Sarah Sparks '06
Faculty advisor: Joanne Kehlbeck, chemistry Synthesis and Luminescence Properties of Platinum Complexes
For Sarah Sparks '06, a two-time recipient of a Summer Research Fellowship, the opportunity to explore her field of chemistry in the summertime has been an exciting endeavor. Having dabbled in every area of Union's liberal arts, Sparks decided on chemistry for the same reason many shy away: the rigorous workload.
“It's like a puzzle that just makes sense,” says Sparks with a broad smile while working in the lab on a July afternoon. “This summer, we've had trouble getting results, but this week it all came together.”
Sparks, the Chemistry Club president, is preparing her senior project for publication. Her team, the summer residents of the “Kehlbeck Lab” run by Assistant Professor Joanne Kehlbeck, creates new ligands (from Latin, “to tie or bind”) or electron donators. They are collaborating with a lab at Bard College.
The Kehlbeck crew checks the compound for light emission with a flourometer, one of the many gadgets Sparks enjoys. The practical implications of this all? If the crew can maximize the emissions by finding the perfect ligands, the compounds could be used in applications such as televisions, solar energy converters and chemical sensors.
A Ballston Spa native, Sparks played soccer at Union and coaches a local soccer team. She also coaches Union's women's rugby. The student representative for Green House, she speaks enthusiastically of the sense of community she has found there.
Part of the draw to chemistry, she says, is the faculty. “My professors are the best on campus,” she enthuses, noting the many times she's socialized with faculty and their families outside of lab.
Kehlbeck, meanwhile, says Sparks lives up to her name: “She exudes sheer joy with the process of lab work and shares that joy with the people around her.”