2 Nov 2012
The College of Scholars returned to the Chemistry Dept at Cambridge University for its fourth regional presentations meeting on 31 October 2012. It was again held jointly with Cambridge University’s Chemical Society and SCI's Cambridge and Great Eastern regional group.
Though numbers were slightly down due to Halloween activities tempting students elsewhere, we were pleased to welcome Michele Vendruscolo and Prof Steven Ley, the supervisors of our two Cambridge scholars.
Following a brief introduction to SCI, with scholarships and travel bursaries being highlighted, and the College of Scholars (CoS) by Alan Heaton, Jayshree Mistry (Cambridge Group) chaired the presentations by the three scholars :
- Aditi Borkar, University of Cambridge: Choreography of RNA
- James Frost, University of Cambridge: Total synthesis of anti-cancer natural products callipeltoside A, B and C
- James Womack, University of Bristol: A new method of approximating many-electron integrals in explicitly-correlated methods
All three were complemented on the high quality of their presentations by Len Copping (Chair of MAC) in his summing up.
The informal wine, nibbles and pizza-eating afterwards was an excellent opportunity for networking and gave us the chance to chat to former SCI Vice-President Steve Ley concerning future meetings and other SCI activities. It might even lead to the formation of a new SCI Group on 'Theoretical Chemistry' which Aditi and James Womack are keen to take forward. Watch this space!
I would like to thank Jayshree for her help in organising the event, and arranging the food and drink. Thanks also to Andrea Chlebikova and George Qiao, the ChemSoc students for providing refreshments, booking the lecture theatre and advertising the event in the department, and Charne Green at SCI for administrative support.
The Early Career Support Sub-Committee (which has responsibility for CoS) is planning its second Day of Science and Careers for April 2013. This will be open to all early career people. Full details will appear on the SCI website in due course.
Professor Alan Heaton
Principal, SCI College of Scholars
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