Physics student presents research at conferences; receives internship at IBM Research-Almaden

Iwnetim Abate, junior physics student, recently accepted an internship with IBM Reserach-Almaden located in Silicon Valley in San Jose, Calif. Abate will be working on increasing the energy densities of Li ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Abate recently presented research at the American Physical Society’s March meeting, which was held in Denver from March 3-7. There were around 10,000 physicists who attend the conference from all over the world.

“I made professional friendships and learned a lot from the conference and the people.”

The research he presented was on fuel cell devices, which he conducted at the California Institute of Technology. They are devices that produce clean energy from water and hydrocarbons. He was sponsored by the Society of Physics Students to attend the conference.

He also presented at the Minnesota State Capitol February 26 with three other MSUM students.

“We represented MSUM and there were around 36 students from around 14-15 colleges that are under the Minnesota state University System. I presented the research I did last spring with my physics professor, Ananda Shastri, and classmate, Andrew Larson. It was really interesting to present our science research works to the senators at the Rotunda.”