2000 IOTA SIGMA PI UNDERGRADUATE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHEMISTRY

Angel Chan, Western Illinois University

Her nominator and research advisor, Professor Lisa Wen, stated that Angel is a self starter. “She has a clear understanding of the objective of the project and the detailed protocols. She is quick in learning new techniques. She is thorough, very well organized and highly motivated.” Another of her recommenders, Dr. Ronald Terry, ranked Angel as “one of the top 5 brightest students to go through our program during the last 12 years that I have been here”. Dr. T. K. Vinod called her a remarkable student, ‘one of the best I have ever taught”. He ranked her in the top 1-2 % of all the undergraduate students (nearly 700) he has taught. Angel has been involved with several research projects of faculty members. One of her honors projects was associated with site-directed mutagenesis of proteins from pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita maxima Trypsin Inhibitor V), which is widely known as a specific inhibitor of human blood coagulation factor XII (Hageman factor). Her second project involved designing and synthesizing of m-terphenyl based molecular sieve. She has synthesized the building blocks of the molecular sieve, and the assembly and characterization are under progress. Angel has presented her research at the annual Student Research Conference held on the campus of Northeastern Illinois University and at the ACS Midwest Regional Meeting. She has also presented at the Joint Meeting of American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Angel has been on the Dean’s list of outstanding students from her very first semester at WIU. She has received numerous awards/honors for her academic achievements at Western, including, Outstanding Freshman in Chemistry, Outstanding Sophomore in Chemistry, the ACS Polymer Science Award for an outstanding organic chemistry student, Outstanding Junior in Chemistry, Dr. Harbin Scholarship in Chemistry, Outstanding senior in Chemistry, an honor’s research grant from the University Honors Program, a scholarship from WIU Foundation and a minority achievement book award. For the future, Angel’s goal is to obtain an M.D.-Ph.D. degree specializing in biological chemistry because she feels that biochemistry is essential for understanding the chemical basis of life.  

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