Senior Danny Nguyen’s poster, “The Prevalence of Microplastics in North Dakota Waterfowl,” won first place in the Poster Presentation from TriBeta (National Biological Honor Society) at the joint Minnesota Academy of Science Winchell Undergraduate Research Symposium and the state TriBeta meeting.
The 2022 event was held at Hamline University on April 23 where the keynote speaker was Dr. John Banovetz, chief technology officer and executive vice president at 3M.
Dr. Jennifer Sweatman, assistant professor of biology, was one of the faculty members that also attended the conference.
“Danny's poster was well attended,” Sweatman said. “Through the entire 45-minute session he constantly had 2+ people asking him about the project and his role.”
“In terms of general research, Danny has been an excellent and motivated member of the research team,” she added. “He has spent hours beyond the summer research session writing abstracts and designing presentations, both poster and oral. He has presented at multiple venues in addition to this conference, including COSS (Celebration of Student Scholarship) and The Wildlife Society meeting.”
“I got the chance to present my findings of the research grant that I received from TriBeta,” Nguyen said. “It was exciting to present among 50+ students and get to see wonderful research projects.”
“What made it more successful and meaningful was Dr. Sweatman's guidance throughout this process,” he added. “I was excited to share this research about the prevalence of microplastics, which is important for everyone to acknowledge because of its negative impacts on the ecosystem.”
Nguyen said that by attending this type of conference he was able to recognize how much he appreciated the opportunity to not only share but also learn from others and it’s nice to see what academic research looks like at other campuses.
“Over the course of this trip, I got to know Dr. Sweatman, Dr. Whittaker, and Dr. Wyllie beyond an academic setting,” he said. “So, overall, this was an experience that tied my year up nicely before graduating. I would encourage everyone to attend a conference any time they get the chance, to not only experience what I did but also for networking.”
After graduation, Nguyen will attend Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York.