Profile

I recently joined the UCC canoe club and the UCC chess club. This offers the opportunity to meet loads of other students in different courses. I made lots of friends from my course and I’m also still friends with one of my secondary school friends who is studying biomedical science. Everyday I go for lunch on campus with my friends which gives me a nice break to the day. I enjoy researching and feel like the day goes by very quickly.

I also went to America (South Carolina) during the Summer with a J1 visa with my friend from my course who is also a PhD researcher now. We worked in the beach for the Summer and travelled around America for two weeks at the end of the Summer.  I have a cat and dog named Misty and Max who live with my family in Clare. I regularly visit my family and my pets.

Below is an image of my friend and I kayaking down the Chicago river during our J1 in America.

Below is my dog Max and cat Misty. Max is a st. Bernard.

I’m researching in the area of carbon to carbon bond formation. Previously this was carried out using transition elements as catalysts but these are very expensive and not very sustainable. The aim of my work is to try to form carbon-carbon bonds using light called photochemistry in a continuous manner.

I volunteered in 3rd and 4th year of my undergraduate degree to help first year students who were struggling with chemistry. I think the hardest part for them is to get a grasp of the structures in organic chemistry (such as alkanes and alkenes). I think this money would greatly help with this is we were able to purchase molecular orbital kits for the sessions. PAL at UCC has become increasingly popular this year with more PAL leaders from 2nd, 3rd and 4th year volunteering than previous year. There has also been a huge increase in 1st years attending and benefitting from the sessions. The sessions also give students a chance to get advice from students who have already been through the experience of beginning college.