Large black boards displaying professional looking posters lined the Atrium last Thursday. They formed aisles full of complicated concepts and the successes of hard work. Graduate students looked sharp as they stood by their respective posters proudly explaining their work. This was the 9th Annual GSA Research Showcase.
It started off at 10 in the morning with Guest Speaker, Dr. Markus Hofmann, Executive Vice President of Bell Labs. “He gave us useful insight about the research industry,” said Zhe He, president of GSA. From 12 to 2:30, the poster presentations were open to the public, then concluded with an Awards Ceremony.
Hosted by NJIT’s Graduate Student Association (GSA), this event is dedicated for graduate students to present their work and get rewarded as well. Though open to the general public, the presenters focused on impressing faculty judges, representing 11 different departments. An Outstanding Research Award was given to one student from each college, and an Overall Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award was given to the best overall poster and presentation. The posters were scored on organization, overall appearance and content. In addition, all students who were presenting a poster received a $25 gift card and a certificate. Chemical Engineering major Zhiyi Wu, who is an international student, did his research on nanomaterials to be used as catalysts in the oxidation of methanol. “This will come in handy,” he said, as he showed off his gift card. The winner of the Overall Award was Yasmine Aly, a Chemical Engineering major, whose research was on metal base powder in ignition and combustion as a fuel additive.
GSA president He, was quite pleased with the outcome. “This is an event to promote research, an opportunity to show what you do. This is our 9th year and we had an unprecedented 71 posters, including 6 from Rutgers,” he beamed. This was one of GSA’s main events, which He and his committee have put a lot of work into planning since September. This was a successful event with a good turnout and hopefully it can continue to grow every year to promote graduate research.
