Anubhuti Mathur, a student at Glastonbury High School who currently shadows in Dr. Sangamesh Kumbar’s laboratory, has earned top honors in two prestigious science and engineering competitions. Anubhuti earned second place in the Physical Science division of the Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair. Of the 600+ participants in this fair, she was among the six selected to represent Connecticut at Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair this month in Los Angeles.

Earlier in the year, Anubhuti competed in the Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. Here, she was one of fifteen selected from a pool of over 80 candidates for the oral competition. Anubhuti presented her research, “The Synthesis and Characterization of EGCG – PLGA Conjugates and Mixtures” to a panel of judges and an audience of her peers. She was awarded third place and the right to present her work at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Washington, DC in April.

We firmly believe in Anubhuti’s ability to both conduct high-level research and to effectively present her work is essential to her training as a future scientist or engineer. Congratulations from everyone in the Institute for Regenerative Engineering, Anubhuti!

On March 8th, I gave the keynote speech at the symposium sponsored by the T. Leroy Jefferson Medical Society. My talk focused on choosing careers in the various fields in healthcare and the sciences. Over 600 ethnically diverse students representing more than 25 high schools in Palm Beach, Okeechobee, and Martin counties attended the symposium. The students met healthcare professionals and representatives from various academic institutions, exploring career options through lectures, exhibits, live demonstrations, and multimedia sources. The T. Leroy Jefferson Medical Society is comprised of dedicated healthcare professionals working together to improve health and wellness, access to quality care, academic and career opportunities, for underserved populations. I want to thank the members and, in particular, Dr. Roger Duncan for inviting me to participate in this wonderful event.