Rising Senior Eli Williams Lands Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship

Eli Williams of Mountain Top, Pa., a senior chemistry major at McDaniel College, has been awarded a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). Williams is spending 11 weeks this summer at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research in Rockville, Md., working alongside chemists Dr. Jeffrey Hudgens, Dr. Ioannis Karageorgos, and Dr. Kyle Anderson in the biomolecular measurement division conducting research on the dynamical structure of proteins and glycoproteins. Williams is a member of the college’s Honors program and Green Terror Programs. He has served as vice president of the Gamma Sigma Epsilon national chemistry honor society and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society.

McDANIEL COLLEGE RISING SENIOR ELI WILLIAMS LANDS SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Williams of Mountain Top, Pa., was awarded the fellowship by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and will be working at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research in Rockville, Md.

WESTMINSTER, Md. – Eli Williams of Mountain Top, Pa., a rising senior chemistry major at McDaniel College, has been awarded a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF).

Williams is spending 11 weeks this summer at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research in Rockville, Md. He is working alongside chemists Dr. Jeffrey Hudgens, Dr. Ioannis Karageorgos, and Dr. Kyle Anderson in the biomolecular measurement division conducting research on the dynamical structure of proteins and glycoproteins. The main instrumental tool is hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) and the main goal of the project is to optimize the parameters necessary to collect reference quality HDX-MS data for the NISTmAb reference material (antibodies).

A Dorsey Scholar, the highest academic honor at McDaniel College, Williams is a member of the college’s Honors program and Green Terror Programs. He has served as vice president of the Gamma Sigma Epsilon national chemistry honor society and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society.

He has also completed undergraduate research and presented his research findings at the American Chemical Society conference on March 18, 2018, in New Orleans.

The NIST-SURF fellowship program is designed to inspire undergraduate students majoring in science, mathematics and engineering to pursue Ph.D.s and/or careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) by providing students with the opportunity to conduct research alongside a NIST scientist or engineer. NIST is one of the world’s leading research organizations and home to four Nobel Prize winners. Approximately 150 undergraduate students from across the United States are selected for NIST-SURF fellowships each year.

Visit www.mcdaniel.edu for more information about McDaniel College.