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Five Hamilton students attended the 249th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition held in Denver from  March 21 to March 26. Attendees were seniors Esther Cleary, Liz DaBramo, and Jordan Graziadei along with sophomores Mia Kang and Rich Wenner. Students participated in a variety of seminars representing a large breadth of chemistry and networked with industry professionals and representatives of graduate programs.

Junior biochemistry concentrator Ben Wesley received a Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research (GIAR) award for a proposal titled “Development of a Continuous Flow Reactor for Synthesis of Izidine Alkaloids.” Each year, several hundred to 1000 proposals are submitted to Sigma Xi to fund research-related expenses in many different areas of science.  The award program is highly competitive, and only about 15 percent of applications are funded.  

Associate Professor of Chemistry Myriam Cotten has been awarded a Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Award.  The Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program supports the research and teaching careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences at undergraduate institutions. The award is based on accomplishment in scholarly research with undergraduates, as well as a compelling commitment to teaching, and provides an unrestricted research grant of $60,000. Cotten is one of seven national awardees and the first Hamilton faculty member to receive the award.

Andrew Szatkowski ’15, a chemistry major, is spending part of the summer doing cutting-edge research on solar cell technology as an intern with the Thomas Bein group at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. The prestigious internship was awarded through the non-profit German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst – DAAD), and is funded through the Class of 1964 Internship Support Fund.

Patrick Marris ’16, Mia Kang ’17 and Richard Wenner ’17 presented the results of their summer research projects during the 13th annual Molecular Educational Research Consortium in Undergraduate computational chemistRY (MERCURY) conference. The conference was held July 24-26 at Bucknell University.

John DeGuardi ’16 and Allie Eckert ’15, both chemistry majors, are researching ‘organic radicals’ with Associate Professor of Chemistry Ian Rosenstein this summer. Generally, the students explain, electrons are paired within an atom and have opposing spins that help stabilize the atom. A radical, however, is an atom with an unpaired electron in its outer shell. Since the electron in the outer shell does not have a counterpart, the atom is unstable and highly reactive.

As you look at this screen, the array of colors you see is created by rare earth metals. Although the luminescence of these metals has been extensively studied, four students are working with Professor of Chemistry Karen Brewer to make the synthesization process more efficient by reducing the time, energy and funds needed to create them.

A group of 16 organic chemistry research students and their faculty mentors, Professors Ian Rosenstein, Max Majireck and Robin Kinnel, traveled to Colgate University to participate in the annual Summer Organic Research Symposium on July 1.

Although many people are frightened of the apian workers, honeybees are an integral link in the global food chain. Since 2006, there has been a noted increase in the prevalence of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) across the world. While many postulations exist, the definitive cause of this devastating phenomenon is not known. Jon Shapiro ’17, in coordination with Analytical Instrumentation Specialist Greg Rahn, is spending the summer conducting research as part of his project, “HPLC Analysis of Neonicotinoid Pesticides in Honey and Their Effects on the Kirkland Area.”

Although hundreds of students enroll in science courses every semester, doing summer research is “so much different than any lab class,” says Hannah Ferris ’16. Ferris, who is conducting organic synthesis methodology research under the auspices of Assistant Professor of Chemistry Max Majireck, is so fascinated by the project that she will be continuing her research with an independent study in the fall.