Last summer, as one of three Steinbrecher Undergraduate Research Fellows, senior chemistry major Amanda Shirar ’06 worked on preliminary research with one of her chemistry professors to investigate the use of a glow-discharge plasma in chemical synthesis. The Messiah College honor student says this experience, as well as opportunities to work with Messiah’s new research equipment, has prepared her for graduate school at Purdue University, where she will pursue a doctorate in physical chemistry.
Shirar believes the new science equipment and increased faculty-student research at Messiah College—both results of To Serve & To Lead, Messiah’s recent $50.5 million fundraising campaign—“really increases our credibility as a department, because it give us more practical applications in real-world situations. It encourages students to come here before they go to graduate school, because they will be fully prepared.”
After graduate school, Shirar hopes to research energy resources and teach, goals shaped by her discussions about the environment and energy with faculty and students during the Steinbrecher Research project. “God has called us to be stewards in creation,” she says. “The issues intrigued me and gave me direction and purpose for what I want to do after I graduate.”
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