The SACNAS 2024 National Diversity in STEM (NDiSTEM) Conference, the country’s largest multidisciplinary and multicultural STEM diversity event, was held in Phoenix, AZ, from October 31 to November 2, 2024. A group of students, including those who received SACNAS travel scholarships, were able to attend the event, thanks to the sponsorship of the Skyline College MESA and nEXO programs. Ein Aung, Dasha Baitazrova, Alberto Estrada, Tin Htoo, Codie Lai, Zishan Li, Aryanna Mendoza, Sahil Niwas, Eslin Villalta, and Valeria Zarco also got a chance to meet up with alumni Simon Herrmann and Jerry Hnin now at UC Irvine and UC Berkeley, respectively. Aryanna, Codie, Jerry, Sahil, Simon, and Tin had an opportunity to present posters on their research projects. Simon could attend, thanks to the support of his mentor at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Dr. Brian Lenardo. Professor Denise Hum’s meticulous planning enabled Professor Emilie Hein and Professor Susanne Schubert to participate in the trip. Students share their experiences in their own words below.
Aryanna: “Attending SACNAS for the first time was an eye-opening experience for me. I was truly amazed by the size of the conference and the number of attendees. I was fortunate to be selected to present my poster, but I felt nervous about showcasing my project at nEXO during the summer. Once I met with the judges, who were incredibly helpful and thoughtful, I gained a better understanding of my poster and the areas I needed to improve. At SACNAS, I also discovered valuable insights during a session focused on community involvement and managing stress in school. Overall, my experience at SACNAS was fantastic, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to attend.”
Alberto: “Attending the conference was very inspiring. I was able to connect with a very diverse STEM community. I looked into many career fields and post-grad opportunities, even though they were far away. I am still happy to be exposed to the opportunities. I felt very motivated being at this conference surrounded by many great individuals. I am grateful to go and feel I have strengthened my commitment to pursuing STEM.”
Codie: “This was my second time attending SACNAS. I gave a poster presentation about my summer internship project with nEXO during my first year. This year, I also gave a poster presentation, but it was for my CCI internship at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. I had some great conversations about my poster, and it was great to share what I learned and gained from my summer work. This helped me with my personal and professional communication skills. There was tons of information as an undergraduate at the college and career expo. Not only did it provide me with information about internships at various schools, companies, and laboratories, but it also provided me with information about opportunities for getting a master’s degree at different universities. Besides that, I attended a workshop/talk about advanced manufacturing that went into what it was, the associated career, and some insights about how to get into the field if you started at community college. I came to the conference this time more prepared with questions about what to look for and ask. Overall, my experiences this time around versus last year were great! It was fun presenting and talking with many attendees; there was so much to engage.”
Dasha: “As a first-time attendee, it was truly exciting to be part of this conference, and I was stunned by the size and number of people presenting their posters and attending. Unfortunately, I wasn’t selected to present a poster but could listen to various presenters. Seeing how much research people had conducted and how dedicated they were to their work was inspiring. I also had the chance to talk to representatives from various universities and companies and learn about some undergraduate opportunities that they provided. I attended a couple of workshops where speakers shared their personal stories; one discussed neurodivergence in STEM, which was both inspiring and emotional. Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I highly recommend attending SACNAS.”
Ein: “My experience at SACNAS 2024 was phenomenal. This was my very first academic conference, let alone a very established one with over 5,000 attendees. Being scared and nervous was an understatement; however, I’m grateful for this opportunity. I could step outside of my comfort zone and talk to exhibitors that were both related and unrelated to the field of Data Science. This allowed me to expand my knowledge of the opportunities that are available, such as internships, research projects, and the endless options of universities. One person who stuck out to me was David Apiladi, who reached out after the conference to support my interest in the UC Berkeley Department of Statistics. This experience has shown me how networking and reaching out is also a key part of success in your academic career.”
Eslin: “My experience at SACNAS was pleasantly surprising, as I found people from SLAC attending as well. This convention provided an enriching experience, allowing me to understand what others in similar careers are doing. I was able to meet people studying in the same field as me who are doing remarkable things. One story that resonated with me was from a person who had an internship at Harvard. He advised that if I know the kind of job I’d like to pursue, I should look up job descriptions and identify elective classes that align with that role, giving me an advantage over others applying for the same position. Overall, SACNAS always attracts great people eager to learn and show others that they can achieve similar accomplishments.”
