Nicholls Chemistry Undergraduates Present Research at American Chemical Society Spring 2023 Exposition

Nicholls chemistry students Seth Bergeron, Claire Galloway, Connor Lopez and Seth Pellegrin presented their undergraduate research at the American Chemical Society Spring 2023 National Meeting and Exposition in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Lopez and Pellegrin worked with Dr. Theodore Alivio and Dr. Himanshu Verma on synthesizing bimetallic precious metals, silver, gold, and platinum, in aqueous media. Lopez’s, Pellegrin’s and Bergeron’s research studies have important implications for the farming and fishing industries in Louisiana. All four students presented posters of their research to other ACS Spring 2023 attendees and were able to network with other scientists in their field. One of those scientists is Dr. Rebbeca Dupre, a Nicholls chemistry alumna who works with the US Department of Agriculture.

The theme for ACS Spring 2023 is “Crossroads of Chemistry,” which highlights the interdisciplinarity of the chemical sciences. Around 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students, research faculty, and industry scientists from all over the United States and world participated in ACS 2023. The conference involved various in-person, hybrid and virtual oral and poster presentations.

All four students were jointly awarded travel funding from the ACS Student Professional Meeting Grant and received funding from Nicholls Student Government Association. Bergeron, Galloway and Lopez received additional travel awards from the ACS Local Louisiana Section.

“Being able to have the opportunity to travel to Indianapolis and present my research is something I never thought I would be able to do when I started researching two years ago,” said Bergeron. “It was so rewarding to be able to share ideas with scientists from all over the country, whether they be from industry or academia. Some of the highlights were meeting the people behind the instrument that I work with daily, and networking with an employee at a place I would love to work for in the future. The best part, however, was being able to share this experience with my classmates. Choosing to do research under Dr. Wayment was the best decision I have made in my four years here at Nicholls.”

“Conferences, such as those hosted by the ACS, expose and showcase our students to a large international network of chemists,” said Dr. Alivio. “Local and national ACS meetings provide a fantastic opportunity for our students to collaborate and network with other experts in their chosen fields. You never know who you will meet at ACS. Thanks to generous funding from the ACS and the SGA, we were able to relay to the greater scientific community all these exciting research opportunities at Nicholls.”

Dr. Alivio served as program co-chair of Division of Chemical Education (DivCHED) at ACS Spring 2023.

ACS national meetings are held twice in a calendar year: August for the fall semester and March for the spring semester. ACS Fall 2023 will be held in San Francisco while ACS Spring 2024 will be held in New Orleans. Dr. Alivio hopes more Nicholls students and faculty will attend.

With concentrations available in professional chemistry, pre-med and pre-dental, pre-pharmacy, biochemistry and chemistry education, Nicholls is an ideal place to learn chemistry with its outstanding faculty and modern facilities. Undergraduates participate in research with faculty, co-author papers and present research at conferences, preparing students to work as chemists, doctors, dentists, teachers, pharmacists and biochemists. For more information, visit https://www.nicholls.edu/chemistry/.