On March 9, senior Madison Esposito presented her micrometeorite research at the International Women’s Day Celebration 2019 Symposium, hosted by Stony Brook University and sponsored by Brookhaven Women in Science and Women in Science and Engineering. This year’s WISE theme was “Girl Power in STEM: Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change!”

The symposium celebrated the accomplishments of women in science, technology, engineering and math fields. Lecturers and panelists discussed the impact of women in STEM careers, women in the work environment, impacts on the economy, and how society can improve female participation in STEM fields.

Esposito and micrometeorite team partner Kevin Souhrada of Bay Shore High School previously presented their research in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium’s 2018 Long Island regional semifinals, held on Feb. 3 at York College in Queens. The two students have been experimenting at the National Synchrotron Light Source II, the brightest X-ray microscope in the world, located at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The research team has been using various beamlines to uncover the chemistry and mineralogy of micrometeorites collected from high school roofs across Long Island, including samples the students collected from their very own schools. Their work is part of BNL’s Student Partnerships for Advanced Research and Knowledge program in which students and teachers work together with Brookhaven scientists to conduct experiments at the lab’s state-of-the-art facilities.