Nearly 800 participants are expected as Dillard University co-hosts the 67th joint annual meeting of the National Institute of Science and Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Honor Society on March 24-28, according to Dr. Ruby Broadway, event coordinator.
Broadway, a biology professor at Dillard, is vice president and archivist of the institute. She also is chairwoman of the event planning committee.
The meeting will feature plenary and breakout sessions at the Hilton Riverside Hotel and sessions on-site at the co-host schools, Dillard and Southern University at New Orleans.
The group will be on DU’s campus for a Town Hall meeting and lunch at 10:30 a.m. March 26 featuring Dr. Kevin U. Stephens, director of the New Orleans Health Department. The group plans a Gentilly Cleanup effort that afternoon.
Four guest speakers are scheduled, including Stephens and Dr. Roger Y. Tsien, co-winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and pharmacology professor at the University of California, San Diego.
The primary aim of the joint meeting is to promote scientific interest, development and interaction through high school, undergraduate and graduate presentations in 10 scientific categories in the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
The event will culminate in an awards banquet. Dr. Carlen McLin, assistant dean of Division of Natural Sciences and chair and Public Health, is coordinating the judging.
Originally a meeting for African American students and scientists to stimulate professional, academic and student networking, the meeting has expanded to embrace several different minority and ethnic groups. Last year, when the event was held at Hampton University in Virginia, two additional schools from Puerto Rico attended for the first time.
For more information, contact Broadway at (504) 816-4516.
(Thelisia Davis contributed to this report.)