Six Hillsdale students and two faculty members from the math and science departments attended the national Sigma Zeta convention in Kentucky from March 26-28.
The math and science honorary drew approximately 100 undergraduate chapter members from around the nation for their annual research convention.
Senior Mitchell Irmer, president of the Sigma Zeta chapter on campus, received the Sigma Zeta Honor Award and senior Annie Teigen gave an oral presentation.
“Annie did a great job,” Assistant Professor of Physics Paul Hosmer said.
Hosmer attended the convention as faculty adviser to Hillsdale’s Sigma Zeta chapter.
Teigen’s oral presentation, “Comparison of the CRISPR/Cas System and Traditional Restriction Endonucleases,” developed a protocol utilizing CRISPR/Cas genome-editing technology. Teigen researched this topic at a biomedical production company in Fargo, North Dakota, last summer.
“My highlight of the trip was hearing about all the research going on at different schools,” Teigen said. “It was surprising to realize how small the math and science world is. We are very much a community. From those connections I gained a bigger and broader idea of what is going on in the undergraduate research world.”
Nominated by the Hillsdale Sigma Zeta chapter, Irmer was one of the only two individuals who received the Honor Award.
“Sometimes you can lose touch with why you’re doing science,” Irmer said. “But everyone who presented at the convention had research that held an immediate impact on science, medicine, and industry.”
A female student from University of Indianapolis won first place for her oral presentation on jumping spiders.
“Her videos on jumping spiders were terrifying,” junior Codi Jo Broten said. “They were short snippets of something I never needed to see.”
At every Sigma Zeta convention, half a day is spent on a field trip that highlights the location of the convention. This year, students hiked at Breaks Interstate Park.
Professor of Physics Jim Peters started the Hillsdale chapter in 1975 and continues to serve as a faculty adviser.
“The beauty of Sigma Zeta is its interdisciplinary nature,” Peters said. “At conventions it is so much fun for these people to learn something new about science and their field. You participate in an event that makes society stronger as leaders.”
In the future, Peters said he hopes to host the national convention at Hillsdale.
“Sigma Zeta is on the up at Hillsdale College,” Irmer said.
