Celebrating the 2021 Station1 Frontiers Fellowship on Socially-Directed Science and Technology

The 2021 Station1 Frontiers Fellowship (SFF), a prestigious, fully-funded ten-week summer education, research, and internship experience for high potential undergraduate students focused on socially-directed science and technology was held in virtual format this year and culminated with a capstone event and research project poster presentation on August 13th, 2021. Based upon a foundation of inclusion and equity, the SFF integrates science, technology, engineering, and math with humanistic fields in order to interrogate, understand, and shape technologically-driven societal impact towards more equitable, ethical, and sustainable outcomes. Unique in the nation and the world, the SFF includes an exciting research internship in a partner organization in emerging areas of science and technology, a cross-interdisciplinary shared curriculum on socially-directed science and technology, and personal and professional advancement activities. This event marked an important milestone in a transformational learning journey for the Station1 Fellows who participated from all over the nation and the world, to embody a truly inspiring learning community - inclusive, collaborative, and visionary.? More than an internship, more than scientific and technological research, more than a curriculum, the Station1 Fellows explored the intersection of personal passions, visions, and the deep societal impacts of frontier science and technology.

The 2021 SFF Instructional Team (pictured above) included: Station1 co-founders, Professors, Dr. Christine Ortiz and Dr. Ellan Spero, co-instructors, Professors and Dr. Jingjie Yeo and Dr. Francisco Martin-Martinez, and Station1 Fellow 2018 alum Alina Gavrilov.

The Station1 Fellows advanced research projects in internships in partner organizations: startup companies, leading corporations, the social sector, and research institutions where they studied with exceptional mentors ni emerging fields such as biotechnology and public health (e.g. tissue engineering, marine genomics, synthetic biology, artificial intelligence and machine learning diagnostics, circular biomaterials), geographic and information systems and data for civic, environmental and business impacts, and next generation infrastructure.?

The 2021 SFF internship research projects are listed below.?

“Emission Accounting of an Activated Carbon Production Cycle,” ?Katrina Fest (1,2,4), Thomas Carmona (1,3,4), Kevin S. Kung (4); Station1 (1), Economics, University of Washington (2), Biochemistry, Utah Valley University (3), Takachar (4)

“Quantification and Analysis of Escherichia coli (E. coli) Bacteria Trends in the Merrimack River Watershed,” Jessica Valencia (1,2,4), Olivia Rasmussen (1,3,4), Susie Bresney (4); Station1 (1), Department of Mathematics and Statistics, California State University Long Beach (2), Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell (3); Merrimack River Watershed Council (4)

“Frontiers in Biomaterials: Advancements in Surgical Wound Sealants and Tissue Engineering,” Joshua Dexter (1,2,4), Charles C. Lee (1,3,4), Reihaneh Haghniaz (4), Sara Nadine (4); Station1 (1), Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin (2), Biomedical Science, Texas A&M University of Higher Ed at McAllen (3), Terasaki Institute (4)

“Investigation of Biostimulants as a Nutritional Input,” Nisrine Hafid (1,2,4), Victoria Hooper (1,3,4), Tinia Pina (4), Rahul Bhansalie (4); Station1 (1), Biomedical Engineering, Bunker Hill Community College (2), Biology and Exercise Science, Utah Valley University (3), Re-Nuble (4)

“Data Driven Development of Ipswich River Health Index for Improvement of Water Quality Assessment,” Amanda Martinez (1,2,4), Thomas Rúa (1,3,4), Ryan O’Donnell (4); Station1 (1), Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2), Engineering Science, Middlesex Community College (3), Ipswich River Watershed Association (4)

“Mixed Method Approach to Advance Equity and Social Justice in Infrastructure,” Joshua Caban (1,2,4), Ulises Trujillo Garcia (1,2,4), Kristi Wamstad (4), Melissa Peneycad (4); Station1 (1), Mechanical Engineering, Bunker Hill Community College (2), Civil Engineering, Boise State University (3), Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (4)

