Home

New: 2022 Virtual Annual Research Frontier Symposium Website is Available (Click Here)

2021 Virtual Annual Research Frontier Symposium 

Symposium Theme: "Collaboration in STEM Research"

News: Nobel Prize Winner to Speak at Research Symposium

2021 Annual Research Frontier Symposium Program Book cover (left) and Abstract Book cover (right). 

Images provided by George Smith and Harvey Hou, respectively.

Message from the Symposium Committee 

Welcome!

Due to the pandemic, we will have our first virtual Symposium in 2021.

As the National Science Foundation recommended, a broader definition of STEM fields includes chemistry, computer and information technology science, engineering, geosciences, life sciences, mathematical sciences, physics and astronomy, social sciences (anthropology, economics, psychology and sociology), and STEM education and learning research. Once again, let us celebrate and share some of the recent world-class breakthroughs and achievements during the last 12 months in the fields of STEM. 

On behalf of the 2021 Symposium Organizing Committee, I am delighted to inform you that the 2021 Virtual Annual Research Frontier Symposium will be held via Google Meet and Zoom on Wednesday, March 10 to Thursday, March 11, 2021. The theme of the Symposium is "Collaboration in STEM Research." 

The Symposium is increasingly becoming a regional conference and provides an excellent platform for undergraduate, graduate, and research scholars at Alabama State University as well as other institutions to share their research experience to a broader audience. The Symposium will inspire the students in their future STEM endeavors and facilitate the collaborations among the faculty members in their respective fields.

This year, we are honored and thrilled to have Dr. George Smith, the 2018 Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry, as the Plenary Speaker of the Symposium. Dr. Smith is a Curators' Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia. He developed a novel method known as phage display, which can be used to evolve new proteins. He was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work, sharing with Greg Winter and Frances Arnold. Currently his group uses the phage display technology to discover novel tumor-binding molecules and to create new tools for molecular imaging in cancer biology. The title of his plenary address will be: “RNA vaccines for SARS CoV-2: Promise of the technology and failure of the patent-funded market.”

It is a great honor and privilege for me to be the Featured Speaker this year. I am a professor of forensic science at Alabama State University. I have published 3 books and 117 papers. I have been the editors or editorial board members for 13 international science journals and have reviewed manuscripts for 71 international science journals. My research interests are to study  the structure and function of photosynthetic membrane proteins, new materials and technologies in energy production, methodologies of the forensic evidence analysis. I would like to share some of the stories of my own experience and of my role models in collaborative research. The title of my talk is "An Account of Collaborative Research: From Photosynthesis to Forensic Science."

In 2021, we highly encourage students to participate in the Symposium by presenting posters, oral talks, and the 3-minute talk competition. The student winners (about 10% of total participants) will be selected in three categories (talk, 3-min talk, poster) at the five levels (high school, undergraduate, Master graduate, Ph.D. graduate and postdoc) by the Symposium Student Award Committee.

This year we introduced an informal student discussion session, which primarily designed to students by the Symposium Student Committee. The discussion topics of the session are importance and challenges of obtaining publications, overcoming research bottlenecks, the industry versus academia debate, and open discussion.

To cover the expense of student award, the registration fee ($20) per participant is required. Students are free to register the Symposium. 

Abstract may include one figure, 0-5 references, and should have about 250 words. The figure should highlight the work and help readers to understand the results. The figure may be data, instrumental setup, model, or other graphic. The abstract in MS word should be sent to Dr. Hou by email (hhou@alasu.edu). The date of abstract submission will start on December 1, 2020, and end on January 31, 2021. No abstract will be accepted after January 31, 2021.

Finally, donations of minimum $10 per person to the Symposium are welcome. The names of the contributing individuals will be appeared in the program book, on the conference website, and throughout the Symposium.

Each of you, including previous participants and newcomers, are truly welcome to attend in the 2020 Annual Research Frontier Symposium on ASU campus on March 10-11, 2021. Your participation is vital for the success of the Symposium.

You are welcome to visit the website <https://sites.google.com/a/alasu.edu/arfs-2021/> for more

details.

See you in 2021 via the virtual conference!

Harvey Hou

On behalf of the 2021 Symposium Organizing Committee

• Conference Website: https://sites.google.com/a/alasu.edu/arfs-2021

• Journal Website: https://sites.google.com/a/alasu.edu/fstem/

• Contact: Phone: 334-604-9183, Email: hhou@alasu.edu

Copyright by the 2021 Research Symposium Committee