WVU Beckman Scholar awarded for conference presentation

The West Virginia University Office of Undergraduate Research is proud to announce that one of the university's current Beckman Scholars, Jackie Arnold, placed third in a judged poster competition at the recent American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting held in Boston, Massachusetts, from November 7-November 11.  

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Arnold presented her poster, "Enzyme Immobilization within a Hyaluronic Acid Matrix for Biosensor Applications," in the second section of the Food, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotechnology category. Arnold shares authorship with her graduate mentor Jordan Chapman and faculty mentor, Cerasela Zoica Dinu.

Arnold, a chemical engineering senior and Honors College student, started researching with the Department of Neuroscience in the first semester of her freshman year. She joined the Research Apprenticeship Program during her second semester and began working in Dinu's laboratory in the Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Department, where she conducts her research.

Her research focuses on investigating enzymes and finding the right synthetic environments for these enzymes to behave in the ways they should, some of which have potential applications in healthcare, such as biosensors to help patients with diabetes monitor their glucose levels.

In spring 2021, Arnold was selected as one of two undergraduate researchers to serve in WVU's second cohort of the Beckman Scholars Program. The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation was founded in 1977 by Dr. Arnold O. and Mabel Beckman and supports leading-edge research in the fields of chemistry and the life sciences.

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