Achievement

Encouraging IGERT trainees, especially first year students, to participate in international scientific conferences has been a rewarding educational strategy again this year. In addition to opportunities to present their results and to network with researchers in their fields, students learn about professional activities associated with careers in science. For example, under the leadership of IGERT trainee, Saras Saraswathi, several IGERT students served as reviewers for abstracts submitted to the Student Symposium associated with the 2010 Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology Conference (ISMB 2010). More than a dozen IGERT students and faculty plan to present their research at the ISMB meeting in Boston, MA, this year, including students and faculty from both ISU and NMSU. In addition, 8 IGERT students (4 from ISU and 4 from NMSU) attended the Annual New Mexico Bioinformatics Symposium (NMBIS 2010), in Santa Fe, NM, enjoying both science and IGERT-sponsored social activities.