Aisha Bismillah

All Disciplines Award, Dartmouth College - Organic Chemistry

I am recent PhD graduate from the Department of Chemistry at Durham University. During my PhD, I conducted research on fluxional carbon cages and their “shapeshifting” properties, which have the potential to meet some of the longstanding challenges in chemical sciences such as drug discovery and I have accrued several awards, grants and scholarships while making a positive contribution to the community through outreach events, tutoring and volunteering. My ambition is to use chemical science to tackle the longstanding challenges we face as a society while having academic knowledge which can be applied to the up-and-coming generation of scientists. 

During my Fulbright project and working with Prof. Ivan Aprahamian, I hope to investigate and create artificial chemical negative loops which have the several applications such as lowering blood sugar levels for people with diabetes. I am excited to work alongside the talented scientists at Dartmouth while creating outreach events for children and young people who are interested in STEM. In my time outside the laboratory, I plan to hike the great American outdoors while immersing myself in the New Hampshire way of life.