CHRISTY PETRUCZOK '08 - GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

Christy is a junior chemical engineer from Orchard Park, New York. She plans to become a professor and to teach both undergraduate and graduate courses in organic and polymer chemistry, while also pursuing in her own research interests.

In her application, Christy wrote: “I initially felt apprehensive upon entering college because I did not have any established career goals. However, I have been fascinated with polymer chemistry since I took my first organic chemistry class last year with Professor Devon Shipp and obtained a research position in his laboratory. My experience thus far has opened my eyes to a world of chemistry that most people deal with on a daily basis but never truly think about. . . . Although I am still quite young, I lament that growing older makes it more difficult to view the world with the same sense of wonderment. I have chosen this field of study because it never fails in its capacity to astonish me. Amidst the tangled IUPAC chemical names and complicated structures, I see unexplored possibilities for new materials and applications.”

Christy’research is on block copolymers, work that may eventually have applications for drug delivery. She is working under Professor Devon Shipp.

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