Chemistry and Biochemistry News

As the Stevenson Summer Science Scholars wrap up their research, they have opportunities to learn more about their desired career path. With Drs Hudson and Mason, and Professor Carter, students were treated to a comprehensive tour of the Baltimore Police Department’s Forensic Sciences Division where they were able to visit the various units at the headquarters on Fayette Street: ballistics and firearms, latent prints, DNA and serology, drug analysis and evidence processing and management. There were many highlights of the tour, including being allowed to watch operability test-firing of firearms (pictured above). Students interested in forensic science careers are encouraged to apply for an internship at BPD. There are multiple deadlines per year for spring, summer and fall.

2023 Biochemistry Graduate Ashley Breads has been dreaming of this moment. Her goal has been to become a latent print examiner, and has been offered a position at Baltimore Police in the latent print unit. The need for trained latent print professionals is a need across the area as older examiners are heading for retirement. She will also be completing her graduate MFS at Stevenson in the next year as well. Congratulations, Ashley!

“The NCNR is a national center for research, that uses neutrons to study a wide variety of materials and physical phenomena.  To do this it creates and operates a large number of neutron instruments specifically designed for particular types of measurements.   These facilities are available for scientist and engineers from industry, university and other government agencies from throughout the US as well as internationally for their research.  The Center for High Resolution Neutron Scattering (CHRNS) is a national user facility jointly funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) and the National Science Foundation (NSF)  which develops and operates several state-of-the-art instruments at the NCNR.”

The summer students had the opportunity to tour the research facility with several faculty. It was a pretty amazing opportunity to see a facility of this magnitude. If students are interested in pursuing internships at NIST, check out the NIST-Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program.

Biochemistry major Zoe Dennis has been an intern at AthenaES in the Biotech Park near Arbutus, MD. Her duties have included: aliquoting, labelling, media testing, purification of media using filtering techniques, packaging shipments, and shipping packages. She has really enjoyed the collegial vibe at Athena: “Everyone who works there is extremely sweet and supportive. They have really set my expectations high for what I believe a workplace environment should be like. When Athena has a question which cannot be answered by a member of their staff, we reach out to the other scientists within [the Biotech family] for a potential solution…and visa versa.”

Grace Debelius

This summer, biochemistry major Grace Debelius has been completing an internship at Pinnacle CT labs in Westminster, MD. This independent testing laboratory serves the medical cannabis and hemp industries, using advanced technology to perform all testing required by the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission. Grace has been learning different testing procedures and is gaining more and more responsibility in the lab. She was impressed by the strict regulations in place, becuase of the fragility of the patients that depend on medical marijuana. This position has confirmed her goal of working in a laboratory environment, and Grace will continue working at Pinnacle in the fall semester.