Pinhead Punk Science features cool chemist

03 Aug Pinhead Punk Science features cool chemist

[click “Play” to listen to Susan’s interview with Susan De Sensi]

On Tuesday, August 4, 5 – 6 p.m., Telluride’s Pinhead Institute presents Mysterious Mixtures & Strange Solutions at the Telluride Conference Center, featuring one very cool chemist, Dr. Susan De Sensi. The lecture is part of Pinhead’s ongoing Punk Science series.

In pop culture, chemistry is what happens – or not – when boy meets girl. Susan De Sensi is not talking about that kind of interaction. Her interest is the way substances change and interact with one another and the energy flows that result when these changes take place. Then again…

De Sensi’s love of chemistry was ignited in high school, in part because the teacher at her all-girls school was “male and cute.” Chemistry aside, she also realized the guy also knew how to make chemistry fun, interesting, and challenging. She was hooked.

At grad school at Vanderbilt University, De Sensi studied computational chemistry, or the interactions between proteins using 3D computer models. Currently, she is a postdoctoral faculty fellow at Boston University, where she teaches a course in biochemistry and uses computational chemistry methods to study the aggregation of proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Science outreach is another of De Sensi’s passions. She founded the Boston University Chemistry Outreach Program, focused on enhancing high school chemistry curricula. Her hope is to promote scientific reasoning and inspire innovation, valuable problem-solving tools regardless of career goals.

Susan De Sensi and Pinhead share at least one goal: making science accessible to all.
She arrives in Telluride with a suitcase full of exciting chemistry demonstrations and lessons for kids of all ages.