September 2022 Summary

Our chapter had an exciting September! The UF and UIUC AAAR Chapters hosted our very first student-led research symposium on September 8. We kicked off the symposium hearing from Dr. Christina McCluskey from NCAR about her interdisciplinary research on ice nucleating particles in the Southern Ocean. We had 7 amazing student oral presentations and poster presentations. In the poster session, Yuqiao Chen from the University of Florida was awarded 3rd place, Jonathan Klicker-Wiechmann from Purdue University was second place, and Mariana Alifa from the University Notre Dame was first place! Congratulations! We heard from Dr. Natassja Lewinski from Virginia Commonwealth University for our second keynote talk about engineered nanoparticles and their health effects. We concluded our symposium with a star-studded career panel of Dr. Nicole Riemer, Dr. Vishal Verma, and Dr. Hongwan Li, where invaluable career advice was given to the students. Thank you to everyone who was involved in our symposium, and we hope to see you all at future conferences, symposiums, etc!

We celebrated our work after the end of the symposium by attending the 9th annual C-U Oktoberfest together. We enjoyed German snacks, beverages and music. Prost to a successful symposium!

Finally on September 27, we reviewed the famous Harvard “6 Cities” Study for our monthly journal club, led by club member Ganesh. This study was pivotal in establishing a connection between fine-particulate air pollution and reduced life expectancy. We discussed the findings of this paper as well as how it could be improved today.

Next month, we look forward to getting advice on fellowship applications from previous awardees and a social outing to Curtis Apple Orchard!

By Erin Emme