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The research Marquis Scholar Daniel Jarem ’07 (Washington Township, N.J.) is conducting this summer might soon be noticed whenever someone picks up a prescription at the pharmacy or gets a fill up at the gas station.
A chemistry major, Jarem is working with Chip Nataro, assistant professor of chemistry, to make compounds that will serve as catalysts, which facilitate chemical reactions.
They are collaborating through Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, in which students conduct research with faculty while earning a stipend. The program has helped make Lafayette a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the more than 160 students who participate each year share their work through articles in academic journals and/or conference presentations.
“I am working to find a better catalyst than the status quo for the hydrogenation reaction,” Jarem explains. “The hydrogenation reaction is the breaking of a double bond in a molecule in order to get two hydrogen molecules. This is important because it is a reaction that is used to make many pharmaceuticals and is usually the slowest step. If you could speed up this step, you could [reduce] the time used to make a drug and decrease prices. It also is important to the petroleum industry.”
Jarem is doing the bulk of his work in the lab, testing new ideas and methods for creating the types of molecules that may benefit from his research.
“My main responsibility is to use the correct lab techniques in order to make sure that the results we obtain are correct and can be trusted enough for publication,” he says. “I enjoy the fact that the theories we hypothesized in the beginning of the summer can be directly tested in the lab. It really gives you a feeling of discovery and its importance when you are doing something that no one else has done before.”
Nataro believes this curiosity and desire to achieve makes Jarem an ideal research partner.
“Dan is very curious,” Nataro says. “He wants to understand why things work or why they don’t. He is extremely eager to learn. He also works hard and has excellent lab skills.
“Dan has found that we cannot make some of the compounds we had initially planned on making. He has also developed a new route to a class of compounds we want to make. His route is shorter, less hazardous, and cheaper than that which is known in the literature. This is very exciting.”
Jarem’s passion for chemistry traces back to his childhood when he regularly asked questions relating to the sciences. In high school, Jarem found a mentor in a chemistry teacher who showed him how to use chemistry to explore and understand the world.
Jarem believes outstanding facilities and dedicated faculty like Nataro make Lafayette an ideal environment to conduct undergraduate research and learn about his field.
“All of the chemistry professors hold doctorates and are incredibly knowledgeable,” Jarem explains. “More than this, they are an interesting group of people who like their jobs and are friendly on an everyday basis. They really make it a joy to come to class. I have the opportunity to do the types of research and use instruments that, anywhere else, only graduate students would have. As an undergraduate, having this kind of situation is a blessing.”
Nataro has received two grants from the Petroleum Research Fund administered by the American Chemical Society to continue his research on catalytic compounds. These grants support many of his research collaborations with Lafayette students. Since he joined the Lafayette faculty in 1999, Nataro and student researchers have produced more than 50 compounds, which are being studied by scientists primarily for applications in organic synthesis by the pharmaceutical industry. He has published his research in various journals and has given presentations at national and regional meetings of the American Chemical Society. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society, as well as its Inorganic Division and Organometallic Subdivision. He is a past recipient of Lafayette’s Delta Upsilon Distinguished Mentoring and Teaching Award, which recognizes distinctive and extraordinary teaching through mentoring.
Jarem is treasurer of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and inter-fraternity council, and a member of Soccer Club and student chapter of the American Chemical Society. He is a graduate of Westwood Regional Junior/Senior High School.
Chosen from among Lafayette’s most promising applicants, Marquis Scholars, like Jarem, receive a special academic scholarship and distinctive educational experiences and benefits. This includes a three-week, Lafayette-funded course abroad or in the United States during January’s interim session between semesters or the summer break. Marquis Scholars also participate in mentoring programs with Lafayette faculty and cultural activities in major cities and on campus.
As a national leader in undergraduate research, Lafayette sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year. Forty students were accepted to present their research at this year’s conference.