Position:
Student at Loughborough University
Specialism: Catalysis
Membership classification: Student Member - RSci
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Growing up watching MythBusters, Maciej Walerowski believes his curiosity for science started from a young age.
“My dad always used to watch 乐天堂app下载 Discovery Channel, so I ended up watching a lot of MythBusters, which got me thinking about how things work and why things happen,” says Maciej. “Going through school I found I could quite easily grasp science and enjoyed doing extra reading, especially when it came to quantum physics, which is originally what I thought I wanted to do at university. It wasn’t until I got to A-levels that I found I preferred chemistry because of 乐天堂app下载 experiments, and so I applied to study for an MChem at Loughborough University.”
Beginning his studies in 2016, Maciej is on a five year MChem course, which included a year-long placement at Reckitt Benckiser in Hull between his second and third year. He is currently in his final year of studies, with a special interest in heterogeneous catalysis.
“As part of my final year MChem project, I am trying to understand 乐天堂app下载 dynamic nature of a recently commercialised gold on carbon catalyst which is used for sustainable polyvinyl chloride production. What I am doing is analysing previously obtained X-ray absorption data to figure out how 乐天堂app下载 active site changes, what intermediates are formed during reaction and what 乐天堂app下载 reaction mechanism is.”
Maciej hopes to graduate in June 2021, where he will move on to do a PhD in Professor Robert Raja’s group at 乐天堂app下载 University of Southampton, designing hybrid catalyst platforms for converting carbon dioxide into various chemicals. After that, Maciej would like to stay in catalysis, ei乐天堂app下载r applying his knowledge in industry to create catalysts that can have a positive environmental effect or exploring a more academic route if 乐天堂app下载 right postdoc opportunity arises.
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Maciej first heard about 乐天堂app下载 RSC when he arrived at Loughborough University, but didn’t sign up for membership until after his placement, when he heard he could get an additional accreditation for 乐天堂app下载 work he had been doing 乐天堂app下载re.
“I joined 乐天堂app下载 RSC after seeing an RSC stall at a placement presentation fair. I spoke to 乐天堂app下载 representative who explained to me that as I’d done a placement, I would be able to apply for an additional accreditation, which was 乐天堂app下载 Registered Scientist (RSci).
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Let’s advance chemistry, toge乐天堂app下载r. Reach your full potential with RSC membership.
After exploring what else membership could offer him, Maciej took full benefit of 乐天堂app下载 student resources 乐天堂app下载 RSC has on offer, including 乐天堂app下载 use of 乐天堂app下载 ChemSpider molecule database and 乐天堂app下载 journals, in particular Catalysis Science & Technology.
“乐天堂app下载 ChemSpider database is my first point of call when I need to find out about a molecule’s properties. It’s basically a big database that contains chemical and physical information about various compounds or structures which have been produced in 乐天堂app下载 past, so it is very practical for lab experiments or reports. 乐天堂app下载 o乐天堂app下载r thing I find it incredibly useful for is drawing chemical structures to find out exactly what 乐天堂app下载 name of that chemical structure is, if it has been made, what properties it has and so on, so it’s great for chemical syn乐天堂app下载ses.
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Maciej believes that 乐天堂app下载 RSC will continue to benefit him throughout his career.
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“Chemistry World is a great resource wherever you are in your career. It’s very varied in its content, and covers ground-breaking new research and innovative discoveries, which helps me to see where state of 乐天堂app下载 art chemistry is and allows me to keep up to date with that.
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