2009-10 Project Seed College Scholarships

The ACS Committee on Project SEED has announced the winners of its 2009–10 college scholarships. The recipients, all previous participants in the ACS summer research program Project SEED, receive one-year nonrenewable scholarships of $5,000 to help cover tuition and fees during their freshman year of college. For the 2009–10 academic year, 31 college scholarships totaling $155,000 were awarded with money from several sponsors.

Alfred & Isabel Bader Scholars

Alfred Bader is one of the founders of Aldrich Chemical, now Sigma-Aldrich. The Baders have supported Project SEED for many years and contributed to the initiation of the Summer II SEED program, which allows students to return for a second summer of more intensive research.

Catalina Adorno is a graduate of Union Hill High School, in Union City, N.J. She worked under the direction of Tristan Lambert at Columbia University on research titled "Oxidation of Organic Compounds Using Tetraalkylammonium Bismuthate." She attends Saint Peter's College, in Jersey City, N.J.

Ana Bonilla graduated from Union Hill High School, in Union City, N.J. She worked under the supervision of Karl Matthews of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, on research involving the food-borne pathogens Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes. She attends Middlesex County College, in Edison, N.J.

Stephanie Calache graduated from Union Hill High School, in Union City, N.J., and attends New Jersey City University. Under the direction of Renping Zhou of Rutgers University, Piscataway, she worked on research titled "Crystalline Staining in the Ephrin-A5 Null Lens."

Rachael Ceballos is a graduate of Fort Payne High School, in Alabama. At the University of Montana, Missoula, she worked under the supervision of J. B. Alexander (Sandy) Ross on research titled "Biomolecular Substrates for Extreme Life." Ceballos attends the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Angela Cluley is a graduate of St. Louis University High School, in Missouri. Under the direction of Anja Mueller of Central Michigan University, in Mount Pleasant, Cluley worked on research titled "The Removal of Metal Ions from Wastewater through Imprinted Polymerization." She attends Grand Valley State University, in Allendale, Mich.

Cindy Cruz graduated from Union Hill High School, in Union City, N.J. Under the supervision of Deborah Freile of New Jersey City University, Cruz analyzed soils from playgrounds and ball fields for the presence of lead. She attends Seton Hall University, in South Orange, N.J.

Ramon Cruz is a graduate of Emerson High School, in Union City, N.J., and attends Pennsylvania State University. Cruz worked under the direction of Nicholas Snow of Seton Hall University, in South Orange, N.J., on research titled "Analysis of Pharmaceuticals in Water Using Solid-Phase Microextraction Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry."

Iliana Escobar is a graduate of Theodore Roosevelt High School, in Los Angeles. She worked under the direction of Frank Gomez of California State University, Los Angeles, on research titled "Flow Injection-Capillary Electrophoresis." She attends Brown University, in Providence.

Levian Eversley is a graduate of East Orange Campus High School, in New Jersey. Under the direction of Zoltan Spolarics of New Jersey Medical School, in Newark, Eversley worked on research titled "The Effects of Adenosine on Cytokine Production from Microglial Cells." Eversley attends Rutgers University, Newark.

Maria Gomez graduated from High Technical High School, in North Bergen, N.J. Under the direction of Henry Du of Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, N.J., Gomez worked on research titled "Multifunctional Gold Nanoparticles for Improved Cancer Treatment by Photodynamic Therapy." She attends Drew University, in Madison, N.J.

Jack Lei is a graduate of Galileo Academy of Science & Technology, in San Francisco. Under the direction of Jason Yee of L&L Dental Ceramics, in San Francisco, Lei worked on research titled "Chemistry in a Dental Lab." He attends the University of California, Los Angeles.

Junghyun Lim graduated from Millburn High School, in New Jersey. Under the supervision of Alla Grishok of Columbia University Medical Center, Lim worked on research titled "Cloning & Expression of Plant Homeodomain Fingers of C. elegans Zinc Finger Protein 1." Lim attends Harvard University.

Chloe Lombard graduated from Highland High School, in Pocatello, Idaho. She worked under the supervision of Andrew Holland at Idaho State University, Pocatello, on research titled "Microwave- and Oil-Bath-Assisted Decomposition of a Platinum Acetate Complex." She attends Boise State University, in Idaho.

Maureen Malivert is a graduate of Orange High School, in New Jersey, and attends Montclair State University, also in New Jersey. She worked under the supervision of Cecilia Marzabadi of Seton Hall University, in South Orange, N.J., on the synthesis of novel carbohydrate derivatives as potential glycosylase enzyme inhibitors.

