{"id":21162,"date":"2025-05-14T12:54:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T16:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=21162"},"modified":"2025-05-14T12:58:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T16:58:29","slug":"katelynn-humphrey-discovers-her-organic-love-of-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/14\/katelynn-humphrey-discovers-her-organic-love-of-chemistry\/","title":{"rendered":"Katelynn Humphrey discovers her organic love of chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Katelynn Humphrey \u201925 could have taken the easier route, attending college close to her home in East Burke, Vermont. But she wanted something different \u2014 and a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have lived in Vermont my whole life, two minutes down the road from my grandparents. My ancestor was the founder of our town, so my family has been there for generations,\u201d Humphrey says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She chose Clark \u2014 four hours away from her tightly knit family, including seven siblings \u2014 because, she says, \u201cI just really wanted to know what it would be like if I went somewhere unfamiliar. I never even had visited Worcester until I showed up here with a car full of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Humphrey is graduating this May with a major in chemistry<\/a> and minor in biochemistry<\/a>. She can boast nearly two years of experience in the research lab of Julio D\u2019Arcy<\/a>, the Carl J. and Anna Carlson Endowed Chair and assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry; poster presentations at two ClarkFest<\/a> undergraduate research events; and the American Institute of Chemists Award for 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, life at Clark wasn\u2019t always easy for Humphrey, who initially felt isolated from her family and struggled with her first chemistry courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then she adjusted, learning how to rely on her peers and connecting with \u201ca wide breadth of people\u201d from different backgrounds and experiences. She found friends in new places \u2014 through the Mycology Club she co-founded with her roommate, Devon Rose Leaver \u201924, M.S. \u201925<\/a>, and via their rock-climbing trips, and through the D\u2019Arcy Lab in the Gustaf H. Carlson School of Chemistry and Biochemistry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I couldn\u2019t access my family in Vermont, I had almost a new family away from home,\u201d she says. \u201cThat sort of comfort has been really valuable for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Katelynn
\u201cWhen I couldn\u2019t access my family in Vermont, I had almost a new family away from home,\u201d says Katelynn Humphrey \u201925, fourth from left, with her colleagues in the lab of Professor Julio D\u2018Arcy, fifth from left. (Photo by Steven King, university photographer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for academics, Humphrey found her first chemistry class \u2014 an accelerated, introductory version that combined two semesters into one \u2014 intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t necessarily come easy to me, but that was one of the things that I liked the most about it,\u201d she says. \u201cI kept getting beat down, and I still wanted to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organic chemistry \u2014 a course that many students fear \u2014 also gave her trouble. But instead of quitting, she signed up again, this time for the advanced segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI studied harder than I\u2019ve ever studied before, and I found different ways that worked for me,\u201d says Humphrey, who tapped into student services that broadened her perspective on how she learns best. \u201cAnd once I surrendered to that, I really started enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next two chemistry classes \u2014 Biochemistry 1 with Professor Don Spratt<\/a> and Applied Electrochemistry with D\u2019Arcy \u2014 she did even better, finally realizing how much she loved chemistry, especially the hands-on research in the \u201cmaterials and energy storage side of chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summer after her junior year, Humphrey received the James \u201939 & Ada Bickman Summer Science Research Internship fellowship to support her work in the D\u2019Arcy Lab. In addition, D\u2019Arcy\u2019s $500,000, five-year National Science Foundation CAREER Award<\/a>, \u201cManufacturing Semiconducting Nanoparticles at the Aerosol\/Vapor-Phase Interface,\u201d has helped support the research by Humphrey and other undergraduate and Ph.D. students in his lab. D\u2019Arcy and his team study synthetic polymers \u2014 complex, chemically bonded chains of large molecules \u2014 used to produce materials for a wide range of applications, from energy storage devices to atmospheric water collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Polymer
