2020 Honours Fest Winners
Earlier this month, fifty-five Honours students throughout the Faculty of Science presented their research at the ninth annual Honours Fest, a conference-style poster session that showcases outstanding undergraduate research. Honours Fest is the culmination of two semesters of gruelling research, and an opportunity for students to show what has been occupying their time and brainpower.
Students, staff, faculty and other lovers of science from across the campus and Victoria gathered to learn more about remarkable student projects, ranging in topic from ocean acidification to intermittent fasting.
Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Fritz Boehm, students who place in the top three, as well as the top presenter in each department and school win substantial cash prizes. Students are judged in three areas: scientific thought and creativity, their communication skills in presenting the research, and the quality of the poster and its ability to explain complex research in a logical way.
The winners of the Boehm Family Award of Excellence in Science are:
| First Place |
Josey LeGallais |
Investigating Polyphosphorylation of a Histone Chaperone in Budding Yeast |
| Second Place | Evan Chen | Pillar[n]arenes: One ring to recognize them all, and in the water bind them |
| Third Place | Shannon Ogden | Total Roman Domination Edge-Supercritical and Edge-Removal-Supercritical Graphs |
And the top presenters for each unit are:
| Unit | Award Winner | Poster |
|---|---|---|
| Biochemistry & Microbiology | Matt Shorthill | The role of clinical stringent response mutations in antibiotic tolerance and persistent infection |
| Biology | Seb Gulka | Characterizing the acute damage response of CX3CR1+ cells in the cornea |
| Chemistry | Ashley Lardner | Detection and quantification of fentanyl in a drug-checking context |
| Earth & Ocean Sciences | Connor Vanwieren | Characterizing the Triassic/Jurassic boundary through stratigraphy of northern Vancouver Island carbonates |
| Mathematics & Statistics | Curtis Harvey | The Artin-Springer theorem for Semi-Local Rings |
| Physics & Astronomy | Tristan Zaborniak | Measuring Telegraph Noise in the D-Wave Quantum Computer |
Congratulations to all the students who took on the challenge of an Honours project!
