Students honored for Third-Year Talks at 20th annual Graduate Student Research Symposium

Eight graduate students in their third years were selected as winners of the department’s 20^th annual Graduate Student Research Symposium, sponsored by PPG. The winning speakers were selected by the guest and faculty judges.

	Margaret Clapham Advisers: Professors Christopher Douglas & Renee Frontiera Lattice Phonon Raman Spectroscopy as a Tool to Understand and Characterize Rubrene Polymorphs
	Cecilia Douma Adviser: Professor Michael Bowser Development of a microfluidic platform for the quantification of catalytic nucleic acids
	Celina Harris Adviser: Professor R. Lee Penn Iron Oxide Reactivity Under Environmentally Relevant Conditions
	Eliza Herrero Adviser: Professor Philippe Bühlmann Potentiometric Sensors with Embedded Plasticized Poly(vinyl chloride) Membranes
	Quin Hu Adviser: Professor Jason D. Goodpaster Machine learning for bond breaking: Training CASPT2 level neural network potentials for carbon carbon dissociation in alkanes
	Shelby McGuire Adviser: Professor Nicholas Race Regiodivergent opening of phenonium ions to synthesize 4-membered spirocycles
	Casey Ritts Adviser: Professor Thomas Hoye Sulfurane [S(IV)]-mediated fusion of benzynes leads to helical dibenzofurans
	Yuxin Wang Adviser: Professor C. Daniel Frisbie Electronic Control of Electrochemical Reactions at Ultrathin ZnO Electrodes

Students presented their research via Zoom on May 20, 2021. Guest judges were Dr. David Stone from PPG, Dr. Dipannita Kalyani from Merck, Dr. Jacob DeForest from Pfizer, and Dr. Anna Belu from Medtronic. Faculty judges were professors Jiali Gao, Marc Hillmyer, R. Lee Penn, Valerie Pierre, William Pomerantz, Courtney Roberts, Sapna Sarupria, and Jane Wissinger.

Judges considered if the student effectively communicated their research; displayed strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills; highlighted the contribution of others if working on a team program; and highlighted important safety aspects of their work.

Support for the travel awards given to the award-winning presenters was provided by the Chemistry Student Travel Fund, established in 2007 by alumna Dr. Karen Schultz who was advised by Prof. Hillmyer, and the Paul G. and Gerda Ann Gassman Chemistry Graduate Student Fund, established in 2011 by Gerda Gassman honoring the late former department chair, Prof. Paul Gassman.

This virtual symposium was organized by Prof. Jessica Lamb, with support from Daryl Bacchus, Mollie Dunlap, and Eric Schulz.