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Canada has recently declared a chemical known as BPA to be a toxic substance. Europe has partially banned BPA from consumer products. The United States also faces a similar push to remove BPA from products in which the chemical can be ingested. Claire Zurlo ’14, a recipient of an Emerson Summer Grant, and Amanda Ng ’14, funded with summer research funds, will spend the summer contributing to this effort. They will work with Professor of Chemistry Tim Elgren to perform a BPA analysis on various beer samples.

Over the past few years, people have become aware of a health threat in an unexpected place: traces of bisphenol-A (or BPA) that leach from reusable plastic water bottles. Because of his interest in endocrinology and toxicology, Dan Brimberry ’13 has decided to further pursue this subject with funding from an Emerson grant and guidance from Timothy Elgren, professor of chemistry.

Professor of Chemistry Tim Elgren has published a paper in the Journal of Materials Chemistry with Amy Barrows ’08 and co-workers from Montana State University. The paper is titled “High Level of Hydrogen Production Activity Achieved for Hydrogenase Encapsulated in Sol-Gel Material Doped with Carbon Nanotubes.”

Professor of Chemistry Tim Elgren and Associate Professor of Chemistry Myriam Cotten participated in a Council on Undergraduate Research annual business meeting from June 18-20, that gathered councilors from diverse academic disciplines at Montana State University in Bozeman.