This weekend, nine members of Carnegie Mellon University’s chapter of Out in STEM (oStem@CMU), the world’s largest network for LGBTQ+ students and professionals in STEM, attended the national conference hosted by the organization this year in Anaheim, Calif. During the conference, Abigail Umscheid, a junior in chemical engineering, won “Best Undergraduate Poster” for her work in sustainable polymer development under Professor Daphne Chan in the Complex Fluids Engineering Lab. Umscheid was a SURF recipient as well as a ChESS scholar this summer through the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Department of Chemical Engineering.
Two other Carnegie Mellon students, Eleanor David and Caity Santiago, were also selected to present their research. In addition, Twain Byrnes, a senior in electrical and computer engineering, was selected as a conference presenter and had the opportunity to speak to a room of more than 40 people about their experience as a nonbinary person.
The Carnegie Mellon attendees were also a hot commodity at the two-day career fair and networking events associated with the conference; they were selected for multiple on-site interviews and gained key contacts for the future in their respective fields, and the Carnegie Mellon attendees were told to expect interview requests by the end of next week. oSTEM@CMU also benefited from hearing 2023 National Conference Keynotes hosted by Dr. Andre Isaacs and Kyne. oSTEM@CMU seeks to return to next year’s conference in Portland, OR and support even more student attendance. They would appreciate any contributions to conference funding or to campus events funding during their CMU Giving Day campaign on Nov. 28.
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