The event, which included an initiation and dinner, was held in the McGinley Center and featured a keynote speech by Thomas Frankie, education specialist for the Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo.
“I know you’re about to embark on graduation and a career, and I wanted to share with you a little bit about what’s going on in the minds of the scientists over at the Bronx Zoo,” Frankie said before launching into an interactive discussion about “The Impact of Biodiversity on Human Health.”
The talk was fitting for an audience made up of Fordham College at Rose Hill students who love to conduct research, such as inductee Shauna Ford (FCRH ’10), who worked alongside Tiffany Yip, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, on a longitudinal study on ethnic saliency among African-American, Asian and Latino teenagers. Ford will continue that study as a research assistant this summer.
New Sigma Xi member Samuel Moore (FCRH ’10) worked with Gary Weiss, Ph.D., professor of biology, on “Activity Recognition Using Cell Phone Accelerometers.” Moore is interning at Phillips in their research division.
To qualify for membership in Sigma Xi, students must have excellent grades and have conducted quality research, said Donna Heald, Ph.D., associate dean for science education and director of pre-health professions advising.
