What I do here this Summer:
I spent a week watching people do experiments, asking questions, and reading an organic chemistry textbook (Williamson's Macroscale and Microscale Organic Experiments). Doc (Dr. McCullough) spent time finding out about what I wanted to do and is helping me search for a college and scholarships. I am now working on the synthesis of Dodecylthiophene, a starting ingredient for a green, stretchy, conducting polymer, poly(alkylthiophene). The polymer is made through the chemical polymerization method published by M. Ltclerc, F. Martinez Diaz, and G. Wegner. My DD-thiophene all went to the 2-Br 3-DD (brominated DD-thiophene) I made and to a project that a graduate student is working on.
It is a lot of fun and my lab group members have all been very nice and helpful. The things that go wrong are always the funniest. I'm learning a lot of great techniques and having fun, too.
What I do outside of CMU:I am in the marching band, the jazz band, and the pep band (which I founded) at Perry. I play the clarinet and the tenor sax primarily. I am learning the oboe, flute, and alto clarinet. I am also in the musical/drama club at Perry. Last year I was in Perry's first musical, Little Shop of Horrors. I played Crystal, one of the three Doo-Wop Girls. I was on Fashion Show stage crew, too. I am the financial editor of the Perry 1998 Yearbook. I also write poetry for The Next Generation [an interscholastic publication by students] and occasionally write articles for the Perryscope [school paper]. I am the recipient of the Young Humanitarian Award and the Bausch and Lombe Honorary Science Award. I participate in the English Team, Science Bowl, and Chemistry Oympics at Perry. I'm also a member of Perry's Parent, School, and Community Council, the Student Council. and the National Honor Society. On the weekends I volunteer at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History as a Teen Docent, and sometimes work at their birthday parties and overnighters. I am also an active member of my church's Youth Group. That's it, except for my baby-sitting career and hanging out with my friends and my boyfriend.
College: I would like to attend CMU. I want to major in Chemistry and minor in Biology.
Email Julie at: jsippel+@andrew.cmu.edu or julieann16@hotmail.com
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