Chemistry Major Jobs and Graduate School Acceptances 2021
chemistry
Jordan Cox
Major: chemistry
Hometown: Yonkers, New York
Graduate School: Columbia University
Field of study: chemistry
How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?
Dickinson has prepared me to think critically and flexibly in any situation.
Internship Experience
REU at Rutgers University’s Rise Program in New Brunswick, N.J.
Anna Peterson
Major: chemistry
Hometown: Fairfield, Connecticut
Employer: Henkel
Job title: associate scientist
Job Responsibilities
Responsible for planning and performing laboratory assignments in the development of product formulations, measurement of physical properties, validation of performance and analysis of competitive products for the Laundry and Home Care division.
Internship Experience
REU at the University of Southern Mississippi School for Polymer Science and Engineering, doing computational chemistry research, which I presented at the virtual Spring 2021 American Chemical Society conference.
Kyra Samony
Major: chemistry
Hometown: Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania
Graduate School: Temple University
Field of study: chemistry
How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?
Dickinson, specifically the departments of chemistry and art & art history, has helped open my eyes into new modes of thinking. The professors in both of these departments have helped me immensely, in terms of figuring out what I want to do after graduation as well as during my time here as an undergrad. I feel confident in moving forward in the next chapter of my life with the things I have learned and taken away from my time here.
What are you most anticipating about your career or post-graduate pursuits?
I am extremely excited to continue learning and researching as a Ph.D. student at Temple University.
What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?
I really enjoyed the extremely hands-on lab experiences in my chemistry classes. I don't think I would have been able to get this type of mentorship and experience at a larger university. I am extremely grateful to my professors for being great teachers and mentors.
Internship Experience
I did an internship with MaxPower, Inc., in Harleysville, Pa. It is a research and development company that specializes in lithium metal batteries and their applications. I was in charge of coming up with new cathode formulations, assembling test cells and analyzing data from the experiments.
Catherine Bilodeau
Major: chemistry
Hometown: Chappaqua, New York
Graduate School: Cornell University
Field of study: chemistry
How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?
Student-faculty research with Assistant Professor of Chemistry Jason Gavenonis has helped me gain the skills and experience necessary to pursue a graduate degree in organic chemistry.
What are you most anticipating about your career or post-graduate pursuits?
Research in organic chemistry.
Internship Experience
Process chemistry internship at AMRI.
Eric Palermo
Major: chemistry
Hometown: Fayetteville, Pennsylvania
Graduate School: University of Maryland
Field of study: chemical and biochemical engineering
How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?
Gave me connections that helped me secure my first internship. Also through the 3+2 program, gave me an opportunity to attend Columbia University, which opened even more doors for me.
What are you most anticipating about your career or post-graduate pursuits?
I am excited to pursue research in batteries with some of the country's top battery researchers at University of Maryland.
What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?
Placing second in the Innovation Competition @ Dickinson in my freshman year, being on the executive board of W.I.N.D., meeting amazing friends, having really interesting classes with great professors
Internship Experience
Carlisle Construction Materials, Carlisle, Pa. - Worked as an analytical chemistry lab assistant for eight months and as a PVC formulation intern for three months.
Lizzie Trost
Majors: chemistry, biology
Hometown: Grosse Pointe Park
Graduate School: Cornell University
Field of study: plant pathology and plant-microbe biology
How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?
Dickinson prepared me for life after graduation in a myriad of ways, but especially by equipping me with strong communication skills. As an aspiring research scientist, communicating my work to peers and the general public (verbally and written) is essential, and I believe Dickinson's liberal arts curriculum lends itself to enforcing these skills.
What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?
The most defining moments of my Dickinson experience were doing research with Associate Professor of Chemistry Rebecca Connor (Spring 2018-present), and initiating the Biology Peer Mentorship program as a part of the Biology Majors Committee in Spring 2019. Both were incredibly enjoyable and rewarding experiences and helped me determine that I wanted to pursue a career in academia.
