Four undergraduates involved in research presented at Canadian Chemistry Conference

Four undergraduate students participated in research that Amy Keirstead, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, recently presented at the 96th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, which was held May 26-30, 2013, in Quebec City.

Keirstead gave two presentations at the exhibition, both of which focused on her research program investigating the use of ionic liquids for a variety of green chemistry and nanotechnology applications.

Her oral presentation, titled 鈥淢onitoring the Dynamics of Spiropyran Photochromism in Ionic Liquids Using Emission Spectroscopy: Direct Observation of Spiropyran Phosphorescence鈥 was given in the Advances in Physical Organic Chemistry symposium and included contributions from 51品茶student co-authors Robyn Gaudet (Chemistry 鈥11), Annie Leslie (Neuroscience 鈥13), and Sean Naughton (Biochemistry and Medical Biology 鈥13). This work was supported 51品茶College of Arts and Sciences and the Vice-President for Research mini-grant programs.

Keirstead also presented a poster titled 鈥淚nvestigating the Influence of Ionic Liquid Media on the Photoluminescence of Siloles,鈥 based on a project funded by the Maine Space Grant Consortium Education and Seed Research grant. Co-authors on the poster included Jerome Mullin, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, 51品茶undergraduates Regina Scalise (Chemistry 鈥13) and Sean Naughton (Biochemistry and Medical Biology, 鈥13) as well as colleagues from the University of Southern Maine, Justin Crumrine, Caryn Prudente, Ph.D., and Hank Tracy, Ph.D.