{"id":90543,"date":"2018-09-13T14:49:48","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T18:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=90543"},"modified":"2024-04-16T16:52:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T20:52:05","slug":"ucfs-international-chemistry-exchange-program-changing-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucfs-international-chemistry-exchange-program-changing-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF’s International Chemistry Exchange Program Changing Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Salazar is wrapping up a month-long educational experience in one of UCF\u2019s chemistry labs this week \u2013 and he says it has changed his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had only read about computational chemistry and chemistry modeling back home\u201d in Peru, Salazar says. \u201cWe don\u2019t really have access to that, but now I\u2019m thinking about getting my master\u2019s degree and focusing on this. There is so much potential application in medicine and the environment and now that I\u2019ve seen it with my own eyes, I know this is what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much potential application in medicine and the environment and now that I\u2019ve seen it with my own eyes, I know this is what I want to do.\u201d \u2013 Carlos Salazar<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Salazar is one of a handful of students from his country who spent 30 days in the pilot program funded through grants from the nonprofit organizations Partners of the America and 100,000 Strong in the Americas<\/a>. Associate Professor of chemistry Karin Chumbimuni Torres is responsible for putting the program together.<\/p>\n

The grant allowed Torres to take four UCF chemistry students to Peru this summer to conduct science in the field and then host four Peruvian students at UCF. The students, who traveled to Lima to attend a conference, worked in labs at the National University of Engineering.<\/a> They also worked with elementary school students on a hands-on chemistry project. Those visiting UCF worked in one of three chemistry labs, attended workshops and held an outreach program for middle school students at a Seminole County public library during their visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is good all around,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are some very good chemistry students in Latin America that could come here for graduate school and really enhance our collaborations and work. And for our students here, they get so much out of it. This is a small investment that will have a big payoff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a small investment that will have a big payoff.\u201d \u2013 Karin Chumbimuni Torres<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Torres and fellow chemistry professors Andres Campiglia, Fernando Uribe-Romo and Florencio Eloy Hernandez are collaborating on the program and are eager to see it continue because of the impact it is making on students. UCF Global also supports the effort.<\/p>\n

Salazar, a senior working in Hernandez\u2019s lab, expects to graduate in May with a degree in chemistry.<\/p>\n

Classmate Julio Ojeda also traveled to UCF from Peru and has been working with Campiglia and his graduate and undergraduate students. They are using spectral analysis to determine what carcinogens are present in sediment found in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The spill in 2010 dumped more than 200 million gallons of petroleum into the gulf.<\/p>\n

Campiglia says Ojeda has \u201cdemonstrated talent and I think he will do well in graduate school. I was happy to collaborate with Karin on this because of the positive impact it will have on students here and there\u2026I did the same thing. I\u2019m from Uruguay, received my master\u2019s degree in Brazil and completed my doctoral studies in the states.\u201d<\/p>\n

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