In last Sunday's Education section of the Baltimore Sun, Chemistry alum Andrew McGregor (BS'15/MSFS'16) was pictured at the first Mustang Mentors event. This is a new initiative that connects students to Stevenson Alumni and community partners to provide networking opportunities and career advice. Andrew is an engineer and technical director with the Department of Defense and is a great mentor for students looking to pursue the forensic science masters degree at Stevenson.
Alumnae and adjunct instructor Carli Castiglia Allison (BS'15/MS'16) and her husband, applied math alum Josh Allison (BS'15) welcomed their son Roman Lee on February 18, 2020. Little Roman weighed in at 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Congratulations to the whole family!
Chemistry faculty member Dr. Sara Narayan has written a book chapter, to appear in the pending release of Green Chemistry in Government and Industry, Volume 5. The chapter is titled "Sustainability and some green initiatives in undergraduate education." Dr. Narayan has been working on green approaches to science in her own research for some time, including microwave assisted synthesis and molecular modeling experiments.
This is a strange time that we will reflect on for generations. Imagine your wedding plans were one of the casualties of quarantine? This is exactly what happened to alum Jenn Kurek (BS Chem'10). Jenn and fiancee Chris Wohn met two years ago... he is the director of Research for Baltimore City Public Schools and she is a Safety Officer for Howard County. They were planning a small ceremony at the county courthouse, but the courthouse was due to close because of Covid-19. Jenn's Aunt quickly received her online ministry license and was able to officiate the wedding in their living room with close friends and family on March 19th. Some were there in person, while others were there via Skype. Both being scientists, the reception was decked out with virus themed wedding cake and favors because as Jenn says "science and puns are the gifts that keep on giving". The couple reside in Howard county with their fur family, Abra the cat and Odin the puppy, who looked great in his tux. Congratulations to Dr. and Mrs. Wohn; best wishes for the future!
The Chemistry Department was happy to host a talk by Suzanne Johnson, Ph.D. of McCormick Spice Company as part of the SOS Steminar series. Dr. Johnson described the chemistry behind flavor chemistry and did small flavor sensing experiments with the participants. She will be teaching a course in the fall on this special topic which is open to any upper level science student who has completed Organic II with a C or better.