How Science Research Outside the Traditional Classroom Shaped Me by Duoduo

How Science Research Outside the Traditional Classroom Shaped Me by Duoduo - June 2024 Scholarship Essay

When I learned that my school ended its recycling program shortly before my freshman year, I found it disturbing that one of the main reasons is that companies are unwilling to take the recyclable material, unable to turn a profit. So, in my challenge to develop solutions in the overarching recycling system, my notebook began filling with sketches of experiments and references.
Despite being publicly hailed as a sustainable solution to our plastic waste problem, plastic recycling rates have been underwhelming. In fact, the recycling rate of polystyrene, the class of plastic commonly found in styrofoam and packaging products, is less than one percent in the US despite the fact that in natural environments, polystyrene can release potential carcinogens such as benzene and styrene.
Sixteen-year-old me had no experience in organic chemistry, the nightmare of anyone who had to take the MCAT, yet I was hooked. Debates over sustainability cannot be separated from other disciplines, especially economics, to implement solutions in the real world. In such an exciting yet exhausting time for science, I found upcycling to be a fascinating development in creating a new sustainable circular economy. So, in the unfamiliar, I looked for patterns. Noticing similar trends in the literature of initiating hydrogen abstraction to weaken the polymer structure, I decided to combine upcycling with information I found about hydroxyl radicals as a potential way to use the reactive oxygen species to improve product yields, teaching myself various mechanisms along the way.
Fenton reaction, a process used in water treatment and organic pollutant removal, takes place when iron ions react with hydrogen peroxide to produce hydroxyl radicals, which is extremely reactive and destructive. My investigation sought to understand the effectiveness of degrading and upcycling polystyrene using Fenton reagents in low energy conditions with blue LED irradiation, oxygen balloon, and pH control. My process took place in relatively mild conditions compared to conventional mechanical recycling, in ambient temperatures and pressure without the use of harsh or expensive catalysts.
After weeks of combing through local university catalogs, compiling a list of countless professors to cold-email, I was fortunate to be able to find a mentor willing to work with me. Bringing my ideas into a university lab, testing the unknown boundaries of science and implementing my own solutions in a world that feels so large and so out of control, gave me a sense of agency and creativity that I hope to pursue as I continue my education and career in sustainability research. I was able to synthesize more valuable petroleum-derived phenyl compounds such as benzoic acid from polystyrene commonly found in household trash, providing justification for further experimentation that could find implementation of my results on an industrial scale. A lot more work is needed to truly create a more sustainable circular economy, but I am humbled to have contributed at least a small part to a larger body of scientific knowledge.
Separate form the traditional high school, research felt like a new world. It was like a school where I created my own curriculum, where I ask myself what problem I am passionate about and spend a year and a half working to look for a solution. No one was there to give me a textbook to read or a lab procedure to follow with predictable results leading nicely to a concept. It was me combing through ACS and learning from my mentors in the lab.
The world around us is heading toward a climate catastrophe, and throwing plastic bottles in the recycling bins, while better than nothing, isn’t going to save us. Sometimes, it feels like the world is just so big, spinning out of control while my mind confine itself to the anxiety of a glaring news screen blasting out disasters after disasters.
Through informal education in science research, however, I was able to not only discover the data I collected but also the agency and creativity that I felt in the lab. It was a thrilling sense of purpose beyond wasting my summer away. It give me a sense of hope for a future where I am able to make research my career, to dedicate my life to working with other intelligent people toward a more equitable and just planet.