Congrats to Eric!

Congratulations to rising second-year PhD student Eric Boone for receiving a Graduate Student Research Grant from the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School!

Prof. Pratt gives invited talk at ACS Mtg

Prof. Kerri Pratt gave an invited talk today about graduate student Eric Boone's cloud water chemistry research project at the 248th American Chemical Society National Meeting ("Chemistry of Atmospheric Nitrogen-Containing Compounds" session) in San Francisco, CA!

Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium at Notre Dame

On Friday Summer REU Chemistry student Michael Weber, Summer SURP students Wuliang Zhang and Zhuoyu Peng, and high school students Jackelyn Rodriguez and Desmond Madu presented their summer research at the Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium (SURS) at the University of Notre Dame! We were able to present their work at the poster session, discuss research performed by fellow undergraduate researchers, and network with professors at the University of Notre Dame. It was also excellent practice for future presentations at larger conferences. Congratulations to all!

Summer REU Chemistry student Michael Weber

Summer SURP student Zhuoyu Peng

Summer SURP student Wuliang Zhang

High school students Desmond Madu (left) and Jackelyn Rodriguez (right)

Thank you to Dr. Jess Axson (Ault group post-doc) for accompanying Desmond and Jackelyn to this symposium!

Summer Research Students Visit UMBS!

Summer REU Chemistry student Michael Weber, summer REU Physics student Katherine De Los Santos, and summer SROP student Clarence Pace III (Ault Lab) all had to opportunity to visit and tour the University of Michigan Biological Station and the PROPHET Tower last week! Guided by Prof. Kerri Pratt, Prof. Andy Ault, and graduate student Nate May, we saw how the researchers work and live at a field site. Aside from exploring the facilities, staying on-site in UMBS cabins, and meeting other summer researchers, we also had the opportunity to climb PROPHET tower and investigate how the labs collect atmospheric air samples!

Summer SROP student Clarence Pace III (left) and REU Chemistry student Michael Weber (right) atop the PROPHET tower at UMBS

Summer REU Physics student Katherine De Los Santos atop the PROPHET tower at UMBS

Thanks to all who made the trip possible including Prof. Kerri Pratt, Prof. Andy Ault, Nate May, and Dr. Kirsti Ashworth, as well as Prof. Myron Campbell for suggesting the trip early on!

Congratulations to Matt!

Congratulations to graduate student Matt Gunsch for being awarded a conference travel award at the University of Michigan Department of Chemistry Vaughan Symposium!

New Summer Group Photo!

Front row (left to right):
Jackelyn Rodriguez (summer student joint with Ault Group, Cass Tech High School, Detroit, MI)
Zhuoyu Peng (rising senior, Chemistry & Program in the Environment)
Rachel Kirpes (summer graduate rotation student, Chemistry)
Jillian Cellini (graduated senior, Earth Systems Science)

Second row (left to right):
Wuliang Zhang (rising senior, Chemistry)
Michael Weber (summer Chemistry REU student, Muhlenberg College)
Garrett Welshofer (summer graduate rotation student, Chemistry)
Eric Boone (rising 2nd year graduate student, Chemistry)
Prof. Kerri Pratt
Matt Gunsch (rising 3rd year graduate student, Chemistry)

Back:
Desmond Madu (summer student joint with Ault Group, Cass Tech High School, Detroit, MI)

Missing:
Nate May (rising 2nd year graduate student, Chemistry) - at the UM Biological Station!
Jennifer Berry (rising senior, Chemistry) - on the Juneau Icefield in Alaska!
Katherine De Los Santos (summer Physics REU student, Queens College) - at the Physics Electronics Shop!
Stephanie Schmidt (summer UMBS REU student joint with Ault Group, Michigan State Univ.) - at the UM Biological Station!

Halfway through UMBS Field Study

~ Two weeks down, two more to go! At the halfway point of our field study at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), everything is moving along very nicely. For the first two weeks, I (Matt Gunsch), with the help of our UMBS REU student Stephanie, was stationed at the PROPHET lab at UMBS running the instrumentation installed by the Pratt and Ault labs. I have been working primarily with the ATOFMS and have been ensuring its successful operation and collection of data. Initial data analysis has begun, and some very early results will be presented next week at the University of Michigan's Vaughan Symposium!

The PROPHET Lab and Tower. My home for the past two weeks.

Another Pratt lab graduate student, Nate May, recently arrived at UMBS to relieve me of my ATOFMS duties. He is now in charge of its operation until we travel back up in early August for the conclusion of the field study. It has been a fun and productive two weeks for me, and I'm sure it will continue for him!

Nate May (left) and Matt Gunsch (right) watching over the ATOFMS.