As I was walking around, looking for a poster to catch my eye and draw me in, one student from CCNY did that instead. She saw the opportunity of someone walking by and took it, asking if I wanted to learn about the research she and her group have done. I kindly said, “sure!” even though the poster was way too wordy for my liking. I would not have stopped if she didnt ask me to listen because the poster intimidated me.

However, once the student started explaining to me everything on the poster, it was really interesting. She said that Norilsk is a city in Russia and one of the world’s most polluted cities. That was due to the nickel factory in middle of the city, which happens to be the biggest employer in the city as well. She spoke about the effects of the pollution and the challenges with mitigating it. One thing that really stood out to me is that the life expectancy for the people who live there is 36 years old. To put that into perspective with her words; “we would be middle aged right now.” From what I understand, it is a very complex situation.

The group made some proposals to help the city, which ranged from a bacteria that filters pollution to Americans lobbying for funding to better the city’s conditions.

The student really knew a lot about her research. The poster had really great pictures and graphs, which she pointed to ask she was explaining. That just shows that Professor Branco is right… the posters should not be so wordy. I didnt want to approach the poster, but when I had, I did not read any of the words on the poster, and the information that was relayed to me was great nonetheless!

I think this group won in one of the categories but I’m not sure which one. Their research was very thorough and clear. It was quite intriguing.