BELTON, Texas—The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s (UMHB) chemistry department recently received a $40,000 grant from the Robert A. Welch Foundation of Houston. This grant will fund student chemistry research for the 2025-2026 academic year. It will also facilitate student research scholarships, conference travel, publications, and new equipment.
"This is a highly significant achievement for our department, and one that will truly benefit our students. Thanks to this grant, they will learn to study chemistry through hands-on chemical research with some of the most state-of-the-art equipment available today," said Dr. Ruth Ann Murphy, UMHB chemistry professor.
During the 2024-2025 academic year, eight UMHB chemistry students received chemical research scholarships from the Welch Foundation's three-year grant to UMHB. They are Amber Dickey from Frisco, Texas, Jordana Discher from Plano, Texas, Courtney Glaster from Humble, Texas, Constantinos Loullis from Salado, Texas, Morgan McMullen from Niederwald, Texas, Shane Melick from Oro Valley, Arizona, Camille Ornelas from Weslaco, Texas, and Lyndsey Schwope from Marble Falls, Texas. Their research topics included studies of the chlorophyll content of spinach, improved antimicrobial disinfectants, the blood-coagulating properties of Capsella bursa-pastoris extracts, the ethanol content of Central Texas gasoline samples, extraction of collagen from shrimp shells for medical purposes, the viscosities of saccharides with applications to cardiovascular disease, the viscosities of flavorings for pharmaceuticals, and the chemistry of baseballs.
To learn more about UMHB’s chemistry department, visit Chemistry | Chemistry major | Chemistry degree | UMHB.
