Farmingdale State College (FSC) recently held its third annual IGNITE Symposium, an exciting day-long celebration of students converging in the Campus Center Ballroom to share ideas, discoveries, and cutting-edge research through poster presentations and dynamic speeches.  

Throughout the event, more than 120 FSC students displayed a record 80 poster projects on their varied undergraduate research, applied learning, and civic engagement experiences over the academic year. Additionally, 30 posters were accepted to present at the 2025 SUNY (State University of New York) Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC), to be held next month in Binghamton, NY. 

“This is my first Ignite Symposium, and it is spectacular,” said FSC President Robert S. Prezant, PhD. “Events like this invigorate everyone. And as I looked at the various posters and heard the wonderful presentations, it invigorates me. It reminds me that my very start in academia began because one faculty member gave me an opportunity to do some research. And once I began doing that, there was no looking back. That ‘spark’ ignited everything I have done ever since that day.” 

“This is a fantastic event, and we love doing it,” said Dylan Gafarian, director of FSC’s RAM Program and TheDream.US Scholarship Institutional Coordinator. “We’re very excited and we’re honored that Farmingdale is as supportive of these initiatives in undergraduate research as you are in taking advantage of them and everything that Farmingdale and all our wonderful support programs are offering.”  

The array of presentations covered more than 25 academic disciplines and topics such as medical provider perspectives on mental health and hidradenitis suppurativa, the impacts of recycled plastic in concrete aggregate, the impact of community guidance for females in computing at FSC, social media’s influence on fast food cravings, AI use in customer service, and implementing data-driven solutions to enhance safety on local roadways.  

“It’s awesome to be able to do this kind of research,” said Shoshannah Cohen, ’27, a bioscience major whose group project assessed the impact of a beta blocker medication on oyster hemocytes.” I love immunology and marine biology, so getting to combine my two favorite fields into one project was really cool. I got to use dyes that I have not used before. I got to use a fluorescence microscope for the first time. I got to use a flow cytometer, just all kinds of cool equipment and techniques that I haven’t been able to do up until this point.” 

Tiara Trigueno, who is pursuing a Sciences for the Health Professions Certificate and worked on the poster project with Cohen, agreed. “It feels really great getting to practice the tools and techniques that we are learning about in our classes,” she said. “We get to see how these tools can be used in the field and what a big impact it can have too.” 

“I feel extremely lucky,” Gonzalo Fragoso, ’26, a computer science major, said in front of his poster presentation, “Visualizing Genomes, Exons and Features.” His Ignite Symposium research experience “gives me motivation and an edge and makes me want to keep working,” he said.  

Priya Persad, ’26, a science, technology, and society major, who presented a solo and a group project at the symposium, felt the event was a “really good opportunity” for students. “I had never done research like this before, but since I’m in the RAM Program I was able to explore different areas of research and, looking more into it, I was able to create different proposals.” 

Lauren Varagnolo, ‘26, a dual bioscience and applied psychology major, who studied full mouse cryosectioning at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, would “definitely” recommend participating in the symposium to other students. “Just get out there and share your thoughts,” she said. “Honestly, just apply, and talk to everyone you can because you can always learn more.” 

The event’s keynote speaker, Jonathon Greene, a mechanical engineer for the Electron-Ion Collider project at Brookhaven National Laboratory, offered motivational ideas on "how to align your personal values to your career.” 

“Career meaning can and will change as your life changes, and maintaining meaning in your career requires constant maintenance and work,” said Greene. “But in the end, it's worth it. Having a meaningful career makes you happier, more driven, higher performing, and gives you a greater sense of overall well-being.” 

In addition, four student “Spark Speakers” gave inspiring TED Talk-style presentations geared to “ignite” a passion for research in event attendees.  

“Our Spark Speakers really showed the vast understanding of what Farmingdale’s commitment is to applied learning, undergraduate research, civic engagement, and much, much more,” said Gafarian. 

 2025 IGNITE Symposium Spark Speakers: 

• Jayden Sampeur, '25, a manufacturing engineering technology major--Design and Analysis of DUNE FD2 Penetration Cable Trays 
• Brendon Markowski, ’25, a business management major and legal studies minor--What Brings Us Together?  
• Jecenya Tapia-Cabrera, ’25, a science, technology, and society major and biology minor--The Beauty Behind Belonging 
• David Mariyan, ’25, a security systems major--IPv4/IPv6 Routing and My Life Outside the Computer  

“Even if you feel you don’t fit the mold, there is always a way to carve out your own path,” said Tapia-Cabrera, who shared that the support system she found at FSC “gave me the spark I needed to ignite something within me.”  

“You belong in the room where decisions are made. You belong in the industries that you’re passionate about. You belong wherever it is you decide to take yourself,” Tapia-Cabrera added. “Sí, se puede. Because, yes, it is possible. I did it.” 

For more information, please visit our Ignite Symposium webpage. 

View more photos from FSC’s third annual IGNITE Symposium on our Flickr Gallery.    

 

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