EOU Chemistry Club gets quite the reaction on national stage

EOU Chemistry Club gets quite the reaction on national stage

LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University Chemistry Club recently traveled to the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Indianapolis to present seven research papers and got quite the reaction on the national stage.

On March 26, the team attended the awards ceremony and EOU was one of 57 schools in the nation to receive the outstanding award, the highest recognition given to clubs by the ACS.  Additionally, EOU was the only Oregon school represented among 226 Chapters receiving awards.

At national meetings like this one, students present research posters at undergraduate sessions, and attend workshops and lectures pertaining to new research in chemistry. The conference is an opportunity for students to hear about cutting-edge topics from top scientists and learn about graduate school and job opportunities in chemistry. 

Professors Ron Kelley, Colby Heideman and Anna Cavinato accompanied the group to the Hoosier state. The research presented builds on collaborative faculty-student research projects that are ongoing.

“We have a long and strong history of fostering undergraduate research in our department and we will continue this practice in the years to come,” Professor Anna Cavinato said. “Our efforts to introduce research early in the students’ educational experience obviously pay off as demonstrated by students being admitted in very competitive graduate and professional schools and being awarded very competitive internships.”

Graduating EOU senior Lance Hatch was recently accepted to Purdue in the chemistry Ph.D. program.  This is the second year in a row one of EOU’s graduates has been accepted. Brady Layman was accepted last year.

Graduating senior Tyler Dabritz was accepted in the Ph.D. program at Washington State University in physical chemistry.

Gabe Streblow was one of eight students in the nation to be selected by the ACS to conduct an internship abroad in Germany this summer.  This internship is co-hosted by the German Academic Exchange Service. Streblow will be at the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology in Freiberg.

Savannah Potter was awarded a summer internship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA and will be working on microfluidics with Dr. Sam Bryan, a Laboratory Fellow in the Nuclear Chemistry and Engineering Group. 

In an effort to attract young people to science in eastern Oregon, the chemistry club has hosted magic shows for grade school and middle school students in the past. Students have reached out to inspire an interest in chemistry, including participating in Investigators of Science, a day-long event that brings students together to solve a scientific mystery.