Internship Experience
- Biochemistry research with Dr. Rebecca Connor, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., Summer 2018 - Project title: Characterization of Heat Shock Protein 70.
- Plant pathology research in Cornell's Plant Genomics REU program, with Dr. Gregory Martin, The Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, N.Y., Summer 2019 - Project Title: Characterization of tomato lines with CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutations in plant immunity.
Wei Wang
Major: chemistry
Hometown: Huaian, China
Graduate School: Columbia University
Field of study: chemical engineering
How has Dickinson prepared you for life after graduation?
I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to receive a good general education as a Dickinsonian. Through past research training, my critical thinking skill and interdisciplinary exploration are deeply expanded from basic knowledge and techniques, and thus when I found something interesting and new, I always asked myself whether it could be used for some practical use and whether worth being followed up. It is my lifelong devotion and attachment to quest deeper understanding and occasional ecstasy it takes. On the other side, the practical liberal arts education always reminds me of being a flesh-and-blood man to apply my knowledge to help solve real-life problems.
What are you most anticipating about your career or post-graduate pursuits?
Actually, I received Ph.D. fellowships from Case Western Reserve and New York University. However, with my Dickinson education, I deeply realize that interdisciplinary study and research are essential to serendipity, but it also requires solid foundations. Then, I will continue further Ph.D. study. Because I love science and am proud of doing chemical research, I will make every effort in completing my graduate and postdoctoral studies in chemical engineering within ten years. My current long-term career objective is to develop novel therapies in health and disease after my Ph.D. degree.
What are some of the defining moments of your Dickinson experience?
I believe in Dickinson, every term could be my defining moment. Start as a freshman and an international student, Dickinson prepares us for various advice and choices to startup. I remember, in the first semester, I participated in the weekly meetings in the pre-health program, and I am looking forward to becoming a medical student. Afterward, I was obsessed with chemistry and research, and thus I decided to major in chemistry in my sophomore year. In junior year, I have fully understood what I want with the help of my dear advisor Professor of Chemistry Amy Witter, So I decided to graduate early to have further education. I am so grateful that I can be one member of this community that shapes every trivial and major accomplishment of mine.
Internship Experience
I started to intern as a neuroscience laboratory assistant at Jefferson University Hospitals in 2018. Under the supervision of Prof. Hui Zhang, I acquired strong hands-on techniques, for example, performing whole-body perfusion-fixation of mice, doing section in cold with the cryostat, completing immunostaining and analyzing targeted antigen, using the electrode to perform fast scan voltammetry recording of dopamine release, etc. A contribution I made to the lab was devising a method of better preserving brain slices. As I noticed that a lot of repetitive workload and errors in experiments were caused by unhealthy brain slices for an extended period, I wanted to find a solution to this problem. Inspired by literature "Slice it hot: acute adult brain slicing in physiological temperature," I wondered whether using NMDG-aCSF solutions in physiological temperature instead of ordinary cool temperature would produce healthier brain slice. So I designed the experiment. First, I used a total of 12 wild-type mice divided into four groups (one-month, six-month, eight-month, and 12-month-old) to obtain basal and dorsal striatal slices with physiological (37°C), warm temperature (20°C), and cold temperature (0°C) accordingly. The further electrophysiological analysis was performed in amperometry mode with NMDG-aCSF and thiabendazole induced solution which is the major solution in the main research at 2 hours after slicing and at 6 hours after slicing respectively. ANOVA results among 48 different conditions show that there is no significant difference in the quality of first versus last slices obtained from the same brain at every age as prepared in 20°C-36°C, which means physiological temperature cutting mice slices tend to have higher vitality compared to cooling-cutting slices, despite the fact that it's unable to obtain good slices with a vibration magnitude of ≥ 0.5 μm with FSCV techniques. This experiment made me realize that only with patience, meticulousness and rigor, the research can obtain worthwhile observation and ecstasy. The project gives me in-depth training towards becoming an independent researcher. Meanwhile, I was very grateful to Prof. Hui Zhang and his post-doc students for their valuable guidance.
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Published April 1, 2021