Oakton alum to discuss engineering at STEM event

Oakton Community College alumnus Curt Preissner, Ph.D., will discuss working as an engineer at one of the nation's top research facilities at a free lecture at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, in Room 200, Margaret Burke Lee Science and Health Careers Center, 1600 E. Golf Road, Des Plaines.

Preissner, principal mechanical engineer at the Advanced Photon Source at the Argonne National Laboratory, will present "Engineering at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source" as part of Oakton's STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Speaker Series sponsored by Oakton's Center for Promoting STEM.

The Maine South High School alumnus has worked at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source since 2001, starting as a doctoral student before joining the staff in 2004. There, Preissner designs X-ray microscopes and particle accelerator components.

His talk will provide an inside scoop of what other engineers and scientists do at Advanced Photon Source, a national light source research facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

Attendees also will have the opportunity to learn about Advanced Photon Source projects and discover educational opportunities at Argonne National Laboratory.

"Those who are interested in furthering their STEM education and discovering about potential employment in a cutting-edge field will want to attend this invaluable lecture," said Gloria Liu, coordinator of Oakton's Center for Promoting STEM.

"Since Curt previously attended Oakton, he can speak on behalf of how community college students can attain highly coveted positions in STEM."

The college's next STEM lecture, "Of Mice, Men and Monkeys: Using a Comparative Approach to Understand the Human Gut Microbiome," is scheduled at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, at Oakton's Des Plaines campus.

For information, contact Liu at (847) 635-1738 or glorial@oakton.edu, or visit protect-us.mimecast.com/s/5bQTCjRJwVUW4E8i5R_Ms?domain=oakton.edu.