Hobnobbing with Nobel Laureates Opens Her Eyes to the Joys and Challenges of the Scientific Life

Kirsten Griffiths '03 with Sir Harold
Kroto, Nobel Prize Laureate

Kirsten E. Griffiths '03 (Cm) is only in her third year of a five-year doctoral program in chemistry at the University of California at Los Angeles . But already the promising young scientist has distinguished herself by accumulating an impressive list of awards and professional recognitions. This past summer, Kirsten added another honor to her resume when she was one of only 50 doctoral students in the country selected to attend Germany's elite annual Lindau meeting. It was, she says, "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Each summer in the small town of Lindau , Nobel Laureates from all corners of the globe gather together for lectures and discussions that center around medicine, chemistry and physics. For much of the past 55 years, the distinguished attendees met with local German students only. But recently, the best and brightest graduate students from around the world have been invited to share ideas, listen and learn.

"I had the opportunity to meet some of the 20th century's greatest scientists," Kirsten explains. "I also networked and developed friendships with other aspiring scientists, some of whom shared my research interests. The atmosphere was genial, open and informal. I engaged in one-on-one conversations about everything from the future of science and the process of scientific discovery to how to balance work and family life."

"I met some of the 20th century's greatest scientists … . It was a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"One of my most memorable dinner conversations was with Sir Harold W. Kroto, who received the Nobel Prize in 1996 for the discovery of fullerenes," she says. "We discussed the challenges of trying to achieve gender parity in fields like chemistry and physics and the pressures associated with academic life. We also talked about the difficulties of devoting your life to science from a practical point of view — how this affected family life, for example. It was interesting to hear someone who had accomplished so much still consider the consequences of decisions he made earlier in his life and career."

Members of the U.S. delegation were chosen and sponsored by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Kirsten applied to and was accepted through the NSF based on her long history with Foundation-sponsored research activities that began while an undergraduate Honors student at Clarkson.

In the summer of 2000, Kirsten worked in the Columbia University laboratory of William P. Schweitzer Professor of Chemistry Nicholas J. Turro, an expert in photochemistry, as part of the NSF's Research Experience for Undergraduate program. The next summer she was chosen to participate in the NSF's International Research Program at the Université Bordeaux in Bordeaux , France , and in 2002 she worked at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg . "In Strasbourg I had the privilege of working with Jean-Pierre Sauvage, one of the top supramolecular chemists in the world."

Kirsten with students from the
Chinese delegation at Lindau.

Today, Kirsten's research interests are in supramolecular chemistry and she is currently synthesizing Borromean rings, which she says "is a hot topic right now in dynamic covalent chemistry." Her work is supported by a three-year graduate fellowship from the NSF. She has co-published three articles in peer-review journals and given several poster presentations at major scientific meetings. But she adds, "I am also interested in issues outside the laboratory, like science policy and the relationship between science and business."

Kirsten looks back at the education she received at Clarkson as opening the door for many of the opportunities that have followed. "Clarkson is small but research intensive and that was a perfect fit for me. I also benefited from the Honors curriculum and its emphasis on problem-solving and project-based learning. While still an undergraduate I gained valuable laboratory experience working in the chemistry labs of Professors Richard Partch and Devon Shipp. I had more opportunities to conduct research here than I would have had at many other institutions."