USP students (L-R): João Henrique Ribeiro Dainezi; Hernan Franco Romera Fazzio; USP student advisor Debora Rejane Fior Chadi; Marcela Bittar Araujo Lima and Lilian Mayumi Chinen Tamashiro
In a longstanding and well-established exchange with the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, four undergraduate students from the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil, visited Rutgers University to present their research at the George H. Cook Honors Symposium on April 22. It is a great achievement for the four USP students selected to present their research at Rutgers. They were among a pool of more than 1,500 candidates to be selected following a highly competitive process at their university. The delegation from University of Sao Paolo included Marcela Bittar Araujo Lima, João Henrique Ribeiro Dainezi, Lilian Mayumi Chinen Tamashiro, Hernan Franco Romera Fazzio and their professor Debora Rejane Fior Chadi. The students made their research presentations to SEBS faculty in fields ranging from health and nutrition to Gibbs Phenomenon.
USP students with their Rutgers hosts pictured with NYC skyline in the background. From L-R (facing camera): Marcela; Lilian; Joao; Megan Francis, program coordinator International Programs; Hernan; Debora and SEBS students Jessica Louie and Yang Yeh.
In addition to the research presentations, the students from USP spent five days at Rutgers seeing the university’s New Brunswick campus and interacting with Rutgers students. The group started its trip early on Easter Sunday with a visit to the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ. There, the visitors were able to fight off jet lag while getting to see the greener side of the Garden State. Five Rutgers students and chaperone who had spent the previous October in Brazil, Arya Tewatia, Yang Yeh, Jessica Louie, Alex Dionne, Kshitij Minhas, and Megan Francis, accompanied the USAp students throughout the week. In addition to a great start down in Hamilton, the Rutgers students spent the entire week with the USP delegation, engaged in various activities.
The USP delegation was also given a chance to spend an evening with different faculty and staff from Rutgers during a welcome dinner held in their honor. The dinner allowed the USP students the opportunity to talk to various SEBS faculty members, including Richard Ludescher, Malcolm Watford and Daniel Hoffman prior to the research presentation day—a great chance to get some advice and calm their nerves! Additional dinner guests included representatives from the GAIA Center, including Joanna Regulska, Greg Costalas, and a cohort of the Science Without Borders/Science Mobility Fellows, who also hail from Brazil.
Hernan meets US “celebrities” in NYC.
The USP students also took in the sights of New York City. Starting at the American Museum of Natural History, the visitors and their Rutgers hosts explored everything from poisons to Dinosaurs to the giant whale. The trip continued with a stop at Shake Shack for some good American food, a walk through Central Park, the giant floor piano at FAO Schwartz and a visit to the Top of the Rock for views of the entire city. The day ended with a stop at a well-known Rutgers establishment in New Brunswick, Stuff Yer Face restaurant, where the USP students enjoyed their first experience with calzones and reminisced about the great week they had at Rutgers University.
University of Sao Paolo Participants and Research Titles:
João Henrique Ribeiro Dainezi: Analysis of Gibbs Phenomenon filtering in a pseudo-spectral algorithm.
Hernan Franco Romera Fazzio: Enzymatic activity and structural stability studies of a thermostable esterase from Petrotoga mobilis.
Marcela Bittar Araujo Lima: Determination of cocaine/crack biomarkers of prenatal exposure in meconium samples using gas chromatography- mass spectrometry.
Lilian Mayumi Chinen Tamashiro: Development and evaluation of learning object for students and nursing professionals.
