Representation Matters: JCSU Students Shined at the American Chemical Society Conference in San Francisco, CA

Mr. Saeed Dupree (Chemistry and Biology major) and Ms. Delaney Hill (Biology major) presented research posters on the "Examination of the Properties of Pyrolyzed Cellulose Nanomaterials into Char Residues" and "Kinetic Studies on the Formation of Char Residues from Cellulose Nanomaterials” at the American Chemical Society (ACS) “Harnessing the Power of Data" Fall conference in San Francisco, CA; August 13 -17, 2023. These two students are members of the Minority–Polymer Undergraduate Research Experiences (M-PURE) program under the leadership of PI Dr. Tracy Brown-Fox. When asked “Why more students in the College of STEM should attend these types of conferences?”, Saeed expressed “This conference allowed me to see people from different backgrounds working in different fields of science that relied heavily on chemistry, while Delaney stated, “This conference demonstrated to me that regardless of culture or language barriers, science is science!” Both students agreed that traveling to this conference was aspirational because they saw people who looked like them in senior positions at very well-known companies. Furthermore, they want other students just like them to attend future scientific conferences so that they too can be afforded the opportunity to travel and network with other scientists from around the world while representing JCSU! Students research is supported by NSF Award: #2101209