At a recent conference for undergraduate women physics majors, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga sophomore Olivia Ziemer initially found herself in awe, as “I’ve never been in a room of that many women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in my life, which was awesome.”
She also awed the judges, returning to UTC with first prize in the poster competition.
During the weekend of Jan. 19-21, Ziemer—accompanied by physics majors Emery Rutledge and April Horn and UC Foundation Professor of Physics Tatiana Allen—attended the American Physical Society Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
The goal of the conference, known as CUWiP, is to support female undergraduate physics majors by giving them access to professional conferences while participating in workshops on different topics—such as graduate school opportunities and how to be successful in the physics profession.
The three-day conference had more than 200 attendees and included visits to the Georgia Tech and Emory University laboratories.
Ziemer, a biophysics major and Brock Scholar in the UTC Honors College, presented a poster she started working on during her freshman year titled “The Relationship Between Viscosity of E. Coli Suspensions and Increasing Antibiotic Resistance.” The poster resulted from her year-long research with her faculty advisor, Assistant Professor Luis Sanchez-Diaz.
“It felt really good to be acknowledged for my effort,” said Ziemer, acknowledging that she was not expecting first prize.
“I was very surprised because Dr. Allen had suggested the day before that I try to win when giving my presentation,” she said with a laugh. “I was like, ‘I’m not super competitive. I don’t want to make myself nervous.’
“It’s kind of a weird step to go from presenting research and speeches from a lab and bouncing ideas off of your advisor to presenting it to people you didn’t know.”
She called the poster a great way to start working “on your scientific vocabulary” and making it accessible to people “who have no idea what you’re doing.”
The research centered on the property of the E. coli bacteria. “As they become ampicillin resistant, cells become more rigid,” she explained, and her work included collecting microscopy data to see how a single cell’s rigidity translates to the viscosity of an entire population.
Originally from Tigard, Oregon, Ziemer and her family moved twice during her high school years—first to the Charlotte, North Carolina, suburbs and then to the Chattanooga area. She completed her senior year as a dual enrollment student at Chattanooga State Community College before enrolling at UTC.
“I’m really happy that I came here because the physics department is small and very tight-knit, which is great,” she said. “I love the size and the community, and I know all of my professors on a first-name basis.”
Ziemer, Rutledge and Horn are all members of the UTC chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS). Ziemer serves as the student organization’s secretary for the 2023-24 academic year.
The CUWiP trip was sponsored by the Physics and Astronomy Gift Fund and the UTC Office for Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor (URaCE).
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Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor (URaCE)
UTC sophomore Olivia Ziemer stands in front of her poster, which received first prize at the recent Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at Georgia Institute of Technology. Photo courtesy of Dr. Tatiana Allen.
