Elizabeth City State University students and other representatives attended the Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in Washington, DC on February 26, 2016. This conference was intended for college and university undergraduate and graduate students who participate in programs funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Human Resource Development (HRD) Unit, including underrepresented minorities and persons with disabilities. This conference was hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Education and Human Resources Programs (EHR) along with the NSF HRD Unit within the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR).

The keynote speaker was Dr. Juan E. Gilbert, Andrew Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Chair and Associate Chair of the Research in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Department at the University of Florida where he leads the Human Experience Research Lab. He is pictured below at the top left with students from ECSU after his presentation.

Students presenting at the conference included:

Tori Wilbon (Poster)
Developing an Active Contours Model for Layer Detection from Polar Radar Imagery

Cameron Bernado (Maleek Richardson)
Understanding The Sleep/Wake Regulatory System

Alia Wofford
How do Photoperiod and Temperature Impact Flowering in Mimulus gut talus?

Joshua Williams
Effects of Paromomycin on Self and Cross Pollinated Cultivars of Wisconsin Fast Plants (Brassica rapa)

Ama Agyapong (Poster)
Preliminary Application of Optical Trapping: Calculating Forces on Beads in Solution

Shunafrica White
Mechanical Design of Coronagraph CubeSa

Tanviben Patel (Poster)
Optical and Electrical Properties of Vanadium Dioxide (VO2) Thin Film Doped with Niobium (Nb)

Nigel Pugh Trip Report
The Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) took place at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Washington, DC on February 25-27, 2015. This is a three-day conference that includes: research poster and oral presentations, plenary sessions, and STEM workshops.

Through my duration of the conference I had the pleasure of sitting in and listening to undergraduate computer science oral presentations. Students that presented were from. different universities such as Jackson State University, Rollins College, and Bowie State University. The research topics included: Database, Android Security, and 3-D modeling. One of the coolest one’s was the 3-D modeling project. The student from Bowie State University help create a 3-D model of their university. With the assistance of virtual reality (VR), they created a virtual tour of there university. To put this in perspective, if a student owns a VR headset, they could tour this university from the comfort of their own home and tour this university (which includes the exterior and interior of different buildings). The project still has work to be done, but once it is complete, but when it is finished, it will be a nice tool for Bowie State University to use.

The keynote speaker for the Awards & Closing banquet was Dr. Juan Gilbert. Dr. Juan Gilbert is a Andrew Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Professor and Chair of the Computer & Information Science & Engineering Department. He is over the Human Experience Research Lab. His research consists of: Human-Centered Computing and Database & Data Analytics Research. It was a pleasure to be able to hear him speak and meet him.

This is my second year in a row attending the ERN Conference. It never disappoints. I always have enjoyed myself when I attend. I strongly encourage students in the STEM discipline to attend next year if they have never been before. This is an excellent place to network, and surround yourself with bright scholarly individuals.