MESA students attend research and leadership conference
Posted: 10/05/2010 07:51:53 PM MDT


Every year the New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation (New Mexico AMP) hosts a statewide student research conference on the campus of New Mexico State University (NMSU).

This conference brings together students and faculty from the state's colleges and universities as well as students and teachers from NM MESA.

Here college students have the opportunity to present their research and gain presentation experience.

They also serve as role models for high school students who also get to participate in workshops de-signed specifically for them.

The AMP program also provides scholarship opportunities just for NM MESA students who are majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields and attending college in NM.

This year the conference was attended by three Mescalero Apache High School students Jinnelle Foy, Cortnie Kaydahzinne, and Robert Kie and MESA Advisor Ashley Ivins.

Immediately they knew they were in for a great conference with the kickoff a keynote speech by Dr. Tyrone Hayes, Professor of Biology at the University of California, Berkley.

Dr. Hayes has been published many times as well as featured in literature such as National Geo-graphic for his work on the effects of chemicals in our water supply. His work studies the effects on the development of frogs in order to learn if humans may similarly be affected.

His riveting speech and amazing research reveals a crucial new link between conservation and health.
Mescalero senior Jinnelle Foy, who is considering majoring in biology, found the speech to be "so interesting" and Dr. Hayes to be "awesome, a really great speaker."

Jinnelle was even able to speak with Dr. Hayes after his presentation about what he chose as a college major and what led him to become a biologist studying frogs.

Next the Mescalero students attended the oral presentations and poster sessions by college students from across New Mexico as well as visiting students from New York.

The student presentations offer the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of science disciplines, mathematics and engineering.

Between presentations, the Mescalero students met Dr. Hansen, Professor of Biology and Researcher of Molecular Vector Biology, New Mexico State University, who offered to take them on a personal tour of some of the laboratories at NMSU.

There they were able to see Dr. Hansen's work on mosquitoes that ultimately fights mosquito-borne diseases.

The students also saw fruit flies and regenerative fish that were being studied at NMSU.

In the afternoon session, the students learned about physics from Dr. Stephen Kanim, Professor of Physics, NMSU, who brought lots of interesting visual demonstrations.

Cortnie Kaydahzinne of Mescalero High School had the opportunity to ride on a hovercraft built by Dr. Kanim's students.

"It was fun but a little scary!" Cortnie said of her ride on air.