HUNT VALLEY, Md. (June 19, 2015) -- Four Army Educational Outreach Program alumni gave advice and encouragement to eCYBERMISSION competition finalists in a panel discussion June 17.
Emily Ashkin participated in several AEOP programs, including the 2011 eCYBERMISSION competition and the 2013 and 2015 Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. She also took part in the 2012 White House Science Fair.
When Ashkin was 11 years old, her mother battled skin cancer, which led to her interest in cancer research. After her experience with the AEOP, she began her research while still in high school. She was named an Intel Science Talent Search finalist and was awarded the Glenn T. Seaborg award for her work in cancer research.
Ashkin also won the First Grand Award at the Intel International Science and Technology Fair. She attends Rice University and continues her research at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
She impressed on the students that age makes no difference.
"Age is no limitation and it should just be ignored," she said. "Any age can break the mold, break the boundaries and the same goes for gender. Often times in a science setting there is one woman, and she is the only one in the room and I would say, if you are that woman, own it.
"Women are just as capable as men are and it's really important to understand what your individual limitations are, both men and women," Ashkin said. "And understand what is not going to hurt you and gender is definitely not that."
Koreco Wilkins-Webster will graduate this year from Michigan State University with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering. He has interned at General Motors, Alcoa and Nestle USA. His experience with AEOP was competing in the 2005 eCYBERMISSION competition while in eighth grade.
Wilkins-Webster's entry took first place in the Northwest region of the competition. His team demonstrated how flashing armbands can prevent pedestrian traffic fatalities. Dr. Gregory Chappelle served as his mentor.
Chappelle is an electrical engineer with the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's Tank Automotive Research and Development Center in Warren, Michigan.
"This was really my first hands-on [project] and working in the field," he said. "Dr. Chappelle instilled in me knowledge and exposed me to physics and calculus. This really challenged me and I found that interest [in engineering]."
Wilkins-Webster urged the students to look into the field of engineering. He feels the biggest thing that hinders students from considering engineering is the amount of math involved.
"It's really a mindset," he said. "You've got to really have the dedication and drive to do it. If you have that dedication and drive, no matter what math or science class you take, you'll be able to get through it."
He credits his successes to his involvement with AEOP and Chappelle.
"That really sparked my interest," Wilkins-Webster said. "It started off my career. Since then I have been pursuing [engineering].
"The earlier you expose a young child to engineering and science," he said, "the more they will find that interest and continue that and have a foundation they can build on."
Lynn Alkhalil is majoring in neurobiology and physiology with a pre-med focus at the University of Maryland, College Park. She participated in a number of AEOP programs, including Gains in Education of Math and Science as both a student and a near peer mentor assistant, the SEAP program and is currently a student in the CQL program.
Alkhalil's interest in research started at an early age. Both Alkhalil's parents are researchers and when she was young, not being in school, she would go to work with her mom.
"My exposure to that kind of molded my interest in choosing that type of career field in science," she said. "I've never really doubted it. I explored other career fields but, in the end, I never saw myself doing anything else except science.
Her advice to the students may sound like a cliché, Alkhalil said.
"Just get involved," she said. "At school I am a member of the Pre-Med Society [and] I'm a part of my sorority Kappa Alpha Theta. I've gotten so many opportunities from my sorority. I already have a job opportunity next summer in a medical office and I'll hopefully get some clinical experience there.
"You'd be surprised where opportunities jump at you from," Alkhalil said. "It could be where you least expect it. So get involved in an eclectic variety of different organizations."
Panelist Leah Perazzo graduated from Cornell University with a degree in biological engineering degree with a concentration in biomedical technology. She is currently continuing her classroom studies while she remains a research technician at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. She said her work focuses on preventing malaria, at the liver stage, with an effective and robust vaccine.
Perazzo's experience with AEOP was as a near peer mentor in the GEMS program. She now participates in the laboratory as a College Qualified Leader, known as CQL. She said it was her GEMS mentoring that led her to this area of research.
"I was trying to think of a good project for the kids," she said. "I came across malaria as a really broad issue still plaguing most of the world. I thought it would be a really interesting problem for them, turned out it was a really interesting problem for me."
"As I started to hear more and more about it, I found it was an area I wanted to learn more about. It was a great opportunity to get into an entomology lab and really get my hands into some research."
"Science is powerful," Perazzo said. "It's integrated into our entire environment. It's everywhere we look and everything we interact with. Understanding your world is something I know I personally couldn't stay away from. I wanted to ask the question, 'how?' and 'why?'
Perazzo said she couldn't say enough good things about GEMS and other AEOP programs.
"These types of programs really give you an opportunity to learn things you're not going to learn in the classroom," she said. "It's not about a test. It's about your ideas, it's about problem solving. It's really a great learning environment."
For more information on the programs available through AEOP, go to www.usaeop.com.
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