2003-04 PROJECT SEED COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS

The ACS committee on Project SEED has announced the winners of its 2003–04 college scholarships. The scholarships are awarded to former Project SEED students who have shown strong potential for success in chemistry based on summer research projects and high school academics.

Project SEED, which celebrated its 35-year anniversary in 2003, encourages economically disadvantaged high school students to study chemistry by providing them an opportunity to conduct mentored research in academic, industry, or government laboratories.

Each year, Project SEED awards a total of up to $150,000 in scholarships to help exceptional SEED students make the transition from high school to college by contributing to the cost of tuition and fees during a student's freshman year. The scholarships are funded through private donations that are matched by the ACS Matching Gift Fund.

To qualify for a SEED scholarship, students must have completed a high school chemistry course and obtained recommendations from their teacher as well as their SEED mentor. They must also intend to major in a chemical science or engineering field.

BADER SCHOLARS

Alfred Bader is one of the founders of Aldrich Chemical Co., now Sigma-Aldrich Co. He and his wife, Isabel, have contributed generously to Project SEED for many years. This year, they sponsored 21 scholars.

Jignesh Amleshvar of Jersey City, N.J., is attending the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark. As a SEED student, Amleshvar conducted research titled "Determining the Size of Unilamellar Vesicles" at NJIT under the supervision of Michael Huang and Baohua Yue.

Seung Hoon Choi of Bloomfield, N.J., is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. His research, supervised by S. N. Ganguly and Sheetal S. Rao of Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J., was titled "Nitrations of Aromatic Compounds Using Calcium Nitrate."

Daniel Diaz of Union City, N.J., is attending Rutgers University. His SEED research, "Synthesis and Dispersion Properties of Hydroxyapatite with Mechanochemical-Hydrothermal Processing," was supervised by Chen Wei-Chen of Rutgers.

Jannatul Ferdous of New York City is attending Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass. Steven Greenbaum of Hunter College of the City University of New York was her research mentor. Ferdous' summer project was titled "Spin-Lattice Relaxation Times of Phosphoric Acid (aq) Concentrations."

Nathan Fritz of Salina, Kan., is attending Kansas State University, Manhattan. His SEED work, titled "Investigations of Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Butane over Various Weight Loads of V-MgO-Type Catalysts at Nanocrystal Molecular Size," was supervised by Keith Hohn at Kansas State.

Americo Garcia of Donna, Texas, is attending the University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg. During the summer, Garcia worked under the direction of Alexander Kurosky, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston. Garcia's research project involved the biochemistry of spinal cord injuries.

Marcus Glenn of Columbus, Ohio, is a student at Virginia's Norfolk State University. As a SEED student, Glenn worked under the direction of Christopher Hadad of Ohio State University, Columbus. His research was titled "Environmental Chemistry: Reaction of Volatile Organic Compounds with Hydroxyl Radical."

Vincent Iduma of Detroit is a freshman at Michigan Technological University, Houghton. His research involved "Synthesis of Cationic and Anionic Complexes Using Highly Multidentate Nitrogen and Sulfur Donor Ligands and Artifact Analysis via X-ray Fluorescence." His work was supervised by Mark Benvenuto of the University of Detroit, Mercy.

Kathryn Kelly of Akron, Ohio, is attending Oberlin College, in Ohio. Her SEED research was supervised by Christopher Ziegler of the University of Akron. Her project was titled the "Construction of Network Solids Using Borates."

Furiha Khawaja of Jersey City, N.J., worked under the direction of Amjad Khan of Jersey City Medical Center. Her research project was titled "Study of Pap Smear Findings as a Predictor of Acute Chorioamnionitis."

Suet Kam Lam of Pennington, N.J., is a freshman at Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, Pa. As a SEED student, she researched "The Synthesis of Pyrrole Nucleosides as Anticancer Agents" under the direction of Bruce Burnham at Rider University, Lawrenceville, N.J.

Christopher Leonor of North Bergen, N.J., is a student at Stevens Institute of Technology. Under the direction of Washington Braida and Nikolay Strigul of Stevens Institute, he researched the "Environmental Impact of Tungsten in Soil Environments."

Omar Miqbel of Union City, N.J., is studying at Rutgers University. Bishambar Dayal of Veteran's Administration Medical Center, East Orange, N.J., supervised Miqbel's research on "Cardiac Molecular Markers: Detection and Identification of Interleukin-6 Protein in Patients with Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease by SELDI Protein Chip System."

Dominique Noel of Lawton, Okla., is a student at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. Her summer research project, titled "Determination of Cadmium Distribution Coefficients on Local Soils and Vermiculite," was directed by Kurtis Koll of Cameron University, Lawton, Okla.

