February 11 is an important date on the calendar of every woman involved in science. It is then that the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated.
It was established to commemorate the contribution of women to science and technology and to promote gender equality in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The celebration includes a variety of activities, such as conferences, workshops, panel discussions, exhibitions and scientific presentations, which aim to promote women’s achievements in science and technology and to analyse the challenges they face. Special activities are also organised in schools and colleges to encourage girls to take an interest in science and technology and to show them that they can succeed in these fields.
We would like in this article to bring you closer to the silhouettes of several wonderful girls from our department and their achievements
Kaja Fołta is a fourth-year chemistry student. She specializes in materials chemistry and her main passion is research on polymeric materials, especially in the context of practical applications in medicine and pharmacy. She is an active member of the Bioelectrochemistry Group, where she is involved in various projects. She has participated in scientific conferences such as ICSMA2023 in Tokyo, where she has presented research projects including biocompatibility assessment, degradation studies and carrier design for anticancer compounds.
Julia Grzonka is currently conducting research under the supervision of PhD Maciej Sowa. The results of the experiments were presented at the Spring Meeting of the Young Section of the Polish Chemical Society 2023. During the conference she won the public award for the poster “Finishing of aluminium alloys using the phenomenon of soft sparking during plasma electrolytic oxidation”. Thanks to this award, Julia had the opportunity to speak as part of the "Young Scientists" panel at the SMPTChem Winter Congress 2023. During her presentation she explained what exactly PEO is and how metals and their alloys can be used later.
At the Spring Meeting of SMPTChem 2023, another member of the Society and a student of the faculty, was also appreciated during the conference by the Scientific Committee. Natalia Siodłak received the award for the best poster from her own research at the first degree studies on “Valorization of food brewery industry waste towards obtaining functional carbon materials”. Apart from attending the conference, Natalia is happy to get involved in the life of our Society by leading workshops for the youngest.
Students of the Faculty of Chemistry are also co-authors of scientific publications. About Dorota and her article written under the supervision of PhD Agnieszka Siewniak we wrote here: https://portal.polsl.pl/sknch/en/interview_with_dorota_manka/
A very talented graduate of the Faculty of Chemistry is MSc Eng. Kinga Nowak, who in addition to the publication can boast also received a scholarship for significant scientific achievements granted by the Minister of Education and Science, for the academic year 2022/2023, the 1st degree award went to Ms. Kinga Nowak for his work entitled "Application of quaternary ammonium and phosphonium bromides in the oxidation processes of alkylaromatic hydrocarbons", whose promoter was PhD Eng. David Lisicki. The master's thesis was crowned with a patent application.
It is also worth mentioning the talented doctoral students of the Department of Organic Technology and Petrochemistry, among others. Annie Wolny, MSc Eng. Magdalena Gwóźdź and MSc Angelice Mieszczanin! For more details please visit: https://www.facebook.com/techorg.polsl
Agata Kołkowska, who also deals with electrochemistry, has already co-authored two publications! We wrote about it in this article : https://portal.polsl.pl/sknch/en/zirconium_processing_and_nano_diamonds/
MSc Eng. Joanna Wilk, PhD student at the Department of Inorganic, Analytical and Electrochemistry, is also the author and co-author of many scientific publications, and her master’s thesis “Selection of parameters of extraction of selected sulfonamides from solid environmental samples”, performed under the supervision of the promoter PhD Eng. Sylwia Bajkacz, prof. PŚ was awarded the 3rd place in the national SITPChem competition for the best diploma thesis in the field of chemistry for the years 2020-2022https://www.polsl.pl/rch1/aktualnosci/60298/nasza-absolwentka-mgr-inz-joanna-wilk-na-podium-w-ogolnopolskim-konkursie-sitpchem-na-najlepsza-prace-dyplomowa-z-obszaru-chemii-za-lata-2020-2022/?display=4&str=2
We should also not forget about the Deputy Principal Supervisor of our Circle, PhD Annie Byczek-Wyrostek, who defended her doctorate in 2023. Ms. Ania performed the synthesis and evaluation of biological activities of selected dichloromucic acid derivatives in vitro against model cancer cell lines. You can see the defence report on our website: https://portal.polsl.pl/sknch/en/doctorate_of_our_society_supervisor/
