JUNE 26, 2012
\nby Erikah Haavie, Contributing Writer<\/p>\n
Chemists from Milliken to Michelin joined Furman faculty and students last week at the Younts Conference Center to share a meal, enjoy some laughs and discuss their work.<\/p>\n
The 59 students and 17 faculty members participating in the chemistry department\u2019s undergraduate summer research took a break June 21 during the sixth week of the program to share in the annual Chemistry Corporate Luncheon, now in its 26th year. Louie Steed of Ortec Inc. of Easley and a graduate of Furman\u2019s Class of 1968, was the guest speaker.<\/p>\n
The luncheon has continued to grow over the years, as representatives from an increasing number of companies attend annually.\u00a0 Furman graduate Andy Ligon, president of SC Field Technical Services of Lakewood, Calif., was recognized with what Knight called an \u201cimaginary award\u201d for coming the farthest distance to attend. Preston Edwards, was recognized as the guest with the most experience. He graduated from Furman in 1943 and worked as a medical doctor until age 85.<\/p>\n
Many of the 170 attendees were actively involved in the lunch program — students showcased their research and chemists discussed the projects they\u2019re involved in on a day-to-day basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis provides an opportunity for students to hear firsthand what companies are doing in their science work and their product development,\u201d said Lon Knight, chemistry department chair. \u201cIt ties into educating students on what chemistry and science has done in the real world with the business dimension added to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many students, it\u2019s their first exposure to the realities of everyday life as a chemist.<\/p>\n
Andrew Kantor, a junior from Harrisburg, Pa., said his plan is to earn his doctorate with the goal of becoming a university chemistry professor. His participation in the summer research program has been \u201cinvaluable,\u201d he said, as it has helped him learn the ins and outs of the research process.<\/p>\n
Hearing from professionals about real world applications of chemistry gave Kantor food for thought. \u201cYou can take a chemistry degree and use it a million different ways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Knight said he hopes connections made during the event will strengthen Furman\u2019s ties with local industry and help Furman provide students with jobs in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Carolina used to be a fly-over state\u201d for companies with jobs in life sciences, said Steve Johnson, vice chairman of the South Carolina Biotechnology Industry Organization and president of CreatiVasc Medical in Greenville.<\/p>\n
Now, with rapid growth in life sciences jobs in South Carolina, Johnson said, \u201cOur goal is to keep our talent in the state. After students finish their education, we want to bring them back here to work in South Carolina companies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The South Carolina Biotechnology Industry Organization will host its annual conference in Greenville this November and is encouraging Furman students to attend, he said.<\/p>\n
Furman is home to one of the largest undergraduate research programs in the nation. The Class of 2012 was the largest ever for the chemistry department \u2013 40 graduated with the American Chemical Society accredited degree in chemistry. Five Furman chemistry graduates were selected as 2012 recipients of highly competitive Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JUNE 26, 2012
\nby Erikah Haavie, Contributing Writer<\/p>\n
More than 170 faculty, students, alumni and business representatives attended the 26th annual chemistry corporation luncheon last week.\u00a0 The successful events helps current students connect with alumni and research companies.\u00a0 It also gives them a glimpse of the real world as many of the professionals discuss their work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-chemistry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}