David Puente of Union City, N.J., is studying at Saint Peter's College, Jersey City, N.J. He worked under the supervision of Van Thompson of New York University College of Dentistry. Puente's SEED research was titled "Effect of Strain Rate on Bond Strength of Dental Adhesive to the Dentin of Teeth."

Sony Rodriguez of Jersey City, N.J., is a student at Drew University, Madison, N.J. His summer research, conducted at Drew, was titled "Cross-linking Today for an Eco-friendly Future." Jeremy Stanton supervised his work.

Karen Romero of Union City, N.J., is studying at Rutgers University. Directed by Paula Ruiz of the Hackensack University Medical Center, in New Jersey, Romero's summer research compared ozone with a variety of chemicals traditionally used to clean and disinfect hemodialysis pipelines.

Jena Smith of Philadelphia is a student at that city's Temple University. Under the supervision of Ashwin Kumar at the Forensics Mentors Institute, Willow Grove, Pa., Smith conducted research titled "Formaldehyde in Consumables."

Donna Velazquez of Union Hill, N.J., is studying at Rutgers University. As a SEED student, she worked under the supervision of Edward Konsevick of New Jersey Meadowland Commission. Her research involved "Mercury Contamination in the Hackensack River, N.J."

Jean Wisna of Linden, N.J., is studying at Rutgers University. Robert Rosen of Rutgers was Wisna's research mentor for her project involving the chemistry of mascretti oil.

Jawaria Zareen of Brooklyn, N.Y., is a freshman at Polytechnic University, Brooklyn. Under the supervision of Maja Nowakowski of SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, she researched "Boswellic Acids: Plant-Derived Inhibitors of Leukocyte Inflammatory Responses."

ELIZABETH & STEPHEN BECHTEL JR. FOUNDATION SCHOLARS

The Bechtels have been residents of the San Francisco Bay Area for many years, and educational programs have been one focus of their giving. In the past decade, their foundation has strongly supported the Project SEED program with student stipends and scholarships.

Thuy-Phuong Bui of Alameda, Calif., is attending the University of California, Los Angeles. Under the supervision of Ben Schiefelbein of the R. J. Lee Group, San Leandro, Calif., she conducted chemical analyses related to the construction industry.

Leizhi Sun of San Francisco is a freshman at Princeton University, N.J. His research titled "Computational Modeling of Gas-Phase Substitution and Elimination Reactions" was conducted under the direction of Scott Gronert and Diana Shem of San Francisco State University.

ULLYOT SCHOLARS

The late Glenn Ullyot was an accomplished chemical researcher who worked for Smith, Kline & French Laboratories. He was a major contributor to the discovery and manufacture of new drugs of critical value to the medical world. Barbara Ullyot had a management career at ACS and is a member of the society.

Solomon Sarfo of Orange, N.J., is a student at Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J. Supervised by Robert Augustine of Seton Hall, Sarfo's research is titled "Preparation of Heteropolyacid Modified Alumina: Use of Green Chemistry."

Ann-Marie Wise of Antelope, Calif., is attending the University of California, Davis. She worked under the direction of Philip Jessop of UC Davis. Her research project was titled "Non-Precious-Metal Catalysts for the Hydrogenation of Carbon Dioxide."

BURROUGHS WELLCOME FUND SCHOLARS

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is an independent private foundation dedicated to advancing the medical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities.

Gregory Jefferson of Durham, N.C., is a freshman at Hampton University, Hampton, Va. His research, "The Development of a Novel Biocompatible Hydrogel Polymer," was conducted under the supervision of Alvin Crumbliss of Duke University.

Ariadne Sanders of Durham, N.C., is studying at Davidson College, in North Carolina. Matthew Redinbo of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was her research mentor. Her project was titled "Using Circular Dichroism To Study the Stability of a PXR Mutant."

BAYER SCHOLARS

Bayer contributed to the Project SEED Endowment. Bayer is a research-based company with major businesses in health care and life sciences, as well as chemicals and imaging technologies.

RubyAnn Leicea of San Antonio, Texas, is a student at that city's Our Lady of the Lake University. She conducted research titled "Magnetic Field Treatment/Nitrous Oxide: A Greenhouse Gas" under the direction of E. Robert Fanick of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio.

Chantal Louvet of Collegeville, Pa., is a student at the University of Toronto, in Ontario. Under the supervision of Mamie Musa of the Forensics Mentors Institute, Willow Grove, Pa., she worked on a research project titled "The Detection of Kava-Kava in Hair and Urine."

LaTanya Turner of Orange, N.J., is studying at Rutgers University. Her research involved purification of industrial polystyrene, measurement of viscosity of different polymer solutions, and titration of biomedical polymer materials. Her research mentors were Jing Wu and Jing Zhang of New Jersey Institute of Technology.