Danny Joubran ‘24, arrived at Smith as an intended English major. Her infatuation with reading and writing notwithstanding, Joubran decided to take CHM 111: Intro to General Chemistry. As expected, taking the class confirmed that a Chemistry major was not for her. However, advised by her chemist father, Joubran enrolled in CHM 222: Intro to Organic Chemistry.
An oxymoronic relationship between theory and practice emerged. Joubran loved the theory so much that there are still mechanisms drawn on the whiteboard in her room and a “100 Best Mechanisms” book rests on her bookshelf. Her favorite reaction? Ozonolysis – the use of ozone to blow up a certain type of chemical bond. And yet, the co-requisite lab for the CHM 222 lecture was a bitter aftertaste to the sweet realm of enticing textbooks. Joubran said she loathed the practical aspect because she “was terrified of everything.” Entering the lab, she worried, “These chemicals could kill me. If I spill this, it could kill me. If I break glass, it could kill me.” Every day Joubran walked into the lab, she told her lab partner “I don’t need this. I’m doing computational chemistry anyways.” She didn’t know much about computational chemistry, but knowing she didn’t have to go into a lab and use chemicals anymore was good enough. By now, Joubran has warmed up to chemicals to the point where she’s in a research lab almost every afternoon — call it an endothermic reaction if you wish.
I first met Joubran and her lab partner Abby Perce ‘24 in the Gorin Lab, run by Professor Dave Gorin. They were working on one of the two projects the lab is researching, focusing on a mechanism that would make drugs more stable and allow them to perform their function for an extended period of time. This could be a major breakthrough in drug efficiency.
Both Perce and Jourbran are STRIDE scholars and have been involved in research on campus since their first year. Perce thought she would be a Biology major, but after conducting research and taking some biology classes, she decided to switch to Chemistry given the compelling quantitative component. According to Joubran, however, Chemistry starts getting less quantitative the more you focus on the organic aspect. When told to do “a little calculation” in her lab book she thinks to herself, “I actually have to plug something into a calculator?” This point calls for a disclaimer — Joubran’s definition of what classifies as “quantitative enough” might be a little different from what you might be thinking, since Joubran is a Chemistry and Engineering double major.
Given the plethora of quantitative tools at a scientist’s disposal, an investigator can testify to the accuracy and precision of their findings as well as to their lack thereof. Lately, the reaction mechanism they are focusing on has been raising difficult questions that have yet to be answered. They view this as an opportunity, not a failure, thanks to Professor Gorin.
Gorin took both chemistry and political science classes as an undergraduate. He ended up pursuing a chemistry degree because he likes the power that comes from what he describes as “I’m going to take an atom and move it from here to there.” There are branches of science studying what exists and there are other branches that look at what could potentially exist and be useful. For him, organic chemistry embodies the spirit of the latter. While his current research focuses on bioorganic chemistry, Professor Gorin studied “nothing biological” from sophomore year of college until his postdoc fellowship 8 years later. “[My] formal background in biology was essentially zero,” Gorin said. He quickly caught up, since a postdoc is about being together with people from a variety of backgrounds and gaining depth or an additional area of specialization. This helped him develop his own unique research program. For the science geeks here, you might also want to know that he took a graduate course with Carolyn Bertozzi who won the Nobel Prize this year for bioorthogonal chemistry. That course is actually the scaffolding of the current elective he teaches here at Smith. If you want to get on his good side during office hours, look into his favorite reaction — the vinylcyclopropane (5+2) cycloaddition.
Both Joubran and Perce said that his positivity and acknowledgement of their capabilities have set the foundation for intellectual growth and trust in the scientific quest, even when faced with adversities. When something doesn’t work out as expected, Perce rants to a friend who doesn’t understand much of the science. A vapid, “oh bummer” tends to remind her it’s not the end of the world for everybody, so why should it be for her? Perce says she hasn’t been carrying the sentiment of failure outside of the lab, other than that one summer working on campus when she kept dreaming at night of successful NMR spectra. Against all odds, chemistry does not cease to permeate both hers and Joubran’s lives. Spoiler alert: it never will, because chemistry is everywhere.
