ODU Biochemistry Major is Awarded American Chemical Society Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship

Olivia Brown is a senior majoring in Biochemistry at Old Dominion 91����Ƶ and uses research as her entryway into the intricacies of compounds. Her continued pursuit of research through the Lambert Research Group has led her to being recognized as one of sixteen undergraduates nationwide to be selected for the .����

Brown has been awarded $6,000 as part of this fellowship sponsored by Pfizer. This competitive fellowship awarded is based on merits of the students submitted research proposal, academic performance, faculty recommendation, and enthusiasm for research in organic chemistry. The ACS DOC SURF supports undergraduate students conducting independent research as well as offers invaluable networking opportunities by connecting undergraduates to industry mentors. As part of the program, Brown will give both an oral and poster presentation at Bristol Meyers Squibb in San Diego, California this September.����

“I am excited with what opportunities lie ahead created by this fellowship,” said Brown. “I love the problem-solving and creativity organic chemistry offers, and I am blessed to work with such a great group of graduate students and Dr. Lambert who continually invest in me.”   

Since May 2024, Brown has done undergraduate research in the Lambert Research Group run by Assistant Professor Kyle Lambert in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at ODU. “I truly enjoy coming into the lab each day to see my friends and learn something new,” said Brown. Through her work in the Lambert Lab, Brown has expanded on an independent project she began in January exploring allylation and prenylation reactions of ketones utilizing a sustainable cobalt catalyst. “This project is exciting due to the transformations of forming tertiary homoallylic alcohols and tertiary homoprenyl alcohols from ketones, which are synthetically challenging,” said Brown. “Such products feature a motif found in many molecules with medicinal applications as well as intermediates in natural product synthesis.”    

“This is a well-deserved accomplishment for Olivia receiving the premier national undergraduate fellowship award for organic chemistry, and through the support of the ACS DOC SURF provides, Olivia will be able to further hone both her laboratory skills and knowledge beyond the classroom this summer in preparation for applying to graduate programs this year,” says Lambert. “Olivia’s recognition with this award and experiences while conducting research highlight the strong and ever-growing research opportunities available to undergraduate students here at ODU. Since beginning undergraduate research last May, Olivia has really grown as a researcher to be able to take hold of her project, which is an important step in preparation for future graduate studies.” This summer Brown has not only been working on advancing new reactions, but has been working to develop a scalable and sustainable method to prepare the cobalt catalyst that is central to her work for submission, and independent evaluation, as a procedure in the publication  to enable others to employ the chemistry she has developed. 

Thus far this summer, Brown has been able to present her research at the Virginia Academy of Science in May as well as the Virginia Drug Discovery Consortium (VaDDC) in June. At the VaDDC Brown received the second- place prize for “Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Presentation” for her poster titled, “Bench-stable Co[III] Complexes as a Platform for Carbonyl Additions and Cross-Couplings in Organic Synthesis and Drug Discovery.” According to Brown, “These conferences also provided meaningful interactions with faculty from other universities and graduate students, offering both scientific insight and mentorship.”   

Looking ahead as Brown enters her senior year at ODU, Brown shares her advice to fellow Monarchs about pursuing research: “Research is an opportunity to be curious, tenacious, and willing to learn- so give it a try. When I started, I had no idea how much I would grow just by being in the lab or what kinds of opportunities it would bring. 91����Ƶ, undergraduates are given the chance to take ownership of their project, and the faculty and graduate students you work with are incredibly supportive and want to see you succeed. I have really enjoyed the relationships made through joining the lab and the valuable experience I have gained.”