Christine Fasana \u201922 wasn\u2019t crazy about chemistry when she arrived at Furman four years ago. Then she took Mary Elizabeth Anderson\u2019s chemistry class. Not only did she like it, she was good at it. \u201cIt was a good experience and I just kept doing it,\u201d Fasana said.<\/p>\n
She was so good, the chemistry major and mentor Anderson received the 2022 American Chemical Society Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research at a primarily undergraduate institution.<\/p>\n
In March, the pair was flown to the ACS annual meeting in San Diego. They each received plaques and financial support for attending the conference. Fasana received a $1,000 award, gave an award talk about her research, and mingled with other students and scientists from across the country. \u201cIt was fun. I was honored and excited,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It was Anderson\u2019s second award. She and a student won in 2016 when she taught at Hope College.<\/p>\n
Anderson said Fasana would stay in the lab late on Friday afternoons in her first year to learn research techniques from older students. She started by studying nanoparticles for alternative energy applications, then ultra-thin films. Her efforts led to her being the first author on two peer-reviewed research publications, one in 2020 and another in due out later this year.<\/p>\n
Most recently, Fasana studied how MOFs, or metal organic frameworks, nanoporous crystalline materials, are formed. MOFs have a multitude of applications, from delivering drugs in the body to capturing gasses, like hydrogen storage or carbon dioxide sequestration.<\/p>\n