Encouraged by the success stories of the virtual collegiate competitions of 2020 WE Local Buffalo and Des Moines, the 2021 WE Local Collegiate Competition Subcommittee hosted the 2021 WE Local Virtual Collegiate Competition on Saturday, March 13th. Our finalists and judges took to their computers to join in for a live zoom meeting to hear everyone’s presentations.
Ten finalists (5 Undergraduates and 5 Graduates) presented their cutting-edge research in a 10-minute long lightning talk (a short and powerful demonstration of their accomplishments in the lab). Their talks were exciting and covered a broad spectrum of technical topics, ranging from 3D printing, to cancer, to drug and biomolecular research, to education and classroom teaching experiences—and so on. Each lightning talk was followed by three minutes of Q&A with the judges. In addition to the lightning talk, the finalists were required to prepare a poster of their research, which was reviewed by judges via email.
Heartiest congratulations again to all of our brilliant and hardworking Collegiate Competition winners!
Undergraduate Winners
- 1st place: Emily McDonel, The Ohio State University
- 2nd place: Lauren Pan, The University of Alabama
- 3rd place: Madeline Groettum, The Catholic University of America
- 4th place: Mary Rola, University at Buffalo
- 5th place: Rebecca Grey, Penn State Erie: The Behrend College
Graduate Winners
- 1st place: Thivani Senathiraja, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- 2nd place: Elizabeth Mamros, University of New Hampshire
- 3rd place: Parinaz Hafezisefat, Iowa State University
- 4th place: Sabrina Khan, University of Notre Dame
- 5th place: Yareni Lara-Rodríguez, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
Much appreciation and thanks go to the entire WE Local Advisory Board and the Collegiate Competition Subcommittee for supporting the 2021 WE Local Virtual Collegiate Competition, virtually. Thanks to Devyn Yates and Mackenzie Morgan for all their leadership and assistance with hosting the competition. Additional thanks to the finalists and judges for making this virtual collegiate competition a success.
We are now working towards planning our 2022 WE Local conferences! Check out the WE Local website in August 2021 for more details.
Pramita Mitra and Jenn Johnson
2021 WE Local Collegiate Competition Subcommittee Members
Related content:
- SWE Announces 2021 WE Local Award Recipients
- Announcing SWENext Global Innovator Awards from WE20
- The Heart of Science: A New Book from 2020 SWE Achievement Award Recipient, Jayshree Seth
- Congratulations to Our WE20 Collegiate Competition Winners!
