Amy Keirstead presents research findings at Canadian Chemistry Conference

Amy Keirstead, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, gave two presentations at the 96th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, which was held May 26-30, 2013, in Quebec City. Both presentations involved research carried out by UNE undergraduate students and are part of Keirstead’s research program that investigates the use of ionic liquids for a variety of green chemistry and nanotechnology applications.

Her oral presentation, titled “Monitoring the Dynamics of Spiropyran Photochromism in Ionic Liquids Using Emission Spectroscopy: Direct Observation of Spiropyran Phosphorescence,” was given in the Advances in Physical Organic Chemistry symposium and included contributions from UNE student co-authors Robyn Gaudet (Chemistry ‘11), Annie Leslie (Neuroscience ‘13), and Sean Naughton (Biochemistry and Medical Biology ‘13). This work was supported UNE College of Arts and Sciences and the Vice-President for Research mini-grant programs.

Keirstead also presented a poster titled “Investigating the Influence of Ionic Liquid Media on the Photoluminescence of Siloles,” based on a project funded by the Maine Space Grant Consortium Education and Seed Research grant. Co-authors on the poster included Jerome Mullin, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, UNE undergraduates Regina Scalise (Chemistry ’13) and Sean Naughton (Biochemistry and Medical Biology, ’13) as well as colleagues from the University of Southern Maine, Justin Crumrine, Caryn Prudente, Ph.D., and Hank Tracy, Ph.D.