Senior Capstone
All senior students at Washington College must complete a Senior Capstone Experience (SCE) to graduate. Chemistry majors fulfill the SCE by conducting a year-long research project in collaboration with a chemistry faculty member, which culminates with a thesis and scientific poster presentation.
What is the SCE?
All senior chemistry majors work in collaboration to complete a year-long laboratory or literature-based project. Students who elect to complete a laboratory-based SCE will undertake projects that involve synthetic and preparative procedures and include the use of the department’s research-grade Inert-Atmosphere Glove Box, UV-VIS, FTIR, AA, NMR, GC, HPLC, LC-MS, GC-MS, ICP-MS, electrochemical analyzer, and polarimeter.
Students pursuing the ACS-certified degree in Chemistry must perform a laboratory-based research project for their SCE to meet the number of laboratory hours required by the ACS. This requirement could be waived if ACS-certified majors have already performed research for credit during the academic year or during the summer.
Seniors present the results of their project in a poster session that is open to the College community. The department has a set of Senior Capstone Experience Guidelines that are distributed to both junior and senior chemistry majors each fall. For those students meeting the College-wide standards of eligibility for departmental honors at graduation, the capstone experience also forms the basis of an oral examination given at the end of the student’s final semester.
Students must enroll in CHE SCE in their final semester to obtain credit for the Senior Capstone Experience. The Senior Capstone Experience is graded according to the Washington College grading system, which involves the use of letter grades (A-F) that may be modified by a minus or a plus.
Recent SCE Projects
RECENT SENIOR CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE (SCE) TOPICS
2021-2022 Theses
Hannah Flayhart ‘22 “Mercury and Cadmium Testing in Chester River Tributaries” (Advisor: Leslie Sherman Wakely)
Amari Morton ‘22 “The Applications of Artificial Chemiluminescence” (Advisor: Sarah Arradondo)
Michael Roseman ‘22 “One-Pot Synthesis of 1,3-Oxazolidines via Formal, Dearomative [3+2] Cycloaddition of Aminophenols” (Advisor: Do)
Mariama Thiam ‘22 “Computational Analysis of Nerve Agents and, Possible Treatment Molecules” (Advisor: Sarah Arradondo)
Brody Mann ‘22 “A Quest for Lyme Disease Prophylaxis” (Advisor: Anne Marteel Parrish and Kathleen Verville)
Summer Black ‘21 “UV Exposure: Effects, Repair, and Prevention” (Advisor: Mindy Reynolds and Sarah Arradondo)
Kellen Hanley ‘21 “Usage of Hydroxylated Fullerenes as Radioprotectors in the, C60 Prevention of Radiation-Induced Thyroid Carcinoma” (Advisor: Aaron Krochmal and Aaron Amick)
Caroline Braungard ‘21 “Iceland: Fighting Climate Change with Sustainable, Geothermal Systems” (Advisor: Anne Marteel-Parrish)
Allison Gallagher ‘21 “Evaluation of the Environmental Prevalence and Toxicity, of Sulfonamides and Their Metabolites” (Advisor: Leslie Sherman Wakeley)
Matthew Gregory ‘21 “An Introduction to the Fundamentals of Room Temperature, Ionic Liquids, Computational Chemistry, and their Intersection” (Advisor: Sarah Arradondo)
Mengjiao Li ‘21 “Removal of Heavy Metals in Contaminated Groundwater Based , on Biosorption” (Advisor: Anne Marteel-Parrish)
Christopher Lollo ‘21 “A Comprehensive Review on Metal Catalyzed Reactions to, Create Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons” (Advisor: Aaron Amick)
Kayla Mehrtens ‘21 “Inquiry-Based Learning: an education method to support the, chemists of tomorrow” (Advisor: Aaron Amick)
