During the summer The College of New Jersey supports undergraduate research and creative activity through the Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience (MUSE) program. Chemistry students regularly participate in the MUSE program, during which time they are immersed in the research laboratory and are able to gain research training that will help prepare them for post-graduate studies and careers. The program also includes a number of coordinated intellectual and social activities across all academic disciplines at TCNJ, helping to develop our chemistry students as broadly engaged scientific citizens.
2024 MUSE and Externally-Supported UG Researchers
Iknoor Grewal: A Dance of Two Pili
Characterizing features of the binding interface between Histatin-5 and the CS20 pilus
Joseph Baker, Faculty Mentor
Rocky Lu
GōMartini with a Twist: Coarse-Grained Modeling of Adhesion Pili
Joseph Baker, Faculty Mentor
Kiara Robles
Unlocking the secrets of interstellar hitchhikers: The F-Ena pilus enables spore-forming bacteria adhesion
Joseph Baker, Faculty Mentor
Nicole Rojas
Relax! Exploring Bacterial Pilus Resistance to Stressors
Joseph Baker, Faculty Mentor
Makenna Heslin, Marianna Medina
Thiyl radical detection in ADO model system
Levi Ekanger, Faculty Mentor
Katie Chan, Sydney Crawbuck
MICRO CURE: Method Development of Microfluidic Devices for Analytical Chemistry Courses
Rebecca Hunter, Faculty Mentor
Kimberly Liu
Optimizing Conductive Polymer Nanofibers for Biological Sensing Applications
Rebecca Hunter, Faculty Mentor
Nikolas Romano
Optimization of Polymer-Modified Electrodes with Streamlined Data Analysis Using Python
Rebecca Hunter, Faculty Mentor
Joaquin Howard
First Things First: Synthesis and Spectroscopic Analysis for PCET Studies
Giovanny Parada, Faculty Mentor
Ashley Rettino, Jack Tinkelenberg
Watts Next? Studying Electrochemical Reactions of C-Centered Radicals for Sustainable Energy
Giovanny Parada, Faculty Mentor
Sean Sprague
Achieving PCET of Ruthenium Complex’s Using Chemical Reagents
Giovanny Parada, Faculty Mentor
2023 MUSE and Externally-Supported UG Researchers
Spandana Bondalapati
The Impact of N-Terminal Strand Removal on the Structure and Functionality of the S- Ena Pili on Bacterial Endospores
Joseph Baker, Faculty Mentor
Ayesha Chaudhry
Examining the impact of removing cross- linking disulfide bonds on the stability of an Ena Pilus filament under applied tension force
Joseph Baker, Faculty Mentor
Iknoor Grewal
Identifying Components of a Stable Docking Site for Histatin 5 on E. coli
Joseph Baker, Faculty Mentor
Karolina Wielowski
Determining the Strength of the Interaction Energies Between Subunits of Ena Pili Filaments through Steered Molecular Dynamics
Joseph Baker, Faculty Mentor
Sri Manyata Peddinti, Cristian Herrera Alpizar, Marianna Medina
Screening for inhibitors of bacterial metalloenzyme YtfE in silico and in vitro
Levi Ekanger, Faculty Mentor
Saimanish Dhulipala, Mubarak Rawe
New [PNP] Pincer Ligands to convert CO2 into value added feedstocks
Abby O’Connor, Faculty Mentor
Cassandra McDermott
Synthesis and Characterization of a Greener Alternative [NNN] Palladium complex for
Bond Cleavage in Polymers
Abby O’Connor, Faculty Mentor
Kendall Villalobos
Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling Reactions involving Palladium Pincer Catalysts
Abby O’Connor, Faculty Mentor
Brayden Messinger
Synthesis of Nickel Catalysts for CO2 functionalization
Abby O’Connor, Faculty Mentor
Rachel Post, Nikki Williams
Understanding and quantifying proton- coupled electron transfer (PCET) in diarylamines
Giovanny Parada, Faculty Mentor
Henry Brandstadter, Anthony Cuccurullo, Jennifer Goldstein, Caroline Devine
Computational Studies on Isoprenoid Metabolism in Lepidopteran Insects
Stephanie Sen, Faculty Mentor