ACS Project SEED at NC State
Project SEED is a Program from the American Chemical Society (ACS) whose mission is to provide high-school students with exposure to Chemistry, Biochemistry, and other related sciences while working in labs and shadowing graduate students.
Several research groups from the Department of Chemistry at NC State hosted SEED students in their labs last summer:
- Sheba Gage of Broughton Magnet High School, under the direction of Dr. Caroline Proulx, was mentored by graduate student Karlee McKinney.
- Anika Mahadeshwar of Enloe Magnet High School, under the direction of Dr. Elena Jakubikova, was mentored by graduate student Eyram Asempa.
- Joyce Matondo of the City of Medicine Academy, under the direction of Dr. Gavin Williams, was mentored by graduate student Sydney Welch.
- Ameer Oudeh of Wake STEM Early College High School, under the direction of Dr. Vincent Lindsay, was mentored by graduate student Joanna Muir.
In addition to getting valuable hands-on research experience, each high school student participated in weekly Q&A sessions with Samuel Ndukwe. Samuel, a former ACS Project SEED participant himself (2015-2017), guided the students in preparing research papers and oral presentations and helped improve their scientific communication and presentation skills.
At the end of the summer, the students presented their work at the NC-ACS Project SEED Symposium at the NC Biotechnology Center, RTP, and attended the Fall 2023 ACS meeting in San Francisco.
Sheba is a returning (SEED II) student this summer and will be applying to colleges this fall. In partnership with Delta, the Proulx and Simpson labs made a video about her experience in the SEED program. Joyce, Anika, and Ameer were SEED I students.
Project SEED is a program of the American Chemical Society. Our local program is supported by our local (NC-ACS) section and grants from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and Golden Corral. Our Program Director is Mr. Michael Cherry, our Scholarship Coordinator is Ms. Faye McNeal, our NC-ACS SEED Chair is Dr. Anibal Lopes, and our NC State site coordinators are Amya Sloan and Samuel Ndukwe.
