Research Spotlight: Rachel Grace, Carli Ziegler and Rebecca Albracht

Undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry research students Rachel Grace, Carli Ziegler and Rebecca Albracht are working alongside Joan Schellinger, PhD, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry and AFFIRM cohort '14. In the lab, Grace and Albracht work on optimizing a greener synthesis of peptide π conjugates. Ziegler focuses on optimizing a green synthesis for sulfone-based reagents for Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reactions. Their research focuses on developing safer and more sustainable methods for synthesizing molecules with applications in biomedical and optoelectronic fields.

Grace is a part of the Beginning Undergraduate Research Summer Training (BURST) program and studies neuroscience, Ziegler works under the Alice B Hayes Fellowship and studies biochemistry and Albracht is a part of the Summer Training in Advanced Research (STAR) program and also studies biochemistry. The students all got involved in Schellinger’s lab after taking one of her courses. They then inquired about getting involved in research, spent a semester shadowing the lab and before beginning research.

A typical day in the lab for the three researchers includes setting up their materials and notes, running experiments and reactions for a few hours, processing data, taking notes and wrapping up for the day. The organization required for research is a skill that the students say they have developed through this process. They accumulate a lot of data at a quick pace. It is imperative to be organized or the data can become overwhelming. Another important skill the student developed is learning to ask questions about what they are seeing. They are used to being in labs for class and awaiting a clear result, but for research labs there is no right answer and they had to be comfortable with adapting to that.

Albracht, Grace and Ziegler would advise students looking to get involved in any research field to not be afraid to put themselves out there. All of them got into the lab by simply asking around. They were intimidated at first by the idea of research, but USD makes it very easy to get involved. Another piece of advice is that the skills gained through research can be applicable in any field. For example, they have learned more about how to assess scientific literature and articulation. These critical thinking skills are relevant in many different fields and continue to benefit them throughout their careers.