A team of Notre Dame graduate students from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has been selected as the 2015 Spring American Chemical Society Graduate Student Symposium Planning Committee (ACS GSSPC). They will organize a day-long symposium entitled Biocatalysis: Creating a Sustainable Future.
Team members include:
- Karen Antonio - advisee of Zac Schultz investigating bioimaging using nonlinear Raman imaging
- Cory Ayres - advisee of Brian Baker and Steve Corcelli working on simulating T-Cell receptor/Major Histocompatibility Complex interactions
- Kasey Clear - advisee of Bradley Smith developing improved small molecule probes for targeted molecular imaging
- Ashley Gans - advisee of S. Alex Kandel using scanning-tunneling microscopy to study the effects of packing defects in self-assembled monolayers
- Michelle Pillers - advisee of Marya Lieberman exploring ways to apply DNA nanostructures to nanoelectronic patterning applications
- Laura Woods - advisee of Rich Taylor working on synthesis and conformation of polyketide natural products
The GSSPC program facilitates the involvement of graduate students in planning symposia at ACS national meetings. One group is selected for each of the national meetings, spring and fall, and is given the honor of planning a day-long symposium on a topic of their choosing. The Notre Dame team will focus their symposium on biocatalysis. This topic was selected due to its potential to improve the efficiency of reactions, to enable new reactions, and to impact a broad range of applications including energy production, environmental remediation, chemical synthesis, and drug delivery. The team will be responsible for inviting speakers, raising funds, and organizing and running the symposium at the 2015 Spring ACS meeting in Denver, CO.