Lauren Kristofco and Elyse Schmitt are not only having successful careers on the tennis court, but they are also having some unique success in their academic ventures. Lauren was recently chosen to present at the ASLO (American Society of Limnology and Oceanography) Aquatic Sciences meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was an all expense paid trip to present her research that she did over the summer at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography (URI GSO) under Dr. Lucie Maranda. Although it was difficult to give up the beautiful snow in Meadville for a whole week in February, Lauren made some valuable connections with several prominent educators in her field of research.
Elyse Schmitt recently competed in the Gator Innovation Challenge which was hosted by Chris Allison in the Allegheny College Economics department. The competition encouraged students to create a product and write a business plan as well as present their ideas to a panel of judges. Schmitt’s business, Unsoiled Agriculture (name will be changed), took home first place which included a $1,000 cash reward. She then competed in the Northwest PA Business plan competition held in Erie, PA on April 7th. Elyse and her partner competed against 53 other applicants and took home third place and another cash reward to be used as grant money to do more research for her company.
