Cadet Culture Life Beyond the Classroom SJC HOSTS STEM CONFERENCE

On March 22, St. John’s held the 2023 STEM Conference in Frana Auditorium.

As part of her Scholars independent study project, Leire Sofia Rossi-Crespo ’23 organized the conference and arranged for three scientists to present their research about the causes, identification, and therapies of viruses and disease. SJC welcomed back Dr. Robert Redfield ’69, former director of the Center for Diseases and Prevention, who spoke about the power of science in public health. Also presenting were Dr. Adrian Zelazny, chief of the Microbiology Service and director of the Mycobacteriology Laboratory in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the NIH Clinical Center, and Dr. Manfred Boehm P’26, senior investigator of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH. They shared their research regarding the discovery of a novel pathogenic bacterium and the NIH Rare Vascular Disease Program, respectively.

During the symposium, Rossi-Crespo presented her Scholars research project titled, “SDS-PAGE Analysis of Bacterial Protein: An Application to Water Filtration.” With two billion people in the world using contaminated drinking water sources (WHO), she was inspired to design a water decontamination device. She described how her “Three-To-Clean” prototype purifies the water and then answered several questions from the AP science student audience.