Samson Hill ’26 has followed plenty of step-by-step laboratory instructions, but this summer was the first time he’d designed his own chemistry experiments and conducted them independently in a professional lab setting.
“It has drastically improved my laboratory skills in general, which has done a lot to improve my confidence as a chemist,” Hill said.
Hill and two other students – Alexis Hamilton ’26 and Ben Cerkovnik ’25 – were afforded that opportunity as summer researchers working in Assistant Professor Daniel Nasrallah’s chemistry laboratory. Their work was funded in part by a 2024 grant awarded to Nasrallah by Organic Syntheses, a research journal for synthetic organic chemistry.
The $16,000 grant, which will be spread across two summers, is specifically intended for chemistry professors at undergraduate institutions who are working with undergraduate student researchers. Only 16 professors across the nation received the grant.
“The Organic Syntheses Principally Undergraduate Institutions Award has been a huge help to get my lab up and running,” said Nasrallah, who joined Roanoke’s faculty in the 2023-24 academic year. “It has allowed me to buy just about anything we need to be successful in the lab.”
Nasrallah’s research focuses on organic chemistry – specifically investigating improvements to new bond-making methods that are more efficient and avoid the use of toxic or expensive reagents. Ultimately, the findings in his lab could lead to pharmaceutical manufacturing methods that are cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
As their faculty mentor, Nasrallah guides student researchers through the process and provides initial ideas for projects, but they design new reactions, set up experiments and analyze the results themselves. “They have all made significant discoveries this summer that will dictate the directions of these projects and inform future discoveries in our lab,” he said.
Hill is also a Summer Scholar at Roanoke, which means he receives a stipend, summer housing and a summer course credit. All student research supports the school’s goal of cultivating academic innovation and transformative learning experiences for students.
Hill hopes his experience with “Dr. Dan,” as Nasrallah is affectionately known to students, will strengthen his graduate school applications. He believes the opportunity elevates Roanoke’s distinctiveness because the research position may have been harder to secure at a larger institution.
“It was easier to get into a research slot here at Roanoke because I already knew my professor. The small class sizes here allow students to learn about their professor’s research interests and opportunities,” he said.
In addition to the Organic Syntheses award, Nasrallah was part of a team that recently nabbed a 2024 Organic Chemistry Horizon Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry. That award was based on work that he conducted with other experimental and theoretical chemists at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was an assistant adjunct professor.
Nasrallah said he’s grateful for the support he’s received, both at Roanoke College and externally, that allows him to pursue his research alongside undergraduate students.
“My undergraduate research experience inspired me to attend graduate school and become a professor. I’m hoping the work I do with students will inspire them to pursue further education and careers in the sciences,” he said. “We need people who are curious to solve the world’s problems, and I cannot wait to see what these excellent students go on to learn, see and do in the future.”
Alexis Hamilton ’26 works in Assistant Professor Dan Nasrallah's chemistry research lab in Trexler Hall. Pictured above is Ben Cerkovnik ’25.