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“Professor Sherma helps me decide what to test. I do all of the lab work myself, then I go to him with my results,” says Elizabeth Westgate, a junior chemistry major from Maynard, Mass., and a graduate of Maynard High School. “He is very patient and more than willing to explain things to make sure I am not only making the right steps, but understanding them.”
Summer’s over, but for Elizabeth Westgate, sunscreen is still a very big thing.
In an independent study this semester, she is continuing work she began this summer as an EXCEL Scholar assisting Joseph A. Sherma, Lafayette’s John and Frances Larkin Professor of Chemistry. She is using high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) to analyze tanning lotion for the sunscreen octyl salicylate.
“Professor Sherma helps me decide what to test. I do all of the lab work myself, then I go to him with my results,” Westgate says. “He helps me decide whether my results are good enough and what to test next. He is very patient, more than willing to explain things as many times as necessary to make sure I am not only making the right steps, but understanding them.”
Westgate’s work has direct repercussions for industry. HPTLC is not the typical method used to analyze compounds of this nature. The goal of the project is to prove it is, in fact, a more efficient, precise, and cost-effective testing method.
“Before any company can sell a product, they have to analyze it, whether it’s a food, pesticide, or cosmetic. We want to show this method will be simpler, faster, and less expensive,” Sherma says.
“Elizabeth is terrific,” he continues. “I trained her at the beginning of the summer, and now she has so much experience she just comes in to get some guidance.”
Westgate is pleased to say she has already collaborated with Sherma on two studies that have been accepted for publication.
“Being able to publish my work from this summer was extremely rewarding. It will be neat to be able to open a journal and see my name inside,” she says. “I think the research I have completed at Lafayette will not only increase my chances of getting a summer research position for next year, it will also help my application for graduate school.”
Another Side of Elizabeth
She tutors prisoners at Northampton County Prison in one of the many sustained programs of voluntary service that Lafayette students conduct each year under the auspices of the College’s Landis Community Outreach Center. She is also treasurer of the Lafayette Crew Club.