Seth Croslow

Personal Information

• Year: Junior
• Major: Chemistry/Physics
• From: Lawrenceville, IL

Undergraduate Research Experiences

Research Experience for Undergraduates: Boston College

• Project: Identifying Intermediates in the Water Oxidation Cycle using FTIR
• PI: Dr. Dunwei Wang
• Summary: My project deals with the water oxidation cycle, specifically the oxygen-oxygen bond forming step. During this step, there are two proposed mechanisms: an intramolecular oxygen coupling reaction to form a bridged peroxide between two cobalt(III) atoms, the other a water hydrogen atom abstraction to form a cobalt hydroxide and a cobalt (oxy)hydroxide. Results from previous studies suggested that the mechanism of this step was dependent on the overpotential of the cell leading to the intramolecular oxygen coupling reaction to be favored at low overpotential, and the water hydrogen atom abstraction reaction to be favored at higher overpotentials. The goal of my research is to study the intermediates in these steps to identify the mechanics of this step.
• Created CoO_x films using galvanostatic electrodeposition
• Studied film stability and characteristics using cyclic voltammetry
• Ran in operando FTIR studies of electrode under various potentials to view potential-dependence of the O-O bond formation step

SOfIA (Summer Opportunities for Intellectual Activities)

Summer 2017

• SOfIA Project: The Chemistry of Baking
• Learned various baking techniques
• Analyzed volatile chemicals in bread/dough samples using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry(GC-MS)

Summer 2018

• SOfIA Project: Visualization Using a Ceramic 3D Printer
• Calibrated and adjusted the ceramic 3D printer
• Learned the CAD design software, Fustion 360
• Created several unique 3D designs and prints

Richard "Doc" Kieft Summer Research

Advisor: Dr. Audra Goach Sostarecz

• Summer 2018
• Used Langmuir Trough to study the effects of divalent metal cations on insulin aggregation
• Studied insulin’s interactions with lipids commonly found in the cell membrane
• Worked with other research members to begin construction of a fluorescence microscope
• Used Python to create a Graphical User Interface for data processing programs

Coffee Project

• Analyzed aromatic molecules in roasted coffee using GC-MS

Coffee Project Research Page

Undergraduate Chemistry Research (CHEM 340)

Advisor: Dr. Audra Goach Sostarecz

• Studies aspects of insulin’s aggregation/interactions using the Langmuir monolayer technique
• Imaging insulin aggregation and interactions at the air-water interface using Brewster angle microscopy
• Beginning construction of a fluorescence microscope to use alongside a trough for data acquisition

Presentations

• 2019 National ACS Conference - Investigating Insulin Monomer and Hexamer Formation with Langmuir Monolayers and Brewster Angle Microscopy (Poster Presentation)
• 2018 SOfIA Program - Visualization Using a Ceramic 3D Printer (Oral and Poster Presentations)
• 2018 Richard "Doc" Kieft Summer Research Program - Insulin Aggregation at the Air Water Interface (Oral Presentation)
• 2017 SOfIA Program - The Chemistry of Baking (Oral and Poster Presentations)

Classes

Advanced Physical Chemistry

Events

Bettendorf Jr. High School STEM Expo:

• Setup 3D printers(Ceramic, FDM, and SLA) to demonstrate the creation of 3D elements
• This also inlcuded a Coffee station, 2D to 3D paper folding station, and a drone station

Setting Up the Raspberry Pi

• The operating system of the RPi(Raspbian) was setup and the instruction can be found at the following link:

Raspberry Pi Instructional Page

Growing Crystals

• Towards the end of the class, we started to grow crystals. My crystal, the potassium ferricyanide crystal, along with the instructions used to make it, can be found at this link:

Ferricyanide Crystal