Marissa Shoemaker’s favorite question is “where did the electron go?”
At Ohio Northern University, she’s found peers and professors equally as passionate about asking questions and seeking answers about chemical reactions.
“A lot of chemistry is like little puzzles,” she explained,” and understanding why things work and how they work.”
A junior chemistry major, Marissa began working in Dr. Chris Spiese’s research lab this past summer. The project involved studying marine algae called exocellular polymers—a matrix that appears very similar to human mucus.
In Spiese’s lab, she looked at how quickly nutrients can move through the algae matrix versus how nutrients moved through seawater only. The outcome of the project was a better understanding of the dynamics and ecology of algae.
At the conclusion of the project, Spiese asked Marissa to join another project he was working on funded by the Ohio Sea Grant. It involved extensive research using an instrument she had no experience with, a liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer (LC-MS).
“I knew it would be challenging, but I never turn down a learning experience,” says Marissa. “Plus, I knew that at some point in my career as a chemist, I would encounter an LC-MS so why not jumpstart my experience with it? The core of my research project involves isotopes, which is something that I have always found interesting in chemistry.”
With Spiese’s help, Marissa is trying to develop new ways of standardizing instrument responses with the LC-MS, which is a surprisingly intricate instrument.
“What I enjoy most about working on this project is the trial and error that is embedded within it,” Marissa explains. “There have been multiple times where I go in, set my samples on the machine, come back later and it has failed. Dr. Spiese and I then try to determine what has gone wrong in the run and try again. I enjoy the challenge that it presents.”
Although Marissa hasn’t settled on a specific field in chemistry yet, her experience researching in Spiese’s lab has deepened her understanding of analytical methods and provides a foundation she can build on for future opportunities.