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Fund will provide stipends for students performing summer research
As a student, Peter Duffy ’76 only had one class with Joseph Sherma, Larkin Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, but that was enough for Sherma to make a lasting impression on him. Now, years later, he has taken a leadership role in establishing the chemistry department’s Joseph A. Sherma Chemistry Summer Research Fund. The fund will provide stipends for students performing summer research in the chemistry department.
“Joe Sherma was an icon at Lafayette when I was a student,” explains Duffy. “He had a national reputation in his field, clearly loved what he was doing, and was incredibly patient but very demanding. People like him, who dedicate their lives to their work, advance the cause of humanity and science, and mentor generations of leaders in all areas of science.”
Duffy took the lead in acquiring donations for the fund and received a great deal of support from other alumni. A very generous gift from Russell Grimes ’57 will also be used to sustain the fund. The chemistry department hopes to provide roughly two scholarships each year.
This summer’s first two Sherma Scholars will be chemistry majors Meghan Breheney ’10 (Point Pleasant, N.J.), a Trustee Scholar, and Katie Sokolowsky ’10 (Downingtown, Pa.), a Marquis Scholar.
Breheney will investigate new methods of making and breaking sulfur-sulfur bonds with Chip Nataro, associate professor of chemistry, which directly applies to the removal of sulfur impurities from petrochemicals. Sokolowsky will work with Yvonne Gindt, assistant professor of chemistry, on measuring the reduction potential of a enzyme that repairs single stranded DNA in order to better understand the repair mechanism.
Since initiating his student research program in 1958, Sherma has worked with more than 150 students in the fields of pesticide analysis and chromatography. He has also collaborated on an interdisciplinary student research program with Bernard Fried, Kreider Professor Emeritus of Biology, for the past 20 years. In 1995, the American Chemical Society honored Sherma with the Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution. Much of the work he has done has been supported by the College’s EXCEL Scholars program.
“Professor Sherma has been a mentor and role model,” says William Miles, professor and head of chemistry. “His passion and devotion to undergraduate research are exemplary. There are so many students who cite their experience in Joe’s research laboratory as a defining moment in their academic career.”
Lafayette’s focus on close student-faculty interaction has made it a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the hundreds of students who participate in the honors thesis, independent study, or EXCEL Scholars programs each year publish their work in academic journals and present at regional and national conference