Student Research

 

Directed Research

St. Mary’s science students gain additional experience in the lab with directed research. This credit-based course allows students to get an early start on developing complex laboratory techniques and training on state of the art equipment. Very often, we have 1st year students who begin working on projects that continue each semester and become their senior capstone research project. Students who start early have a greater chance of earning paid research internship positions here at SMCM and at other institutions, scholarships and earning undergraduate publications and patent applications.

St. Mary’s Projects (SMP)

The St. Mary’s Project is the capstone research project for graduating SMCM seniors. Students work independently with guidance from their mentors to 1) Develop a rich literature base for their interest, 2) Execute a laboratory or literature based research project here at SMCM or abroad, and 3) Consolidate their results and thesis into an article and a department presentation. This in-depth research experience allows SMCM students to investigate their true passions and solve unexpected problems along the way. In many cases our students end up pursuing career paths based on their Materials Science SMP.

Conference Presentations

Students and faculty regularly present at regional, national, and international professional conferences. Recent conferences attended include the American Chemical Society (ACS), American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) and the Materials Research Society (MRS)

Representative recent conference presentations (* = St. Mary’s students):

(1) The American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting, New Orleans, March 18 –
22, 2018, Elena Donahue, Nicholas D’Antona, Troy K. Townsend. Fully Solution Processed
Semitransparent Inorganic Nanocrystal Solar Cells. Research Student Undergraduate
Poster Presentation.

(2) American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Chicago, IL, April 22-
25, 2017, Barry J. Liang*, Amanda Schech, Troy K. Townsend, “Using Poly(lactic-coglycolic)
Nanoparticles as Alternative Cancer Chemotherapy Drug Delivery System”
Research Student Undergraduate Poster Presentation.

(3) Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers: Defense, Security and
Sensing (SPIE DSS) Meeting, Baltimore, MD, 2015, April 20-24. Harry K.
Kelderman* and Dr. Troy K. Townsend, [9493-23] Title: Spray-on solar cells using non-toxic
nanocrystal inks. Research Student Undergraduate Poster Presentation.

(4) Materials Research Society (MRS) Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2014, April 20-26.
Symposium EE. Troy K. Townsend. Advances in Inorganic Semiconductor Nanoparticles and Their
Applications. Talk Title: Top-to-Bottom Solution Processed Inorganic Solar Cells.

Publications

Student research with faculty, especially on St. Mary’s Projects, occasionally leads to publication in peer-reviewed journals, a highly prestigious accomplishment for college students.

Representative recent journal publications (* = St. Mary’s students):

(1) Fabrication of Fully Solution Processed Inorganic Nanocrystal Photovoltaic
Devices. Troy K. Townsend, Dario Durastanti*, William B. Heuer, Edward E. Foos, Eric
Kowalski, Woojun Yoon and Joseph G. Tischler, Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2015,
113, 54154.

(2) Safer salts for CdTe nanocrystal solution processed solar cells: the dual roles of
ligand exchange and grain growth. Troy K. Townsend, William B. Heuer, Eric
Kowalski Woojun Yoon, Edward E. Foos and Joseph G. Tischler, Journal of Materials
Chemistry A, 2015, 3, 13057-13065.

(3) Fully Solution Processed All Inorganic Solar Cells. Troy K. Townsend and Edward E.
Foos, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2014, 16, 16458–16464.