Developing Fascination in Science

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Developing Fascination in Science
Chances and Challenges
Zbigniew L. Pianowski
Institut de Science et dIngenierie
Supramoleculaires Universite Louis
Pasteur Strasbourg, France
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At the beginnig was the...
BIG BANG
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Complicated formulas came later
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But form the beginning I have been meeting people
whose passion towards chemistry allowed me to
learn it with enthusiasm.
Practical training for high school students
preparing for participation in a chemistry
olympiade Jagiellonian University, Cracow 2
semesters at the age of 12 years
Practical course of analytical chemistry for
students Cracow University of Technology 2
semesters at the age of 15
... in the mean time a primary music school was
my main education pathway.
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A choice of high school
Big schools dedicated to teach chemistry and
biology for future medical application
Smaller schools promoting individuality and
creativity
Catholic High School with good background in
humanities, but also individual programs of
teaching
A dedicated chemistry teacher Dr. Zbigniew Fryt
being constantly in touch with academic
environment
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Jagiellonian University, Cracow
With approval of the Dean of Students Affairs
(prof. Janusz Jamrozik) a possibility to attend
in student courses training in scientific
literature, practical skills of organic
synthesis and interaction with experienced
academic staff
A practical course of Organic Chemistry A (2nd
year) organic preparation (dr. Bozena Kawalek)
A training of NMR spectroscopy (dr. Anna Kolasa)
A practical Organic Chemistry B (4th year) (prof.
Barbara Rys)
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Jagiellonian University, Cracow
Permission to develop my own scientific
project under guidance of a tutor (prof. Barbara
Rys and Janusz Jamrozik)
Presentation of results as a poster during
diploma session and as oral presentation
(Students Chemical Association)
The project focused on synthesis of unknown
derivatives of 4-aminopyridine N-oxide and
investigation of their mesogenic properties. It
was afterwards presented as a poster on the
International Conference on Liquid Crystals
(Zakopane, Poland, 2001)
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Polish Children Fund
Organization of volounteers (students and
professors of sciences, arts and humanities)
supporting and directing passions of young
scholars (primary and high schools) from the
whole country by organizing meetings with
lectures as well as practical training for
groups (a week) and individual stays (3-4 weeks)
on the top national level.
By creating a large (c.a. 300 people) community
of gifted youth there is strong stimulation to
develop new skills. Meeting people of similar
interest on equally enormous level creates also
a social surrounding usually not existing at
place of living
Cooperation with similar organizations from other
countries results in international exchanges of
scholars
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Polish Children Fund
Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of
Sciences a practical group training,
presentation of labs and research groups
Chemistry Department, Warsaw University a
practical group training, presentation of labs
and research groups
Chemistry Department, Warsaw University individual
training Laboratory of Dielectrics and
Magnetics (dr. Ewa Górecka) physical properties
of liquid crystals
Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of
Sciences individual training group XXIII
(prof. Mieczyslaw Makosza) 1) synthesis of
5-membered carbocycles by carbanion addition to
Michael acceptors 2) Synthesis of
4-n-alkylbenzoic acids for preparation
of mesogenic compounds
A general interfaculty scientific camp Swider
2000 selected oral presentations of leading
scientists, artists and philosophers
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Polish Children Fund international exchanges
Research Science Institute a scientific summer
school organized by MIT and Harvard University
for talented high school students.
50 students from the US and 24 students from
England, France, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Syria
and Singapore involved.
A week of training on scientific presentation and
preparation of a scientific paper was followed by
5 weeks of pracitcal training with research teams
of chosen specialization and ended with a
written 15-pages report in a form of publication
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My work in Rowland Institute on Harvard with dr.
Amit Meller leading the Single Molecule
Biophysics Lab was focused on rolling-circle
amplification of single-stranded circular DNA
templates to obtain iterative DNA oligomers for
biophysical investigations using confocal laser
microscopy
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13th European Union Contest for Young Scientists
A contest of scientific presentations of
individual research projects of participants in a
form of poster sessions
On the national level from c.a. 50 applications
10-12 participants are chosen for the national
poster session. Among them, 6 prizes are given
and 3 people or teams are selected for the
European level of competition.
My presentation New Rod-Like Liquid Crystals on
chemistry and possible applications of the
mesogenic derivatives of 4-aminopyridine N-oxide
was awarded on the national level and selected
for the European edition in Bergen, Norway
One of the second prizes and a special prize (a
practical stay in Instituto de Astrofisica de
Canarias) was awarded to that presentation by
international scientific jury.
