Pitt-Bradford research teams presented at an American Chemical Society regional meeting

Faculty and students from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford attended and presented their research earlier this month at the American Chemical Society Central Regional Meeting held in Pittsburgh.

In the undergraduate oral presentation sessions, junior Daniela Banuel Alarcon presented research she performed with assistant professors Femi Oloye, Ryan Myers and David Soriano on supercapacitors, an energy storage device. The team evaluated different liquids to see which conducted electricity and allowed the supercapacitors to recharge most efficiently.

“I started working on my research with supercapacitors because I wanted to challenge myself, learn something new and work in a field I find interesting,” Banuel Alarcon said. “I have found that research is something I truly enjoy and greatly value, and I would like to continue doing research in graduate school. Attending the ACS conference in Pittsburgh has motivated me to work harder toward my goals, but it would not have been possible without the help and guidance of my professors.”

Heidi Gordon, who conducted research at Pitt-Bradford this summer, presented about her work with with Myers and Oloye making activated carbon from plantain peels that worked as well as store-bought activated carbon, which is used to take pollutants out of water.

Gordon also presented a poster about a study on where people in McKean County get their drinking water, which she conducted with Myers, Oloye, Oluwabunmi Femi-Oloye, Melissa Odorisio and Ovidiu Frantescu.

Sophomore Alia Mosier presented her research with Oloye and Myers about how adding salts to solutions can change the behavior of molecules.

Senior Soowhan “Jack” Yoon worked with Myers on a project to update general and analytical chemistry labs to make them more engaging and relevant and to replace outdated experiments. Yoon said the research provided his first real connection to the deeper world of chemistry.

“This was a great opportunity for me,” he said. “I would love to participate in more research in the future. I gained a deeper and more complex understanding of chemistry. I read dozens of labs and connected them with the fundamental chemistry.”