The 18th Annual Northeast Student Chemistry Research Conference (NSCRC) will be held at University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Integrated Sciences Complex on Saturday, April 16th and our Career Symposium will be held Sunday, April 17th.
NORTHEAST STUDENT CHEMISTRY RESEARCH CONFERENCE
The Northeast Student Chemistry Research Conference (NSCRC) is organized for students by students. It is devoted to the research of undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral chemistry students, providing an opportunity for students to share their work in a relaxing atmosphere. The day-long event features student poster and oral research presentations, awards, and catered lunch. The conference encourages students to network and get feedback from their peers. The 1st NSCRC was held April 24, 1999 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Dr. Mircea Dincă
Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Department of Chemistry Functional Inorganic and Organic Materials
Degrees/Education
PhD, University of California – Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
BA, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Teaching Sponges New Tricks: Catalysis and Charge Transport in Microporous Metal-Organic Frameworks
Traditional applications of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are focused on gas storage and separation, which take advantage of the inherent porosity and high surface area of these materials. The MOFs’ use in technologies that require charge transport have lagged behind, however, because MOFs are poor conductors of electricity. We show that design principles honed from decades of previous research in molecular conductors can be employed to produce MOFs with remarkable charge mobility and conductivity values that rival or surpass those of common organic semiconductors and even graphite. We further show that these, ordered, and crystalline conductors can be used for a variety of applications in energy storage, electrocatalysis, electrochromics, and selective chemiresistive sensing. Another virtually untapped area of MOF chemistry is related to their potential to mediate redox reactivity and heterogeneous catalysis through their metal nodes. We show that MOFs can be thought of as unique macromolecular ligands that give rise to unusual molecular clusters where small molecules can react in a matrix-like environment, akin to the metal binding pockets of metalloproteins. By employing a mild, highly modular synthetic method and a suite of spectroscopic techniques, we show that redox reactivity at MOF nodes can lead to the isolation and characterization of highly unstable intermediates relevant to biological and industrial catalysis, and to industrially relevant catalytic transformations that are currently performed only by homogeneous catalysts.
ELEVATOR SPEECHES
Communicating scientific research effectively to the larger community is very important. For this reason NSYCC would like to give attendees at the NSCRC an opportunity to present their research in an “elevator speech” . Presenters will have a chance to promote their research prior to the poster and the seminar sessions, which could increase the attention that they get during throughout the rest of the conference. Each speaker will get 2 minutes with one powerpoint slide (no animations) sent ahead of time to treasurer@nsycc.org by Tuesday April 12th. The best “elevator speech” will be awarded with a prize and recognition.
Those who expressed their interest to give a pitch in their abstract submission will receive more information on their presentation soon!
AWARDS
$200 Outstanding Oral Presentation Award sponsored by Strem Chemicals
$50 Excellent Elevator Pitch Award sponsored by JEOL USA, Inc.
$150 Outstanding Graduate Student Poster sponsored by Strem Chemicals
$100 Outstanding Undergraduate Student Poster sponsored by JEOL USA, Inc.
$100 Most Promising Female Scientist Award sponsored by Graduate Women in Science
