Silvina A. Di Pietro
Silvina A. Di Pietro, a Ph.D. candidate at Florida International University’s (FIU) Department of Chemistry and a DOE Fellow at FIU’s Applied Research Center (FIU-ARC), has been selected by the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (USNC/IUPAC) as a U.S. Delegate to the International Younger Chemists Network (IYCN) Delegates Assembly. IYCN Delegates will join a group of awardees in the USNC/IUPAC Young Observer (YO) Program and participate in the upcoming 51st IUPAC General Assembly and 48th World Chemistry Congress, to be held virtually on August 13, 2021. The biennial IUPAC General Assemblies involve the business and governance meetings of the Union, while the World Chemistry Congress encompasses all the technical sessions of the meeting.
IUPAC is the universally-recognized authority on chemical nomenclature and terminology, and thus, it is considered to be the “United Nations of Chemistry”. The YO program was established by the USNC/IUPAC in 1977 with the goal of fostering interactions with internationally acclaimed scientists in various fields. Since then, famous chemists such as the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Ahmed H. Zewail, and the 2021 American Chemical Society President-Elect, Angela K. Wilson, have been part of the prestigious program. The 51st General Assembly comprises the business meetings of IUPAC, while the Congress forms the scientific meeting.
As one of only two U.S. representatives to the IYCN Delegates Assembly and a participant in the IUPAC General Assembly and World Congress, Silvina will partake in committee and/or division meetings in her areas of interest so that she can learn more about IUPAC and, ideally, become further involved in its work. Silvina has been paired with an IUPAC leader from the USNC, who will assist her in preparing for the General Assembly. This recognition of Silvina’s promising career as a scientist and policymaker comes at a busy time in her professional development since she expects to fulfill the requirements for her Ph.D. degree in March of 2021.
Furthermore, Silvina was one of the three students interviewed and spotlighted in the 20th volume of the Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry Research (JUCR). The purpose of the interview was to celebrate their 20th year of serving as a venue for undergraduate students to publish their research in a peer reviewed journal, as well as exciting them into considering careers in science.
Portions of the interview were dedicated to highlighting stories of individuals whose experience with undergraduate research greatly influenced their career choices. JUCR’s 20th volume titled ”Spotlighting the Undergraduate Research Experience” found here -> JUCR_V20_N1 | Westmont College. Please scroll all the way down..
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We are extremely proud of our DOE Fellow Silvina Di Pietro’s achievements!!!