By ELIZABETH HOO, Staff Writer
Chemistry Major Nam Nguyen, BMC’18, presented her research at the 2018 American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, a renowned annual chemistry conference which took place in New Orleans. From March 18 through 22, approximately 1,300 undergraduates, post-doctorates, and professionals, all in chemistry-related fields, came together to share their work with colleagues.
Nam is a senior chemistry major at Bryn Mawr College. She plans to pursue her doctorate in Organic Chemistry in order to create pharmaceutical medicine. Nam is an international student from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She is the chemistry major representative and captain of the lacrosse team. Nam, who works in Dr. Sharon Burgmayer’s lab, attended the conference with her lab partners, Haley Varnum and Victoria Berke, both BMC ‘19. I spoke with Nam about her experience at the conference and about her research in general.
Q: How were you chosen to present your research?
A: ACS is very well-known and prestigious event in the chemistry field. I submitted my abstract and committee reviewed my application and I got accepted. I was chosen for the past two ACS national meetings, so this year was my third time attending.
Q: What was the topic of your presentation and what day did you present?
A: I presented a poster on my research on bio-inorganic chemistry. The poster title’s name is “Synthesis and Reactivity of ENE-DITHIOLATE Modeling Molybdenum Co-factor.” I presented on Tuesday with Inorganic Division.
Q: What is your research about?
A: In short, what we do is build chemical models of a transition metal enzyme called Molybdenum cofactor. And the goal was to learn more about Molybdenum enzyme. We cannot isolate it from nature, therefore, we have to build it chemically.
Q: How long have you been conducting this research for?
A: I have been working on it since my sophomore year.
Q:How did Bryn Mawr support your trip?
A: I applied for deans funding and they were able to provide me with a grant. I used this money to pay for my flights and losing and registration fee.
Q:What did you do at the convention?
A: I checked out a lot of organic lectures, biochemistry lectures and development workshops. Additionally, I networked with a few chemists from industry and other institutions.
Q: What did you do for fun?
A: I got a lot of freebies such as t-shirts, pens, USB, tote bags etc. I made friends with another group of undergraduates also attending the convention. We explored Bourbon street and French quarter and tried so native New Orleans cuisine. Obviously, we had to try beignets at the famous Cafe du Monde. And my favorite new food that I tried was catfish bourguillon.
Photo Credit: Nam Nguyen
