steam group

Hostos Community College raised the bar at the 26th AnnualCollegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) Statewide Student Conference, taking home three first-place trophies. The conference was held April 13-15 at the Sagamore Resort on Lake George in Bolton Landing, NY, and drew 655 participants from 52 institutions of higher education from across the state.
  1. Oral Presentation Competition:
  • The project “Indoor and Outdoor Monitoring of Elderly Using BLE Technology,” presented by Elan Anderson, Calvin Francis and Swimi Kolancheril,won the first-place trophy in the Computer Science and Technology category. The students were mentored by Professors Biao Jiang (Natural Science Department). 
 
  1. Poster Presentation Competition:
  • The project “Melanin Extraction Protocol,” presented by student Inzamamdeen Kassim and mentored by Professor Van Chanh Phan (Natural Science Department), won thefirst-place trophy in the Biological Science category. 
  • The project “ConcreteInspection Using Deep Learning,” presented by Miguel Febriel and Melissa Souffront and mentored by Professors Biao Jiang and Liang Yang, won the first-place trophy in the Engineering category.
 
Other Hostos students who attended the conference were Thierno Diallo, Keneil Fearon, Oumarou Kafando, Antonio Paulino and Mohamed Sajath, among which all presenters received medals for participation in the poster competition, as well as Abigail Regalado who represented Hostos Community College as our student ambassador.
            
But that is not all! 
 
On March 23-25, high school students mentored in the programs at Hostos also participated in the 20th Annual Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) Statewide Student Conference in Albany, where they took home first-and second-place prizes.
 
Poster Presentation competition:
  • Naomi Hockaday (10th grade), Benchik Bayor (11th grade) and Jesse Yebouet (11th grade) won the first-place trophy in the Senior Division of the Technology category for their presentation titled “Design of a Black Ice Melting Device to Increase the Safety of Pedestrians in Walking Areas.” They were mentored by Professor Moise Koffi (Mathematics Department).
  • Michael Cruz (9th grade) and Daniel Tolbert (12th grade) won the second-place trophy in the Senior Division of the Biological Life Sciences category for their presentation “Metabolic Heat Regulation by African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana).” They were also mentored by Professor Koffi.
 
“Congratulations to our students on their outstanding accomplishments and for bringing Hostos five prizes in only one month,” Professor Koffi said, who also is the Director of STEP/CSTEP and Proyecto Access at Hostos. “It’s never too early to challenge tomorrow’s leaders in STEM for our nation.” 
 
Professor Koffi also thanked fellow faculty mentors, Professors Tanvir, Biao Jang, Van Phan, and Allison Franzese.
 
More about STEP and Proyecto Accessat Hostos
 
In 1996, in response to the decline of freshman engineering enrollment among minority students, NASA funded the Proyecto Access New York Pre-Freshman Engineering program (NYPREP). The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) developed the project in conjunction with eight institutions of higher learning. 
With the decline in program funding, The New York State Education Department supported Proyecto Access by implementing the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) at Hostos Community College in 2005. 
 
The Hostos Proyecto Access STEP Program is designed to provide multi-year program services to 282 secondary school students, who are New York State Residents and who are historically underrepresented and/or economically disadvantaged in scientific, technical and heath related fields. Every year, the program will recruit students in grades 7 through 12 with the objective to reinforce their mathematics and science skills at the secondary school level and prepare them for the pursuit of successful post-secondary, professional or pre-professional study in STEM majors in colleges and universities. 
 
The STEP Program at Hostos offers a rigorous seven-week summer session followed by an after-school program during the academic year, both in which enrichment courses and tutorial services are provided in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Science, Technology, Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics and health related fields.  Also, students are provided with professional opportunities in Science, Engineering and Technology, engaging them in hands-on and research activities, which will prepare them for higher education in STEM majors. Since its inception in 2005, the Proyecto Access STEP Program has served an overall number of 3,000 students from 100 secondary schools in New York City.