Campus Students Participate in the American Chemical Society's SEED Program

For 8 to 10 weeks every summer, EOSD students work in real laboratories, with real scientists serving as their mentors.The American Chemical Society's (ACS) Project SEED Summer I program provides a $2,500 fellowship to economically disadvantaged students to participate in summer research at an academic, government, or industrial laboratory. An important feature of the Project SEED program is its emphasis on career development and its motivation of students to pursue higher education in the natural sciences.

In the summer of 2018 Jonelson Dessin, a Senior at East Orange Campus High School was selected to do chemical research at Rutgers University- Newark. He worked under the direction of Prof. Michal Szostak who is investigating Cross-coupling of Amides by N_C Activation. Kimberly Glenn , a Senior at East Orange Campus High School, was also selected to do chemical research at Rutgers University- Newark this summer.  She worked under the direction of Prof. Frieder Jaekle who is investigating New Hybrid Materials Based on Boron Incorporation into Organic Scaffolds. This year, Kimberly Glenn won 3rd place for the Regional Poster Presentation session.

These students were nominated to do research with Project SEED by Mr. Onyema, a Chemistry Teacher at East Orange Campus High School. Ikechukwu Onyema has served as a mentor for Project SEED students for the past 3 years.  Although ACS provides no monetary compensation for the mentors who work with SEED students, Ikechukwu Onyema feels the program is worth the extra effort. "I enjoy exposing our high school students to rigorous and relevant research. Our students constantly impress me by their ability to rise to the challenge and creatively apply their knowledge in the laboratory," stated Onyema.