The theme for this year鈥檚 annual science conference organised by the Science Students Society (S-Cubed) was 'Science: Designing our Future', and took place on Friday 2 March 2018 at Hotel Cavalieri in St Julian鈥檚.
The aim of this conference was to showcase some examples of the wide range of research currently being undertaken within the Faculty of Science.
The conference was introduced by the Vice-president of S-Cubed, Sandrine Borg, who was followed by the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Head of Department of Physics, Prof. Charles V. Sammut, who expressed his satisfaction with the excellent turnout of students at this conference.
Prof. Sammut highlighted the opportunity that this conference gives in providing a glimpse of the abundant and diverse research that takes place at the Faculty. Prof. Cristiana Sebu, from the Department of Mathematics and editor-in-chief of XJENZA, the science journal of the Malta Chamber of Scientists, spoke about the importance of students to share their work and encouraged students to publish their work so that further research can be carried out.
Various presentations were delivered by undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D. students from the Departments of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geosciences and Biology, as well as representatives of the sponsors.
At the end of the conference, S-Cubed thanked the Faculty and Prof. Sammut, as well as the sponsors: Technoline Limited, Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) and AquaBio Tech.
This year鈥檚 presentations were given by:
Department of Mathematics
- Two-graph
Luke Collins (B.Sc. Mathematics and Computer Science Hons.) - The forward problem for an open-ended rectangular waveguide radiating into a dielectric half-space
Nadia Vella (Ph.D. in Mathematics) - Reducing the maximum degree of a graph by deleting vertices
Kurt Fenech (Ph.D. in Mathematics)
Department of Physics
- Variation of the dielectric properties of lung tissue with temperature
Julian Bonello (Ph.D. in Physics)
Department of Chemistry
- Modelling of Negative Poisson鈥檚 Ratio in Cristobalite-type Crystalline Materials
Matthew Xuereb (B.Sc. in Chemistry with Materials Hons)
Department of Geosciences
- High-frequency ground motion scaling and ground shaking scenarios for earthquakes in the Mediterranean area
Chantelle Dimech (Ph.D. in Geosciences) - An introduction to high resolution seismic imaging
Christopher Zerafa (Ph.D. in Geosciences)
Department of Biology
- Ecological restoration of abandoned agricultural land
Jorge Gafa (B.Sc. Biology Hons) - Thymbra capitata decreases species diversity in shrublands
Sylvana Scerri (B.Sc. Biology Hons) - Predicting the effects of climate change on Elatine gussonei, an endemic species
Pamela Cuschieri (B.Sc. Biology Hons)
