Four Occidental College students collaborating with faculty in the fields of biochemistry, chemistry, biology, physics and cognitive science have been named 2017-18 Science Scholars and presented with research grants funded by the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris and Fletcher Jones foundations.
The scholars selected by Oxy faculty to receive the prestigious award are: Molly Brown ’18, chemistry, Fletcher Jones Scholar; Jose Campuzano ’18, biochemistry, Fletcher Jones Scholar; Holly Barrett ’18, biochemistry, Norris Scholar; Nan Ma ’18, physics, Norris Scholar. Each Science Scholar receives $15,000 in support to carry out research from the spring of their junior year through graduation.
Brown, a chemistry major from Chandler, Ariz., will be working with assistant professor Jeff Cannon, studying the remote carbon-carbon bond formation via a nitrogen-centered radical. Biochemistry major Jose Campuzano, from Los Angeles, will be developing the framework for the development of a vaccine against corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis—a bacterial infection affecting horses and other species of animals such as cattle, goats and sheep—with adjunct assistant professor Karen Molinder.
Holly Barrett of Bellingham, Wash., also a biochemistry major, will be working with Professor Roberta Pollock to test the effect of pooled recombinant proteins as vaccines against corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. Finally, Nan Ma, a physics major from Nanjing, China, will be working with Professor Dan Snowden-Ifft to study the measurement of neutron flux at a shallow depth.
