2017–18 Project SEED scholars

The ACS Committee on Project SEED has announced the winners of its 2017–18 college scholarships. The recipients, who were selected from participants in ACS’s Project SEED research program, received one-year nonrenewable scholarships of up to $5,000 to help cover tuition and fees during their first year of college. The 27 scholarships for the 2017–18 academic year, which have a total value of $135,000, were funded by private corporations and individual donors. Additionally, three Project SEED alumni in their sophomore year received the three-year renewable Ciba Specialty Chemicals scholarship, which provides $5,000 per year.

Project SEED is ACS’s summer research program that enables economically disadvantaged high school students to conduct hands-on research. For more information, visit www.acs.org/projectseed.

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.

Rayna Bandy is a graduate of Rio Rancho High School in New Mexico. Under the guidance of Bernadette Hernandez-Sanchez at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., she conducted research titled “Synthesis & Characterization of Zinc Chalcogenide Nanomaterials.” Bandy is majoring in chemistry at New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology in Socorro.

Sumar Beauti graduated from Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, Miss. Beauti conducted research titled “Epoxy Networks for Triplet-Triplet Annihilation” under the guidance of Joseph Lott at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg. Beauti is majoring in biochemistry at the University of Southern Mississippi.

David Bruns was homeschooled in ­Rosamond, Ill. He conducted research ­titled “Opening of Hollow Gold Nanoparticle-Liposome Composites Using Normal Human Body Temperature” under the direction of Anne Rammelsberg at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill. Bruns is majoring in chemistry at Millikin University.

Emanuel Colon Escalera is a graduate of Rafael Cordero High School in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He conducted research titled “Intercalation of Chlorophyllin into Zirconium Phosphate Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery Applications” under the guidance of Jorge Colón at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. He is majoring in chemical engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Bayamón.

Janiel Cortes graduated from Barrington High School in Carpentersville, Ill. Cortes conducted research titled “The Application of Carbenes as Hydrogenation Catalysts” under the mentorship of James Devery at Loyola University Chicago. Cortes is majoring in chemistry at Loyola.

Joakin Ejie graduated from Hercules High School in California. Under the mentorship of Jonathan Moore at Chevron Richmond Technology Center in California, Ejie conducted research titled “MTM Testing of Experimental Anti-Wear Additives.” He is majoring in biochemistry at Centra Costa College in San Pablo, Calif.

Kelly Flores is a graduate of College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, Calif. She conducted research titled “Genotyping by Sequencing” under the mentorship of Jennifer Bragg at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Albany, Calif. She is majoring in biochemistry at the University of California, Davis.

Jessica Grabowski graduated from Delcastle Technical High School in Wilmington, Del. Under the mentorship of Mariah Woodroof at the University of Delaware, Newark, Grabowski conducted research titled “Cation Effect of Benzyltrimethylammonium & Tetramethylammonium on Pt & NiMo/C electrodes in an Alkaline Environment.” She is majoring in chemical engineering at the University of Delaware.

Fernando Guerrero graduated from Rio Rancho High School in New Mexico. He conducted research titled “Metal Silica-Based Materials for Scintillator Applications” under the guidance of Timothy Boyle at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. He is majoring in chemistry at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

Beili Huang graduated from Natomas High School in Sacramento. Huang conducted research titled “Enzymatic DNA Repair” under the mentorship of Sheila David at the University of California, Davis. Huang is majoring in chemical engineering at the University of California, Davis.

Chang Kim graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco. Under the mentorship of Wallace Yokoyama, Kim conducted research titled “Proximate Composition Analysis of Grape Pomace” at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif. Kim is majoring in chemical informatics and computational chemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Michael Lee graduated from Southside High School in Alabama. He conducted research titled “Thermal Pyrolysis of Tarballs from 2010 BP Oil Disaster” under the mentorship of Jan Gryko at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. He is majoring in chemical engineering at Gadsden State Community College in Alabama.

Cindy Mai is a graduate of North Shore Senior High School in Houston. She conducted research titled “Optimizing the Haber-Bosch Process Using Promoters as Single-Atom Alloys on Co(001)” under the guidance of Lars Grabow at the University of Houston. Mai is majoring in chemical engineering at the University of Houston.

Sarine McKenzie graduated from Pittsburgh Creative & Performing Arts High School. She conducted research titled “Synthesis & Characterization of Dithione Ligands & Mixed Ligand Molybdenum” under the mentorship of Partha Basu at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. She is majoring in chemistry at Pennsylvania State University, University Park.

