Megan Lazorski

lazorskim@gmail.com

I am currently a second year graduate student in Mike Elliott's group.  I did my undergraduate work at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio where I double majored in chemistry and studio art (crazy, I know!).  During the summer after my junior year at the College of Wooster I did research at Alfred University (Inamori School of Engineering) on photosensitive, silver and gold containing glass compositions.  This research was extended into my senior year at Wooster for my independent study (I.S.) thesis. The specific goal of my I.S. research was the development of a silver containing photosensitive ceramic glaze composition for application to ceramic art.  My advisors for this project were Dr. Virginia Pett ( College of Wooster, Chemistry), Professor Walter Zurko (College of Wooster, Ceramic Art), Dr. William LaCourse (Alfred University, Glass Science and Engineering)  all of whom were completely awesome!  I recieved the grade of "Honors" for my I.S. thesis and was asked to speak in front of my peers (College of Wooster class of 2006) about my I.S. experience.

Currently, I am working on developing a Cu(I) bis-1,10-phenanthroline donor-chromophore-acceptor (D-C-A) complex capable of achieving a charge separated state.  This project is an extension of the Elliott groups' previous work on Ru(II) tris-bipyridine D-C-A complexes.  The advantages of using Cu(I) instead of Ru(II) in D-C-A assemblies is that copper is cheaper, much more abundant, and more environmentally friendly that Ru(II).  These qualities about Cu(I) make it more viable for everyday use in applications such as solar cells and photoinitiated water splitting devices.  This project is excellent for me because I am very interested in both inorganic chemistry and environmental applications.  At the present time, the donor moiety has been synthesized and the acceptor moiety is underway.

    Other than my academic interests, I am an avid whitewater rafter and love to do almost anything outdoors. In the summer of 2007, I hiked the first (or last, respectively) ninety miles of the Appalachian Trail with my husband in Maine.  I also love to run and hang out with my awesome pet cats and my greyhound.  This winter I am going to make an attempt to hone my snowboarding skills in the beautiful Rocky Mountains on the annual ski trip!