This past September, Washington DC welcomed sunny fall weather and the 39th Annual NOBCChE Conference. This four day meeting of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) took place in downtown DC and attracted over 1500 attendees, many of them students.
These attendees participated in scientific sessions, career fairs, networking luncheons, and many professional development sessions, all focusing on the conference’s theme “STEMulating Innovation & Economic Growth through Diversity.”
The Biophysical Society sponsored poster awards for both undergraduate and graduate student attendees who were presenting their abstracts. Minority Affairs Committee members Dr. Chandran Sabanayagam (University of Delaware) and Dr. Kandice Tanner (National Institutes of Health) served as judges for the Biophysical Society.
Four awardees were selected from the poster session. Each of the following students were selected for the Biophysical Society sponsored award:
- U’Kevia Bell, Undergraduate Medical Academy, Prairie View A&M University
Rational Engineering of E. coli for Increased Gluoconate Production
- Brandon Hernandez, Southwestern College
- Petrina Boucher, University of Maryland
Flavin Electron Transfer During the Reductive Dehalogenation of Iodotyrosine Deiodinase
- Angela Mahaffey, Loyola University Chicago
The Critical Role of the Guanidinium Group for Arginine-32 in the Catalysis of E. coli ADP-Glucose Pyrophosphorylase
Congratulations to these students! For more information on NOBCChE, visit their website.
