABC-Brazil), with one year at Drexel University funded by the prestigious Fulbright Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA). She also earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA-Brazil).
Currently, Dr. Barreto is a Postdoctoral fellow at Drexel University, and her research focuses on the application of non-invasive brain imaging techniques, such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG), to understand the human brain mechanisms underlying everyday life situations. By collaborating with multiple researchers worldwide, she has investigated the human brain activity of children and adults (healthy and clinical populations) in several scenarios, including education, emotional responses to music, and social stimuli processing.
Prior to her postdoctoral fellowship at Drexel, Dr. Barreto worked as a research associate and postdoc at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in South Africa. She worked on implementing the first fNIRS laboratory in Johannesburg and provided technical training and support to UJ researchers. Simultaneously, she conducted a study to understand the neural underpinning of mathematics anxiety in South African children and collaborated with UJ researchers to investigate the cognitive effort of mathematics vocabulary in children learning in a multilanguage environment.
Dr. Barreto's research is not just about individual achievements but also about fostering collaboration and sharing knowledge. She truly believes in the power of education to improve people's lives. Therefore, she has a great interest in using science to benefit society, especially those in situations of social and economic vulnerability.
Christy Visaggi, PhD.
Dr. Christy Visaggi is a Principal Lecturer and the Undergraduate Director in Geosciences at Georgia State University (GSU), a large minority-serving institution in Atlanta, GA. She is also a Faculty Associate for High-Impact Practices and Experiential Learning in the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Online Education at GSU. Dr. Visaggi received a BA in Geology (Colgate University), MS in Geology (Syracuse University) and PhD in Marine Biology (UNC Wilmington). Outside of higher education, Dr. Visaggi has also worked in K-12 schools, museums, marine labs, and with the National Park Service (NPS).
Her research utilizes field, lab, and community-based approaches in studying modern and ancient life. That work has included surveying fossil shark teeth, documenting marine debris, studying urban land snail ecology, and analyzing patterns of predation on marine invertebrates. Fieldwork has spanned across North, Central, and South America with co-authored research in publications such as Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Journal of Molluscan Studies, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, and Science. Dr. Visaggi is also active in research and programs that support sustainability and conservation as well as STEM education more broadly. Her courses at GSU focus on geology, paleontology, natural disasters, coral reefs, and more. She has received numerous awards for excellence in instruction, research, and mentoring with national recognition from the Geological Society of America, American Geophysical Union, Association for Women Geoscientists, and National Society for Experiential Education.
Dr. Visaggi is passionate about sharing her love of science as an educator, paleontologist, mom, and mentor to students. She is a past president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and coordinates the Paleontology in the Parks Fellowship Program for the NPS and Paleontological Society. She particularly enjoys guiding students in research such as through NSF REUs as well as ‘lighting the scientific spark’ in others through public outreach at the Atlanta Science Festival. Her enthusiasm for science education/outreach, advancing DEI in the geosciences, preparing students for their careers, and supporting faculty in their pedagogy drives much of what she does at GSU and beyond.
Shorouk Badir, PhD
Shorouk Badir obtained her Bachelor’s degree from ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ under the supervision of Professor Bill Malachowski. She then moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where she obtained her PhD collaborating with Professor Gary Molander on photoinduced single-electron transfer processes and Ni-catalyzed cross-couplings. Shorouk began her career at Merck in Rahway in process chemistry in 2021, where she made important contributions to clinical candidates for HIV, SARS-CoV-2, and cancer treatment. In late 2019, SARS-CoV-2 started to rapidly spread across the globe, and over the next three years this novel coronavirus is estimated to have infected 740 million people and led to 6.8 million deaths. In response to this threat, research efforts to combat the virus swiftly increased across governmental, academic, and industrial research communities. Our company, like many others, initiated a multi-pronged approach to combat SARS-CoV-2; one major effort was focused on the development of an inhibitor of the viral 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLPro). This presentation will focus on the rapid development of MK-7845 for the treatment of COVID-19.