Two more events from the Biology-Chemistry Club

Our campus club continues in October with two more events. This Monday evening at 5:00 in room 125 of Northside Hall the club has arranged for biochemist Shahir Rizk to give a talk about graduate school - one possible avenue to consider after graduation. His talk is directed to sophomores and juniors to discuss what students can do to gain experiences that will give them an advantage over other applicants.  Undergraduate research, tutoring, and club membership are just some activities to consider. 

This weekend the club has another community outreach event planned - again at the River Park branch of the public library. This time they celebrate National Chemistry Week with the theme of "Stellar Science". National Chemistry Week is held each October during the week of the 23rd because the date 10/23 symbolizes the "power" of one of the most important constants in chemistry: Avogadros' number, 6.022´10^23. The fun starts at 11:00 AM, so please stop by with a younger family member and let them see just how exciting science can be.

Addendum:  Here are a few photos of our students just after setup, waiting for the kids to arrive. This is a great experience for the kids and also our students.

 

Students present summer research in Indianapolis

This Friday morning, students and faculty boarded a bus early in the morning to take them to the 2018 Indiana LSAMP Annual Research Conference. The one-day event was held in Indianapolis at the Ivy Tech Community College Culinary and Conference Center. While chemistry professor Grace Muna participated in a panel discussion on serving as a faculty mentor for the LSAMP program and biology professor Andy Schnabel served as a faculty facilitator, the real stars were the summer research students who showcased the work they had completed as LSAMP scholars. Presenting research at a conference to faculty and peers is a valuable experience and is a great way to celebrate and formally conclude one's research project.  Congratulations to all the students who attended.

Giovanna Gorski - Computer Science Major

vCARE: Application of Geotagging to Improve Delivery of Public Health Services

Winnie Ihano - Biochemistry Major (with Dr. Rizk)
Characterization of Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) Mutants in Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID)

Stacey Jean-Baptiste - Biological Sciences Major (with Dr. Muna)
Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Aminothiols Using Modified Electrodes with Gold Nanoparticles

Jessica Jones - Biological Sciences Major
Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Plant Grown and Survival

Jones, Keon - Biological Sciences Major
The Effect of EF-P Post-translational Modifications on Cell Physiology in E. coli
Jones also participated in a panel discussion about the student perspective of undergraduate research.

David Mitchell - Biological Sciences Major
Pollinator Diversity and Abundance in Neighboring Urban Wetlands2

Christian Moreno - Chemistry Major (with Dr. Marmorino)
Development of a Tool to Operate on Periodic Trends

Pierre-Emmanuel N’Guetta - Biological Sciences Major (with Dr. Rizk)
Engineering a FABulous Fluorescent Glyphosate Biosensor Using Phosphate-binding Protein (PhnD)

Library display

The Schurz library has chosen to highlight chemistry this year for the month of October - so no, that's not a Halloween ghost in the right side of the display cabinet, but rather a chemistry lab coat.  But just like Halloween, chemistry is "out of this world", which is the theme this year set by the American Chemical Society for National Chemistry Week of October 21-27. Keep a lookout for a future post in which students from the Biology-Chemistry Club hold an outreach event at the local public library for kids.  Thanks to Assistant Dean (and inorganic chemist) Bill Feighery and Vice Chancellor (and organic chemist) Doug McMillen for setting up the library display.