DANBURY, CT – Western Research Day, an annual event where Western Connecticut State University undergraduate and graduate students officially present their research and other creative projects, will be held on Friday, May 5, and the public is invited to attend to learn from this scholarship and hear keynote speakers Gil Simmons and Dr. Brittany Baisch. The event will be held from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. in White Hall on the Midtown campus at 181 White Street, Danbury. Awards will be presented to students receiving the highest score for their work and presentations.
Gil Simmons ’99, a meteorologist for WTNH-TV 8, will serve as the opening keynote speaker from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. in the Ives Concert Hall in White Hall. Simmons, a Communications and Media Arts graduate of WCSU and a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), served in the United States Marine Corps as a meteorologist/oceanographer before attending the university and forecasting weather on WTNH beginning in 2003. He is one of only a few meteorologists with the prestigious Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval from the AMS, and has received two Emmy nominations for his weather coverage in Connecticut as well as being awarded the 2002 Best Weathercast in Connecticut by the Associated Press. His address will focus on “Humanizing the Science of Weather.”
Dr. Brittany Baisch ’08 will serve as the keynote alumni speaker in the Ives Concert Hall from 3 – 4:30 p.m. Baisch is a board certified toxicologist with a breadth of experience in the semiconductor, nano materials, food, consumer product goods and agrochemical industries. Baisch graduated summa cum laude in 2008 with three WCSU degrees: a B.A. in Chemistry, a B.A. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in Spanish. Baisch currently leads regulatory affairs and toxicology at ENKO Chem, an agrochemical start-up based in Mystic. After earning her Ph.D. in Toxicology from the University of Rochester, Baisch served as a food toxicologist for Kraft Foods in Chicago, and also as principal toxicologist and research fellow-toxicology for Sun Products Corp. in Trumbull.
For more information, go to https://www.wcsu.edu/wrd/.
