PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Drexel University students getting their Ph.D. or Master's degrees in the biomedical sciences presented their research at the university’s annual Discovery Day.
Students studying various sciences stood by posters inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City, explaining the research on which they’ve been working.
“Being able to have people come to my poster, or come to my talk and then be able to ask me questions about it, gives me the chance to better my science," fourth-year Ph.D. candidate Kathleen Bryant explained.
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She has been researching casual drinking behaviors, with a bit of a surprise, "no way" kind of result.
"My data has actually found that drinking after learning can actually enhance learning," Bryant said.
Fellow fourth-year Ph.D. student Taylor McCorkle added that students tend to spend much of their time alone in the lab.
"Now we get the opportunity to see what our peers are doing and really talk in-depth about the cool science that they’re doing, which is super awesome," she added.
McCorkle has been studying sports concussions in adolescent male and female rats.
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"We’re seeing cognitive deficits in male animals, but in the female animals we're seeing this kind of delay," said McCorkle.
Organizers saw the excitement about resuming the event, following a pandemic-caused virtual year for the program.
“The students were really eager to have this experience in person, and so I think the energy this particular year is so positive,” Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies Dean Dr. Elisabeth Van Bockstaele pointed out.
New York University Assistant Professor Dr. Azizi Seixas, the keynote speaker for the event, said the skill of learning to think like a scientist is now more important than ever.
“I believe (much) of the hesitance we see regarding science and vaccines is because scientific education has been gutted and depleted," said Dr. Seixas.
"Opportunities like this to cultivate a scientific mind (are) just a wonderful opportunity to make our society better consumers of science.”
Dr. Seixas spoke about how a lack of funding and support often "kills the ingenuity and the life of our scientists," raising the importance of events like these for students to showcase their research, findings, and methods.
“Not everyone has to be a scientist, or be scientific," Dr. Seixas said, "but can be scientifically-minded."
