ECE MELD Spring 2025: High School Students Engage in Hands-On Chemistry at UConn

More than 240 students from 12 high schools – Rocky Hill High School, O.H. Platt High School, Enfield High School, Berlin High School, The Woodstock Academy, University High School of Science and Engineering, Jonathan Law, Joseph Foran high school, Daniel Hand high school, Bristol Eastern High school, Academy of Information Technology high school, Lewis S. Mills High school- across Connecticut gathered at the University of Connecticut’s Chemistry Building for the annual ECE Science Day. Held over two sessions on May 20 and May 22, 2025, the event provided students with immersive, hands-on laboratory experiences that offered exposure to UConn lab environments and research practices. 

The ECE MELD was coordinated by the UConn Early College Experience (ECE) Program Office and Dr. Fatma Selampinar.  Science activities were hosted by Dr. Michael Kienzler. Following Dr. Kienzler’s presentation, students transitioned to six undergraduate teaching laboratories, where they conducted a series of experiments designed by Dr. Kienzler. These sessions were supervised by graduate students, providing participants with hands-on experience in a laboratory setting. 

This collaborative effort offered high school students an immersive introduction to advanced chemical research and methodologies, fostering early engagement with the scientific community at UConn. Students synthesized three different derivatives of the dye azobenzene, a compound known for its photoswitching properties—changing structure when exposed to specific wavelengths of light. The students then investigated the properties of the azobenzene they made using ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy and thin layer chromatography. These experiments mirror ongoing research going on in Dr. Kienzler’s lab.

Beyond the laboratory work, participants engaged with UConn’s advanced scientific equipment. The students visited both the NMR and mass spectrometry facilities. Dr. Luke Fulton provided an overview of NMR, while graduate students Robert Ortega and Mayumi Amasha Pasqual from Dr. Yao’s group gave a brief introduction to mass spectrometry.