Bringing you the latest news from students, faculty, and alumni
Sadie Piatt and Raquel Ferreira presented their work at the conference for undergraduate women in physics, and at the Supporting Inclusion of Underrepresented Peoples (SPIN UP) Workshop, both at Harvard this January. Way to represent Emmanuel! ...
Rachel Philibert ’16 is an Emmanuel alum and chemistry major. She just started working for the Department of Safety and Homeland Security located in Wilmington, DE. The full title of Rachel’s position is known as a Forensic Analytical Chemist I, in the Controlled Substance Unit, of the Division of Forensic Science in the Department of Safety. Rachel was kind enough to answer a couple of questions as to what led her to study chemistry, how she found her job, and her experiences at Emmanuel . Philibert is from the Manchester, NH area and chose to attend Emmanuel because of her love for the city and it’s small but beautiful campus. At the time, Rachel had wanted to be a biology major and Emmanuel seemed to be a perfect fit with many hospitals just within walking distance of the school. Rachel graduated just last year and says she already misses it. When asked why she chose to study chemistry, Rachel says that “When I started attending Emmanuel I had every intent to be a biology major. I did not like my chemistry class in high school and my biology teachers helped open the door to loving science for me.”...
Students traveled with Prof. Aren Gerdon to the Boston seaport for a tour of the Harpoon brewery, bottling facility, and science lab. May Le’15, QA/QC Technician and chemist at Harpoon, invited students and faculty on the standard tour, but added an additional tour of the lab and answered questions about the field she has embraced. Students were interested in seeing what career paths are available to chemists and in seeing an example of quality control in the food industry. Research students will continue to collaborate with May and Harpoon on chemical analysis of fermenting wort. Thanks...
Congratulations to Keith Baillargeon ’16 and Krista Meserve ’18, Sarah Faulkner ’15, Samantha Watson ’15, and Hillary Butts ’13 on their recent publication in Chem. Comm. with Prof. Aren Gerdon and collaborator Prof. Padraig Deighan (Biology Department at Emmanuel College). Check out the abstract here: Baillargeon, K.R.; Meserve, K.; Faulkner, S.; Watson, S.; Butts, H.; Deighan, P.; Gerdon, A.E. “Precipitation SELEX: identification of DNA aptamers for calcium phosphate materials synthesis” Chem. Comm....
Professor Aren Gerdon is the Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Physics and an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Emmanuel College. He leads his own chemistry research group, focusing on biomaterials, and works closely with other research groups across campus. Professor Gerdon is passionate about sharing his deep knowledge of chemistry with his students, guiding them from class work to practical, real-world lab...
Adrianna Durocher ‘17 Adrianna interned during the summer at the Boston Police Department. Adrianna said the internship was a “good experience in the forensics field.” She participated various tasks such as moving files (some even dating back to the 1950’s), taking pictures, examining guns, bullets, knives, and packing detective kits. Sydney Strong ‘16 Sydney interned with the forensic summer program at the Glasgow Caledonian University. In the summer of 2016, she studied at the school of Engineering and Built Environment. She spent three weeks in Glasgow, Scotland taking part in lectures, labs, crime scene investigations and mock scene investigations. She enjoyed learning about the Scottish criminal justice system which is very different and confusing from ours. Sydney was able to visit the high court of judiciary, the sheriff court of Glasgow and Strathkelvin, the police Scotland training center, and national dog training center (which Sydney said was her favorite part)....