Sahil: “I heard about the SACNAS Conference from one of my college professors, and I applied for the research poster presenter and travel scholarship. Fortunately, being a first-time attendee, I was awarded both scholarships. I presented my Stanford summer research on Validating Pluripotency for Prader-Willi Syndrome patient cell lines. Being a National STEM Conference, there were a lot of opportunities to engage and build connections with universities, colleges, organizations, and companies that relate to STEM fields. I got to engage with many graduate schools and got information and offers on applying to their research programs. The conference also served as a good mixing platform for diverse groups of students from all over the U.S. to build connections and concluded with the celebration of the cultural identities of indigenous societies. In my opinion, this conference opened many opportunities for students in their STEM-related fields, finding their mentors, building connections with industries, and, lastly, giving them professional experience in presenting research work.”
Simon: “This was the second time I could attend the SACNAS NDiSTEM Conference. I presented my work on Prototyping the Automatic External Source Deployment System. This is an assembly that I designed, built, programmed, and tested near the end of my summer working with the nEXO Experiment Group at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Alongside the opportunity to share my work, I’ve been able to network with peers and industry professionals from across the country, discussing career paths, higher education programs, and professional opportunities. I attended insightful speaker panels covering professional growth, NASA’s AI initiatives, DEI efforts, and workplace communication. I’m incredibly grateful to have attended this inspiring conference again. Thank you to my SLAC and Skyline College mentors for making this possible. I could not have done this without their help!”
Tin: “At the SACNAS 2024 conference, I had the chance to connect with physicists and had interesting discussions on topics such as computational physics, accelerator physics, gravitational physics, and optical physics. The discussion increased my knowledge and awareness of what is going on in physics and gave me a new appreciation for the field. I also presented a poster on my summer work for nEXO at SLAC, which allowed me to receive constructive feedback from experts. The workshops I attended were exceptionally interesting and insightful, especially a presentation on LIGO by postdoc Louis Dartez, where I learned more about the precision and data analysis involved in the research. Additionally, I expanded my network by connecting on LinkedIn with fellow physics students from other institutions. Overall, SACNAS 2024 was both inspiring and enjoyable. Talking to passionate individuals in STEM and experiencing the energy and enthusiasm throughout the conference made it a fun experience.”
Valeria: “During my experience at SACNAS, I had the opportunity to expand my social network at the college and career fair where I was able to speak to multiple internship recruiters and learn about future applications for some internship openings. This was a very nerve wracking but also exciting experience because I have never spoken to recruiters before, and I didn’t particularly know what to say in certain situations but I have always wanted to try. I would say that the most interesting part of being at SACNAS was listening to presentations by student speakers. In particular, a presentation that deeply impacted me was one by a student from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. His presentation was focused on deriving equations that described the acceleration of a droplet made of liquid metal alloy. I was simply amazed at how much time they dedicated to calculating the data by hand and how they were able to approach a problem that still doesn’t have much research behind it. Overall, I enjoyed learning about new topics and putting myself out there for the first time.”
Zishan: “This is my first time attending SACNAS, and the experience was amazing. I was able to meet with professionals in related fields and many other undergraduates to share our story and journey. I was also able to connect with many people who are not only in data science but also in related fields to open up my horizons. I was able to listen to many other amazing research projects that came from different subjects. The one that impressed me the most is how it connects films with the brain’s wave signals and catching patterns. I’m very grateful to have this opportunity from MESA. I had attended several workshops that different schools hosted, but by far, SACNAS is the biggest event I ever attended. This journey is unbelievably inspiring, and I enjoyed every second.”
We are grateful for the support of Dean of STEM Jessica Hurless, Rita Gulli, and Nadia Tariq, who made this trip possible. Travel for four of the nEXO trainees was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (Office of Nuclear Physics), under Award Number DE-SC0024677. Four students were sponsored by MESA.
Article by: Ein Aung, Dasha Baitazrova, Alberto Estrada, Simon Herrmann, Tin Htoo, Codie Lai, Zishan Li, Aryanna Mendoza, Sahil Niwas, Eslin Villalta, Valeria Zarco, Emilie Hein, Denise Hum, and Susanne Schubert