UO Chemistry and Biochemistry graduate student Susan Cooper has been selected to receive the 2016 ARCS Foundation Josselyn Family Scholar Award.
The Achievement Rewards for College Students (ARCS) Foundation of Portland is one of sixteen ARCS Foundation Chapters nationwide. Portland’s ARCS Foundation members are women philanthropists committed to advancing science in America. The chapter seeks to support and nurture young American women and men in doctoral programs as they prepare to take on current and future scientific and medical challenges. In February of 2015, ARCS Portland announced that the University of Oregon Department Chemistry and Biochemistry and Department of Biology had been approved for funding support from the chapter. Susan Cooper and Katja Kasimatis (Biology) are the first UO recipients of ARCS awards. The $18,000 unrestricted awards are payable over three years, at $6,000 per year.
Susan is a third year doctoral student in the labs of professors Jim Hutchison and Darren Johnson. She grew up in San Diego, California, and earned her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. After graduating, she spent several years working at Bio Architecture Lab, Inc., developing methods to turn macroalgae, or seaweed, into fuels and chemicals. Her experience working in a research environment lead her pursue an academic degree that would enable her to continue to do research at an advanced level. She was surprised and excited to be chosen for the ARCS Foundation award, which will assist her as she continues to work toward her degree.
Susan finds inspiration in learning about the world from a chemical perspective, examining molecules and interactions. Her current research in the Hutchison and Johnson labs involves studying a new green synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles for a wide variety of applications – in media devices, water purification systems, as contrast agents for MRI imaging. Studying how these materials form, and working to increase the precision of that process, can result in better performance in applications.
After earning her PhD, Susan hopes to start her own company, using her science to solve environmentally relevant problems.
Read more about ARCS awards and scholars at:
https://www.arcsfoundation.org/portland/current-scholars
https://www.arcsfoundation.org/portland/news/first-scholar-award-university-oregon-announced
by Leah O’Brien
UO Chemistry and Biochemistry