RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC - Curiosity about a wasp’s waist led
University of California, Merced, alumna and grad student Emily
Reed to a prestigious award.
Reed was among 26 first place award-winners for outstanding
scientific research presentations at the 2007 Sigma Xi Student
Research Conference in Orlando, held November 2-3.
Reed’s interdisciplinary research project, conducted under the
mentorship of Professor Christopher Viney of the School of
Engineering, was titled “Microstructure, Nanostructure and
Properties of the Wasp Petiole.” She was recognized at an awards
ceremony with a medal and an invitation to join Sigma Xi, The
Scientific Research Society.
Reed graduated from UC Merced with a bachelor’s degree in
Bioengineering in May 2007. While an undergraduate at UC Merced,
she was a Regents’ Scholar, which she describes as “her biggest
scholarship.” She also won first place in the 2007 Research Days
poster competition. And she was Student of the Year in 2004-05 at
Merced College, which she attended for three years before
transferring to UC Merced.
Reed chose to specialize in bioengineering because of its
diversity.
“I have always liked the sciences,” she said – so much so
that she had difficulty choosing between them as an undergraduate
because she didn’t want to limit herself to just one. She enjoyed
math, biology, chemistry, and physics, among others.
“Engineering is a useful way to incorporate ideas from
multiple fields, and I appreciate the interdisciplinary approach
that it promotes,” she said.
Membership in Sigma Xi, the international honor society of
science and engineering is by invitation only, based on research
achievements or potential. Over the years, the society has had more
than 200 Nobel laureates among its members.
Nearly 200 undergraduate and graduate students, representing 100
institutions, participated in the two-day conference where Reed won
her award. Sigma Xi members at the society’s annual meeting in
Orlando served as judges for poster and oral presentations.
Student researchers also attended career advancement workshops
and participated in mentoring and networking activities, panel
discussions and other events. They heard talks by leading
scientists who received prestigious annual Sigma Xi awards.
Founded in 1886, Sigma Xi is the international honor society of
research scientists and engineers, with more than 500 chapters in
North America and overseas. The non-profit society publishes
American Scientist magazine and sponsors a variety of programs that
support science and engineering.
