It’s elemental

The chemistry department is gaining a lot of recognition lately with three Augustana students claiming the top spots in the Undergraduate Poster Competition at the Sioux Valley section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) conference at the University of South Dakota Oct. 16.

A total of nine Augustana students entered the competition and seniors Rob Fick and Jeremy Erickson and junior Jared Drenkow being awarded first, second and third place respectively.

Erickson also placed first in the organic chemistry division at the Midwest regional meeting in Wichita, Kan. which ran Oct. 27-28. Sixteen other Augustana students also entered the competition.

"This is validation that we are doing what we claim that we are doing," chemistry professor Barrett Eichler said. "We really stress the importance of research in our department and at Augie in general. This shows that we have exceptional students and that they are being properly mentored."

Students submitted projects that they researched over the summer. Drenkow worked with Eichler on his project about polythiophenes entitled "Synthesis of Poly(3-alkoxy-4-methylthiphene) for Use in DNA Optical Sensor Systems."

"These molecules can be used for detection of DNA in solution, and more specifically, it can visibly show a color change when a complimentary strand of DNA is present in solution," Drenkow said.

In layman's terms, polythiophenes can be used to detect similarities in different DNA molecules.

"Chemistry interests me because it involves luck as well as knowledge," Drenkow said. "Sometimes you aren't sure of a specific result in a reaction and it is fun to see what is made. A lot of chemistry consists of unknowns, but when the ‘answer' is found, it is usually interesting."

The summer research program lasts nine weeks during which students work on synthesizing and characterizing compounds that they have created.

"Even before we get into the lab, we discuss molecular design," Eichler said. "There are certain types of molecules that are interesting to us and they are not trivial to make, so there is a lot of background work that we must review."

A total of 26 chemistry majors participated in the research program last summer. And, while most schools only brought two to four of their research students to the regional meeting, Augustana brought nearly twenty.

"The other chemists at the meeting are always impressed with the quantity and the quality of the research that we do at Augie," Eichler said. "If you want to perform chemical research as an undergraduate, there is not a better place in the Midwest to come and do just that."

"It always feels good to get recognized for your work," Drenkow said. "I was very excited when I learned that I won. Since we grabbed the top three spots, it shows that we are doing high-quality research here at Augustana. It also shows that the chemistry department is one of the best in the region."