Left to right: Dr. Loyd Bastin, Anthony Ruggiero, Adrienne Gordy, Ryan Schlosser, and Christina McCullough
“The one thing SURCA does for the students is that they become leaders when they leave here. When they go wherever they go, they become the green chemistry experts in their lab… They have it on their resumes, and so many others don’t. This experience allows them to become green chemistry leaders down the road.” – Dr. Loyd Bastin, Associate Dean of Science and SURCA Co-Organizer at Widener University.
On a cloudy and unseasonably cold afternoon in September 2023, I took a short Uber ride to Widener University, my alma mater, to find it abuzz with undergraduate students dressed in business-casual attire, nervously bustling around rows of posters. Friends and family filtered through, as well as the odd lay student trying to get dinner in the cafeteria– just out of reach on the other side of the crowd.
It was the day of the SURCA Symposium, the culmination of months of extra-curricular summer research, where students presented and defended their projects to judges, friends, and family. It was the hardest part of the student research journey.
The Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities program is an extra-curricular program offered in the summer semester, where undergraduate students design and execute research projects alongside a chosen faculty advisor. Offering discounted summer housing and stipends to qualifying students, this program is oriented toward individualized professional development. The program culminates in a symposium in mid-September, where students present and defend their projects to judges, friends, and family– with awards distributed for outstanding entries.
It’s no secret that Beyond Benign sees students as critically important members of the green chemistry movement– they are, essentially, why we do the work that we do. Through our higher ed program, our aim is to help foster the transformation from green chemistry students to green chemists.
This is exactly why we get starry-eyed when we hear about young scientists trailblazing research at our signing institutions. As a long-time participant in Widener’s undergraduate research program and a recent hire at Beyond Benign, this was a particularly starry-eyed moment for me.
A handful of posters in session one caught my eye– they had cute little bright green stickers proclaiming: green chemistry! Widener, whose chemistry department celebrates 10-years in the Green Chemistry Commitment in 2024, boasts a steady presence of green chemistry student research in this otherwise interdisciplinary program.
Curious about the stickers, I slipped through the crowd to find Angie Corbo and Loyd Bastin, SURCA’s long-time co-organizers between sessions. It was a big symposium, the biggest in the program’s history, with the number of projects soaring upwards of 60. It was slow slipping.
When we regrouped in a nearby empty classroom, Dr. Corbo (Chair of Communications) and Dr. Bastin (Associate Dean of Science) agreed that symposium day was the highlight of their work in the program “as soon as we’re done talking and you hear the chatter– it’s just the happiest moment, it’s so great,” Corbo shares.
To Bastin, who oversaw Widener’s signing of the green chemistry commitment in 2014, there is something incredible about witnessing students transform through the Summer. This individual growth, Bastin expands, is what makes Widener alumni such powerful green chemistry advocates post-graduation. “Wherever life takes them,” he says, “they become the ‘green chemistry person’ in their lab.”
While he would humbly disagree, Loyd is the locus of student research and green chemistry at Widener University– and is responsible for successfully bringing the institution into the fold of the GCC in 2014. Regardless of his influence, he would agree that this move was incredibly important for the institution– a university located within an environmental justice community, the City of Chester, Pennsylvania.
In the years since, the SURCA program has seen a near-constant presence of green chemistry projects from year to year. And 2023 was no different. “We have green chemistry projects every single year,” Loyd says, running down a list of faculty advisors who have supported them. He adds, “we’re all doing different things– and I think that’s what it allows the students to do the most– to apply those green chemistry theories to a real world problem.” Of the students I spoke to, the unanimous consensus was this: independent research had inspired them toward a career, and deep ethical dedication to, green chemistry.
It’s time to face the obvious, yes, I am biased. Several of these students were my good friends from undergrad. That being said, I think you’ll agree that their work in green chemistry and green chemical engineering is impressive, inspiring even.
John Samohod, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Class of 2025 | A Greener Approach to Cinnamate Esters
Tell me about what this experience, and green chemistry, mean to you.
I absolutely am hooked on green chemistry, because I am an environmentalist at heart, and if I can make these drugs that help a lot of people while not harming the environment– that’s just something really close to me morally, and close to my heart.
So, I want to continue this specific research as well as branch out more in green chemistry via SURCA again– it really provided a step ladder for me to climb. Having all the mentorship, and the peer support at these events, has been super integral for me.
Adrienne Gordy, Chemical Engineering Class of 2024 | Discovery of pH Point of Zero Charge (P2C) of Activated Carbon with Basic and Acidic Solutions
What got you interested in green chemistry engineering? Do you see yourself pursuing a career in the field?
So, originally, I was a civil engineering major… What kicked that off [sic] was Flint Michigan– I heard about that and said I was like, I want to be a civil engineer. I didn’t know anything about activated carbon until I did this experiment, so it’s good to know that… I know how to clean some water!
Anthony Ruggiero, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Class of 2025 | The greener o-methylation of vanillin
How do you think SURCA has influenced you as a future chemist– in terms of your knowledge of green chemistry?
This research has increased my alertness to where green chemistry can be utilized, or more so what industries it should be implemented in.
If you’re looking at the medication you are taking to treat your Alzheimer’s, and you realize there’s a chance you could contract cancer from it… now that seems pretty counterintuitive in my opinion.
Christina McCullough, Chemical Engineering Class of 2024 | Conversion of Styrofoam to Activated Carbon– Winner, best in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Do you think you will carry what you learned about green chemistry into your future career?
My daughter actually got me into recycling, she graduated with a degree in environmental science– so I kind of absorbed a lot of her passion. So this study to convert styrofoam to a useable product was fascinating to me, and that we were successful was a bonus.
Ryan Schlosser, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Class of 2025 | Development of a Greener Synthesis of Dibromide and Epoxide Chalcones
Tell me about what this experience, and green chemistry, mean to you.
I worked with Dr. Bastin, who has headed the Green Chemistry Commitment at Widener and has implemented the green chemistry degree that we offer. SURCA really taught me how I function in a lab, and what things are important to consider.
You know, we are in a climate crisis and we’re facing a lot of problems in our world, and fixing things with chemistry is one of the best things you can do with this degree. SURCA was an absolutely wonderful experience. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Writing this in May 2024, the program is just kicking off again for the Summer, under new leadership. Dr. Robert Mishur (Assistant Professor of Chemistry) and Dr. Mike Corcoran (Assistant Professor of Psychology). After ten years of co-organizing the program, Angie and Loyd are handing off the baton… but not quite out of the picture just yet– With almost 100 students in this year’s program, it is all hands on deck at Widener University this Summer.
