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Chemistry department working on summer research

Pictured (left to right): Dr. Sharon Hamilton, Katie Penton, Madison Parkerson and Michael Neal.

 

Madison Parkerson, a student at Washington School in Greenville, Mississippi, has been doing summer research in the lab of Dr. Sharon Hamilton, assistant professor of chemistry at Delta State University.

Parkerson has also been working under the guidance of Katie Penton, a Delta State student in the Master of Science in natural science program.

This is the third summer Hamilton has hosted high school students in her research lab.

“I believe providing this opportunity to high-schoolers is an important part of what I do as an educator,” said Hamilton. “It is so important to inspire the next generation of scientists, and giving students a chance to have a hands-on learning experience while they are still in high school can afford them that inspiration.”

In total, the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Delta State has hosted four summer research high school students over the last three years. Three of these students have worked under Hamilton and one worked with Dr. Adam Johanson, planetarium director and assistant professor of physics.

“As chair of the department, I’ve been happy to support Dr. Hamilton in her efforts to sponsor high school students conducting summer research in her laboratory,” said Dr. Joseph Bentley. “Madison has been a delight to have around the department, and she took the initiative to contact me about doing research with us over the summer. She has proven to be a stellar research student and we are very happy to have her here.”

The connection was made between Parkerson and Penton through Penton’s outreach work that is part of her NASA Graduate Fellowship. At the end of the summer, Penton will graduate with her master’s degree, and she will be pursuing a doctorate at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Chemistry.

Penton received the prestigious NASA fellowship in 2017. The program focuses on two aspects — her innovative research at Delta State, and her K-12 STEM education outreach plan to visit Mississippi Delta schools and share demonstrations of science, particularly chemistry demonstrations.

Hamilton also has two chemistry undergraduate students conducting research this summer. Ashley Bonner, senior chemistry major, and Michael Neal, McNair Scholar and junior chemistry/biology major, are both conducting Mississippi IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) sponsored research in the lab. It is anticipated that the results of their research will be presented at conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals.

INBRE is a network of colleges and universities, designed to build a biomedical research infrastructure in Mississippi. Its mission is to reach out to Mississippians in order to improve health throughout the state and to engage talented researchers and students in biomedical research projects that will increase the state’s research competitiveness, as well as impact the health of citizens of Mississippi.

Hamilton’s research is supported by INBRE and funded by an Institutional Development Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant number P20GM103476.

Learn more about Delta State’s Department of Chemistry and Physics at https://www.deltastate.edu/artsandsciences/chemistry-and-physics.