Katelynn Humphrey \u201925 conducted controlled experiments and observed the formation of polymer chains under a microscope. Her photos show polymer crystals, which vary in shape, size, and color, depending on the time, temperature, freshness, and concentration\/ratio of chemicals \u2014 ethanol and ferric chloride \u2014 in a solution that she applied during the process. (Photos by Katelynn Humphrey \u201925, using a Nikon Eclipse 100ND microscope and NIS-Elements Basic Research software)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Polymer<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Katelynn<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Katelynn<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I could talk on and on about the research\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When Humphrey\u2019s family would ask what she was doing in the lab, she would start to explain her research projects, with titles like \u201cOxidative Radical Polymerization of 3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene\u201d and \u201cAerosol Vapor Polymerization Synthesis of Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy family usually stopped me before I got too far into describing it,\u201d Humphrey says. \u201cI could talk on and on about the research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this spring\u2019s ClarkFest, Humphrey and Umama Akther, the chemistry Ph.D. student with whom she worked, found themselves surrounded by fellow scientists interested in their project, and the research partners were happy to dive into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humphrey explained how the team, under D\u2019Arcy\u2019s mentorship, builds customized nebulizers to produce aerosolized droplets of ferric chloride, which are carried via fans into reactors. The researchers in D\u2019Arcy\u2019s lab aim to use this \u201caerosol vapor polymerization\u201d process to mix with a monomer \u2014 a small, simple molecule, in this case, 3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene \u2014 and produce PEDOT particles, which can then be optimized. PEDOT is short for Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene), which is a polymer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPEDOT is a really versatile substance,\u201d according to Humphrey. \u201cIt\u2019s a highly conductive material, with significant applications in energy storage, atmospheric water harvesting, pH and temperature sensors, and solid-state composites like concrete. The polymer is noncytotoxic, which means it can be put into the body without causing harm and be used in medical devices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this level of excitement that Julio brings to the laboratory setting \u2014 he makes it feel very alive.\u201d<\/p>\u2014 katelynn humphrey \u201925<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Humphrey\u2019s project contributed to the D\u2019Arcy Lab\u2019s research aimed at \u201cmaking this highly processable powder that can be used in any application you\u2019d like,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt can be put into paints or printing ink, through which you could conduct electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the lab, Humphrey says, she benefited from a working environment that D\u2019Arcy purposefully promoted: safe, collaborative, and engaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this level of excitement that Julio brings to the laboratory setting \u2014 he makes it feel very alive,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s constantly something new that we have to fix or some problem that we have to solve, and I love being able to tease those apart and find a solution for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her experience, she says, has cemented her desire to find a research-and-development position in a chemistry or biochemistry lab, then attend graduate school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never thought I was capable of learning as much as I did,\u201d Humphrey says. \u201cI was challenged academically through rigorous courses and then also challenged socially by connecting with people from various backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her years at Clark, four hours from home, have been \u201calmost like a close-range test,\u201d Humphrey says. \u201cNow I know that if I were to go further from my family, I\u2019m capable of starting over again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Katelynn
\u201cI never thought I was capable of learning as much as I did,\u201d says Katelynn Humphrey \u201925, shown at work in the D\u2019Arcy Lab. (Photos by Steven King, university photographer, above and at top of story)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katelynn Humphrey \u201925 could have taken the easier route, attending college close to her home in East Burke, Vermont. But she wanted something different \u2014 and a challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21163,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-purple)","story_headerImg":21163,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[227],"displayed_author":[242],"featured":[],"topic":[259,187,162,281,127],"class_list":["post-21162","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","displayed_author-meredith-woodward-king","topic-chemistry","topic-graduate-research","topic-research","topic-undergraduate-fellowships-and-scholarships","topic-undergraduate-research"],"yoast_head":"\nKatelynn Humphrey discovers her organic love of chemistry | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/14\/katelynn-humphrey-discovers-her-organic-love-of-chemistry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Katelynn Humphrey discovers her organic love of chemistry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Katelynn Humphrey \u201925 could have taken the easier route, attending college close to her home in East Burke, Vermont. 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