MARC Scholars Alexis Romero, Gerardo (Jerry) Soriano and Babgen Manookian at the 2015 SDSU Student Research SymposiumMore than 400 undergraduate and graduate students presented their latest research at the 2015 SDSU Student Research Symposium held at the SDSU campus March 6-7, 2015. More than 50 awards for excellence were presented. Ten students, whose works were judged as exceptional received the President’s Award for Outstanding Oral Presentations and will be representing SDSU at the annual California State University Student Research Competition in May 2015. You can see the full list of awardees at http://srs.sdsu.edu.
For the second year in a row MARC scholar Gerardo Soriano, a chemical physics major and graduating senior, was one of the ten students whose research was judged as exceptional and will be representing SDSU and the MARC program at the competition in May at CSU San Bernardino.
Jerry presented his latest research entitled “A Theoretical Study on the Isomerization of the Cyclooctatetraenyl Radical”. This study investigates (from first principles) the electronic structure and vibrational dynamics that connect two competing structural isomers of C8H7 at combustion temperatures. The combustion chemistry of reactive intermediates such as C8H7, is still not well understood, and it is the goal of the research to provide insight into the behavior of these high-temperature systems that exhibit such complex chemistry.
We congratulate Jerry on his outstanding achievement and express our appreciation to his mentor Dr. Andrew Cooksy, faculty in the Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry, and his lab team for the support and guidance they provide to our MARC scholars.
Good luck in May!