Clarissa Ortega is a graduate of Eisenhower High School in Rialto, Calif. Under the mentorship of Jianchi Chen at San Joaquin Valley Agriculture Science Center in Parlier, Calif., she conducted research titled “Digital Analyses of Tomato Plant Growth under Different Nutrition Conditions.” She is majoring in chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Mir Faiz Rehman graduated from Nicolas Senn High School in Chicago. He conducted research under the mentorship of Chad Eichman at Loyola University Chicago. His research project is titled “Investigation of the Uses of Different Catalysts, Such as Chlorinated, Iodinated, or Brominated Products, in Order To Conduct Hydroarylation Reactions That Are More Atom Efficient & Use Less Toxic Reagents.” He is majoring in biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Jacqueline Sandoval graduated from Garinger High School in Charlotte, N.C. Under the mentorship of Tom Schmedake at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, she conducted research titled “Adamantanes as Pharmaceutical Drugs.” She is majoring in biochemistry at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Camila Sierra Gutierrez graduated from Union City High School in New Jersey. Under the mentorship of Roman Voronov and Long Pham at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, she conducted research titled “Simulation of Artificial Bone Tissue: Chemotaxis of Stem Cells in Microfluidic Devices.” She is majoring in chemical engineering at Hudson County Community College in Jersey City, N.J.

Nicole Taylor graduated from East Orange STEM Academy in New Jersey. She conducted research titled “Electrochemical Reduction of CO₂ with Microwave-Enabled One-Pot Metal/Carbon Catalysts” under the mentorship of Huixin He at Rutgers University in Newark. She is majoring in chemical physics and physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

Malcolm Wiseman graduated from Pike High School in Indianapolis. He conducted research titled “Analytical Performance Evaluation of Dispersive & Fourier Transform NIR Spectrometers for Content Measurements in Pharmaceutical Blends” under the mentorship of David Myers at Eli Lilly & Co. in Indianapolis. He is majoring in chemistry at Prairie View A&M University in Texas.

Ashland is a global company that ­provides specialty chemicals, technologies, and expertise to customers worldwide.

Hannah Burnau graduated from West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School in Indiana. She conducted research titled “Quantifying Explosive Particle Collection Efficiency by Enhanced Swipe Sampling & Optical Imaging” under the mentorship of Stephen Beaudoin at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. She is majoring in materials science and engineering at Purdue University.

Rocco Molinelli graduated from Elmwood Park High School in Illinois. Under the mentorship of Wei Tsung Lee at Loyola University Chicago, he conducted research titled “Use of Vanadium To Create Treatments for Type 2 Diabetes.” He is majoring in chemical engineering at the University of Chicago.

Bayer Scholars

The Bayer USA Foundation is a major donor to Project SEED and a major contributor to the Project SEED endowment.

Brian Foster graduated from Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh. He conducted research titled “PC+PBT Makroblend Product Transfer Evaluation Study” under the guidance of Marie Urick and Robyn Francis at Covestro in Pittsburgh. He is majoring in chemistry and biochemistry at Princeton University.

Jahzeel Ortiz graduated from Dra Conchita Cuevas High School in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. Under the mentorship of Abel Baerga-Ortiz, he conducted research titled “Enhancing Protein Production in E. coli by Optimizing Growth Parameters” at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. He is majoring in chemical engineering at Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico in San Juan.

Umme Simanto is a graduate of Earl Wooster High School in Reno, Nev. Under the mentorship of Ian Wallace at the University of Nevada, Reno, Simanto conducted research titled “Plant Cell Wall Chemical Biology of Imino Sugar Analogs.” He is majoring in chemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The estate of Elizabeth Ernst Fosbinder, wife of late ACS member Russell J. Fosbinder, has provided an endowment to fund scholarships for graduates of Project SEED.

Andrea Nguyen graduated from Capital High School in Boise, Idaho. She conducted research titled “Enhancing the Sensitivity for DNA Detection Using the Gold Nanoparticle System at Lower Concentrations via Controlling Ionic Strength” under the mentorship of Jeunghoon Lee at Boise State University. She is majoring in chemistry at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif.

Chou Xiong graduated from Golden Valley High School in Merced, Calif. Xiong conducted research titled “Computer-Aided Chemistry” under the mentorship of Christine Isborn at the University of California, Merced. Xiong is majoring in chemistry at the University of California, Irvine.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals Scholars

The Ciba Foundation, through the Ciba Specialty Chemicals Scholars Endowment, offers Project SEED college scholarship recipients three-year renewable scholarships for the remainder of their chemical science degree programs.

The recipients are: Chrisan-Kay Clarke, who is majoring in biomedical chemistry at Prairie View A&M University in Texas; Mary Martinez Nuñez, who is majoring in chemistry at Bronx Community College in New York City; and Demi Reed, who is majoring in forensic chemistry at Ohio University in Athens.