SCI student prize giving
Bristol & South West: a taste of industry for the University of Bristol
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Left to right: Terence Cosgrove, Professor of Physical Chemistry, Bristol University; Michele Memoli; Kara
Cubbage; Stuart Shields, Bristol and South West Regional Group Chairman; and Jessica Gwyther |
Each year, the undergraduate
chemists from the
University of Bristol who have
ventured into industry to undertake
a year-long placement return
to their department for the
Rothwell Symposium, where they
each give a short presentation on
their experiences of working in
an industrial environment. The
SCI Bristol and South West
Regional Group, as part of its
long-standing relationship with
the university’s School of
Chemistry, sponsors this event
and provides prizes for the three
presentations judged to be the
best on the day of the symposium.
Following tradition, the three
winners – Kara Cubbage, Jessica
Gwyther and Michele Memoli –
returned in November to give
their presentations one more
time to an SCI audience.
Their work exemplified the
breadth of the industrial placement
programme operated at
Bristol. The placements were with
GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and AWE
(Atomic Weapons Establishment)
and the winners applied their
chemical skills and knowledge in
very different areas of research.
Gwyther, placed at AWE, investigated
the properties of a polymeric
binding material as it aged.
An understanding of the properties
of this material, used to coat
crystalline high explosives, over a
protracted period of time is obviously
highly important and she
outlined the multitude of experimental
measurements and techniques
utilised to gather data.
The other two students were
both placed with pharmaceutical
companies. Cubbage, working
with GSK, presented her medicinal
chemistry work towards the
synthesis of a novel glucocortoroid
anti-inflammatory drug for
the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Memoli had a vastly different
time at Pfizer, working on the
application of dynamic mechanical
analysis (DMA) to pharmaceutical
products. He tested the
boundaries of this analytical technique,
and contributed his results
to a small team working towards
the greater uptake of the method
within the company.
Each student spoke with enthusiasm,
knowledge and clarity
on their topic, and fielded questions
from the audience afterwards,
before collecting their
awards – a small cash prize, SCI
membership for a year and a
framed certificate commemorating
their achievement.
Derek Gillespie
Honorary
Recorder
Bristol and South West
Regional Group
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