South African student gets critical lab experience at JMU
Eating at Mexican restaurants and going to a swimming pool
were among the new experiences for a South African college student who spent much
of June and July studying chemistry at JMU.
Sebenzile Shabalala, a third-year chemistry major at the
University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, also took short trips to
Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York City during her six-week visit. And while
she will never forget the new experiences she had on her first-ever trip
outside her province, the opportunity to do research will be the most valuable,
she said.
"I have never gotten this chance before. I've never
been in a research lab so it's helping a lot," said Shabalala.
Shabalala returned to South Africa on July 20 to begin the
second half of her third year, which started July 23. She hopes her academic
performance will earn her a fourth year, called an honors year. Students from
around the country can apply for the fourth year and just 20 students will be
selected in her program. Unlike at JMU, undergraduates in South Africa do not
do research unless they are accepted into the honors year. The "lab"
experiences up to that point involve solving problems with known outcomes.
"They call laboratories practicals," said JMU
chemistry Professor Brian Augustine, who sponsored Shabalala's visit.
"They give you a prac manual and say, 'Here, mix two grams of this and 22
grams of this and wait for five minutes. It's like a cookbook. Everything's all
worked out. There are very few unknowns to it."
Augustine received a Fulbright scholarship to teach entry-level
nanoscience at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2009. Shabalala is the second
South African student he has brought to JMU to get research experience. The
first student, Vezekile Zungu, came in summer 2010 and is now working on a
master's degree in South Africa.
Shabalala, who wants to earn a doctorate and then teach or
do research, worked with two JMU students — chemistry major Skylar White and
physics major Ethan Cummings — exploring crystallization of nanocomposite polymeric
materials. Using an atomic force microscope, the team was able to monitor the
crystallization in real-time as the polymer was crystallizing.
The goal, Augustine said, is to understand why the material
crystallizes the way it does. More and more, industries are starting to mix
nanometer-scale materials into traditional polymers to change their properties.
The changes can make materials stronger, more fire resistant or even improve
optical properties.
"Because this hasn't been done for a long time, there's
little understanding of how the structure of the polymer changes when you start
adding these nanocomposite materials," Augustine said. "Our work
isn't for a specific application, it's more fundamental. I think the thing
we're doing that's the most interesting is studying it in real-time. We can
actually watch the phenomena occurring."
With the experience she gained at JMU, Shabalala is now part of a small group of South Africans who
can use an atomic force microscope, Augustine said. She also received valuable
experience characterizing materials.
One of the first things Shabalala learned was that research
does not always go as planned. It took about a week to get the experiments working
properly. In the end, she was able to see the crystallization phenomena.
"She did a great job," Augustine said. "We
had a problem that we had been wrestling with for a while and she helped solve
the problem. As a scientist, that is an important skill to know."
Shabalala's final task was to create a poster that can be
used for presenting the research, also something she did for the first time. Shabalala
said she plans to present the poster at her university. It will also be
presented by one of her research partners at the annual Research Experiences for
Undergraduates Symposium on Aug. 2 and 3.
Augustine hopes he can help more South African students
improve their chances to continue their higher education in a country that
still faces hardships recovering from nearly 40 years of apartheid policies.
Funding is the main obstacle. He is working with corporate and higher education
contacts in South Africa in hopes of bolstering the program.
Related Story: JMU research opportunity in 2010 remains invaluable
Published July 31, 2012
By Eric Gorton, Public Affairs
