sarah herter

ABOUT THE RESEARCHER:

1. Who are you doing research with this summer and what kind of research project are you doing?

I’m currently working in Dr. Tomsho’s lab and work with Christopher Orme in organic synthesis. Our project is attempting to synthesize and purify a group of new compounds containing Boron, a reactive element, that could be used to treat HIV.

2. What do you find fascinating in the research you’re doing?

I love organic research because I enjoy how closely related the chemical ideas and theories are to the work we do. I find it really interesting to talk about and draw out chemistry and then actually perform it start to finish. I also love getting to design, create, and purify new compounds totally within our own lab.

3. What skills are you learning through the USURF experience?

Most noticeably, I learned how to be a better researcher and scientist. I found it exciting when I noticed I was able to take the lead in deciding how to approach my project and tailor that approach based on results and experiments. Along with being able to understand and take charge of my work, I was able to practice lab communication and independence as well as technical skills for an organic lab.

 4. What are the challenges you’re encountering in your research?

Some of the biggest challenges I’m encountering are in trying to improve the yield of compounds. This means trying to tweak conditions of the reactions and the purifications to create and isolate more product. This is difficult because we cannot know what will work until we try, and those attempts can be time consuming and depend on a lot of factors that are hard to control.

 5. How is your USURF experience impacting the way you view your field?

My experience this summer has given me a lot of insight into how research projects unfold from the beginning through the end. My project became a lot more specific and ended up having smaller goals within it. I also learned about how research can be both a super frustrating and rewarding experience. There are days where nothing goes to plan or runs successfully, but then a small success can be so exciting it makes the work worth it.

 6. Tell us something interesting about yourself.

Unrelated to lab I broke my wrist about half way through my project and had to figure out how to do my very hands-on research without my dominant hand.