Congratulations to Margaret Stack, an MS student in Environmental Health, who took 1st place at the statewide 33rd CSU Student Research Competition in the Interdisciplinary Category.
Stack received the President’s Award at SDSU’s Student Research Symposium this past March and went on to participate in the CSU Research Competition.
The CSU Research Competition showcases the innovative research and creative activities of CSU undergraduate and graduate students from all the CSU campuses. Student participants make oral presentations before juries of professional experts from major corporations, foundations, public agencies, colleges and universities of California. It recognizes outstanding student accomplishments from throughout the twenty-three campuses of the California State University.
“Nearly 8 years ago, as I struggled through the rigor of undergraduate classes, I was told by a chemistry professor that I should consider dropping out of science because I did not possess the same academic abilities as my peers.” Stack said in a statement, “To receive the President’s Award from SDSU and then be awarded 1st place at the CSU Research Competition for analytical chemistry research was not only validating (and happily surprising!), but makes me sure that persistence, teamwork, and passion are just as critical to success as innate abilities. I also feel very lucky to have a brilliant lab-mate, undergraduate chemistry student Jade Johnson, as well as Drs. Eunha Hoh and Nate Dodder, without whom I would have never known what to do!”
Congratulations to Margaret Stack on this accomplishment! We are very proud of you!
Below is a brief description of the research she presented:
“Our research is a collaboration with the San Diego Zoo that focuses on identifying endocrine-disrupting compounds in the critically endangered California condor that may be causing eggshell thinning in the coastal population. Coastal condors feed on marine mammals, which are well-documented to store high concentrations of environmental contaminants in their blubber, so we are aiming to identify which chemicals are being transferred from the mammals to the condors, as well as their ability to function as endocrine disruptors.”