{"id":2120,"date":"2019-05-09T15:34:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T19:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/?p=2120"},"modified":"2019-05-14T09:23:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T13:23:08","slug":"students-research-leads-to-opportunity-at-nasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/2019\/05\/09\/students-research-leads-to-opportunity-at-nasa\/","title":{"rendered":"Student\u2019s research leads to opportunity at NASA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NicholasNicholas Boynton started doing research at University of Detroit Mercy as a freshman because he thought it sounded interesting. He didn\u2019t know the effect it would have on his life.<\/p>\n

The research led to an internship at NASA after his sophomore year and a second internship at NASA after his junior year. These experiences led Boynton to change his career path and after graduating from Detroit Mercy with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry on May 11, he will begin working on his Ph.D. at the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot to use the phrase loosely but it changed my life,\u201d Boynton said of the research opportunity he received at Detroit Mercy as a freshman. \u201cIt really did. Every time I talk to my dad he always says, \u2018You got the chance to get in there right away and it helped you so much.\u2019 And yeah, it really did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boynton came to Detroit Mercy thinking he would play lacrosse and earn a degree before heading to medical school. But he quickly fell in love with chemistry and research, and decided that\u2019s what he wanted to concentrate on.<\/p>\n

He admits telling his father he wanted to be a chemist was difficult at first. His father, who is an attorney, originally thought Boynton was going to earn an MBA at Detroit Mercy and was supportive when Boynton told him he wanted to go to medical school instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I told him I think I want to go into chemistry and I don\u2019t think I want to be a doctor anymore, he was like, \u2018What are you going to do with a chemistry degree?\u2019 That was his initial reaction,\u201d Boynton said. \u201cOver time I started sending him emails with articles to let him know, \u2018Here\u2019s the chemistry that was involved in this. Here\u2019s why we need chemists.\u2019 Then once I got the NASA internship there were no worries anymore. He was excited, he was thrilled. I think now, he\u2019s more excited that I\u2019m going this route, which is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NicholasBoynton still remembers every detail of the day when he found out he got the NASA internship. He had just finished a final and was heading home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of a whirlwind day,\u201d Boynton said. \u201cProfessor (Matthew) Mio pushed me toward the NASA internship and told me to apply. Not in a million years did I think I was going to get to work at NASA because of the research I was doing at Detroit Mercy. It was pretty surprising, just a crazy day. I think my mom cried when I told her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boynton went to Cleveland to begin his internship at NASA, but in the back of the head he still wondered, \u2018Why did they pick me?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I got there and was a little more comfortable with my mentor (Dr. Mary Ann Meador) and everyone else around me, I kind of wanted to know why specifically did they pick me?\u201d Boynton said. \u201cShe was like, \u2018You had a bunch of organic synthesis research up to that point. We saw you\u2019ve been doing it for a year and half.\u2019 And with the project they were working on at that time, they needed someone with an organic synthesis background to move the project along.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey saw I had those skills and had been doing it for so long, and it wasn\u2019t just I took a course, I did it outside of class and I was able to talk about the research in the typed application. She thought that was incredible. And once I got there she was impressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boynton went back to NASA for a second internship after his junior year and they decided to give him even more responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were impressed with how the first summer went so they were like, \u2018Let\u2019s give you a tougher job,\u2019 \u201d Boynton said. \u201cI get there, they give me a few papers, they haven\u2019t started the project yet so I get after it. I was trying to 3-D print gels to turn into aerogels and it was completely new. It was probably my first heavy Ph.D., graduate-level research experience where 90% of what you do doesn\u2019t work. But it\u2019s a lot of fun, once something does work it\u2019s amazing. The ups and the downs, really attacking a project, trying to think through everything, reading literature, using the skills I had, that kind of stuff. It was really fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boynton also impressed NASA because he knew how to run a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, something not many other students know how to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of big schools have a technician who runs that so when you\u2019re in your lab you just hand them your sample and they do everything,\u201d Boynton said. \u201cWhen I got there I was like, \u2018Yeah I know how to run that we\u2019ve used it at school.\u2019 They were surprised by that and by the end of the summer I was writing a brief report on how to use the instrument for other people that weren\u2019t as comfortable with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would run the instruments and use the technicians for guidance, but for the most part do things on my own. I was able to do all of this because I was in a lab at Detroit Mercy as a freshman trying to figure things out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NicholasBoynton credits Detroit Mercy Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Mio for being his mentor and allowing him to have a lot of freedom in the lab to do research that interests him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told Professor Mio he\u2019s been the biggest influence on my life outside of my parents,\u201d Boynton said. \u201cHe very subtly since freshman year pushed me in certain directions, thrown opportunities at me and really encouraged me to expand my research interests and go after things. If I\u2019m interested in something, he\u2019s like, \u2018Yeah, go for it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an excellent resource here. He\u2019s definitely someone I plan on keeping in touch with. As he says, \u2018When you graduate, we\u2019ll be friends.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Mio helped Boynton confirm his decision to be a chemist and supported him when Boynton was worried about telling his parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick will always be in a small group of students who wanted to engage in lab research early,\u201d Mio said. \u201cHe may not have known it four years ago, but he was destined to be a materials chemist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The close relationship with Mio and his other professors at Detroit Mercy also helped Boynton navigate a tough situation when he was in a car accident and suffered a severe concussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty severely concussed for months,\u201d Boynton said. \u201cI had heard horror stories of kids who were at bigger schools and had that happen through sports and the school basically said, \u2018Too bad, hopefully you figure it out.\u2019 That kind of thing. And I didn\u2019t have that at all. Everyone was extremely helpful and everyone was there for me. It was one of those moments where I was like, \u2018Wow, coming to a small school like Detroit Mercy was so important.\u2019 I probably wouldn\u2019t be graduating if I went somewhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it speaks to Detroit Mercy\u2019s whole environment. At the end of the day, we\u2019re all trying to help each other out. Everyone has those Jesuit traditions and values that resonate everywhere and make people want to help each other. All of my professors were amazing, I had to take my finals late and there was never an issue. It was an extremely stressful time that was made a lot easier just by being on this campus and something I\u2019m really thankful for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, Boynton earned the 2019 American Chemical Society Award and recently co-authored a paper that was published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.<\/p>\n

In addition to his work in chemistry, he served on the executive team for Campus Kitchen, was a commencement coordinator and worked as a tutor at Detroit Mercy\u2019s Learning Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Detroit Mercy, I love being in an environment where you get the opportunity to do a bunch of things,\u201d Boynton said. \u201cYou get the chance to be involved. I\u2019ve played lacrosse here for four years, had the chance to be in a research lab in chemistry for 3 1\/2 years, volunteered in Campus Kitchen, helped at commencement, tutored at the Learning Center, just all the different opportunities have been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Original story by\u00a0Dave Pemberton<\/a>.\u00a0Follow Detroit Mercy on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>. Have a story idea? Let us know by\u00a0submitting your idea<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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