Now in its third year, the Helias Catholic High School Independent Research program will send four seniors — Claire Cassmeyer, Lauren Mathews, Alaina Meyer, and Richard Mosha — to present their work at the National American Chemical Society (ACS) Conference in San Diego this month.

In order to present at this conference, these students submitted abstracts in early September after being selected from a small group of applicants for the chemistry Independent Research class at Helias Catholic.

Students work under the direction of Helias Catholic faculty member Dr. Collin Mayhan while being involved in all aspects of research projects with university faculty through collaborations with the University of Missouri and James Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati. 

This past summer Professor Kurt Brorsen received funding from the NSF to start the Student Chemistry Research at Mizzou (SCRAM) program, in which Helias Catholic students worked with the Brorsen group and the Curators' Distinguished Professor Tommy Sewell. Both students and faculty prioritized this collaboration over the summer and continue to work throughout the year. After a successful inaugural year, Helias Catholic and SCRAM faculty look forward to continuing this collaboration for the foreseeable future.

A number of other projects have come from finishing up work with Dr. Mayhan’s PhD advisors, Professors Emeriti Carol Deakyne and John Adams. In fact, Helias Catholic students have made contributions to three scientific journal articles currently in preparation.

“Without the encouragement and mentorship that Professors Adams and Deakyne provide, this program would not be thriving today and Helias Catholic’s new collaboration at Mizzou with Professor Heather Hennkens, Department of Chemistry and Research Reactor Center, would not have been possible,” Dr. Mayhan said.

At any given time Helias Catholic students are contributing to two to four projects with Professor Harshita Kumari’s research group through the University of Cincinnati. This past year two Helias Catholic students’ manuscripts were accepted for publication and one was selected for the inside cover art. 

Helias Catholic students have presented at the spring National American Chemical Society (ACS) conference since 2023. In 2023 Karoline Klebba (’24)  presented a poster in Indianapolis and was recognized with an award for outstanding research by the computational division. In 2024 Karoline Klebba, Emily Rodriguez (’24), Claire Cassmeyer (’25), and Lauren Mathews (’25) presented posters in New Orleans.

“We could write a small book about the students’ experiences and how well they represented themselves and Helias Catholic,” Dr. Mayhan said. “This presentation opportunity gave students direct access to the greater scientific community and impacted their future plans. Former students from the Independent Research class are thriving as they pursue degrees in chemistry, physics, and biochemistry from the University of Missouri, Washington University, and University of Notre Dame.”

The Helias Catholic Science Department will host an open house event from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 20, for the four current Independent Research students to share their research posters with fellow students, teachers, and interested community members.

If you would like to make a donation to support the Helias Catholic Independent Research program and help offset the cost of travel and other associated expenses, please visit the Helias Catholic donation page and note “Independent Research” in the Additional Information field.