When it comes to student research, Centenary University science majors have proven that they can go toe-to-toe with the world’s best. At an international conference, the university’s four student entrants in the student poster presentation all placed in the top 10—including winning first and second places—and bested more than 750 entries from research powerhouses including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins.

Sponsored by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, the conference required students to submit poster presentations of their original research and explain their findings in detail to judges. The event drew entrants from around the world and was held in Austin, Texas.

Centenary University junior Pier Semanchik, of Great Meadows, took first place.

Junior Clerson Xavier, of Irvington, placed second. Senior Tess Horvath of Easton, Pa. and junior Jefferson Jean-Paul of Irvington also placed in the top 10.

The Centenary students all worked with Lauren Bergey, Ph.D., professor of biology and dean of special academic programs, to study an invasive shrimp specie from Japan that has been discovered at the Jersey shore. To develop their presentations, the students tapped the expertise of Linda Ritchie, assistant professor of mathematics, for assistance with data analytics, and Julie LaBar, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental science, on water quality analysis. Dr. Bergey said the accomplishment is even more remarkable because undergraduates and graduate students were all presenting at the same time in the same location next to each other.

 After all four students presented their findings, they left Texas for the long drive back to Centenary. The conference hadn’t yet ended, but they needed to return to school. Along the way, one of the students opened an email notifying them of their extraordinary accomplishment. Cheers filled the car.

“I am so proud of all four of these students,” Dr. Bergey said. “This is a small university, so students sometimes have research opportunities that aren’t available until the graduate level at larger universities. At Centenary, we don’t necessarily look for just the 4.0 kids to participate in research. We look for hard workers. All of these kids are willing to work hard to succeed and their efforts shined at this conference.”