Ethan with an award in front of presentation poster

Author: James Batey | Major: Chemistry | Semester: Summer 2022

Hello everyone, my name is J. Ethan Batey, and I am a junior studying chemistry here at University of Arkansas – Fayetteville! My research focuses on development of new methodologies to improve single nanoparticle tracking (SPT) under various conditions. Single particle tracking has gained popularity in recent years for its use in the fields of  biophysics, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, materials science, and molecular biology. Most often, studies employing SPT involve cellular uptake of single particles and the analysis of endocytic events that can accurately be tracked in multiple dimensions. These types of studies are useful for drug design, development, and delivery, targeted therapeutic research, and further understanding of molecular motors.

I attended American Chemical Society National Meeting Fall 2022 in Chicago, IL to present my research about a new methodology my group and I developed to conduct multidimensional single particle tracking more precisely and accurately. This trip to ACS was immensely helpful in furthering my research and my understanding of the greater body of study in this area. Attending this conference allowed me to attend talks from world-renowned chemists in all divisions of the science as well as network with principal investigators I may be interested in joining for graduate school.

My work received much positive feedback during the two presentations I conducted over the course of the five days of conference. Most people were interested in single particle tracking because it is a rather niche area in the field! It was greatly encouraging to hear my peers and great chemists alike show appreciation for something I have worked so hard on. It was very motivating and pushed me to continue my work.

This conference incredibly accelerated my professionalism in the field. Being my first conference, I learned plenty of conference and research etiquette that may not be obvious to newer researchers. I gained a better understanding for how to approach researchers and exhibitors as well as how to conduct a beneficial debate on a variety of research topics.

Presenting my work was an incredibly rewarding and satisfying experience and additionally a great learning opportunity. It was wonderful to see my hard work pay off by introducing new ideas to leaders in my field. However, most importantly, I learned how to properly address questions/concerns, handle criticism, and defend my group’s work.

For anyone looking to present their work at a conference, I would say the most important thing is to make sure you know everything about your project and project area. It is absolutely necessary to fully understand your experiments/analysis and be able to explain why you did exactly what you did to the average person.

As stated earlier, this conference has really accelerated my academic standing and allowed me to network with many great chemists. I will continue working on this project and I look forward to sending it to publication before the end of the semester.

I am incredibly thankful to Dr. Bin Dong and the rest of the Dong Group, as well as the Honors College for providing me with this opportunity.