Chemistry, BS
Research
Our department boasts an active and vibrant undergraduate research program. In addition to receiving course credit for participating in independent research, our students gain invaluable experience in planning and implementing experiments, analyzing data, troubleshooting, and presenting their accomplishments in both informal and professional settings.
Involvement with research projects are not only directly applicable to successful careers in chemical research, but also in post-graduate work and other employment opportunities where critical thinking, analytical skills, and the application of theory to practice are valued.
Select Undergraduate Student Research Presentations at Regional and National Conferences
In addition to the rigorous coursework in chemistry at USF, research plays a major role in students’ training and development. Our undergraduate and masters’ students work alongside faculty mentors on projects, publish papers, and present their work at local, regional, and national conferences. Here are some of the recent presentations by USF students at scientific meetings.
-
From Prof Osasere Evbuomwan’s Group
Holly Clancy ‘21 and Megan Martin ‘21
- 31st Annual ACS Northern California Undergrad Research Symposium, Santa Clara University, May 2019
- Poster: Synthesis of a Zn(II)-Responsive ParaCEST MRI Agent for Improved Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer
Brooke Aloe ‘21
- 31st Annual ACS Northern California Undergrad Research Symposium, Santa Clara University, May 2019
- Poster: Impact of Quinoline Amide Substituents on the Luminescence and PARACEST MRI properties of Bimodal Europium (III) Complexes
-
From Prof. William Karney and Prof. Claire Castro’s Group
Ishika Jain ‘24
- American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Francisco, August 2023
- Poster: Elucidating Factors of Tunneling Contributions in Thermal Electrocyclic Reactions of Bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-2,4-diene Motifs in Biosynthesis
Elli Carson ‘23
- American Chemical Society National Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, March 2023
- Poster: Heavy-Atom Tunneling in the Biosynthesis of Occidentalol
Joscelyn Huynh ‘23
- American Chemical Society National Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, March 2023
- Poster: Computational Study of Heavy-Atom Tunneling in the Benzene-Oxide/Oxepin Equilibrium
-
From Prof. Herman Nikolayevskiy’s Group
Justin Samford ‘24
- American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, August 2023
- Poster: Decarboxylative cross-coupling of Kojic acid
Kathleen McIntyre ‘24 and Haley Roach ‘25
- American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, August 2023
- Poster: Synthesis of a model off-switchable DNA intercalator
Karina Bhavsar ‘25
- American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, August 2023
- Poster: Cleave the Way: Self-Immolative DNA Alkylators and their Selective Action
-
From Prof. Michael Stevenson’s Group
Maria Aviles-Sandoval ‘24
- American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, August 2023
- Poster: Quantifying Metal Interactions with Antimicrobial Peptide Calcitermin
-
From Prof. Janet Yang’s Group
John Guardado ‘23
- American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, August 2023
- Poster: Substrate Specificity in ABC Transporters Using the E. coli Methionine Import System
Undergraduate Co-Authored Research Papers
Undergraduates are very often credited for contributing key experimental results and insights to a project that is later published as a research paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Names of USF undergraduates are shown in bold.
- J. K. Arbitman, C. S. Michel, C. Castro,* and W. L. Karney,* "Calculations Predict that Heavy-Atom Tunneling Dominates Möbius Bond Shifting in [12]- and [16]Annulene," Org. Lett. 2019, 21, 8587-8591.
- D. Ho, W. Hetrick, N. Le, A. Chin, and R. M. West,* "Electric Field-Induced DNA Melting with Detection by Square Wave Voltammetry." J. Electrochem. Soc. 2019, 166 (4), B236-B242. (Editors' Choice article)
- C. S. Michel, P. P. Lampkin, J. Z. Shezaf, J. F. Moll, C. Castro,* W. L. Karney,* "Tunneling by 16 Carbons: Planar Bond Shifting in [16]Annulene," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 5286-5293.
- S. Luo, A. J. Kuhn, I. Castano, C. Castro, and W. L. Karney,* "Hydrogen Shifts in Aryl Radicals and Diradicals: The Role of m-Benzynes," J. Org. Chem. 2018, 83, 314-322.
- A. Otten, M. Wooten, A. Medrano, Y. Fathi, and G. Meloni,* “Investigation of Oxidation Reaction Products of 2-Phenylethanol Using Synchrotron Photoionization,” J. Phys. Chem. A 2018, 122, 6789-6798.
- M. Winfough, K. Voronova, G. Muller, G. Laguisma, B. Sztaray, A. Bodi, and G. Meloni,* “Furfural: The Unimolecular Dissociative Photoionization Mechanism of the Simplest Furanic Aldehyde,” J. Phys. Chem. A 2017, 121, 3401-3410.
- M. Winfough, R. Yao, K. Catani, and G. Meloni,* “Synchrotron Photoionization Investigation of the Oxidation of Ethyl tert-Butyl Ether,” J. Phys. Chem. A 2017, 121, 1460-1469.
- M. Y. Ng, B. M. Bryan, J. Nelson, and G. Meloni,* "Study of tert-Amyl Methyl Ether Low Temperature Oxidation Using Synchrotron Photoionization Spectroscopy," J. Phys. Chem. A 2015, 119, 8667-8682.
- E. E. Irace, E. Brayfindley, G. A. Vinnacombe, C. Castro,* and W. L. Karney,* "Stone–Wales Rearrangements in Hydrocarbons: From Planar to Bowl-Shaped Substrates," J. Org. Chem. 2015, 80, 11718-11725.
- E. Brayfindley, E. E. Irace, C. Castro, and W. L. Karney, "Stone-Wales Rearrangements in Polycyclic Hydrocarbons: a Computational Study", J. Org. Chem. 2015, 80, 3825-3831.
- Chang, C.-C., Greaney, M., Nguyen, M., Moy, D., Liu, C., Dancer, J., Margerum, L. D. "PAMAM dendrimers on controlled pore glass: The effect of tethered dendrimer size and tethered affinity groups NTA and terpy on metal ion and indicator dye uptake", Inorg. Chim. Acta 2014, 409, Part A (0), 127-136
- Martin Y. Ng, Jordan Nelson, Craig A. Taatjes, David L. Osborn, and Giovanni Meloni "Synchrotron Photoionization Study of Mesitylene Oxidation Initiated by Reaction with Cl (2P) or O (3P) Radicals", J. Phys. Chem. A 118, 3735-3748 (2014)
- Elizabeth Cochran and Giovanni Meloni "Hypervalence in Monoxides and Dioxides of Superalkali Clusters", J. Chem. Phys. 140, 204319/1-204319/13 (2014)
Undergraduate Awards
Our undergraduate researchers have been the recipients of a variety of awards based on their research.
- Arthur Furst Award - Open to all undergraduates at USF.
- Barry Goldwater Scholarship - National competition for sophomores and juniors.
- American Chemical Society Awards - Women Chemists Committee (WCC) Travel Grant - National competition for graduate and undergraduate women chemists to travel to an ACS national meeting.
- Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Award - National competition for undergraduates with an outstanding academic record majoring in the sciences, engineering, and medicine.