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Chemistry @ UW -Madison
Undergraduates who participate in research in the Department of Chemistry have the opportunity to work with world-class researchers and be part of groundbreaking research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Join the faculty, staff and students of the chemistry department by participating in undergraduate research.
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News for Chemistry Undergraduate Researchers!
Award Winners from Virtual Undergraduate Poster Symposium
The first ever Virtual Chemistry Undergraduate Research Symposium was held on April 23rd and 24th, 2020. Visitors and judges thoroughly enjoyed the posters and 3-min presentations from all contributors. The following five students received a $300 award for their outstanding poster presentations. Two additional students were awarded Honorable mention.
Grace Carlson, Junior chemistry major, Buller group
Kevin England, Junior conservation biology and microbiology double major, Cavagnero group
Erin McCann, Sophomore biochemistry major, Yu group
Samantha Ausman, Junior chemistry major, Dumesic group
Aadhishre Kasat, Sophomore biochemistry major, Buller group
Honorable mention:
Nicholas Juntunen, Sophomore chemistry major, Brunold group
Xinyu Ye, Senior chemistry and Pharmacology & Toxicology double major, Gellman group
Barry Goldwater Scholarship Recipient!
Stella Ma, a Biochemistry/Nutritional Sciences double major, was recently awarded the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship. The competitive national award is given to exceptional undergraduates for their work in the natural sciences, engineering or mathematics. Stella was one of 191 students selected from an estimated pool of over 5,000 nominated college sophomores and juniors. Stella currently conducts research in the Blackwell lab.
Professor Helen Blackwell Awarded 2020 Undergraduate Mentoring Award
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Award for Mentoring Undergraduates in Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities recognizes individuals across campus that have been exception mentors to undergraduates. Professor Blackwell will be formally recognized during the Undergraduate Symposium on April 3rd, 2020.
Chemistry Undergrads at Research in the Rotunda
Four undergraduate researchers working in chemistry labs at UW-Madison have been selected to present at the 17th Annual Research in the Rotunda: Showcasing the Work of UW Undergraduates on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, in the State Capitol. Rebecca Gillis, Michael Kuehne and Akshith Mandepally will present their research from Prof. Helen Blackwell’s lab and Claire Evensen will present her research from Prof. Tom Record’s group. Along with students from the other UW campuses, these four students will have the distinctive honor to represent the spirit of innovation and creativity at UW-Madison and an opportunity to educate state legislators about the value of undergraduate research at UW-Madison. https://www.wisconsin.edu/research-in-the-rotunda/.
Two New CURB Members!
The Chemistry Undergraduate Research Board is excited to welcome Nicholas Juntunen and Jasmine Machhi as the two newest members to the 2020-2021 Board.
Join the Chemistry Undergraduate Research Board for a Virtual Meet-Up on Tuesdays from 4:00-5:00 pm!
This is an opportunity to chat about your experiences in on-line learning, virtual research, plans for the summer and more. All undergrad researchers are invited to attend and connect with fellow researchers!
Congratulations to Eleanor Landwehr!
Eleanor won an I&EC Division student poster award at a recent ACS meeting. Congrats Eleanor!
Undergrad Publication in JUST
An article written by Aadhshire Kasat, an undergraduate researcher in Prof. Andrew Buller’s lab, has recently published an article in the latest volume of the Journal of Undergraduate Science and Technology. JUST is a student-lead journal that publishes undergraduate STEM research twice yearly on the UW-Madison Campus. To read the article, feel free to pick-up a hard-copy of JUST from the Undergraduate Research Office, RM 2110.
Student Spotlights
Joey Corstvet
"There are three reasons I got involved. The first was the desire to gain experience in a research setting. The second reason was to fulfill the lab credits needed to graduate, while the third reason was to boost my resume."
Stephen Early
"Resilience is key. Getting started on a research project will surely involve a lot of failure and experiments that don’t go as planned, but learning about how to get back on your feet, learning from these failures, and using them as touch points is what will be the most impactful part of the research process."
Brian Ferrer
"Of course you want the reaction to work the way you're expecting, but sometimes an unexpected reaction could be just as valuable. A lot of great discoveries in history happened by accident, so it's not necessarily a bad thing when you do an experiment that produces unexpected results. "
Eleanor Landwehr
"I love the idea of doing new things that no one else has ever done, and continually building on my knowledge."