Culminating the 2018-19 academic year, students from Catawba College attended the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Orlando, Florida.

Student attending included senior Kara Cline of Salisbury; senior Accola Hudson of Randleman; alumnae Alexa Marcy of Fort Collins, Colorado; senior Devan Shell of Ferguson; junior Cheyenne Smith of Jacksonville; senior Trevor Williams of Mount Pleasant; senior Destiny Whitman of China Grove; and senior Wyatt Zander of Rockwell.

Students not only represented the college but also the local business community that they work in conjunction with, including seniors Accola Hudson and alumnae Alexa Marcy, who work with New Sarum Brewery. Their ongoing research with New Sarum is being conducted to aid in the determination of caloric content and color reference.

Additionally, research conducted by senior Trevor Williams and Salisbury cold-pressed juice shop Juice Life determined the amino acid concentration in Arthrospira platensis or Blue Spirulina, which is in one of Juice Life’s most popular juices.

Other Catawba research included Wyatt Zander’s research that supported a lipid-peroxidation model for artemisinin activity in Plasmodium parasites by demonstrating a decrease in the ability of artemisinin-heme adducts to generate a novel fluorescent compound, believed to be a product of peroxidation, by application of the antioxidant catechin hydrate to his in vitro assay system.

Devan Shell is researching chemically synthesizing and classifying gold nanoparticles in a more environmentally friendly protocol.

The society’s division of chemical education awarded honors to Devan Shell and Professor ChaMarra Saner on their nanoparticle work and characterizations and the potential of the work to be used as an undergraduate interdisciplinary chemistry lab.

Students participated in activities such as the periodic playoffs, a career fair, and the chemical exposition. Kara Cline, Cheyenne Smith and Destiny Whitman presented the activities of the student ACS chapter during the sci-mix networking event, receiving positive comments. Also, Co-presidents Accola Hudson and Devan Shell, on behalf of the Catawba College society chapter, accepted the chapter honorable mention award.