• Project SEED Update and Poster Session Invite
• Chemistry Day Call for Volunteers
• Meet Our 2025 Project SEED Fellows
• August is National Make-a-Will Month
• KACS Calendar
Project SEED Update and Poster Session Invite
By Doug Williams
KACS Project SEED Coordinator
Our Project SEED fellows [biographies on page 2] are working away in preparation for the Kalamazoo College Summer Research Symposium on Friday, August 22, from 9 a.m. — 1:15 p.m. in the Kalamazoo College Upjohn Library (150 Thompson St.). Please mark your calendar and join us for this important KACS event.
I am deeply grateful to our research mentors at Kalamazoo College and Kalsec for the time, supplies, expertise and inspiration provided to our fellows. This year we thank Dr. Priyanka Sharma and the WMU College of Engineering for agreeing to host a tour of their research facilities for our students and mentors on August 11.
Lastly, we appreciate you, our members, who generously support our program. 100% of all member donations are used directly for student stipends. Please see our website for more information about donating.
Chemistry Day Call for Volunteers
Chemistry Day at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum will be held in person from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 18, 2025. Get ready to educate, entertain, and entice the next generation to the wonders of chemistry and watch the smiles on the faces of children and adults alike! The topic of National Chemistry Week (NCW) 2025 is Spices, and the theme is The Hidden Life of Spices. Do you have a great experiment you can share with an audience of middle school students? Are you interested in demonstrating one of several experiments that are performed every year at this event? Do you have no idea what this event is about but are willing to contribute a few hours of your time on a Saturday in October to brighten the day of young scientists in our community? We need your help to make this event a success. If you are willing to participate, please email Hershel Jude or Carol Guerrero.
Meet Our 2025 Project SEED Fellows
Dorian Roberts
My name is Dorian Roberts, and I am a rising college freshman and set to graduate in April 2029. This is my second year in Project SEED. My chemistry teacher was Mr. Jovaughn Carver who taught at Kalamazoo Central High School. I plan to go to college at Eastern Michigan University and my special interests include research, the STEM field, and the healthcare field. 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 (at Kalamazoo College) and the project that I’m working on is the design, synthesis and evaluation of maleimide-bromotryptamine hybrids as potential antibacterial agents, a continuation of my previous project which dealt with chlorotryptamine hybrids. 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, especially in organic chemistry. I’m forever thankful for the countless lessons and opportunities that this program offered me. This program will help my college life and my future career as an OB/GYN. While in college, I plan on pursuing a biochemistry and Medical Laboratory Science dual degree.
Rowan Hagenbuch
I am a rising senior at Comstock High School and the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC). I studied Chemistry at KAMSC with Mrs. Claudia Witt-Thomas and learned about Project SEED through KAMSC’s Research Director, Ms. Rebecca Joyce. I am returning for a second Project SEED summer, this time with Dr. Blakely Tresca at Kalamazoo College, after working on HPLC methods at Kalsec last year. I am using computational modeling and solid-phase synthesis to design and prepare fluorinated peptoids to help with the removal of PFAS from water. Outside of academics and Project SEED, I enjoy staying active through various sports.
Lizbeth Mares-Castro
I am Lizbeth Mares-Castro and am about to enter my junior year at Loy Norrix High School. My chemistry teacher is Dr. Jamie Weaver, and my Project SEED mentor is Dr. Dwight Williams at Kalamazoo College. This is my first year as a Project SEED fellow. I learned about this program through my older sister who attended Kalamazoo College and recommended the program to me. This program has taught me how to problem solve and I also gained valuable hands-on lab experience that will help me in the future after high school. I would like to enter college as a biochem major working towards medical school.
Arib Haider
Hello, my name is Arib Haider, a rising senior attending Stuyvesant High School in Brooklyn, NY. This is my first year doing Project SEED. I found this program through my Organic Chemistry teacher, Dr. O’Malley, and applied to work at Kalsec Inc. on a virtual (remote) project to index common and IUPAC names and attributes of flavor compounds in a proprietary GC/MS database for complex natural flavor extracts and blends. This experience is my first real-world internship related to STEM, so I have been looking forward to this opportunity. As I’ve gone through the first month of this program, it has allowed me to see how theoretical knowledge that I have been learning in school can be applied outside to real examples. Overall, Project SEED has given me insights into the type of career path that I was considering when it came to research, and many connections that I hope to keep in the future.
August is National Make-a-Will Month
Each August, we are reminded to reflect on our loved ones and the causes important to us–and consider how to honor them in our wills. If you need to create or update your will, the ACS Office of Philanthropy offers these FREE resources:
· a personal estate planning kit
· a recording of the ACS Webinar: Simple Steps to Update Your Will and Leave Your Legacy
A number of ACS members like you are already contributing to the future of chemistry by including ACS in their will. For more information, contact Mary Bet Dobson or Lara Kadylak at 202-872-6210 or PlannedGifts@acs.org.
