Daniel Verbaro

I joined Reinhard Schweitzer-Stenner's biospectroscopy group of the Chemistry Department in the summer of 2008 through the Maryanoff Fellowship. My research entails using light in order to get structural properties of proteins and peptides. I use Raman, Infrared, circular dichroism, and nuclear magnetic resonance to gauge secondary structure of the unfolded state of proteins and peptides. Reinhard Schweitzer-Stenner is my mentor, boss, and teacher because I have learned so much about chemistry, physics, and biology from him in order to conduct my own research projects. He was my second co-op boss. My research under his supervision has really motivated me to pursue a career in research. I plan on doing my masters with thesis under Reinhard. He also sends me to research conferences, where I present my research and learn about other research conducted by my peers. Solely, I recently gave a seminar talk to the physics department at Saint Joseph's University about my current research project.

I received an email about a fellowship information session with Rona Buchalter, who explained and guided me through the process of applying for the Goldwater Scholarship. Of course, Reinhard wrote me a letter of recommendation, and I also got Dr. Papish, Chemistry, to write a letter for me. My first co-op boss Dave Slavinski wrote my final letter. Doug Wright of the Mathematics department offered to revise my application. Thomas Measey also has helped me with several aspects of my research. I mention these people because I would not have received the award without their support. The whole process took about two exhaustive months, but the hard work paid off. I went through probably ten versions of my essay before coming to a final version. I would like to emphasize that the Chemistry department supported this research and scholarship even though I am also a biology major.