Sannath Mathapathi
Current position: Occidental College, LA, USA
Stay in Dunedin: February-June (Semester 1; visiting undergraduate)
I really enjoyed my time in Brooker’s Bunch, with many thanks to Jayden Heywood and Kieran DeMonte for showing me the ropes. Coming from a primarily undergraduate school, I’ve skimmed learning a lot of the fundamentals, so it was amazing to be able to learn little tricks here and there and continue improving my skills in the group. And, as I prepare for grad school, it was nice to see what the workflow can look like to get a better feel for what I’ll be doing.
While I only got through the wide variety of organic synthetic steps to make the target aldehyde synthesis a few times, the practice was incredibly helpful, and hopefully the product obtained will be useful for the team. I already feel the benefits of this experience in my day-to-day working in a lab back here—I’ve been finding things a lot more intuitive and have been the most productive I’ve been yet.
Thank you so much for the chance to work in the group for a little bit!
Niklas Plenio
Current position: M.Sc. student of chemistry at JGU Mainz
Stay in Dunedin: November 2024 – April 2025 (6 month research project)
Photo: Niklas at the top of Ben Lomond, near Queenstown.
I have always wanted to spend a semester abroad during my studies to broaden my horizons, both in a professional and a private sense. Therefore, I readily accepted Professor Sally Brooker’s kind offer for an opportunity to do a six month research project in her group.
For my project, I focused primarily on HER (hydrogen evolution reaction) electrocatalysts. I synthesised and attached macrocycle-based molecular catalysts to various carbon electrode surfaces using covalent and non-covalent techniques. This enabled me to experience the complete catalyst development process from synthesis to surface attachment to catalyst testing as part of a cohesive project. During my time in Dunedin, Sally and the entire Brooker group guided and assisted me to overcome any problem that the science threw at me. I am also very grateful for the independence I enjoyed in selecting the research I pursued over the course of my project, which brought me a lot of valuable lab and non-lab skills.
Apart from university life, I also thoroughly enjoyed the vibrant outdoors all around New Zealand. The breathtaking views and trails I got to experience while hiking and mountain biking around the South Island were truly out of this world. Even close to Dunedin, I continued to find stunning new places to visit up until the very end of my stay. And even when the Dunedin weather sometimes made outdoor activities unpleasant, Unipol was always a great place to spend a rainy day.
Overall, I had an amazing time in Dunedin thanks to both the Brooker group and everyone else I met during my stay. Looking back, I’m really glad I spent these six months in Dunedin, as I’ll never forget the wonderful memories I made there.
