Sixth-Grader Surprises Science Community

 Three cheers for young women in STEM!

Lauren Arrington, a Florida sixth-grader, grabbed the attention of scientists when she submitted her science fair project results.

Lauren's results indicated that lionfish, normally thought to be mainly saltwater fish and an invasive species to boot,  "can survive in nearly fresh water." 

Experiments have been done on the lionfish's habitat before, but Lauren's project took the numbers of salinity (or lack thereof) even further.

Lauren's fish lived in water with salt levels of 6 parts per thousand.

 

 

 
Her research project is also being cited in a science journal.  Congratulations, Lauren!

Read the full story at NPR's site here.

McNair & ROP Impromptu Speech Competition

On June 27th, the thirty-three students from the McNair Scholars and Research Opportunity Programs’ summer cohort competed in a Students for STEM Success (S³) sponsored Impromptu Speech Competition!

The friendly competition was a follow-up to an Oral Presentation Skills workshop the previous week.  These workshops were designed to give the students tips, tricks, and practice on how to communicate effectively in a variety of ways.  

The Competition!

The group of 33 was first divided into 4 teams.  Students competed in two rounds of competition within the small groups and each group voted on who to send to the championship round.  For each round, students selected a random topic out of a selection of approximately 40 topics. For each round, the competitors had 2 minutes to prep a 1 minute speech on that topic.

Topics included:

If everything in the world had to change to the same color, what color would you choose and why?

Explain how a smart person might not be wise.

Why should you get money for your research?

You are an ant. Convince an anteater to not eat you.

It was a close competition!  The four finalists did a fantastic job of entertaining us with their impromptu one minute speeches.  There could only be one champion and the cohort voted Dominique Santistevan the winner for her speech on The best way to teach an old dog a new trick.

Congratulations again to Dominique the first S³ Impromptu Speech Champion!

If you would like to see the skills these students learned in action please attend the 2014 McNair Scholars and Research Opportunity Programs’ Summer Research Symposium on July 10 & 11, 2014 at Centennial Engineering Center, Room 1041 (Auditorium).  This event features the mid-summer research presentations of the undergraduate scholars in the program.