Between the 29th February and 4th of March, the TG group facilitated the Transistion Year (TY) outreach programme in Trinity. Each year the School of Chemistry invites TY high school students to visit the school to learn about the scientific research conducted in our laboratories.
On the Monday and Tuesday of the week long programme, one of our PhD students, Anna, was involved in demonstrating various practical laboratory experiments in the Cocker Lab, Trinity, such as, for example, the preparation of soap, the analysis of water hardness and the synthesis of Aspirin . They were then accompanied on a visit of the TG research lab on Wednesday where they engaged with post-doctoral researcher, Dr. Joe Byrne, who guided them through the research process, from synthesis to publication of scientific articles.
Sam and Joe presenting to TY students
On Thursday morning, Joe and PhD student, Sam, shared their work on molecular logic gates, recently published in Chemical Communications: DOI: 10.1039/C5CC05009J. They also gave a lecture on smart materials and chemical computation, which included the historical stories of the science behind logic and molecular logic in Ireland, ranging from the works of George Boole in Cork to A.P. de Silva in Belfast, to the most recent work from our own group. The students learned about molecular logic, lanthanides and soft materials, getting hands-on experience with real materials from our laboratory.
Students from Sion Hill, Blackrock
On Friday 4th March two classes from the Sion Hill school in Blackrock came to visit our laboratories and were taken on a guided tour of the facilities in TBSI by post-doctoral researcher Dr. Emma Veale, and PhD students, Amy, Dermot and Eoin followed by an interactive demonstration with Sam and Joe.
After the visit the students we had lunch together and the students had the opportunity to ask questions about research, science and future career.
Any other School interested in Chemistry outreach programs can contact Dr. Noelle Scully in the School of Chemistry, TCD.
Students chatting with TG Group over lunch
Third year PhD student Hannah Dalton was recently awarded the Barry-McCabe prize for demonstrating by the School of Chemistry. This prize was established by the School of Chemistry to mark the long standing contributions made to undergraduate teaching and postgraduate research by Mr. Brendan Barry and Dr. Tom McCabe. It is awarded annually to an outstanding postgraduate demonstrator of the JF Chemistry Module (CH1102) which spans aspects of organic and inorganic chemistry.
