UWL hosts 31st annual scientific meeting for Midwest region

"The Midwest SETAC annual meeting is a time for all types and levels (e.g., students, early career, professionals) or regional scientists to gather together and discuss new science since the SETAC North America meeting," says Gavin Saari, organizer of this year's event and supervisory research toxicologist at the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in La Crosse. "It's an opportunity for students to practice presenting their own scientific data, so I'm excited to see all the new student presentations this year."

In addition to attendees presenting research, the conference included a plenary seminar, business meeting and awards.

"I think it's a really great opportunity for our students to be able to present their research to a wide variety of professionals," says Tisha King-Heiden, professor in UWL's Biology Department, current member of the SETAC World Council, former president of SETAC North America (2023) and former president of Midwest SETAC (2012-2013). "As a student, you can also opt-in for your presentation to be judged."

UWL student Nicole Kooij won best student poster presentation, and UWL's William Murphy was awarded runner-up.

Murphy, a biochemistry and chemistry double major with a minor in music performance, says this conference was his first experience presenting a research poster. Murphy's research explored the possible toxicity of artificial play surfaces in the La Crosse community.

"I'm most proud of getting the community involved in our project," Murphy says. "My research partners and I designed videos and instruction manuals to help the community get involved with sampling the play surfaces. I think that's what made our presentation effective! I would like to give a shout-out to my research partners Katie Peterson and Abby Jahn, who were great to work with and made this project possible."

This was not the first time UWL has hosted the SETAC event. When King-Heiden was president of the Midwest regional chapter in 2013, the science meeting was held in Centennial Hall.

"I love having it back at our campus," King-Heiden says. "We have such a strong group of environmental scientists. People really enjoy being on campus and seeing our facilities, and we even got a lot of comments about the amazing food. It's a great opportunity for people to see the work of our students and faculty."

Having scientists on campus from across the Midwest provided a great networking opportunity for students who attended the conference.

"When attendees see our students present and see the quality of research that our undergraduate students are able to do, they are impressed," King-Heiden says. "UWL is really unique in the support that the university provides for our students to do this type of work, for example, providing undergraduate and graduate research grants."

Hosting the event at UWL made it more accessible for students who otherwise may not have been able to attend.

"It's normally challenging and expensive to send students to a conference," King-Heiden says. "Since the conference is held on campus, it opens the door for more of UWL's students to present and, more importantly, network for graduate programs and jobs."

If you're interested in learning more about Midwest SETAC, visit http://www.midwestsetac.org/annual-scientific-meeting2.html