STEM Conference welcomes scientists
A trio of accomplished scientists, including two alums, visited campus Friday, March 1, as part of the 12th annual student-organized STEM Conference.
- Joey Beckman ’03 — technical program manager at AeroVironment, a leading developer of helicopters for space applications.
- Joshua H. Choe ’16 — PhD candidate in the biological and biomedical sciences at Harvard University and a graduate researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
- Dr. Qixing Huang — associate professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin and holder of a PhD in computer science from Stanford University.
Throughout the day, these scientists visited classes and shared their experiences in aerospace, research and biology, and shared the work they are involved with at their respective companies. Beckham’s career is in technology development for aircraft, and he has led technology development programs in disciplines as wide-ranging as autonomy to manufacturing technology. Choe’s cancer research focuses on understanding drug-resistance mechanisms in pancreatic cancer. Huang’s research spans the fields of computer vision, computer graphics and machine learning.
In addition to visiting classes, the guests gave three extensive presentations to Middle and Upper School students.
“My favorite highlight was seeing the guests inspire students to follow in their footsteps,” said Arnav Lahoti ’24, STEM conference committee member. “It was very rewarding to watch how Mr. Choe told interested students the story of how he got started into research and how others can, too.”
St. Mark’s STEM Conference was created in 2013 to broaden students’ understanding of these topics and promote a passion for careers in the STEM disciplines by inviting professionals in these fields to visit St. Mark’s.
“The conference boils down to providing a platform for students to engage with cutting-edge innovations, network, learn from professionals and apply their classroom learning to real-world scenarios,” said Kevin Lu ’24, STEM conference committee member. “Much of high school is spent studying in the classroom and memorizing facts that could seem mundane outside of school when, in reality, much of what we learn is the foundation on which careers can be built. Being able to envision how what we learn inside the classroom can be translated into careers is possibly the coolest part of the whole experience.”
Arnav Lahoti ’24, Kevin Lu ’24, Andrew Jin ’25 and Amar Kakkar ’25 organized this year’s conference with guidance from John Mead, Eugene McDermott Master Teaching Chair in Science.
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Joshua H. Choe ’16
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Joey Beckman ’03
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St. Mark’s School of Texas
10600 Preston Road
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
About Us
St. Mark’s School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys’ day school for students in grades 1 through 12, located in Dallas, Texas. St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men to assume leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
