September 14, 2026
Linda Blaser
Chemistry students meet Nobel laureate, present research at national ACS meeting
Rachel Weiser ’28, Masha Novikova ’28, and Ilana Berlin ’27 meet 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate Stanley Whittingham.
For Lake Forest College chemistry students, the laboratory is a place to ask questions, test ideas and discover where their research might lead.
This summer, several Foresters had the opportunity to take that work beyond campus—to one of the largest gatherings of chemists in the world.
Associate Professor of Chemistry Erica Schultz and six Lake Forest College students attended the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Chicago, August 23–27. The meeting brought together thousands of scientists, educators and students from around the world to share research and explore the latest advances in chemistry.
Schultz was invited to speak in a symposium titled “Scientific Advances in Organic Synthesis from Primarily Undergraduate Institutions.” Her participation was supported by a $3,000 award from the Organic Syntheses, Inc., which also provided funding for Schultz to bring a student researcher to present during the undergraduate poster session. That student was Rachel Weiser ’28, who presented her research on developing aqueous and biocompatible organic chemistry reactions to be run in the presence of living bacteria, which was conducted in Schultz’s laboratory over the past two summers.
Front-row seat to the chemistry community
“Presenting at national conferences gives students an opportunity to engage in the larger chemistry community, see themselves as scientists, and gain valuable feedback that propels their research project forward,” Schultz said. “By representing Lake Forest College at the national conference, chemists from other institutions and industry learn about the fantastic student led research we conduct, which leads to future opportunities for our students.”
Chemistry Lecturer Dr. Sana Salaria also presented a research poster at the meeting, giving students another opportunity to see Lake Forest College faculty scholarship represented on a national stage. Salaria’s research focuses on design of phase transfer catalysts to make chemical compounds more efficiently, research from her postdoctoral work at Northwestern University.
“Presenting at national conferences gives students an opportunity to engage in the larger chemistry community, see themselves as scientists, and gain valuable feedback that propels their research project forward.”
Five additional students involved with the College’s Student Associates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS) attended the meeting: Ilana Berlin ’27, Julia Levenshteyn ’27, Masha Novikova ’28, Sofia Stojakovic ’28 and Elsa Carlson ’28. Their attendance was supported by Go Networking.
At Lake Forest, students work alongside faculty on research that extends well beyond the classroom.
For the students, the conference offered more than presentations and posters. It was an opportunity to experience the broader chemistry community firsthand, including an encounter with 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate Stanley Whittingham, whose pioneering work on lithium-ion battery technology helped make possible technologies now used in cell phones, electric vehicles and cordless power tools.
Meeting a scientist whose research has had such a profound impact on everyday life offered a memorable reminder of where fundamental scientific research can lead.
The experience also reinforced the value of the College’s undergraduate research opportunities. At Lake Forest, students work alongside faculty on research that extends well beyond the classroom, gaining experience in the process of asking scientific questions, designing experiments, analyzing results and communicating their findings.
For Weiser and her fellow Foresters, the ACS meeting offered a chance to see that work in a new context—and to begin imagining where their own research might take them next.
