Teresa Ambrosio, Sustainable Chemist

This week we wanted to highlight Teresa Ambrosio is a Ph.D. candidate in the final year of her program in sustainable chemistry. Prior to this, she graduated cum laude from La Sapienza, the University of Rome in 2014. We met Teresa via Twitter and were impressed by both the work she is doing for her Ph.D. project and also by the many other initiatives she has taken on within the scientific community. Read on to learn more about this inspiring scientist.

Teresa’s current research is based on C-H activations and how to develop more sustainable chemical reactions. To design her study, she attempted to replicate reactions as they occur in nature in the chemistry lab.

She also previously ran the website PhDtoSuccess, which was a place for people to learn how to be successful in grad school. She wants every grad school student to feel successful, no matter how they may define success.

Additionally, Teresa is very active in science communication because she believes that scientists have a responsibility to engage the general public in research work by explaining it to them. She has participated in and organized a variety of STEM outreach events, including the Pint of Science Festival. At this event, she served as the host and discussed climate change and global warming by explaining how carbon dioxide emissions are endangering marine life. The theme of the event was planet earth and one of the demonstrations Teresa ran used dry ice and water to show how ocean acidification works. Bringing information like this to the public is important because, as Teresa asks, “what’s the point of contributing to scientific progress if this knowledge doesn’t go beyond the wall of the ivory tower?” If a wider audience has knowledge of scientific concepts it will be helpful in shaping policy and enacting change.

Teresa also runs a Youtube channel where she discusses her research and dives into detail about the periodic table. On her Instagram page, she is active and shares everyday photos of her research and her lab work.

Finally, Teresa is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in science. Through her social media channels, she is not afraid to address important issues such as encouraging more women and girls to pursue careers in STEM and the lack of diversity overall in this discipline. Teresa believes that STEM belongs to everyone and tries to forward this message.

We really admire all of the work Teresa is doing for the world of science and wish her the best as she completes her Ph.D. project. If you want to stay connected with her, you can follow her on Twitter and check out her website. Do you have a cool science project or initiative you want to feature on the blog? Let us know on Twitter, @Conserisapp.

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