Published on September 11, 2019 by Sean Flynt  
Wilger Willis
Professor Dale Wilger works with student Jasmine Willis. Faculty-led research with student collaborators is the distinctive focus of Samford University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Faculty-led research with student collaborators is the distinctive focus of Samford University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The immersive, one-on-one experience creates opportunities for professional networking and publication in peer-reviewed journals, and helps open the doors to graduate education and careers. Student and faculty researchers made that point clear this summer by publishing two research articles in The Journal of Organic Chemistry.

Professor Paul Wiget led the project published as Electronic Donation or Steric Contraction: A Spectroscopic and Structural Analysis of Medium-Sized Constrained Rings for Potential Long-Range Hyperconjugation, which included student researchers (now alumni) Bryan Bashrum, Carolyn Birchfield, Jessica Joy, Robert Lee, Jake Massey, Jillian Walters and Monica Zanghi. The work included three researchers from other universities (Ethan C. Cagle, David French and Gabriel dos Passos Gomes,) but all the molecules were made by Samford students. This article was the second Wiget-led publication in the journal. The previous article included Samford alumni Ellie Berry and Alex MacLean as authors.

Professor Dale Wilger led the project published as Nickel-Catalyzed Hydroarylation of Alkynes Under Reductive Conditions with Aryl Bromides and Water, which included student researchers E. Ryan Barber, Emily T. Fredrickson, Hannah M. Hynds, Holli E. Lemons and Claudia P. Stephens.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.