Chasity
Love, a graduate of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East
St. Louis Charter High School, is working hard to earn her
doctorate at at
Purdue University so that she
can educate, enlighten and encourage young people.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I plan to get my Ph.D. in analytical chemistry in December 2013 or May 2014,” Love said. “After working in the industry or government for some years, I eventually want to go overseas and teach. I want to help motivate young people and speak positivity into their lives like educators and mentors did for me.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Love, a native of East St. Louis, graduated as valedictorian in 2005 from the SIUE Charter High School. “The Charter School staff was awesome,” she said. “They encouraged me to aim higher than I was aiming. And they continued to tell me that no matter where I came from I was a bright student with an even brighter future.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Love enrolled at SIU Carbondale in fall 2005. She graduated cum laude with a 3.68 grade point average, earning a bachelor of science in chemistry with a specialization in forensic chemistry.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>While at SIUC, Love received a host of awards and departmental scholarships, presented her academic research at several national and regional conferences, published a peer-review journal article and was the recipient of several research grants. She is a McNair Scholar and has received the Illinois Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (research assistantship, SIUC Research-Enriched Academic Challenge research assistantship, and a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduate internship. “I have always loved math and science,” she said. “Those subjects came easy to me because I like to solve problems and explore.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>While at the Charter High School, Love also was a student in one of the SIUE East St. Louis Center’s after-school Upward Bound Programs. Upward Bound is a college preparatory program that prepares students for post-secondary education and works to motivate their exploration of mathematics, science and related education.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> The program is critical to encourage and better equip African-American students to pursue the math and science fields, Love said, adding that she was thrilled to learn about a recent $1 million gift to SIUE to build the East St. Louis 21st Century STEM Learning Center at the Charter High School. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> “If I had to give the Charter High School any advice, it would have been to invest in providing students with more exposure to the various areas of science and to expand the level of mathematics teaching,” said Love, who is vice president of the student chapter of the National Association for Professional Advancement of Black Chemist and Chemical Engineers. “I felt a little behind when I got to SIUC.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> It was both exciting and challenging to be one of the few African American students in the chemistry department at SIUC, Love said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> “During the second semester of my undergraduate experience, my professor let me teach class three times,” Love said. “I was very nervous, but she always told me that I could do it because I worked hard.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> This same instructor was so impressed with Love’s ability that she allowed Love to teach her class the following year when she went on vacation.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> After graduating from SIUC in 2009, later that year Love entered a Ph.D. chemistry program at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> Love continued, “Who wouldn’t want to be called Dr. Love? And I knew by getting my Ph.D., it would afford me more opportunities and more knowledge in my field.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> Love has a teaching assistantship and a research assistantship at Purdue. Immediately upon receiving her doctorate from Purdue, Love said she would like to work in forensics research. She previously interned with the Illinois State Police Forensics Lab in Carbondale.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> “I find forensics intriguing because what is blind to the human eye is visible using many types of science instrumentation,” Love said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> Currently, Love is working with Agape Village of Hope International in a STEM book drive for Ghana, West Africa. The effort, which lasts until May 2012, hopes to collect at least 1,000 books that will be donated to two senior high schools. For more information visit www.avohi.org.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;”> “I want to do so many things, and one is to apply for grants to help support the technology development and advancement of STEM subjects being taught in many countries in Africa,” Love said. “I know I have to start small, but there is no limit to what a determined mind can do.”
