Jacob Meier of Merrimack Receives Creative Research Project Grant

KEENE, NH (02/09/2011)(readMedia)-- Keene State College students Jacob Meier of Merrimack, NH and Andrew Abeleira of North Haven, CT performed analytical chemistry research with Professor Kraly during the spring and summer of 2010. Together, Abeleira and Meier developed a proposal titled "Lichen as a Biomonitor for Air Pollution: Quantitative Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons using Capillary Electrophoresis Separation."

Keene State College's Undergraduate Creative Research Project Grant committee awarded Abeleira and Meier with 1,500 dollars to fund their summer research and continued it as part of the Chemistry Department's inaugural Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program.

During October 2010, Abeleira and Meier went on to present at the first ever Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges' Undergraduate Research Conference. In March, they will attend the 2011 Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy in Atlanta, GA, presenting a poster with Professor Kraly titled "Environmental Monitoring of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Lichen Using Capillary Electrophesis and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry."

Keene State College, a member of the University System of New Hampshire, is New Hampshire's public liberal arts college. KSC offers 35 programs of study as well as individualized majors, service learning, and national and international exchanges. The campus, with 21st-century technology housed in traditional ivy covered brick buildings, is located in the Monadnock Region of southwestern New Hampshire.