Virtual Research Days Offer Alumnus Guest Speaker, Wider Online Audience

David Garcia ’14, a Kean University graduate who overcame a rare physical disability to win a National Institutes of Health fellowship and pursue his doctorate at Brown University, will tell his inspirational story — via video — at Kean’s first-ever Virtual Research Days on Tuesday, April 28.

Garcia, who received a degree in chemistry and biology from Kean, was born with Moebius Syndrome, a neurological condition that gave him partial upper limbs, missing fingers and no feet. 

Despite his challenges, Garcia did extensive research with Kean’s McNair Scholars, Research Days and other programs, and this spring is expected to receive his Ph.D. in chemistry from Brown, after defending his thesis via Zoom. He will serve as special guest speaker when Kean’s annual symposium goes live online.

“No one who hears David’s story could fail to be awed by his extraordinary accomplishments,” said Kean Provost and Vice President for Research and Faculty Jeffrey H. Toney, Ph.D., who called Garcia “one of the most brilliant minds I’ve worked with.”

An annual event that has involved thousands of Kean students and faculty over the years, Research Days is usually a multi-day, multi-site conference where student and faculty researchers present research findings, attend lectures and network. This year, a record-breaking 2,280 students were engaged in research projects, including 510 from Wenzhou-Kean University.  Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and closure of Kean’s campus this spring, Research Days 2020 is a web-based experience, which opens the event to a larger cyber audience. Wenzhou-Kean University is also launching a web-based Research Days event beginning April 22.

Garcia’s speech, on video, will be posted on the Research Days website, which will also have a full-color flipbook containing all student and faculty abstracts and awards information. Poster files will be displayed as high-resolution images, in photo galleries organized by college. 

Leveraging the reach of the internet and social media, students who registered for oral presentations and exhibits were invited to prepare a three-minute video about their research or creative project, which will be uploaded to a Kean Research Days YouTube channel, with playlists for each college.

While the virtual event will differ from the in-person gathering that is a mainstay of Kean’s strong commitment to research, the new format offers students the opportunity to gain a wider audience in cyberspace.

“In past years, the poster sessions lasted two hours. This year, posters will remain available on the Research Days site for a year. Videos and playlists of student oral presentations can be shared via email or text,” said Reenat Munshi, assistant director of student-faculty research, who is coordinating Research Days 2020. 

“Even though we will not gather in person, hundreds of Kean students will present research and creative work in a digital setting,” said Susan Gannon, acting director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. “We are hoping each student uses the power of social media to promote the event and create an audience many times larger than past years.”

Garcia’s story is meant to inspire Kean’s students and Research Day’s broader audience. Garcia, who grew up in Middlesex, attended regular schools, played soccer with prosthetic feet through high school, and taught himself to use precision laboratory equipment, type on a keyboard, and even play a few songs on piano with four fingers. 

“My parents never made a big deal of it or treated me differently,” said Garcia, the oldest of five children born to first-generation Colombian immigrants. 

He also works to inspire the disabled community. He is a member of the action committee for the non-profit Positive Exposure and a volunteer ambassador for the Pearls Project, which promotes human diversity; and he has created a foundation called David Garcia Limitless.

Garcia said he loves to learn and was excited to be invited to speak at Kean’s Research Days.

“I have learned from my experiences to place trust in myself and my vision,” Garcia said. “I look forward to sharing my successes and struggles, to motivate people to be relentless in pursuit of their dreams, and to inspire those who were told they can’t be great — to be limitless.”

Garcia can be reached on FB, IG, YouTube: @davidgarcialimitless