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13th European Union Contest for Young Scientists
Fan-shaped SmA texture
Schlieren-texture
Schlieren-texture (Nem)
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Polish Chemical Olympiad
Around 1000 participants from high schools of the
whole county take part in the eliminations of
Polish Chemistry Olympiad. By the regional level
to the national one c.a. 110 students are
qualified and compete in solving several problems
from all the areas of chemistry. Their
difficulty usually corresponds to 2nd-4th year
of university courses.
The originality of solutions as well as clarity
of explanations is ranked in the teoretical part.
It is completed by 2-3 complex practical tasks
from analytical chemistry.
In the 2001 competitions XLVII Olympiad I won
the first prize and a special prize of organic
chemistry task solution
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Interfaculty studies
Warsaw University (as well as Jagiellonian and
Gdansk Universities) created an alternative for
the regular university studies for a carefully
selected group of students. It assumes
responsability of the student for his own fate.
For everyone of the students there is an
individual tutor (a professor or an associated
professor) directing him towards full development
of his talents and skills. The only general
obligation is to collect 300 ECTS points during 5
years and to obtain the master degree on one of
the seven involved scientific departments
Such flexibility allows students to perform
highly interfaculty projects (e.g. combining
mathematics and biology) with very strong
background in more than one aspect of it
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Co-operation with Polish Academy of Sciences
Several leading institutes of Polish Academy of
Sciences, although not involved in regular
education of students, invites them to take part
in a number of modern scientific projects
The students can learn and use later on their own
the most advanced equipment, attend in scientific
lectures and events organized by the institutes
as well as in lectures for graduate students
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Interfaculty studies
My studies were performed at the Department of
Interfaculty Mathematic and Science Studies and
were directed towards graduation from the
Chemistry Department.
At the beginning of my studies I directly started
the cooperation with Institute of Organic
Chemistry PAS. In the group of prof. Mieczyslaw
Makosza I was involved in research of
applications of radical chemistry in total
synthesis.
Apart from the main project of dr. Krzysztof
Stalinski on asymetric radical catalysis using
chiral stannyl hydrides I have proposed my own
project a total synthesis of a sesquiterpene
bicyclic alcohol beta-santalol using tandem
radical cyclization as a key step
That project became an experimental part of my
master thesis which, after completing the
academic requirements, has been defended at the
end of the third year of my studies.
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Pianowski Z., Rupnicki L., Cmoch P., Stalinski K.
Synlett 2005 6 900-904
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Interfaculty studies
During my studies I was involved in three
scientific stays
Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (3 weeks)
modern methods of investigations of the space and
astrochemistry
Institute de Physique et Chemie des Materiaux
IPCMS Strasbourg (3 weeks) parameters of
Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers formed by the
mesogenic derivatives of 4-aminopyridine N-oxide
Institute de Science et dIngenierie
Supramoleculaires ULP Strasbourg (twice 3 weeks)
- synthesis of chiral boronic aminoacids as
inhibitors of proteases to be incorporated in
proteomic profilling using microarrays
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The choice of graduate studies
Extremelly passionate supervisor with very good
experimental skills and strong background in
organic synthesis as well as biology
Interdisciplinary research using fine methods of
organic synthesis to produce objects interacting
with biomolecules and cells
Young and dedicated team
Highly stimulating scientific environment
covering many aspects of molecular sciences
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ISIS institute born of passion
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PhD thesis on total synthesis of
vancomycin (K.C.Nicolaou)
Post-doctoral stay on split-pool methods in
combinatorial chemistry (P.G.Schultz)
Nicolas Winssinger Bioorganic Chemistry
Independent position in ISIS, permanent
professor position in the age of 35
The research project of my PhD is focused on
application of peptidenucleic acids (PNA,
functional analogues of oligonucleotides) for
investigations of proteome profile in cells using
microarrays
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Extensive scientific exchange invited lectures
of the most interesting scientists including
nobel laureates as well as young promissing
researchers
Importance of the cultural issue regular
lectures given by humanistic professors as well
as concerts of classical music
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Conclusions
Constant interactions of academic teachers with
enthusiastic young people is very important.
Direct financial support is less effective than
creating highly stimulating environment to
improve their development.
The existing international student exchange
programs (e.g. Socrates-Erasmus) are usually not
efficient enough for experimental scientific
stays and should be supplemented with additional
small grants fully covering living costs and
transportation for the top scientific projects.
The mobility of graduated students is still
seriously hampered by lack of a unified system of
PhD scholarships