On April 13, twenty Ithaca College undergraduate students from the Departments of Psychology, Biology and ENVS attended the annual meeting of the Eastern Colleges Science Conference (ECSC) at Niagara University where they presented their original research to a large audience of faculty and students in the social and natural sciences. This year’s conference had more than 80 platform and poster presentations by students from 16 different colleges and universities.
Students attending the conference included:
Psychology: Lin Chen, Aaliyah Diaz, Angelina Gonzalez, Amanda Lewis, Liam Lindner, Giovanni Machado, Blake Matthews, Nathan Moone, Isabella Sloan, Ethan Shusterman, Nicole Wheeler, Brooke Willer, Stella Win
Biology: Allison Aretz, Isaac Berman, Anne Culbert, Nathali Panora, Victoria Smart
ENVS: Grace Mattson, Adriana Sulca
Also attending the conference in support of their students were faculty mentors Dave Gondek and Nanda Cortes (Biology), Cyndy Scheibe and Hugh Stephenson (Psychology), and Susan Allen (ENVS).
Students were generally enthusiastic about their experience. Amanda Lewis noted, “ECSC was my first professional research conference, and I had a wonderful time. It was so interesting learning and networking with people from a variety of fields and institutions across the Northeast.” Describing the benefits of attending ECSC, Blake Matthews said, “The unique preparation and subsequent experience of attending a conference allows for professional development and community networking that allows Ithaca College and its students to have a leg up in graduate school applications which works to increase the graduation and retention rate of the college.”
Several Ithaca College students won awards at the conference. Psychology majors Aaliyah Diaz and Stella Win were awarded the outstanding platform presentation in psychology for their presentation “TV Guide Magazine: Identifying Harmful Content,” under the direction of Prof. Cyndy Scheibe. Biology major Nathali Panora was awarded the outstanding platform presentation in zoology for her presentation “Genetic and Vocal Diversity in Barred Owls and Spotted Owls,” under the direction of Prof. Nandadevi Cortes Rodriguez. Reflecting on her experience, Nathali said, "I wish I would have participated in ECSC sooner in my college career because it is a valuable and inspirational experience that has made me more passionate about research."
ECSC began in 1947 at Vassar College and is the oldest continuous annual science conference for undergraduate students in the United States. It has been held at Ithaca College several times, including 1995, 2003, and 2018.