Graduate Student Summit – Virtual Event

Angela K. Wilson is a John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, and Director of the Center for Quantum Computing, Science, and Engineering (MSU-Q) at Michigan State University.  She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Eastern Washington University and her Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of Minnesota.  She was a postdoctoral fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.  From 2016-2018, she led the Division of Chemistry at the National Science Foundation.  She has been a member of ACS since 1989, and served as ACS President in 2022.

Neal Abrams is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College and his Ph.D. in materials chemistry from Penn State. He has earned teaching certification in NY State and has been active in outreach and education throughout his career. Within the ACS, he currently serves on the Committee on Community Activities at the national level and is the treasurer and education chair for the Central NY section.

Caroline is a second year Ph.D. student within the chemistry department at the University of Connecticut. Caroline works in the Angeles-Boza lab exploring the synthesis, mechanisms of action, and efficiencies of anti-microbial peptides. Prior to starting the program, Caroline became involved with the chemistry department’s graduate student ran organization, Joint Safety Team, due to her affinity and prior expertise in chemical hygiene. The Joint Safety Team (JST) has an intuitive to create a collaborative environment throughout and beyond the chemistry department which puts chemical safety at the core of science being conducted. In order to create more traction for the organization, to get outside funding for the organizations various projects, and to gain an affiliation with the American Chemical Society- Caroline and the rest of the JST’s executive board put together an application to officially become an ACS-Graduate Student Organization.

Cristian Aviles-Martin is a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry at the University of Connecticut. His research focuses on directly controlled catalysts that allows for on-demand control of product selectivity. In addition to Cristian’s research, he is actively involved in the scientific community via the American Chemical Society Connecticut Valley Section (ACS-CVS). He is a founding member of the Younger Chemist Committee local section within the ACS-CVS, where they focus on easing the transition from student into early career chemist. Additionally, Cristian is involved with the Joint Safety Team by taking on the initiative of applying industry standard safety practices within academia and overall improving chemical safety culture in the department.

Ashley Reed is a second year Ph.D. student in the department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Connecticut. Her research focuses on amyloidogenic proteins and their ability to perturb mitochondrial function. While working on a project in the Chemistry department, Ashely became interested in promoting safety culture cross disciplinarily and expanding education on chemical safety outside the university setting. As chair of the Joint Safety Team’s Outreach Committee, I am working with the committee to develop a series of demonstration based chemical safety seminars geared towards children in grades K-12.

William Burnett is a Ph.D. Student at Texas Christian University and current President of the Graduate Student Chemistry Club.  He completed his Bachelor of Science at Tarleton State University in 2018. Will is studying under Dr. Jeffery Coffer with interests in lead halide perovskites for use in optoelectronic devices.

Marta Gmurczyk, Ph.D. Marta Gmurczyk, Ph.D. is a senior portfolio manager at the American Chemical Society. In her position Dr. Marta Gmurczyk works strategically across the ACS to communicate and coordinate chemical safety efforts. She works with volunteers to develops and implements activities, web resources and services related to chemical safety, including ACS Safety Summits, safety videos and an online course on Foundations of Chemical Safety and Risk Management.  Dr. Marta Gmurczyk also serves as the ACS Staff Liaison for the Committee on Chemical Safety and as  a member of the Mentorship Team supporting graduate students to organize and deliver workshops that empower academic researchers to strengthen safety culture.