Alexandra Matei '20 Presents at Undergraduate Conference for Women in Physics
Alexandra Matei '20, a biochemistry and molecular biology major from Bucharest, was a student speaker at the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physical Sciences at the University of Nebraska. Alexandra was nominated to speak by Bryn Mawr Professor of Chemistry Bill Malachowski; Alexandra does research in the Malachowski Lab.
The conference ran from Nov. 7 to 9 and included invited talks from students, keynote speakers, and poster sessions highlighting the research of undergraduate and graduate students in the physical sciences. The conference was open to researchers from a range of disciplines, including physics, engineering, and astronomy. "You always learn something new from other people in your field, as well as people in other fields, who have a different perspective," said Alexandra of the wide-range of fields represented at the conference.
Alexandra’s talk was titled “Catalytic Enantioselective Birch-Heck Reaction Sequence for the Efficient Generation of Potentially Therapeutic Molecules." In lay terms, the goal of her research is “to synthesize organic molecules that potentially have bioactive properties and could be precursors for drugs." The presentation discussed what characteristics these molecules should have, the reaction sequences used to generate them, and elaborated on the limitations and successes so far.
“I was definitely nervous as I was the first student speaker at the conference, but it was exciting to have the opportunity to present my work,” Alexandra said. “Overall, I became more confident in presenting in front of a large audience (more than 100 people!) and I understood how important communication is in science.”