Dr. Menon, assistant professor of chemistry, spent 10 weeks in a summer internship at Argonne National Laboratory that partnered college faculty with DOE laboratory research staff.
Although Moraine Valley Community College assistant professor Dr. Prabhjot M. Menon has been away from research for 18 years, that didn’t stop her drive to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Visiting Faculty Program at the Argonne National Laboratory this summer with the intent to get students exposed to more opportunities in the sciences.
Dr. Menon, assistant professor of chemistry, spent 10 weeks in a summer internship that partnered college faculty with DOE laboratory research staff to work on a project of mutual interest. The program is sponsored by the DOE Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists in collaboration with 14 participating DOE laboratories across the country. This collaboration attempts to increase the competitiveness of faculty at institutions historically underrepresented such as community colleges in the research community. She worked with Argonne’s distinguished scientist, Dr. Michael Pellin.
Fortunately, Dr. Menon’s interests matched up with Dr. Pellin’s.
“Dr. Pellin is a world renowned scientist, and he has a sincere desire to lend a hand to community colleges to encourage more students to get into the STEM field,” she said.
Their project involved exploring Ultrananocrystalline Diamond (UNCD)—a material discovered at Argonne—for electrocatalysis; however, most of her work was putting together the complex system that synthesizes thin films of UNCD. This film, which captures many of the best properties of natural diamond, is becoming a durable industrial material and integrated into various products. Dr. Menon worked five days a week for eight hours a day. She joined several faculty from around the country who worked at Argonne this summer.
“I’m a small piece working in that huge project. It’s very rewarding. I’m fortunate I got that chance to work with Mike. For him to explain things and how he thinks about things is the best part. And he’s so down to earth. He’s a gem of a person. I was so fortunate to interact with him,” Dr. Menon said.
Because she wasn’t able to explore UNCD during her tenure, she intends to return to the project next month on a part-time basis working in an Argonne lab making the film.
“I was asked to come back. We also hope to encourage students to do internships at Argonne over the spring and summer. We want to focus on undergraduate research. To have this for honors students would put Moraine Valley on a different level. It isn’t for everyone, but it would be nice to offer, especially for minorities—women and underrepresented populations,” she explained. “DOE has internships for students. I want students to know there is a vast pool of options available to them.”
For news media inquiries, contact Maura Vizza, Moraine Valley public relations generalist, at (708) 974-5742 or VizzaM@morainevalley.edu.
