Karissa Carter, Norfolk State University

Karissa Carter is a recent graduate of Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia. She was accepted into a graduate program at the University of California, Davis where she will be pursuing her PhD in Chemistry starting Fall 2021. She is currently a researcher in Dr. Hairong Guan’s lab where she is investigating the synthetic pathway of a nickel complex that was formed from a tetradentate Schiff-base ligand. In general, a Schiff base is a compound with an imide functional group that contains an organic side chain on the nitrogen. Schiff-base ligands are called salen ligands if they are formed from salicylaldehyde and diamine derivatives. Salen ligands are unique in the formation of metal catalysts because they contain an interesting N2O2 donor set. Although they are typically easy to prepare, an unknown reaction occurred during the crystallization of a Ni(salophen) complex; a side chain was added to the imide nitrogen in the H2salophen ligand. To study this reaction, Karissa is synthesizing and reducing the H2salophen derivative formed from 2,4-di-tert-butylsalicylaldehyde and phenylenediamine. After forming the ligand, she will attempt to synthesize the Ni(salophen) complex. If successful, the nickel complex could potentially be a new catalyst.

Christopher Conzales, Iona College

My full name is Christopher Matthew Gonzales Lopez, and I am working with Dr. George Stan. I am currently a student at Iona College in New York. My graduate mentors are Ashan Dayananda, Yasan Fonseka, and Mohammad Avestan. We are currently researching ClpP, a protein that unfolds proteins and directs their molecular chain to other catalytic subunits, which can then degrade them. It is part of a superfamily of proteins called AAA+, which utilizes ATP molecules in order to destroy misfolded and thus malfunctioning proteins. The lab involves observing the structure and interactions of the various parts of the protein by the use of cluster analysis with Python.

Jude Selo-Ojeme, Texas Tech University

My name is Jude Selo-Ojeme, I am currently in my senior year at Texas Tech University, and I am pursing a degree in Chemical Engineering. Outside of academics, I like anything sports related, so basketball, football, baseball, etc. I also go to the gym a lot as a way to distress from things, along with walks/runs. I would consider myself to be a very outgoing and energic person who is very easy to get along with.

For my research I am working in Dr. James Mack Laboratory alongside with Rohesh Silva. I am getting an understanding of the energetics and thermodynamics of the mechanochemical reactions with multicomponent reactions. An example of this would be with Kindler reactions. By mixing all your reactants into a small tube and speeding the reaction by increasing heat and spinning for 2 hours, you get your crude sample. Afterwards you get a solvent extraction by using H2O and dichloromethane (DCM/ CH2Cl2). After a couple shakes you let the liquid solution sit and separate, and you will have your liquidated crude. You will soon spin this in a heated water bath but first you need to add silica which is used to solidify the liquid solution while it is being spun. Finally, after the solution has been spun until all liquid is removed, you add this solution to a column and receive your readings.