We appreciate you, our members, who generously support our program. Our section expenses for Project SEED have been $10,000 in each of the last two years. 100% of all member donations are used directly for student stipends. Please see our website for more information.

Meet our 2023 Project SEED Fellows

Dorian Roberts

My name is Dorian Roberts and I am a rising senior and set to graduate in May 2025. This is my first year in Project SEED. My chemistry teacher is Mr. Jovaughn Carver who teaches at Kalamazoo Central High School. I plan to go to college at the University of Michigan and my special interests include reading, the STEM field, and collecting vinyl records. I also really enjoy taking chemistry and advanced classes, because I love to learn all the intricate parts and gain new knowledge. I learned about Project SEED through a friend who did the program for two years. My mentor this summer is Dr. Dwight Williams and the project that I’m working on is the design, synthesis and evaluation of maleimide-tryptamine hybrids as potential antibacterial agents. Project SEED has been an amazing experience as it has helped me to gain hands-on experience in college-based labs and additional chemistry knowledge that will come in handy later. I encourage Project SEED students to pursue this program because it has been a helpful way for me to gain career experience and open doors to other possible internships/programs. This program will help my college life and my future career as an OB/GYN. While in college, I plan on pursuing a chemistry and possibly Spanish dual degree.

Rowan Hagenbuch

Hello, I’m Rowan Hagenbuch, and I am going into my junior year at Comstock High School and the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC). My wonderful chemistry teacher at KAMSC is Mrs. Claudia Witt-Thomas. I learned about Project SEED through KAMSC’s Research Director, Ms. Rebecca Joyce, who posted this amazing opportunity in our Research Google Classroom. Before working on my SEED Project, I completed two research projects at KAMSC on elevated risk of Kaposi sarcoma from organ transplants (literature) and comparing solvents for extraction of compounds from dry rosemary herb (lab). My SEED research project is to improve an HPLC method for quantifying carotenoids in food extracts. I am working with Michael Horton at Kalsec, Inc. Project SEED has helped me see a possible career path in research and has helped me figure out how to move forward with future research projects. 

Reem Rasool

I graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in May. I spent my time in high school taking challenging courses and finding opportunities to gain more knowledge about the sciences both in and outside of school. It was when I took my first introductory chemistry class that I met my chemistry teacher, Mr. Jovaughn Carver who introduced me to this program. For the last two years, I have been able to work in the organic chemistry lab of Dr. Dwight Williams and his supportive research group at Kalamazoo College to synthesize tryptamine-maleimide hybrids for potential antibacterial agents. This year, I have furthered my research for this project and am excited to present it at the upcoming summer research poster session. I hope to continue my education this fall at Western Michigan University, where I plan to major in Biomedical Sciences. I am so grateful for all the opportunities this program has offered me. Thanks to this program, I have gained a lot of valuable knowledge that I will use all throughout college.

Ben Knight

Ben graduated this year from Portage Northern High School with an IB diploma and studied chemistry with instructor Michelle Mason. He returns to us for a second year of Project SEED with Dr. Drew Elder at Kalsec, Inc., where he is categorizing the relative effectiveness of natural food antioxidants to retard the oxidation of vegetable oils under accelerated conditions. Ben will attend Kalamazoo College this fall. He appreciates the opportunity to work in an industrial lab and see how research skills are used to benefit companies in competitive, essential industries.

Jocelyn Suranyi

Jocelyn graduated this year from Bloomingdale High School and studied chemistry with Mr. Chris Bily, who encouraged her to sign up for Project SEED in 2023. This year she is working on her second Project SEED internship with Dr. Blakely Tresca at Kalamazoo College and using computational modeling and solid-phase synthesis to design and prepare biologically inspired polymers known as peptoids. Jocelyn will attend Kalamazoo College this fall, where she intends to major in chemistry.

Mahdi Hassnawi

Mahdi is a rising senior at Kalamazoo Central High School and studied chemistry with Mr. Jovaughn Carver. He is working with Dr. Daniela Arias-Rotondo at Kalamazoo College to design, prepare, and characterize Schiff base compounds as complexing agents to improve photoelectric conversion of solar energy with first row transition metals. With Dorian, he is preparing for his college applications through our Project SEED writing workshops this summer. Mahdi enjoys reading about aerospace technologies and plays lacrosse at KCHS.

Nya Neal

Nya will begin her sophomore year at City High School in Grand Rapids in the fall. She is not in our Project SEED program but has been introduced to us through her summer research appointment with Dr. Dwight Williams at Kalamazoo College. We were delighted to have her join us for tours and workshops this summer.