Nathaniel Neuland ‘21 “The Effects of Mutated SOD1 on Amyotrophic Lateral , Sclerosis and how siRNA Treatment Could Lead to a Cure” (Advisor: James Lipchock)
Harry Redding ‘21 “How Reaction of Metals with the A? Protein can be Better, Understood Using Computational Methods” (Advisor: Sarah Arradondo)
Ella Samer ‘21 “A Review on Spinal Muscular Atrophy and the Three , Available Gene Therapies” (Advisor: Aaron Amick)
Michaela Creel ‘21 “The Effects of Alcoholic Beverages on the, Human Body and the Pathways of Metabolism” (Advisor: James Lipchock and Jim Windelbourn)
Haley Wilt ‘21 “Comparative Analysis of Riboswitch Mechanisms” (Advisor: James Lipchock and Kathleen Verville)
Mahin Zaman ‘21 “A Sustainable Development Approach to Promoting Water, Security in Eritrea” (Advisor: Anne Marteel-Parrish)
Jennifer Shabrach ‘21 “The Effect of Excess Metal Exposure on Alzheimer's Disease and Possible Treatments” (Advisor: James Lipchock)
2020 Theses
Sean Garin ‘20 “Examining the Structural Requirements for Dot1, Mediated Senescence” (Advisor: Jennifer Wanat and James Lipchock)
Alexandria Hegeman ‘20 “The Significance of NUP170 in Delayed Cellular Senescence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae” (Advisor: Jennifer Wanat and Anna Smith)
Larisa Okshewsky ‘20 “Prevention and Treatment for Clostridium, difficile infection” (Advisor: Kathleen Verville)
Savannah Ross ‘20 “The Investigation of Fullerenes as a, Potential Therapeutic for Ischemic Stroke” (Advisor: Jim Windelbourn and Aaron Amick)
Erin Asman ‘20 “Review of Osteoarthritis in Equines and the Treatments Available” (Advisor: James Lipchock)
Eleanor Byers ‘20 “Biomimetic Preen Oil from Waste Cooking Oil: A Green Chemistry Laboratory for Secondary Students” (Advisor: Anne Marteel-Parrish)
David Gonzalez ‘20 “ Synthesis of a Novel Acenaphthylene, Semiconducting Polymer” (Advisor: Aaron Amick)
Autumn Hoffman ‘20 “Synthesis of 5-bromobenzo[c]phenanthrene, an, Intermediate of the Missing Fullerene C72” (Advisor: Aaron Amick)
Corbin Hudson ‘20 “Ionic Liquids: The Designer Solvent” (Advisor: Sarah Arradondo)
Jessica Melson ‘20 “The Effects of Microplastics on Water and Soil, Samples Around the Chester River” (Advisor: Anne Marteel-Parrish)
Alexandra Searles ‘20 “Comparison of Phosphate Levels in Water, Samples of Impaired Creeks off of the Chester River and, Evaluation of Surrounding Land” (Advisor: Leslie Sherman Wakeley)
Felicia Atton ‘20 “Synthesis of flavonoids for anti-aging Research” (Advisor: Anna Smith)
Melissa Whittington ‘20 “Characterizing small water clusters with ab, initio Methods and Terahertz Spectroscopy” (Advisor: George Keiser)
2019
Dominic Giandonato ‘19 “Induced Blockage of Ring Closures within, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons” (Advisor: Aaron Amick)
Edgardo Hernandez ‘19 “Determining pH Using Acid-Base Indicators and, Smartphone Colorimetry” (Advisor: Rick Locker)
Parakram Karki ‘19 “Mechanistic study of protein histidine, phosphatase 1 and the effects of the elongation of the, c-terminus on protein function and dynamics” (Advisor: James Lipchock
Beatrice Keller ‘19 “A Cross-disciplinary Study Between Green, Chemistry and Public Health: Comparative Analysis of Cooking, Methods and Effects on Food Composition and Health in Rural China” (Advisor: Anne Marteel-Parrish)
Meredith Kenton ‘19 “Introducing Green Chemistry Principles into, an Undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry Course” (Advisor: Anne Marteel-Parrish)
Collin Vincent ‘19 “Efficient Synthesis of New Aromatic, Structural Scaffolds” (Advisor: Aaron Amick)
Tyler Buchanan ‘19 “Effects of Vortex Generators on a Sedan Model Car” (Advisor: James Lipchock)