“Mapping Tribal Land Using Geospatial Information Systems and Analyzing Related Demographic and Socioeconomic Data: A Contemporary Case of the Ohlone Tribe in California,” Azizakhon Mirsaidova (1,2,4), Justin Mu?oz (1,3,4), Anjuli Jain Figueroa (4); Station1 (1), Artificial Intelligence, Northwestern University (2), Physics, Bunker Hill Community College (3), GreenInfo Network (4)? - See ARCGIS StoryMap

“Utilization of Consumer Review Analysis Pipeline on Civic Datasets,” Jiayan Luo (1,2,4), Justin Hong (1,3,4), George Whitfield (1,4); Station1 (1), Computer Science, Northwestern University (2), Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Santa Monica College (3), FindOurView (4)

“Machine Learning Models with Multimodal Input Data for Quantifying Depression Severity,” Karlos Boehlke (1,2,4), Estefano Reyes (1,3,4), Marcelo Cicconet (4), Ben Barone (4); Station1 (1), Computer Science, Bunker Hill Community College (2), Computer Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3), Deliberate.ai (4)

“Determination of Liver Diseases Particularly Suitable for Cell Therapy Treatment,” Paulina Alvarez Armel (1,2,4), Porter Bischoff (1,3,4), Emal Lesha (4), Mark Zaki (4); Station1 (1), Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University (2), Biotechnology, Utah Valley University (3), GC Therapeutics (4)

“Characterizing a Novel Class of Venom-Related Genes in Crustaceans,” Kilee Davis (1,2,4), Ansharah Khan (1,3,4), Jennifer Polinski (4), Andrea Bodnar (4); Station1 (1), Biotechnology, Utah Valley University (2), Human Physiology, University of Minnesota (3), Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute (4)

“Business Data Analytics in a Manufacturing Corporation: Technical Requirements, Methods, Insights and Predictions for Sales, Sustainability and Social Impact,” Edilia Bueno (1,2,4), Tom Surette (1,3,4), Ellen Kennedy (4), Andrew Banasiewicz (5); Station1 (1), Supply Chain and Computer Science, Rochester Institute of Technology (2), Computer Science, North Shore Community College (3), Gemline (4), Merrimack College (5)

“Implementation of IoT payloads and Increased Aerostat Payload Protection,” Quesnel Osias (1,2,4), Joseph Schuster (1,3,4), Josh Aranov (4), Jin Xu (4); Station1(1), Computer Networking, Northshore Community College (2), Engineering, Henderson State University (3), Altaeros (4)

We are deeply grateful to our over 80 visionary and committed individuals and organizations who have supported Station1 since our founding. We are particularly thankful to LabArchives, Leadershape, The Lawrence History Center, Lupoli Companies, Gemline, and The Hopper-Dean Foundation, and new supporters LabCentral, Analog Devices Foundation, New England Biolabs, The Evelyn (Lynne) Scibell Fellowship (Karen and Gary Martin), and Fourwaves.

We are so excited to follow the Fellows’ bright futures as they fulfill their limitless potential and catalyze equitable, ethical, and sustainable science and technology across the globe.?

#station1 #sociallydirectedscienceandtechnology #socialSTEM #equitySTEM #inclusiveSTEM #station1frontiersfellowship #pastpresentfuture #futureofeducation #lawrencema

About Station1: Station1 (www.station1.org) is a nonprofit higher education institution, founded in 2016, that is paving a pathway of opportunity through a new model of learning and research - socially-directed science and technology. Based upon a foundation of inclusion, equity, and justice this model integrates science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) with humanistic fields and the social sciences in order to interrogate, understand, and shape technologically-driven societal impact towards more equitable, just, ethical, and sustainable outcomes. Core to the Station1 model of socially-directed science and technology is fostering inclusion, equity, and justice and broadening participation for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) students, those from low income households, and those who are first generation to college. To advance this mission, Station1 designs and delivers transformative education, research, and innovation programs and leads higher education collective impact systems change initiatives.?