Science Standout Among Nation's Best

Migual Mathis's love of science earned him an invitation to an exclusive event. Mathis was one of just 150 high school-aged students to be invited to participate in the first ever National STEM Festival in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the festival was to highlight and showcase student-led solutions which address critical global challenges.

Mathis is both a 12th grade student at the Syracuse Academy of Science and a full-time student at Onondaga Community College as part of the Early OCC program. It provides students the opportunity to begin earning college credits on a pathway toward their desired degree.

At the National STEM Festival, Mathis's presentation was titled Computational Assessment of Apigenin as a Protein-Based Therapeutic for MUC1. "One of the key points of the festival was to bring in student innovators. I was able to present my research to policy makers and U.S. Government officials," said Mathis.

"We were excited to welcome these student innovators to Washington, D.C. to learn how they apply science, technology, engineering, and math to solve pressing challenges that affect all our lives," said U.S. Department of Education Secretary Cindy Marten. "The student innovators represented STEM excellence, and the National STEM Festival was a showcase of the genius and inventiveness that lives within every student."

Mathis began emerging on the national stage as a student at the Syracuse Academy of Science. He entered a class project into a area Science Fair, won first place, and earned a spot in an international science fair in Atlanta. "It really opened my eyes. I took it all in, met people there, especially students, and learned from what they did. The whole experience was very eye-opening."

During his junior year of high school, he attended the Syracuse Academy of Science by day and took a Biology class at OCC at night. This year, which is also his senior year of high school, he is a full-time OCC student. At the end of this semester he will have earned 36 college credits.

In the fall Mathis will be a Biochemistry major at Cornell University. "OCC has prepared me for my academic journey into higher education. It really prepared me for science competitions too. I've taken classes that gave me information I could use in my research."