NU LSAMP student Sweeps the Regional Meeting...

...and does it with style, spirit and professionalism!

Congratulations to our Northeastern University LSAMP student, Jennifer Gaines, who won first place at the Northeast Regional AIChE paper contest, competing with students from MIT and Tufts who won third and second place respectively. She will represent the Northeast Region at the National AIChe Conference in San Francisco. She also won first place for the Boston ISPE Poster Contest held at Northeastern University and will be presenting her research project in New Orleans at the Nationals.

Her project focused on increasing the production of pharmaceutical compounds from cell cultures of the Catharanthus plant. This plant produces compounds that are used as anti-hypertensives, sedatives and anti-cancer compounds. (In laymen's terms, she researched ways to increase certain compounds from the Catharanthus plant which are used in medicine to help fight cancer.) When asked how this experience helped her, she answered, "It [the project] helped me to improve my ability to do independent research and to present data. This experience has helped to confirm my desire to ultimately work in a lab type setting in the future."

This young chemistry engineering major expressed that she always loved science and math. In middle school, she would solve her math problems as if she was solving a puzzle. When applying to Northeastern University, she decided on her major because it involved chemistry and was an applied science. Support from her professors and counselors in the department have helped her to achieve her level of success. She plans to continue working in her major but hopes to be able to combine it with civil/environmental engineering when she graduates.

"Talent runs deep in America, but we haven't as yet learned to take full advantage of your rich human resources. It is vital to invest in minorities... Developing the largely untapped potential of this population reflects the high priority of people in NSF's mission."

- Dr. Rita R. Colwell
  Former Director, NSF