Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry Jessica Kisunzu learned in February that she’d received a $16,000 two-year grant from Organic Syntheses Inc., which publishes procedures for preparing organic compounds. She’s one of 14 winners of this year’s summer research grants.

The funds will support her project, “Development of Photochemical Benzyne Reactions,” through research supplies and stipends for two student co-workers.

Her research group uses light-emitting diodes to initiate chemical reactions. Light can be cleaner, safer, and more environmentally friendly than other energy sources for this process. It can reduce the number of compounds and by-products that have to be purified out, which saves time, money, and resources. “My research is currently focused on learning more about basic chemical reactivity, particularly with reactions that incorporate strained, high-energy compounds called arynes,” Kisunzu says. “Our goal is to develop reliable methods that use these strained molecules to expand their possible applications in areas such as drug or materials development.”

The Black Sound Series features the work of three contemporary artists who use sound to investigate the construction of Black identity in the personal, social, and political spheres. In the FAC’s Lane Gallery, Rodney McMillian explores how the words of 20th-century musician Sun Ra resonate in the present; Cy X presents a newly commissioned audiovisual project featuring the figure of an Afro-Indigenous gardener navigating the impending apocalypse; and Camille Norment harnesses harmony, dissonance, and feedback in a sonic installation that responds to movements of protest and resistance.

March 4-April 2: Rodney McMillian, “Preacher Man,” 2015
April 8-May 7: Cy X, “Water Me,” 2022
May 13-June 18: Camille Norment, “Untitled (red flame),” 2019

The “Black Sound Series” is conceived by FAC Executive Director Idris Goodwin. The FAC Museum’s presentation of new media works is curated by Katja Rivera, curator of contemporary art. The presentation is generously funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the FAC’s Holaday Fund.

Associate Professor Rebecca Barnes recently co-authored a perspectives piece in Nature Geoscience highlighting the systems of oppression inherent within STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine) for historically excluded groups. The article, “Scientists from historically excluded groups face a hostile obstacle course,” reframes the discussion of diversity in STEMM from one that is passive (i.e., a “leaky pipeline”) to that of a hostile obstacle course, exploring the causes and consequences of underrepresented scholars. Barnes and colleagues’ article points at the structural problems and exclusionary behaviors in scientific and academic institutions, which create a hostile environment historically excluded groups in STEMM, including scientists of color, white women, scholars who identify as LGBTQA+ as well as those with disabilities. Recently this article was included in a collection of works by Springer Nature “amplifying Black voices and issues of race and inequality.”

Celebrate everything that makes CC great on Monday, which is Generosity Day, a special day of CC pride and philanthropy. Stop by the Generosity Day Carnival hosted by CC Mutual Aid and the Senior Class Gift Committee from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Ed Robson Arena. The ice will be open for skating, and the concourse will be filled with fun carnival games. Win prizes, enjoy free food and drinks, and learn more about CC Mutual Aid and the Senior Class Gift. All classes are welcome.

There’s also an in-person watch party for CC students, faculty, and staff at 5:45 p.m. in JLK McHugh Commons. Enjoy heavy appetizers and drinks while we watch the virtual discussion, “An Evening with Professor Aline Lo and Professor John Williams: Exploring the Perspectives and Voices of the Asian Diaspora Communities through Author Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Works ‘The Sympathizer’ and ‘The Committed.’ ” There will be CC trivia and prizes before the lecture starts at 6 p.m.

All this, giveaways, and more. We hope to see you there.

It’s a long way from a small Colorado mountain town to Ankara, Turkey, but Samuel Frykholm ’24 is confident about that journey. The political science major will spend summer 2022 studying the Turkish language through the Critical Languages Scholarship, which will fully fund his time there.

The CLS application was unique, he says, because of its emphasis on students justifying their language choice. The program is part of the U.S. government’s effort to assist students to master foreign languages and act as citizen ambassadors to other countries.

Students spend eight to 10 weeks in the host country. The CLS program doesn’t require previous study in Turkish, among a few other languages.

CLS students participate in extracurricular activities that are created to augment the formal curriculum and expand their understanding of the host country’s daily life, history, politics, and culture. They’ll also meet regularly with native speakers to practice their conversational skills one-on-one.

Frykholm knows this experience will complement his political science studies, which he hopes to continue in graduate school.