St. John’s University Department of Chemistry Mentors Broad Range of Students Doing Research

The Vincentian Mission is a way of life at St. John’s University, exemplified by the Department of Chemistry's inclusion of five high school students from economically disadvantaged households in its Summer Research Program on the Queens campus. Fifteen graduate and undergraduate chemistry students also participated in the 10-week program.

Faculty in the Department of Chemistry at St. John’s University mentored both the 20 high school and college students. Two of the high school students participated under the American Chemical Society’s Project SEED (Summer Educational Experience for the Economically Disadvantaged), which encourages select high school students to pursue career opportunities in the chemical sciences, says Professor of Analytical Chemistry Neil Jespersen.  The three other high school students were funded by the Harlem Children’s Society, working with the American Chemical Society and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Undergraduates--many of whom were taking the department’s “Fundamentals of Research” course--and master’s degree candidates rounded out the roster of those doing research on campus over the summer months. Many of the students were supported in their research by various grants and programs.

Several gatherings were held during the summer so that the students could meet and familiarize themselves with each other’s projects. Associate Provost James Benson attended the introductory reception at the beginning of the session; Provost Julia Upton, RSM, Ph.D. met with students at the concluding luncheon at which students presented posters describing their research and responded to questions.

Professor Jespersen and Associate Professor Elise Megehee—who worked closely with the students-- believe it is very important to the future of scientific advancement that students participate in research projects. “As college students get involved in research, we see a higher portion going into chemistry graduate programs and scientific careers in industry,” says Professor Megehee. “High school students who do summer research tend to major in the sciences in college.”

Wide Range of Research Topics
Professors worked with students on a wide variety of research projects:

• Professor David Brown’s student, Rafa Sharhan, concluded his research on synthesis of ionophores and earned his Master of Science degree.
• Professor Alison Hyslop continued her research into the light-harvesting analogs of porphyrins with several undergraduate students, and has recently submitted a paper on this work.  One of these students, Xiulan Wang, was funded by Graduate Admissions Assistance Program (GAAP).
• Professor Richard Rosso worked with two undergraduate students on his projects to produce non-pollution "green" catalysts for industrial processes.  The work of one of the students, Amandeep Kaur, was also funded by GAAP.
• Professor Neil Jespersen worked with two high school students, Liliana Conde and Natasha Williams, who were sponsored and funded by Project SEED.
• Professor Victor Cesare worked with one graduate, three undergraduate and one high school student in his studies involving chemical synthesis using alpha-lactams.
• Professor Steven Graham had a student working on a project involving the synthesis of RNA analogs.
• Professor Elise Megehee had one graduate student and two undergraduates continuing her work on the synthesis of light-emitting molecules that could be used for alternate energy sources such as solar energy.
• Professor Enju Wang continued her work using sol-gels for the development of optical sensors for strong acids and amines, with three graduate students and one high school student.
• Professor Joseph Serafin had his student, Jonathan Patete, working on his atomic-force microscope to study various chemical surfaces.

Research Presented at American Chemical Society
The Chemistry Department’s research projects were among those presented at the most recent national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, DC, attended by over 13,000 attendees.

The research presented at this meeting was conducted by faculty members Professors Alison Hyslop, Elise Megehee, Steven Graham, Luis Vargas and Ralph Stephani. The students who participated in this research and were co-authors of the work presented were master’s degree candidates Pantea Manhaji and Salome Bhagan and undergraduate students Virginia Seng, Xiulan Wang, Rukya Ali, Farah Charles-Pierre, Weici Fang, Daniel Amarante, Cheryl Cherian, Jian Yang and Ji Suh. The research presented by these chemistry students was the culmination of many hours in the laboratory under the supervision of faculty members. 

Throughout the academic year, students in the University’s Chemistry program continue research that often leads to publication in an academic journal or to the presentation of a paper at a future national meeting of the American Chemical Society or at the Undergraduate Research Symposium at St. John’s.  In addition, these students typically present their results at the St. John's University Student Research Day in April.

About 80 undergraduate and 35-40 graduate students are chemistry majors at St. John’s. Professor Gina Florio joined the Department in September and will be working with students next summer on research that she has underway.