Saturday March 28, 2009 marked a memorable occasion for the St. Croix community when close to forty of UVI’s Emerging Caribbean Scientists (ECS) presented their research at the Seventh Annual Spring Research Symposium on the St. Croix Campus of the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI). The event on March 28 which was one of several activities in celebration of UVI’s Charter month anniversary, was administered by the ECS Planning Committee of the Division of Science and Mathematics. In keeping with the ECS Program’s mission to promote research scientists from among its scholars, the day began with an early morning tour of the university’s research facilities at the Agricultural Experiment Station (AES).  The tour was coordinated by Dr. Thomas Zimmerman, Research Associate Professor of Biotechnology and Agroforestry, and was composed of three segments: Aquaculture conducted by Research Analyst Richard Shultz; Biotechnology by Dr Thomas Zimmerman, and Animal Science by Dr. Robert Godfrey, Associate Professor of Animal Science and Assistant Director of AES.

 Promptly at 1:00pm the doors of the Great Hall opened to an enthusiastic crowd of observers who within a few minutes filled the Great Hall where the presenters stood next to their exquisitely designed posters which demonstrated excellence not only in design but also in content. There they stood ready to share information regarding their various research projects which they had done at UVI or at various universities throughout the Unites States during summer research programs. Among the presenters were Howard Forbes  a MARC (Minority Access to Research Careers) scholar and Kavita Balkaran, an MBRS-RISE (Minority Biomedical Research Scientist- Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement) scholar.  These scholars were national winners in competition with students from over seven hundred universities and colleges at the ABRCMS Conference last November in Orlando. 

Among our honored administrative participants were President Ragster, Provost Musah,

Research Director Rakocy (AES) and Dean McKayle. The judges in attendance were faculty from the Division of Science and Mathematics, STEM high school teachers, engineers and other local scientists.  They judged under four main categories: presentation, content, poster layout and responses to questions.  The judges commented on what a challenging task they had as there was so much excellence.  However, a winner was selected.  Consequently, the Division of Science and Mathematics and the Emerging Caribbean Scientists Program are proud to announce Ophelia Wadsworth as the winner of the Seventh Annual Spring Research Symposium for her poster entitled Photochemical Reaction Screening of Santonin.  Ms. Ophelia Wadsworth is a UVI chemistry major and MARC Research Trainee who conducted her research at the Center for Chemical Methodology and Library Development at Boston University in Boston, MA. 

The Division of Science and Mathematics and the Emerging Caribbean Scientists Program are proud of the accomplishments of Ms. Wadsworth and of all participating students, and gratefully acknowledge the funding institutions that make these programs possible.  The main funding sources are The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).