In the Student Spotlight: Oct. 18, 2019

Kudos to these students

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  • Physics Ph.D. student Sumant Sarkar was the lead author, along with assistant professors Ryan Behunin and John Gibbs, of “Shape-Dependent, Chiro-optical Response of UV-Active, Nanohelix Metamaterials,” published in Nano Letters under the American Chemical Society Publications. Their research achieved high levels of a typically weak optical phenomenon called chiro-optical activity that was brought about through the use of ultraviolet wavelengths.
  • The speech and debate team competed in its first events of the season: the Mills Invitational and the Aztec Invitational. Anabelle Daigle, Alyssa Layne, Xóchitl Liñán, Eliot Lovell and Konner Morris represented NAU. Diagle and Layne qualified to compete at the National Forensics Association tournament in April.
    • Daigle, a freshman studying biomedical science, won fourth place in Novice Persuasive Speaking for a discussion about the medical industry’s systematic misdiagnosis of women.
    • Layne, a sophomore studying criminology and criminal justice and business, earned second place in Novice Persuasive Speaking for a discussion about the controversial history of tipping practices and minimum wage in the U.S. She also earned second place in Novice After Dinner Speaking for a discussion about abolishing the fraternity system on college campuses and spoke as a finalist in the Novice Impromptu Speaking category.