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ACS National Meeting Offers Professional Exposure to Chemistry Students

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Research Associate Nathan Martin (left) and chemistry and education double major Andrew Bosco presenting their poster at the ACS National Meeting
Research Associate Nathan Martin (left) and chemistry and education double major Andrew Bosco presenting their poster at the ACS National Meeting

At the end of March, a mix of Keene State chemistry, biology, and environmental studies students (Kelly O’Rourke, Jeff Hall, Dylan Vandemark, Niko Brown, Mike Cavacas, Andrew Bosco, Rachel Klaski, and Patrick Kelley) traveled with their faculty research advisors (Chemistry professors James Kraly, Paul Baures, and Brian Anderson and Environmental Studies Professor Nora Traviss to the American Chemical Society’s National Meeting & Exposition in Denver, CO. The students submitted abstracts to the ACS’s Chemical Education division, and they presented their research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium poster session.

Besides the valuable experience of preparing their posters for presentation at a national scientific meeting, the students were exposed to a broad spectrum of cutting-edge chemical research. They also got to experience the exposition floor, where leaders in chemical equipment, instrumentation, and materials showcase their products and highlight new and exciting resources. The experience created many opportunities for the students to speak, network, and interact with potential employers and graduate programs.

As a senior and recent SURF grant recipient, Jeff Hall thought he had a pretty good understanding of the breadth of the field of chemistry—until he walked into the ACS meeting. “I attended lectures by world-class chemists, truly leading the innovation of their fields,” Hall said. “I was fortunate enough to see a presentation by Bill Evans, this year’s ACS awardee in the field of organometallic chemistry, who discussed research in the area of rare earth metals and their newly realized bonding potentials. I also sat in on presentations by his graduate students, which let me see the individual efforts that added to the whole of his award-winning research.”

Being able to network with other chemists gave the students access to broader scientific study. “I was able to talk to other chemists about my work and gain some new knowledge about it,” explained Kelly O’Rourke. “I learned a new synthesis for my compounds that has turned out to be a huge improvement on our current synthesis.”

The meeting also provided an important awareness of future professional and academic possibilities. “The conference provided invaluable perspective on possible directions for my interests as they relate to research, as well as ideas for my education,” observed Dylan Vandemark.

Realizing the value of such professional exposure, Dr. Kraly hopes to send even more students to the ACS and similar conferences in the future. “Presenting research on a national stage such as an ACS conference is a formative experience for these students, and represents their hours of dedication and effort in the field and research lab,” he said. “Just as much of our faculty-mentored research is collaborative, the support and organization for the group travel was also a collective approach; with contributions from NSF and NIH faculty research grants, the Student Conference Fund, and the Division of Sciences and Social Sciences.”

See the story “Research Teams Collaborate on Unique Biodiesel Study” for an excellent example of collaborative, faculty-mentored scientific research on campus.

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