If Zander Deetz’s attachment to Carleton’s chemistry department is a bit more personal than is usual, there’s a good reason. The hours he spent in the lab as both a student and a research assistant laid the groundwork for his next big challenge: graduate school at Harvard.
Deetz ’15 began working in professor Matt Whited’s lab in his freshman year. Of Whited’s 12 research assistants, half have graduated and enrolled in prestigious science-related PhD programs. All have conducted hands-on research typically unavailable to undergrads at liberal arts schools the size of Carleton.
“The most difficult part of getting a research program underway with undergrad students was figuring out a niche that allowed us to find new phenomena, but wasn’t part of a scientific space where everyone else was already looking,” says Whited.
He settled on chemical synthesis and reaction discovery, searching for new ways to make and transform interesting molecules. “We look for the most inert chemical substances—molecules with exceptionally strong bonds like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide—and custom-design extraordinarily reactive metal complexes to deconstruct them,” Whited says.
As the lab reveals those details, all kinds of new scientific possibilities are on the table: applications in pharmaceutical synthesis, fuel transformation, harnessing the energy in sunlight.
But those are big-picture concepts, Whited says. His lab is engaged in the initial discovery process, and Carleton’s strength is giving students intimate lab opportunities with experienced faculty advisers.
“The most empowering moments in the lab are when Matt says, ‘How would you figure this out? What experiment would you run?’ He knows the chemistry better, but in a lot of ways, I know the project better,” Deetz says. “To be at that level, where you’re not just being taught, but you’re collaborating—that’s a pretty special place to see yourself.”
Science is ultimately about asking questions—not always answering them—Whited says. And while Carleton undergrads benefit from coauthoring published papers, Whited never loses sight of the real prize.
“Students get their best science education when they have to deal with problems where the answers are unknown,” he says. “Those are authentic research experiences.”