Halley Choy Presented at National McNair Research Conference

2016 Oct 14

Halley Choy of Saratoga Springs, NY, was one of five St. Lawrence University McNair Scholars who participated in the 2016 Ronald E. McNair Scholars Research Conference at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The conference celebrated the academic accomplishments of undergraduate scholars representing 19 colleges and universities from across the country.

The two-day event afforded 81 McNair Scholars an opportunity to present the results of their faculty-mentored research. Scholars also met with graduate program representatives, faculty and graduate students in their fields of study, and attended panel sessions about the graduate school admissions process.

Halley Choy '17 of Saratoga Springs, New York, presented findings from her summer research, working with Peter Pettengill, assistant professor of environmental studies, on a project titled "The Impacts of Recreating to the Great Barrier Reef," which followed her semester abroad in Australia.

"The University of New Mexico McNair Conference was a great opportunity for me to network and meet people from different parts of the country in the field that I am interested in," Halley said. "One of my favorite parts of the conference was the variety of research that was being presented through the poster and oral presentations, but honestly the whole conference was such a motivation for me to keep working towards my goals of furthering my education."

After she graduates, Halley hopes to combine her interests in environmental studies and psychology through pursuing a masters of social work.

In addition to Halley, St. Lawrence McNair Scholars who presented at the conference included Anabel Encarnacion '17 of Bronx, Essence Parker '17 of New Hartford, Tanveer Kalo '18 of Corona, and Claire Dudley '19 of Fayetteville.

The McNair Scholars Program is a federally funded TRIO program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. It is named in honor of Dr. Ronald E. McNair, a pioneer African American astronaut who died in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. The McNair program is designed to motivate and support students who are underrepresented in graduate education, who meet economic eligibility requirements, and who may be the first in their families to attend college. The program is also meant to increase the attainment of the Ph.D. by students from underrepresented groups.

For more information, visit www.stlawu.edu/cstep-and-mcnair.