NEWS AND STORIES
JA Graduate Co-Authors Journal Article During Senior Year GLAKE HILL ’21 RECEIVED TWO HONORS EXPERIENCED BY COLLEGE UNDERGRADUATE OR GRADUATE STUDENTS MORE OFTEN THAN BY HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS. During an internship in Jackson State University’s chemistry department, Glake participated in research under Professor Paresh Ray. His work led to a scientific journal co-authorship and an award-winning conference presentation. “I got connected to the internship by my parents,” Glake said. His father, Dr. Glake Hill, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Chemistry, Physics, and Atmospheric Sciences at Jackson State University, and his mother, Dr. Shonda Allen-Hill, is the associate director of JSU’s Center for Computational Chemistry. Having grown up in a science-minded family, Glake loves to explore the world through science’s lens. He will attend Tougaloo College and either follow in his parents’ footsteps or pursue a degree in finance. The opportunity to learn more about chemistry and presentation skills drew Glake to participate in the JSU internship, which awarded college credit. He was one of four high school students included in the program. Glake said his responsibility was “to research ways to create clean water for places that don’t have any by finding a specific particle that could break down harmful pollutants.” He found himself well prepared for the rigors of research and laboratory work, noting that, “the teachers at JA helped hone my writing skills in order for me to properly contribute to the science journal.” 8 TRUE BLUE
The peer-reviewed journal article, “Development of Human Host Defense Antimicrobial Peptide-Conjugated Biochar Nanocomposites for Combating Broad-Spectrum Superbugs,” was published October 30, 2020, in the American Chemical Society's journal, ACS Applied Bio Materials. The article dealt with timely topics like infectious diseases, multidrug-resistant superbugs, and the design of broad-spectrum anti-superbug biomaterials. In November, Glake presented research at the 27th International Conference on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry and won third place in the college undergraduate category. There was no high school category available. His topic and poster presentation were titled, “Magnesium and Nitrogen Co-Doped Carbon Dots as a Fluorescent Probe for Selective Detection of Cobalt Ion.” Besides the thrill of competing with college students from across the country, Glake’s third-place win included a cash prize, a book award from the scientific publisher, Springer, and a certificate of achievement. Glake said that the most valuable parts of the internship were presenting the project before scientists and getting third place in the process. The audience included noted people in the scientific community, including book authors. “Being a published co-author feels like a pretty big accomplishment,” he said.
