2021 Award: American Institute of Chemist’s Award
Major: Chemistry
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
Extracurricular activities: I enjoy playing sports, like tennis, basketball, frisbee, volleyball, you name it! I love snowboarding and hiking, and I enjoy playing videog ames as well. I am involved in research at Gonzaga with Dr. Matsumoto, and I have been a TA for several labs - Physics 1, Physics 2, Inorganic 200L, Analytical 310L, Physical 355L.
More about Wyatt
About the Award:
The American Institute of Chemists Student Award honors outstanding seniors majoring in chemistry or biochemistry. The awards are given in recognition of demonstrated ability, leadership, and professional promise.
Future plans:
I have accepted my admission into the Ph.D program in Applied Chemistry at the Colorado School of Mines. I plan to pursue this degree, hopefully researching in the field of sustainable chemistry. I am passionate about almost every aspect of chemistry, but I want to work with organometallics, catalysts, solar energy, H2 fuel cells, sustainable polymers, or anything related.
I hope to become a professor at a University in my future, but I am open to whatever opportunities come my way. Whether it be an industry job, partnering in a sustainable small business, or teaching/researching right after graduate school, I am excited for it.
How has your major contributed to your professional or personal development?
The chemistry major has been amazing at Gonzaga. I really love participating in class and “getting my money’s worth” by trying to learn everything my brain can handle! The professors have encouraged me to keep working hard and learning, which has helped me develop into a young chemist - always searching for answers.
Of course, the chemistry major has taught me the required prerequisites for grad school, but I have also been heavily invested in research for two years. I have learned what it is like to work in a lab during school and summer, which I enjoy doing, so that has significantly contributed to my professional and personal development.
Finally, I have witnessed what it is like to work with professors in class labs, as a TA, and simply observing the way that Hughes communicates with each other. Being a part of the chemistry major has drawn me toward the desire to work in a healthy environment as a professor, teaching students and doing research.
What has been your proudest or most significant accomplishment during your Gonzaga career?
For Gonzaga in general, not specifically chemistry related, my proudest accomplishment is that I organized, compiled, designed, edited, and published/printed a book with 17 student essays. I got 17 Gonzaga students from the graduation years of 2019-2022 to write a chapter for a book. The chapters are about almost anything, as I gave the authors freedom to choose whatever topic interested them most. The topics ranged from Cleopatra to the Art of Listening, from Minimalism to Climate Change, from Storytelling to Empathy. The book is titled The Mind of a University and it attempts to capture what Gonzaga is thinking about at this moment in time.
In chemistry, I think that my most significant accomplishment was finishing the 2019 summer research. The reason is that by the end of that summer, I had been able to intellectually contribute to my research project. I began to generate legitimate hypotheses that I could present to Dr. Matsumoto and discuss future research with my ideas for new peptides for the project. Along with this, the 2019 summer allowed me to become proficient on several scientific instruments which very few undergraduates were allowed to use by themselves. In summary, my most significant accomplishment was becoming an integral part of Hughes and my research project.