Students Earn Awards at 239th National American Chemical Society Meeting

Students Shannon Carter, Wesley graduate with a B.S. in biology (December 2009), and Anthony Darrington, senior biological chemistry major, had posters showcasing their research at the 239th National American Chemical Society Meeting (ACS) in San Francisco on March 21-25. The two received certificates of merit for their efforts. Six other Wesley students also participated at the 2010 ACS conference.

The posters were presented in the chemical education division undergraduate research section of the ACS. There were over 1,400 undergraduate presentations and over 17,000 participants at this conference. Listed below are the undergraduates who presented or were co-authors on posters presented at the conference: Ghada Alabed, biology major; Darrington; Peter Lorchak, nursing major; Brian Mahon, biological chemistry major; Matthew McAneny, biology major; and Jordan Wheatley, biology major. All students were mentored by Dr. Malcolm D’Souza, professor of chemistry. Niharika Patel, nursing major, and Carter were mentored in their research by Dr. Keka C. Biswas, assistant professor of biology and environmental studies, as well as D’Souza.

Some students even received additional funding to support their scientific research. While at Wesley, Carter was supported as an undergraduate research assistant by the DE-NIH-INBRE and the DE-NSF-EPSCoR grants provided to Wesley, and she is now a graduate student in the Environmental Soil Chemistry Program at the University of Delaware. Darrington and Wheatley were supported by the NIH-INBRE grants as well as NASA Space Grant scholarships from the Delaware Space Grant Consortium. Darrington will attend medical school at Indiana University this coming fall.