MSU Seniors Take Top Spots In National STEM Competition

Morgan State University students Nishone Thompson and Sarai Nwagbaraocha were invited to attend and compete in the annual Emory University-Laney Graduate School STEM Research and Career Symposium held in Atlanta, Georgia. Thompson and Nwagbaraocha placed 1^st and 3^rd, respectively, in the competition’s undergraduate poster session category. An estimated 150 students from all across the U.S. participated in the event.

Convened and organized by the Laney Graduate School, the symposium brings undergraduates, graduate students and faculty advisors from across the nation to Emory for several days of presentations, networking, mentoring, and recruitment. In addition, participating students were given an opportunity to present their research in a wide variety of scientific categories through both oral and poster presentations.

Thompson, a senior Biology major and a member of The Aslan Research Group, presented information about the Metal-Assisted and Microwave-Accelerated Decrystallization (MAMAD) technique, which was developed by the School of Computer, Mathematical & Natural Sciences’ Dr. Kadir Aslan. The MAMAD technique, which could one day be used to assist gout sufferers, is used to break down the crystals that are deposited in the joints. While treatment for gout currently exists, there are known side effects and the current care typically does not remove the crystals present in the joints. Thompson is working within a large group of students to change that reality. Morgan has filed for a utility patent on the MAMAD technique in 2016.

Nwagbaraocha, a senior electrical engineering major, presented some interesting information on the sentiment analysis of tweets via the social media platform Twitter. Her research analyzed a collective of tweets, specifically those used to detect a water-based crisis, such as the Flint water crisis. The poster included preliminary results on the tracking of such tweets and what potentially could be extracted from the information collected.

Congratulations to Nishone Thompson and Sarai Nwagbaraocha on their accomplishment and for representing Morgan well!