Elon junior Geoffrey Lynn, right, won a first place prize for his presentation at the 2005 Sigma Xi Student Research Conference Nov. 4-5 in Seattle. Two other students also won awards for their presentations. Details...
Lynn received a first place award for a chemistry research presentation titled “A Kinetic, Mechanistic and Characterization Study of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized in the Reduction of Silver Oxide by Hydrogen Gas in the Aqueous Phase.”
Earlier this year, Lynn, a chemistry major from Deland, Fla., became the first Elon student to earn a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. He has worked closely on research with chemistry faculty member Joel Karty.
Senior chemistry major Ashley Biscoe won second place in the Chemistry division, while Mary Caruso, also a senior chemistry major, won second place in the Interdisciplinary division.
Students in the Sigma Xi competition were recognized at an awards session with a certificate and an invitation to join Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society.
More than 200 undergraduate and graduate students from North America and abroad participated in the annual event, which showcases the best in student science and engineering research. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences was a major sponsor of the conference.
In addition to making presentations, students attended career development workshops and participated in mentoring and networking activities, panel discussions, and other events. They also heard talks by celebrated oceanographer Sylvia Earle and C++ computer language inventor Bjarne Stroustrup, both affiliated with Texas A&M University.
Sigma Xi, the conference host, is the international honor society of research scientists and engineers, with more than 500 chapters in North America and around the world. Over the years, more than 200 Sigma Xi members have received the Nobel Prize.
A number of members, who were attending the society’s annual meeting in Seattle, served as judges for the student research conference.
Publisher of American Scientist magazine, Sigma Xi is a nonprofit organization that sponsors a variety of programs aimed at promoting and supporting science and engineering.
Each year the society awards hundreds of grants to undergraduate and graduate students in North America and overseas through its Grants-in-Aid of Research program, for which the application deadlines are March 15 and Oct. 15 annually. Visit the Web site to learn more about this year’s Student Research Conference and Lynn’s presentation.