Horton and Njiojob won 2010 BoV Graduate Student Poster Competition
Chemistry Graduate Students Rebecca Horton from Dr. Frank Vogt‘s group and Costyl Njiojob from Dr. David Baker‘s group won 2010 Board of Visitors Graduate Students Poster Competition.
2010 Department of Chemistry Board of Visitors Annual Meeting was held on Nov. 12 and 13 in Buehler Hall 511. Followed by a report and discussion of the news, changes and development inside the department,, the Board of Visitors members served as judges for this year’s Graduate Student Poster Competition.
Eleven groups participated in the competition. The winners Horton and Njiojob are invited to give presentations during the Department’s annual student presentation on April 14, 2011.
“I feel honored to have the opportunity to give a seminar to my peers.
The poster session and seminar are great ways to practice good communication skills and what better way to do so than in front of the faculty and fellow students.” Horton said.
Horton came to UT from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, TN. Her recent achievements in research involve growing microalgae under different environmental conditions along with sample preparation methods of species for spectroscopic analyses.
“I am planning for a December 2011 graduation.” Horton mentioned her plan after graduation. “Upon graduating, I would like to work in an industrial setting and later transition into academia at a small college. By having the perspective of both my graduate career and also the industrial experience, I feel I would be better prepared to mentor students on their chosen career paths.”
The other poster winner Costyl Njiojob, a native Cameroonian, was born in Nigeria (Plateau State) where he received elementary education. Njiojob then moved back to Cameroon with his family and completed high school there. In 1999, Njiojob entered the University of Buea to pursue Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry. After graduation, he remained in the university and conducted a year of graduate research in Natural product chemistry. Njiojob joined Dr. Baker’s group at UT Chemistry Department with a concentration in organic synthesis in 2006.
Njiojob expressed his gratitude toward people inside the Department, “…it feels like a recognition to all the efforts being put in everyday to do research and all what I can say is thanks to everyone in the department who has been of great help to me since I started graduate studies”.
Njiojob is expected to graduate in August 2011 and would like to continue with his research in scientific community.
Besides Horton and Njiojob, the Board also suggested that honorable mention should be made of Michael Peretich from Dr. Barnes group and Belinda Lady from Dr. Foister’s group.