Elizabethtown College Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

This week, Isaac Kraenbring ‘25, Ryan Smith ‘25, and Samantha Small ‘26 traveled to the National Conference for Undergraduate Research in Pittsburgh with Dean Utter and Dr. Rood. The students presented posters about their research projects at Etown and the group got to take in a Pittsburgh Pirates game in the downtime.

Etown College Chem. Club celebrated National Chemistry Week with a literal bang during the annual Chem Demo event on Thursday afternoon. Pics: Dr. MacKay and what was a Hydrogen-filled balloon, Dr. Defnet making elephant toothpaste, Dr. Rood and McKenzie making liquid nitrogen ice cream, and Dr Yengi demonstrating an oscillating reaction.

As we welcome our alumni back to campus, there are some great events on Saturday that we would love to see everyone at!!

1) Homecoming fair (12-4 pm): we will have a table set up here with mugs, shirts, calendars, magnets, and stickers for sale 😊 *this will be in the academic quads

2) Chemistry & Biochemistry Alumni Award Ceremony (2:30-3pm): we will be honoring Dr. Mary Harner (‘06) for winning the O.F. Stambaugh Chemistry Alumni Award 🎉 *this will be held in the Masters Center, Esbenshade room 187

3) Academic School Alumni Reunion (3-4:30 pm): we will be meeting in the mineral gallery in the masters center to see all the friendly faces of the chem department 😁

We hope to see everyone there! For more information on homecoming events check out this link: 🔗https://www.etown.edu/homecoming/events.aspx

Congratulations Class of 2024!

We are so proud of our Jays!!!

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology majors Kyla Dewittie ’24 (pictured on the left) and Tristan Mabee ’24 (pictured on the right) recently presented their research at the 87th annual Intercollegiate Student Chemists Convention (ISCC) at Lincoln University of PA!

DeWittie received third place in the quantitative division for her research titled, “Development of Polymer Nanoparticle Sensors for Detection of Heavy Metals in Water,” while Mabee received third place in the organic chemistry division for his research titled, “Design and Synthesis of Extended PNA Nucleobases with Flexible Linkers for Triple Helical U-A Recognition in RNA Using Distal Recognition.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/3JH5wny.

Wednesday was our annual Chemistry and Biochemistry department banquet. Everyone was able to enjoy a nice night off campus to celebrate the achievements of students, professors, and administrative assistants! A HUGE thank you is in order for Ms. Jan Davis for putting together an amazing banquet and coordinating the night's activities. Notably, recognition was in order for the newest members of the Gamma Sigma Epsilon honor society, our graduating seniors, the upcoming retirement of Jan Davis, and the end of Dr. Walby's post-doctoral studies. Please read the captions below each photo for more information about each award. We are EXTREMELY proud of each of the students in the department for their continuous hard work and dedication to their studies. Congratulations to the entire department on another fantastic academic year!

Last night was the annual education night of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Section of the American Chemical Society (SEPSACS) at Gettysburg College. 12 Etown students and Dr. Jeff Rood travelled to the meeting to display their research project posters, which have been funded in part by the SEPSACS organization. Of the several higher education institutions in attendance, Etown was well-represented with one of the largest student groups. Congratulations are in order for Jennah Hoke (`25), who was awarded the 2024 Dr. Judith Bond Scholarship Award! Also, the outstanding college chemistry major award was presented to Ashley Burger (`24)! Congrats to all on a wonderful meeting and another successful showing of Etown's innovative research opportunities.

This past weekend, Elizabethtown College's Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences travelled to the annual regional TriBeta Biological Honors Society meeting at John Hopkins University. Two of our senior BMB majors have taken advantage of Etown's interdisciplinary opportunities and joined the biology department for their undergraduate research projects! Isabella Goebel (`24) and Ethan Campbell (`24) were in attendance at the conference and presented their research in the form of a poster. They secured first place in the poster category at this conference! Congratulations Bella and Ethan! Thank you for representing our department and school well!

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Lessons in chemistry at Elizabethtown College's Chem-a-Thon [photos] A few dozen students from five Lancaster County high schools were among those who got a chance to get some hands-on laboratory experience at Elizabethtown College Friday.

Our department hosted over 50 students and teachers from 7 local high schools at our first every Chem-a-thon today! This event was originally planned by Dr. Toote in Spring 2020, but had to be postponed due to COVID. It was exciting getting to finally host the event! The day featured a lab experiment, lunch in the dining hall, a trivia "Quiz bowl", and networking opportunities for students. We hope the students enjoyed the day and got to experience life as a chemistry student in higher education. Special thanks to Dr. Toote for planning this wonderful outreach event!

Check out all the photos from today at https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBko3N.