2019 AAAS Student E-Poster Competition Experience
Written by Ada Vernet-Crua, a first-year PhD student.
About Ada Vernet-Crua
Ada is working in the Nanomedicine lab investigating novel materials for biomedical applications – such as antibacterial and anticancer – utilizing different eco-friendly and cost-effective approaches to produce metallic nanoparticles. Before starting at Northeastern, Ada completed her BS in Chemistry at Rovira I Virgili University (Spain). She also got her MS in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the same university by completing her Master’s thesis at Northeastern.
She has published several papers and presented in many conferences such as AIChE, AAAS, MRS, and BMES. In addition, Ada has received awards as the best oral presentation at the IAAM conference and an honorific mention in the in the Medicine and Public Health category of the 2019 AAAS Student E-Poster Competition.
2019 AAAS Student E-Poster Competition Experience
As a part of my PhD program, attending conferences is a vital process to give visibility to my research, not only to improve my knowledge and presentation skills but also to connect and exchange ideas with the science community. Therefore, I am always looking forward to new opportunities to gain experience and who knows- maybe collaborators in other labs- by searching for new conferences in the US or even internationally. Consequently, as an active member of AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) I attended the annual meeting that took place in Washington on February 14-17th. As AAAS has various sections – from biology and medicine to social sciences – in addition to presenting my own research I also volunteered there so I could fully experience the conference, and improve my knowledge.
My research under the name of – “Green Synthesis of a Metallic Synergetic Nanostructure for Biomedical Applications” – was presented in the student competition, which recognized the individual efforts of students actively working toward different degrees, in my case doctoral-level, by an oral presentation of an electronic poster. From the different categories, I was entered in the Medicine and Public Health sector due to the main applications of my research.
The selection of the winners was based on the originality of the work and the critical understanding of the subject. My surprise came after a few weeks when I received an email saying I was one of the winners! The prize consisted of the publication of my poster in the Science Journal, which gives me the opportunity to give a voice to my project and spread my research among the scientific community. It also can give me the chance to publicize my job in an important journal and get my lab known.
After this experience, I have been encouraged to participate in more conferences and I strongly suggest other students to do it as well!