Chemistry Summer Students win awards

Two sixth form students who carried out summer research projects in the Department of Chemistry have won prestigious awards.

Hattie Jones, a Sixth Former at The Abbey School, won the top prize in her age category in the National Science and Engineering competition. ‘The Big Bang' UK Young Scientists' and Engineers' Fair in Manchester was the exciting setting for the finals where contestants showcased their projects to over 10,000 visitors and the judges. Hattie will now go on to represent the UK at the European Science and Engineering Fair in Portugal in September. Hattie received her award as winner of the Science prize in the Intermediate Age category in a prestigious ceremony at the end of the two day ‘Big Bang' event. She gained a Nuffield Bursary last year and spent four weeks in the summer working with her mentor, Professor Nick Long and PhD student Chloe Child in the Chemistry Department at Imperial College, London. Her project was entitled ‘Carbon Monoxide-Friend or Foe?' for which she investigated the controlled uptake and release of carbon monoxide (CO) for biomedical imaging applications and worked alongside the university research team. Professor Long praised her saying ‘Hattie showed ability and maturity way beyond her years. She fitted in well and was so competent in the laboratory that she was mistaken for a new PhD student!

At the same competition, Ellie Ogilvie was announced as runner up in the national Young Scientist of the Year competition (senior age category) for her summer project also carried out at Imperial College. She spent a month working with Dr James Wilton-Ely and PhD student Saira Naeem in the Department of Chemistry on water soluble metal compounds for applications in catalysis. Rather than just observe research being carried out, she ran her own reactions and characterised the resulting products using a wide range of spectroscopic techniques. The results from this work will appear next month in high-profile journal, Dalton Transactions.

Both girls received their awards from Lord Mandelson after judging, which involved a discussion of her work with a panel of five science celebrities.

If any academics in the Department would like to offer a Nuffield bursary placement (typically 4-6 weeks in your lab) to a year 12 student please contact Dr Jodie Kirk Scientific Projects Manager in the Outreach Office.