Biophysical Society Newsletter
13
JANUARY
2014
Spreading the Word about Biophysics
at Conferences for Minority Students
This past fall, the Biophysical Society joined over
6,000 undergraduate students at two of the largest
annual conferences for minority students interested
in science, The Society for the Advancement of
Hispanic/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science
(SACNAS) National Conference and the Annual Bio-
medical Research Conference for Minority Students
(ABRCMS). BPS, along with over 1,000 other insti-
tutions, agencies, and societies, provided student at-
tendees with professional advice, exposure to a variety
of disciplines, and an array of academic opportunities.
In October, BPS staff made their way to San
Antonio, Texas, for SACNAS, where Minority
Affairs Committee member,
Luis Marky
, Univer-
sity of Nebraska, chaired the biophysics sympo-
sium,
Cutting-Edge Research in the Electrostatics
of Nucleic Acids, Proteins, and Their Interactions
.
In addition to Marky,
Blanca Barquera
, Rens-
selaer Institute of Technology;
Thomas Truskett
,
University of Texas at Austin; and
Lauren Webb
,
University of Texas Austin, gave talks during the
symposium. MAC committee member
Silvia
Cavagnero
, University of Wisconsin, Madison,
joined Marky in judging biophysics-related post-
ers and selecting two students to win travel awards
to attend the BPS 2014 Annual Meeting in San
Francisco, California, and present their research.
The SACNAS Travel Award winners are
Melissa
Students wait in line wearing 3-D glasses to view the
show in the Biomolecular Discovery Dome.
Several students were presented with Poster Awards
from the Society at ABRCMS.
Hernandez
, University of New Mexico, and
Gelson
Pagan Diaz
, University of Puerto Rico.
Also, for the first time at SACNAS, BPS featured the
Biomolecular Discovery Dome which showed a mini-
film entitled
Trypanosoma: Parasite Kills Millions in
Africa and the Americas
. The dome allowed participants
to get a 3-D visual of the parasite and learn about the
biophysical research into the disease it causes—Sleeping
Sickness.
In November, BPS staff headed to Nashville, Ten-
nessee, for ABRCMS. BPS Staff members
April Dela
Vega
and
Claude Ngopa
spoke to students about the
Society’s programs and services, especially the Soci-
ety’s Summer Program in Biophysics, an 11-week
course at the University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill. Local BPS members
Brett Kroncke
and
Dungeng
Peng
, Vanderbilt University, judged biophysics-related
posters during the three-day conference and selected an
additional two travel award winners to attend the BPS
2014 Annual Meeting. The ABRCMS Travel Award
winners are
Joshua Rosario-Sepulveda
, University of
Puerto Rico at Cayay, and
Tomas Rodriguez
, University
of California, Davis.
In addition to the four travel awards, BPS sponsored a
total of 12 poster awards between the two conferences.
