The Department of Biomedical Engineering held its 30th annual Graduate Student Research Symposium, a platform for biomedical engineering students in master's and doctoral programs to present their research and foster future collaboration.
“This is a big event for all students, to connect with faculty and fellow students and to design their future career,” said department Chair and Professor Yi-Xian Qin.
SUNY Distinguished Professor Clint Rubin, who also serves as the director of the Center for Biotechnology, described the August 22 symposium as a “pipeline of turning science into new diagnostics, therapeutics and medical devices.” Approximately 75 people attended the event at the Medical and Research Translation (MART) building.
“It gives our students an opportunity to discuss their work, field questions and make connections that will lead to collaboration,” said Professor Eric Brouzes in his introductory remarks.
Qin added, “Now is the right time to join Stony Brook University, one of New York’s flagship state universities. We have a total of 24 core faculty members now including our two newest, plus about 50 BME faculty, to enhance our research mission.” He introduced Assistant Professor Sufeng Zhang and Empire Innovation Associate Professor Eric Josephs.
“We are bigger, stronger and really growing,” Qin said. He highlighted the strong undergraduate program and noted that this event would help prepare students for conferences. “We also give out our own awards for teaching, research and service excellence.”
Five students presented during oral sessions in the morning, with another five presenting in the afternoon. Two poster sessions were held in the atrium where students explained their research to peers and faculty members.
Anthony Cheseboro, advised by Professor Lilianne Mujica-Parodi, remarked on his experience: “I find today exciting because I first learned about a lot of the work my thesis lab and our collaborators do at Research Day a few years ago.” His project was titled “Extending next-generation neural mass models to include biophysically-realistic neurons and networks.”
Cheseboro added, “It serves as a reminder of the science that initially captivated me...as I approach graduation.”
Graduate student Wanbin Tan shared similar sentiments: “It has always been a meaningful experience for me. It provides a valuable platform to share my research...and receive feedback from both peers and faculty members.” Tan presented on "Evaluation of electromagnetic motion tracking...in clinical brain PET imaging."
Faculty attendees included SUNY Distinguished Professors Danny Blaustein; Associate Professors Hassan Arbab; Congwu Du; Wei Lin; Yingtian Pan; Paul Vaska; Jun Wang alongside Qin, Rubin, Josephs, Zhang.
The symposium concluded with lunch followed by closing remarks from Brouzes and Qin. Presentations were judged by both students and faculty with certificates awarded at the department’s annual BBQ.
This year’s winners were:
- Oral Presentation Faculty Choice: Aishu Sreenivasamurth
- Oral Presentation Student Choice: Chris Ashdown
- Poster Presentation Faculty Choice: Zeming Kuang
- Poster Presentation Student Choice: Xiangyi Wu
Awardee Xiangyi Wu stated: “Research Day is a wonderful opportunity for me to share my work...receive valuable feedback...I am honored to receive recognition.”