December 08, 2022

American Heritage Palm Beach student Areesh Sobhani was named the recipient of the inaugural President-elect Award at the 2022 IFoRE Student Summit. His research presentation on the development of a hands-free system to automate the control of guitar amplifier parameters was selected from over 250 students who attended the four-day conference in Alexandria, Virginia to showcase research through poster and oral presentations. 

Sigma Xi President-elect Marija Strojnik presented the award during a special post-conference virtual session, in conjunction with the Bugliarello Prize presentation. The special award was hand-selected by Strojnik, who took part in pitch presentations from all student presenters during the conference. 

"I was very impressed with the enthusiasm that Areesh showed for his work," said Strojnik. "He solved an engineering problem that was relevant to him as a musician, and also can be useful to many other populations who may have lost or limited control of their extremities, such as individuals with neuro-muscular disease."

Sobhani joins 46 other students in receiving medals, monetary prizes, and induction into the Society as award recipients for oral and poster presentations during the 2022 IFoRE Student Summit in Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to the student research competition, the inaugural event featured world-class keynote speakers, breakout sessions, workshops, and science-themed art & entertainment as members of the Society and the research enterprise at-large gathered to celebrate themes of convergence and diversity in science and society.