Tiffany Newsome graduated from Bertie High School, in Windsor, N.C. Under the direction of David Beratan and Christopher Rinderspacher of Duke University, Newsome worked on research titled "The Optimization of a Molecule in Competitive Binding to Sarin and Acetylcholine." She attends Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Onyeka Okoli is a graduate of Orange High School, in New Jersey, and attends the College of New Jersey, in Ewing. Under the direction of Nikolay Strugil of Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, N.J., Okoli worked on research titled "Toxicity Studies of Nanomaterials."

Lessy Pereda graduated from Union City High School, in New Jersey. Under the direction of Svetlana Sukhishvili of Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, N.J., Pereda worked on research titled "Role of Hydrophobicity of a Chemical Crosslinker in Retention and pH-Controlled Release of Antibacterial Agents by Ultra-Thin Multilayer Hydrogels." Pereda attends Montclair State University, in New Jersey.

Ngoc Tran is a graduate of South Philadelphia High School and attends Temple University, also in Philadelphia. Under the direction of Brenda Sanchez-Gaytan of the University of Pennsylvania, Tran worked on research titled "Controlling the Aspect Ratio of Gold Nanorods."

Joanie Wen is a graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School, in San Francisco. She worked under the direction of Robert Ramirez of San Francisco State University on research titled "Developing Agrobacterium Transformed Brachypodium distachyon Lines." She attends the University of California, Davis.

Chanrika Williams is a graduate of Whitehaven High School, in Memphis. Under the direction of Ted Burkey of the University of Memphis, Williams worked on research titled "Study of Aldehyde Reaction." Williams attends Rhodes College, in Memphis.

BinBin Wu is a graduate of Maumee High School, in Ohio. Wu worked under the supervision of Terry Bigioni of the University of Toledo on research titled "Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles." Wu attends Ohio State University, in Columbus.

Bayer Scholars

Bayer has been a major donor for Project SEED, as well as a major contributor to the Project SEED endowment.

Robert Golsby graduated from Western Hills University High School, in Cincinnati, and attends the University of Cincinnati. He worked under the supervision of William Connick of the University of Cincinnati on research titled "Vapochromic Materials for Chemical Sensing."

Y-Thien Hoang graduated from St. Mary's Academy, in Portland, Ore. Under the direction of Angela Hoffmann of the University of Portland, Hoang worked on research titled "Antimicrobial Properties of Bitter Melon." Hoang attends the University of Portland.

Trung-Quan Tran Le graduated from Olympic High School, in Charlotte, N.C. Under the supervision of Thomas Schmedake of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Le worked on a research project titled "Synthesis & Characteristics of a Hexacoordinate Silicon Compound." Le attends Emory University, in Atlanta.

Fosbinder Scholars

The estate of Elizabeth Ernest Fosbinder, wife of late ACS member Russel J. Fosbinder, has provided an endowment in his name for college scholarships to Project SEED graduates.

Warche Dowing is a graduate of Plymouth High School, in North Carolina, and attends the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Under the supervision of Terrence Oas of Duke University, Dowing worked on research titled "Conformational Change in Cell Surface Receptors."

Yifeng Li graduated from Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, in San Francisco. Under the direction of Weiming Wu of San Francisco State University, Li worked on research titled "Reaction and Synthesis of Azlactone." Li attends the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, Calif.

Hach Scholar

The Hach Scientific Foundation fosters and supports science and science education. It uses both scholarships and a variety of outreach programs to help students develop and sustain interest in the sciences.

Kristin Olejar graduated from Sto-Rox High School, in McKees Rocks, Pa. Under the supervision of Jeffrey Madura of Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, Olejar worked on research titled "Conformational Analysis Workbook Using the Molecular Operating Environment Software." She attends Duquesne University.

Ullyot Scholar

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. His wife, Barbara, had a management career at ACS.

Tram Anh Ngoc Dao graduated from Florin High School, in Sacramento. Dao worked under the supervision of Lisa Engstrom of the University of California, Davis, on research titled "Site-Directed Mutagenesis of Archaeoglobus fulgidus Uracil-DNA Glycosylase through Tryptophan Fluorescence Spectroscopy." Dao attends UC Davis.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals Scholars

The Ciba Foundation, through the newly established Ciba Specialty Chemicals Scholars Endowment, offers first-year SEED college scholarship recipients scholarships for the remaining three years of their chemical science degree programs.

The recipients for this year are Eric Plaud, who is majoring in chemical engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark; Jin Gao, who is majoring in biochemistry at Temple University, in Philadelphia; and Karen Ka Wai Wong, who is majoring in biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.