East Michigan News

Summer is typically thought of as vacation time, but not for some area high school students who elected to spend their time in Anja Mueller’s materials chemistry research lab. Mueller, a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has participated in Project SEED, sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS), since 2008. High school students can apply to work all summer in a scientific research lab, which gives them real-world research experience and mentorship working in a university lab, fully funded by the SEED program. It provides them with an understanding of what it’s like to be a chemist.

This year Mueller’s lab consisted of three SEED students. Among them was returning student Derek Scooch, a senior from Merrill, who was researching polymer resins for removing heavy metal ions, such as arsenic, from wastewater. Each student conducted different aspects of the wastewater research under the mentorship of CMU research students who are part of Mueller’s lab. The research performed in Mueller’s lab is part of an ongoing interdisciplinary project with Itzel Marquez from the School of Engineering and Brad Fahlman from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, funded by the Army. The SEED students played an integral role in helping to develop resins and membranes that may eventually be developed into usable products.

In addition to working in a lab, on Fridays the SEED students visit other universities, companies, and federal labs and present their research to other SEED groups. “These students are curious and want to learn. They enjoy the research and get to learn organic chemistry on the side,” said Mueller about her group. As for Derek Scooch, this experience enabled him to secure a full scholarship at the University of Michigan, where he will be studying Chemistry.