2019 MCSI Summer Undergraduate Sustainability Research Symposium
21 students from across Pitt performed theoretical and applied sustainability research in Summer 2019
From using machine learning to identify bird songs to finding a way to use silk as a plastic alternative, students in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation’s (MCSI) Undergraduate Summer Research Program have been working hard all summer on research that contributes to sustainability. On Wednesday, July 24, 2019, the 12-week program culminated in the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, where 21 students in the program presented their research with a poster, a 10-minute presentation and a two-minute video.
Attendees voted at the end of the symposium, and Mason Unger’s presentation “Recirculating Aquaculture: Managing Water Quality in a Closed System” won first place. Kareem Rabbat’s presentation “Small & Mighty: Exploring Nature to Identify Bacteria Capable of Degrading a New Generation of Environmental Contaminants,” was awarded second place.
“All of the students have done amazing work and learned a great deal about the future of sustainability,” says Gena Kovalcik, co-director of MCSI. “Our planet depends on the innovative thinking that the students practiced this summer.”