Seven University of Minnesota Morris students traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana, in April to attend the National American Chemical Society (ACS) Meeting.
ACS is a congressionally chartered independent membership organization, which represents professionals at all degree levels and in all fields of chemistry and sciences that involve chemistry. ACS meetings and expositions are where chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge.
Jaeger Gerold ’24, Shakopee; Emily Miller, ’23, Minneapolis; and Trinity Milne ’24 presented “Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Bis(phosphine) Oxides for Future Use in Chiral-at-Metal Complexes,” authored with professor Bryan Nell.
Ben Giese ’24, Morris, and Rory Shackelford ’23, Sacred Heart presented “Sealing Sulfuric Acid Anodized Aluminum Alloy 2024-T3 with Different Trivalent Chromium Process Conversion Coatings,” authored with professors Sarah McFall-Boegeman and Greg Swain.
Adrienne Kanihan ’24, St. Paul, along with Giese and Milne also presented a poster on “Revitalizing a [ACS] Chapter in a Post Covid World.”
Harper Toward, ’23, Bemidji, also attended the conference. Alumni Kristine Konkol '11, Jill Uhlenkamp ’02, Stephanie Berg ’19, and Liz Melssen ’20, visited with the students over dinner during the conference.
The ACS Spring 2023 meeting included more than 10,000 oral and poster presentations and nearly 6,500 oral presentations, as well as daily keynote speakers and an industry exposition.
The trip to the spring national convention is a long-standing Morris tradition, according to Sarah McFall-Boegeman, assistant professor of chemistry. “I attended the ACS national convention as a student in 2016 with professor Ted Pappenfus and presented work I had conducted with professor Jenn Goodnough. It was a different experience to be the faculty mentor this year, but I was very excited to introduce the students to my contacts within the ACS community.”
Funding for attending the event was provided by a number of grants, awards, and organizations. Gifts from alumni to the Division of Science and Mathematics helped fund some of the trip.
Pictured above: UMN Morris students attending the Spring 2023 National American Chemical Society meeting include (from left) Jaeger Gerold, Rory Shackelford, Ben Giese, Adrienne Kanihan, Trinity Milne, Emily Miller, and Harper Toward.