Lawren Paris, an undergrad researcher in the Prell lab, has been selected by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) for a travel award based on her research abstract submission for the 2023 ASMS Annual Conference.

The ASMS Undergraduate Student Travel Award recognizes up to ten undergraduate students whose academic achievements and interest in mass spectrometry research display a high level of excellence and distinction. The Awards will be presented during the annual ASMS conference in Houston, Texas, June 4 – 8, 2023, and are intended to support ASMS conference travel. Each award includes $500, free conference registration, and a certificate.

Lawren’s research in the Prell group focuses on the unfolding thermochemistry and kinetics of gas-phase ions inside mass spectrometers. Her main project involves modeling the vibrational heat capacity of gaseous biomolecular ions using quantum computational theory, the results of which she will be presenting as a poster at the ASMS conference in June. The data from Lawren’s research is being used to better quantitatively determine how ions dissociate and unfold in the gas phase, and to create more accurate thermodynamic modeling software within our group.