The Physics Department congratulates Ciaran Byles-Ho on his great experience and outcome at this year's USCC-SCINAPSE competition!
In Ciaran's own words:
As a student in my fourth year of engineering physics, I am thankful for the opportunity to attend the 2024 SCINAPSE Undergraduate Science Case Competition in March. The competition provided an invaluable opportunity to meet students from various universities and apply my engineering skills in an innovative manner.
As part of an undergraduate team comprised of students from various programs and schools across Canada, we were challenged to propose a research experiment that would help progress the field of mycology. As a result, our team was successfully able to design an experiment that would test a novel combinatorial therapeutic for treating fungi biofilm infections. Despite my engineering and physics background, it was inspiring to see how my skills learned in engineering physics were transferable to problems in the medical field that could support patient outcomes.
After submitting our written proposal, our team was selected, out of over 160 teams, to continue to the final round and present at the SCINAPSE poster competition at the University of Ottawa. In the end, our team was fortunate to be rewarded first place for our proposal and presentation in the upper division.
Overall, I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with Justin Sandrasagra (Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University), Seleem Badawy (Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary) and Tomos Salathiel (Faculty of Science, McGill University). It was a rewarding experience collaborating on a team from different backgrounds to develop a multidisciplinary solution.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to the SCINAPSE Undergraduate Science Case Competition team and the University of Ottawa for organizing the event and competition.
Lastly, I would like to thank the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy at Queen’s University for their support in this process and competition. It is inspiring to be part of a department that supports students pursuing extracurricular activities that promote a robust education.
Ciaran Byles-Ho (Engineering Physics, Queen's University) in front of his team's winning poster at the research competition.(Photo courtesy of Ciaran)
From left to right: Seleem Badawy, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Ciaran Byles-Ho, Engineering Physics, Queen's University, Justin Sandrasagra, Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University, Tomos Salathiel, Faculty of Science, McGill University.(Photo courtesy of Ciaran)