When Allegra Liberman-Martin ’10 first enrolled at Scripps, she planned to double major in philosophy and linguistics. She decided to take general chemistry to fulfill her breadth requirement in science. Then she took another chemistry course, and, by the time she was immersed in organic chemistry her sophomore year, she knew she’d stumbled upon her passion.
“I picked the chemistry major,” Allegra explains, “because I really enjoyed how the problems in organic chemistry were like an intricate puzzle.”
For her thesis research, Allegra is working with Professor B. Scott Williams on carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions using platinum complexes. Ultimately, she hopes that her research will lead to a better understanding of what metals can do and may ultimately result in valuable new technologies.
“Allegra is the consummate scientist,” says Professor Williams. “She is a brilliant, integrative thinker who can simultaneously think about what glassware she needs to clean for tomorrow and how her latest result fits in with the work of other researchers around the world. On top of that, she is a polymath who can discuss literature, economics, sociology, history, and mathematics. Allegra is a scholar in every sense of the word.”
In fact, although Allegra claims to have loved all of her chemistry classes, her fondest academic memories are of her Core courses.” I remember having lots of heated lunchtime discussions with friends right after the Core I lectures during my first semester at Scripps. A memory I particularly cherish was visiting the rare books room in Honnold-Mudd library with my Core III class, which was all about the French Enlightenment. It was great having a chance to look at an original edition of the French Encyclopedia after discussing it in class!”
Looking forward to beginning a Ph.D. program in chemistry at UC Berkeley in the fall, Allegra is eager to present the results of her research to the broader Scripps community on Capstone Day. “But more than my own presentation,” she adds, “I’m excited to have a chance to learn about other Scripps students’ thesis research. I rarely get to attend anything but chemistry lectures, so it’ll be really fun to hear about a whole range of topics from my peers.”