Christine Pastorek « The Erlenmeyer Flask

Savinda Aponso has been named one the Spring 2017 Undergraduate of the Quarter and we couldn’t be happier for him. Although he plans to graduate at the end of this year, he has spent most of his life in Corvallis and has been associated with Oregon State before he even decided where he wanted to go to college.

While Savinda was in high school he was part of ASE, the Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering, which during his junior year helped him get his first experience in a lab. He was selected to work in Dr. Subramanian’s lab. Along with the scholarships, he got to the school, his experiences in the lab helped him decide that OSU was his school of choice.

During his freshman year, he started working in Dr. Koley’s lab. His work focuses on sensors that detects bacterial metabolites and the interactions bacteria have with dental composites. He was trying to see how the smart dental composites react to changes in the local pH environment and how they work to prevent secondary cavities.

After he graduates at the end of this term, he is planning to apply to medical school and take a year off from school. During his year off he is hoping to finish his research projects for Dr. Koley and continue to be a researcher at least part-time. Savinda doesn’t know exactly what he wants to study to medical school, but he is interested in hematology.

Savinda’s favorite film is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He loves to eat sushi since it is his favorite food. His ideal vacation would be traveling through Europe. His favorite class was the Experimental 460 labs that he worked with Dr. Pastorek.

Students like Savinda are a huge part of what makes our Department so great. We wish him well in the future, and cannot wait to see what his next big adventure is.

Shannon Davis has been named one of the Spring 2016 Undergraduates of the Quarter and we could not be happier. Shannon grew up in a modest suburb of Seattle. She attended Lynnwood High School which she reported was incredibly ethnically diverse and described her experience there as awesome. She took AP Chemistry while there and remembers Chemistry being the only AP test she didn’t pass. “That’s why I chose Chemistry,” she remembers. “I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.”

She came to OSU because she wanted to attend a PAC-12 school and with her choices being OSU and UW, she wanted something a little smaller and a little farther from home, so OSU was the obvious choice. “Plus,” she said, “my dad went here.” She originally matriculated into Chemistry with a chemical engineering option, but quickly discovered she liked the general chemistry sequence and switched to the advanced chemistry option. She remembers having Dr. Richard Nafshun for her general chemistry instructor and said it was an amazing experience.

Shannon says her favorite class has been the Experimental Chemistry series with Dr. Christine Pastorek and Emile Firpo. She also stated that they quickly became her favorite instructors.

Shannon has been doing Undergraduate Research for Dr. Jennifer Field since just after fall term of her junior year. She said she trained for a whole year before she was able to do actual research. Now, she’s using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to close mass balance in soil extractions. She says it’s been challenging and slower going than she thought originally.

When asked about extra-curricular activities, Shannon indicated that what she really enjoyed were the Family Science and Engineering Nights and Discovery Days. The outreach and chemistry volunteer work were a lot of fun.

Upon graduation, Shannon will be attending U Mass Boston to study marine science. She’s currently unsure of what she wants to do post-PhD, but is leaning toward teaching. She does know, she’s excited about moving cross-country.

Congratulations, Shannon! It is talented students like you that make OSU Chemistry such as special place.

Blake Erickson has been named one of our Undergraduates of the Quarter for Winter term 2016. He grew up in Fairview, Oregon where he attended Reynolds High School which has one of the largest student bodies in the state of Oregon.

Blake said he didn’t even consider an out-of-state school because it would have been too costly, but was lucky to have such a great research university here in the state of Oregon. Upon arriving at OSU, Blake cycled through Biology and then Biochemistry/Biophysics before deciding on Chemistry as his major. Blake commented how much he enjoyed the organic chemistry sequence with Drs. Chris Beaudry, Kevin Gable and Dwight Weller, but it was the experimental labs with Drs. Christine Pastorek and Emile Firpo that really sealed his decision to be a Chem major. Blake has shown tremendous breadth in chemical interest. His favorite course so far was the second term of Physical Chemistry with Dr. Chong Fang where they studied Quantum Chemistry. He liked it so much he took it twice, once as a student and once as an undergraduate teaching assistant. He is currently doing undergraduate research with Dr. Joe Nibler exploring the vibrational/rotational structure of perdeutero-spiropentane. They have just submitted earlier this year their first paper specifically on the ground vib/rot structure of the molecule and are currently working on analysis of some more of the upper states.

Graduate School is definitely in Blake’s future, as he’s already been accepted to UC Berkeley’s Chemistry graduate program. He’s leaning toward academia upon getting his PhD because he loves research, but also has enjoyed teaching others about chemistry, so it will be a good balance for him.

In his spare time at OSU, Blake was also a member of the OSU Marching Band where he got to perform at a variety of sports events.

Students like Blake are the reason the Chemistry Department is so successful in educating future scientists. Congratulations, Blake!

Johnny Hergert has been named one of the Fall 2015 Undergraduates of the Quarter and we couldn’t be more proud. He was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, where he attended Wilson High School, home of the Trojans and graduated in 2012. Johnny says he’s always known that he wanted to be a chemist. In fact, his grandfather, Herbert Hergert received his PhD in Chemistry from OSU and his sister also attended OSU.

“I like the details and problem solving, particularly on the small scale. And how applicable to daily life it is,” he replied when asked why he chose chemistry. He also stated that CH 361 and 362 were his favorite classes because, “the integrated labs are so hands on, and I really liked that.” His favorite instructor so far has been Dr. Christine Pastorek, the integrated lab instructor.

Since Johnny is on the Materials Science track of the Chemistry program, it was only natural he started doing research in Dr. John Simonsen’s lab. During the spring of 2014, Johnny started working on cellulose nanocrystals and polymer composites. More recently, he’s begun 3D printing objects to help with the experiments. He says his favorite research topic, though, is renewable materials.

Upon graduation, Johnny will attend graduate school at the University of Colorado, Boulder where he plans to obtain a PhD in Materials Science. He hasn’t decided yet whether that PhD will take him to academia or industry, but we wish him the best of luck either way.

In his spare time, Johnny is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and experience has says has had a huge impact on his life. He also enjoys hiking, mountain biking and intramural sports.

It is students like Johnny who make us proud to be teaching the next generation of chemists.

The Erlenmeyer Flask

Where diverse minds inspire endless innovation.

Tag Archives: Christine Pastorek

Undergraduate of the Quarter – Spring 2017 – Savinda Aponso

Undergraduate of the Quarter – Spring 2016 – Shannon Davis

Undergraduate of the Quarter – Winter 2016 – Blake Erickson

Undergraduate of the Quarter – Fall 2015 – Johnny Hergert

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