Triple Helix writers win big at international science conference

This spring, two College students attended one of the largest international science conferences in the world and came home to Chicago with a first-place award.

Invited for impressive articles published through the Triple Helix journal, third-year Laura Felley and second-year Daniel Choi attended the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which welcomes scientists from around the world to discuss their research.

Receiving a first-place award, Felley beat out students from 26 Triple Helix chapters—including those at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia and Cornell universities—after presenting work in a poster competition that scientists attending the AAAS conference judged.

Felley’s winning poster was focused on her article about the waning popularity of the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella and how, after research suggested the vaccine could be linked to autism, use of the vaccine has declined significantly.

Choi’s poster was based on his article titled, “Knowledge Factories: Universities and the Shift Toward Marketplace Paradigms,” which won the international cover of the spring 2007 Triple Helix issue and appeared in all 26 chapters’ publications.

“This was a great honor for Laura, Daniel and for Triple Helix,” said College third-year Deepa Sen, who is President of the Triple Helix at Chicago. “Laura and Daniel received international exposure for their good work and were able to connect with folks in the science community. I know they were a great representation of Chicago.”

Triple Helix, established at Chicago in 2006, is an international nonprofit organization that publishes a journal by the same name. The group has more than 800 student members worldwide. Since its establishment at Chicago, the group now has more than 40 members who are studying in a variety of academic fields, including Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Philosophy, Law and English.

The AAAS has 130,000 members worldwide and is the largest federation of engineers and scientists in the world. The annual AAAS meeting is one of the most high-profile, significant events in the scientific community each year.

“This was certainly a very big deal for Daniel and Laura to be invited to the conference, to attend and then to receive such high recognition,” Sen said.

Additionally, the Triple Helix journal at Chicago was named the 2007 Best New Registered Student Organization, voted by the Office of the Reynolds Club and Student Activities.

Sen said of the trio of awards: “It’s been a very good year for Triple Helix.”