Students and faculty present research

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.

Pitt-Bradford presenters were Daniela Banuel Alarcon, a junior chemistry major from Helena, Mont.; Alia J. Mosier, a sophomore biology major from Brockport; Soowhan “Jack” Yoon, a senior chemistry major from Bradford; Dr. Femi F. Oloye and Dr. Ryan Myers, assistant professors of chemistry; and Dr. Oluwabunmi Femi-Oloye, assistant professor of biology. Also attending was Heidi Gordon, a college student who conducted research at Pitt-Bradford over the summer.

Other Pitt-Bradford researchers who did not attend but who contributed to the research presented were Patrick Ianiro, a sophomore biology major from Doylestown; Dr. David Soriano, associate professor of chemistry; Melissa Odorisio, laboratory administrator, and Dr. Ovidiu Frantescu, associate professor of environmental science.

In the undergraduate oral presentation sessions, Banuel Alarcon, presented research she performed with Oloye, Myers and Soriano on supercapacitors, which are 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.”

Gordon presented about making activated carbon from plantain peels with Myers and Oloye that worked as well as store-bought activated carbon, which is used to take pollutants out of water.

Mosier presented her research with Oloye and Myers about how adding salts to solutions can change the behavior of molecules. They found that scientists should be careful when adding salt to solutions because it can change how molecules behave in unexpected ways.

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on a project to update general and analytical chemistry labs to make them more engaging and relevant and to replace outdated experiments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, who worked with Myers on developing new experiments for general chemistry classes, 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.”

Gordon also presented a poster about a study she conducted with Femi-Oloye, Odorisio, Frantescu, Myers and Oloye. The study looked at where people in McKean County got their drinking water from and found that 26% drank tap water, 23% bottled water, 21% percent filtered water and 11% well water.

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