DSU Visits Poland, President Meets With Partner Institution
DSU President Harry L. Williams made a trip to Poland where he met face to face for the first time with Dr. Antoni Bukaluk, the president of the Uniwersytet Technologiczno-Przyrodniczy (UTP), also known in English as the University of Technology and Life Sciences of Poland.
DSU has an active memorandum of understanding with UTP that was finalized earlier this year, and recently exercised that partnership by sending 10 of its students for a May 22 to June 21 study abroad research experience.
Each student was paired with a UTP science faculty member with whom each one conducted an individual research project. The students are all STEM majors and members of the DSU Alliance for Minority Participation, which provides support and research opportunities for minority science majors.
The DSU president and his traveling group – which included Dr. Devona Williams, DSU Board of Trustees member; Dr. Fengshan Liu, assistant vice president of DSU International Affairs; Carlos Holmes, DSU director of News Services; First Lady Dr. Robin Williams, their son Gavin and niece Madisen Smith; and Hong Liu (Dr. Liu’s wife) – were treated on June 20 to a program at UTP in which each of the students gave a presentation on their research project and the findings that were yielded by their work.
In addition, the DSU president and Dr. Bukaluk did a symbolic signing of the MOU agreement during the event forum event at UTP, a university located in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz.
The DSU students that were part of the Polish study-abroad experience -- the International Science and Technology Academy for Research Scholars (I-STARS) -- were:
Edward Addison, biology sciences, junior
Tahlia Casey, biology sciences, sophomore
Jamila Davis, chemistry, junior
Travia Dunbar, forensic biology, senior
Malia Green, biological sciences, sophomore
Tajah Lewter, biological sciences, sophomore
Gemini Phillips, biological sciences, senior
Briana Reaves, biological sciences, senior
Sandra Suarez, pre-veterinarian, senior
Taylor Worrell-Stith, animal and poultry science, sophomore
Ms. Phillips, whose research was on the effect of bio-protection products on fungus, said that she benefited greatly from the experience in Poland.
“I want to become a pathologist, and since I was working with fungus diseases and that related pathology, it will help me toward that,” said Ms. Phillips. “It will also help me toward my senior capstone project.”
Ms. Suarez, whose research involved the ample use of a microscope, said the research she did was very valuable in further developing her laboratory skills. She noted that in Delaware she does shadowing at an animal hospital and that in the past she has struggled in looking through a microscope and distinguishing the difference between red blood cells and white blood cells of cats and dogs.
“Being under the microscope every day for three weeks has helped me to adapt my eyes, so I know when I go back to the clinic I won’t be confused anymore,” Ms. Suarez said.
The findings and data from the research of some of the students will be included in a future publication and added to various science databases.
Dr. Mazin Shahin, director of DSU’s Alliance for Minority Participation, also made the trip with the students.
This trip was made possible from funding from the National Science Foundation and the Philadelphia Alliance for Minority Participation.