MAP student receives CLINT Equal Opportunities Fellowship
My name is Beatrice Maquilan, and I’m a first year graduate student at FAU, taking Advanced Materials and Processing (MAP). I’m also an Equal Opportunities Fellowship holder at the Collaborative Research Center 1452 “Catalysis at Liquid Interfaces” (CRC 1452). On top of my academic work, I try to express my passion for science through art with my YouTube channel “science beam” where I upload self-written and self-animated science videos! I recently graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in Chemistry, but I also spent my first 2 years of undergraduate studies taking Applied Physics in the University of the Philippines.
I applied for the CRC 1452 scholarship because the projects under CLINT are heavily related to my bachelor´s thesis work involving the catalysis of Carbon Dioxide fixation onto a propargylic alcohol using polymer-supported Copper catalysts, and I wanted to be continuously exposed to works regarding catalysis and ionic liquids. Eventually, I want to be a materials scientist that develops environmentally-friendly everyday materials, and I found the MAP program alongside the CLINT fellowship to be the next step for me towards that goal. Through the MAP program here at FAU I get to be exposed to a variety of materials science fields with different approaches, from Advanced Processes, to Computation, Chemical Engineering, and even Bioengineering, whereas through the fellowship I have access to lectures about developing specific catalysts that I have only been introduced to recently. I believe that for me to become the scientist I aim to be, I would need to be exposed to as many different fields as possible to come up with innovative materials.
I specifically enjoy the regular colloquia on Fridays where members of CLINT share updates regarding their works in the laboratory, especially as I get to relate some of the concepts they talk about to my MAP lectures. I find the meetings refreshing as they give me a more concrete sense for my regular lectures, and this helps me stay even more motivated with my studies! This January I will also be attending the winter school in Austria, and I am excited to participate in discussions regarding the research work at CLINT as well as, of course, get to know the members!
By MAP student Beatrice Maquilan (matriculation group 2023)