Jeremy Heyman of Steppingstone Scholars in Philadelphia continues to coordinate the Lehigh Valley ACS SEED program. Projects this summer have been identified at two area schools (PSU/Berks and Lafayette).
Lorena Tribe, PSU/Berks (virtual computational project):
Computation and visualization of species in coastal carbon dynamics in freshwater systems
Global warming leads to changes in coastal systems that must be explored to predict its effects and implement remediation processes. During this project, students will explore chemical species involved in the carbon cycle and learn the computational skills to model them with atomic level ab initio software. In addition to molecules present in the atmosphere, in aqueous solution, and in soil fractions, mineral substrates will also be modeled. The adsorption process will be visualized, and the energetics will be calculated.
Chip Nataro, Lafayette College:
Synthesis of Novel Organometallic Catalysts
Students will be involved in the synthesis of organometallic compounds. By bonding organic molecules to metal atoms, the reactivity of the organic molecules is greatly enhanced. In the lab, students are generally making compounds that have never before been prepared, so you have the opportunity to create the world’s supply of a brand new compound. After making the compounds, we are interested in the properties of these compounds. In particular, we are interested in how these molecules behave as catalysts. Catalysts are compounds that enable reactions to proceed more efficiently that they would without a catalyst (for example taking place at a lower temperature, or taking less time). By making subtle changes to the catalyst molecules such as their shape, the catalytic effectiveness can be significantly altered.
 
SEED Project proposals typically consider: Goals/purpose of the project, in language a high school student would understand; Project activities: what would a typical week look like for a student; How many students would be working on the project (1 or 2, unless you have multiple different mentors involved, in which case it could be up to 2 per mentor); What are the most likely safety hazards for the student(s) in the lab, if any, and what safety training, PPE, engineering controls, or other changes will be implemented to minimize the risks from those safety hazards; Any additional training that the student will receive. If necessary, could this be a virtual project?
Program link student info and flyer.

The LVACS Executive Committee strongly supports Project SEED and encourages members to contribute to this important ACS strategic program. LVACS CONTACT: Jeremy Heyman, Northampton CC, jbheyman@gmail.com