Midland College Chemistry Club attends American Chemical Society’s spring 2023 meetingApril 04, 2023

Midland College (MC) Chemistry Club students and advisors attended the recent American Chemical Society spring 2023 meeting in Indianapolis, IN, March 26-30.  During the meeting, MC students Lily Arbuckle and Zak Alvarado presented on successful outreach activities of the MC Chemistry Club chapter.  

MC student Maria Gonzalez presented her research on silver nanoparticle synthesis using green tea.  Gonzalez is conducting this research with mentor Dr. Pat Kesavan, MC Chemistry professor, in the hopes of finding ways to deliver chemotherapy directly into tumor sites.  

In addition to the presentations, the MC delegation attended the plenary session entitled “Chemistry at the Crossroads:  The Development of Asymmetric Organocatalysis and Metallaphotoredox” presented by Dr. David MacMillan, 2021 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.   

“Our students did a fantastic job and represented Midland College very well,” Dr. Kesavan said.  “Besides the presentation from David MacMillan, we also attended a conversation with another Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi.  It was awesome to meet two Nobel laureates in one day!  Dr. MacMillan’s presentation was especially powerful to young researchers.” 

MC students and professors also discovered several new experiments to conduct in outreach efforts with local K-12 schools and connected with Salt Lake City Community College in order to collaborate on research.

Photo:  Pictured from left to right, MC Chemistry Department Chair Tom Anderson, MC Chemistry Professor Dr. Pat Kesavan and MC students Maria Gonzalez, Zak Alvarado and Lily Arbuckle.