Graduate Student Highlight: Jacob Piane
Each week, the Department of Chemistry highlights a graduate student who is doing great work in our department. In this installment of our highlight series, we are featuring Jacob (Jake) Piane, who is a fourth year student jointly advised by Assistant Professor of Chemistry Eric Nacsa and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Beth Elacqua.
Jake is currently working on developing catalytic methods to activate C-O bonds of alcohols and acids using electrochemistry.
Outside of the lab, Jake was recently elected as the Chair of Professional Development for the Chemistry Graduate Student Association. He’s also been involved in organizing synthesis club meetings, where Penn State organic chemistry students meet virtually with scientists from GSK on a bimonthly basis to devise routes towards natural products and pharmaceuticals.
Today, we sat down virtually with Jake to discuss his life in and outside of the lab. Please enjoy our interview with Jacob Piane!
Question: How did you get interested in chemistry?
Answer: In my sophomore year of college, after I realized chemical engineering was not the right major for me, I was sort of in a panic, not knowing what I wanted to do. I had switched to chemistry originally as the default fallback. However, once I started taking organic chemistry, I realized that I actually really enjoyed it. Shortly after that, I began conducting research in one of the organic labs on campus and fell in love with the subject.
Q: What inspires you as a scientist?
A: To me, nothing is more rewarding than making a new discovery and contributing something useful to the scientific community. There's so much space for discovery, and that is really exciting to me.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
A: This summer, I have an internship lined up at Merck. I am very excited for this and am very proud of the fact that I was offered this opportunity.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in Bear, Delaware. Delaware is known for its southern beaches, dogfish head beer, and having a 0% sales tax.
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: One of my favorite things to do is explore nature. I've loved hiking since I was very young, and, a few years ago, I started going on backpacking trips with a few friends from back home. I can't wait for the weather to get nicer so I can go on my next trip! Another thing I love to do in my free time is play drums. I got my first drum set in the sixth grade and have been obsessed ever since.
Q: Do you have any pets?
A: I have the best dog ever! His name is Marvin; he is half puggle, half unknown, and has over 1000 followers on Instagram. Maybe you could help him reach 2000 by following him at @life_with_marvin!
Q: What’s your favorite way to spend a day off?
A: Going for a long hike and then coming home and eating large quantities of food sounds pretty ideal to me.
Q: What’s your dream vacation?
A: I've always wanted to go to Italy. Some of my family members still live there and I would love to go and meet them.
Q: If you could have dinner with anybody (living or dead), who would it be and why?
A: I think it would have been really cool to sit down with Keith Moon, the drummer from The Who, while he was still alive. He's one of my all-time favorite drummers, and he seemed like a pretty crazy guy, so that would probably be fun. Un-related to him, but I can never turn down some good barbecue, so regarding what we would eat that's definitely it.
Bonus Question: Do you have any fun science trivia to share?
A: Not sure if this is true, but a professor once told me that chromatography was discovered by a scientist whose wife cut her hand peeling potatoes. The pigments in her blood started to separate as it diffused through the potato. I've never been able to confirm whether or not this is valid, but I like to believe that it's true.
Thanks to Jake for sitting down with us this week! We enjoyed his thoughtful answers. Keep an eye out for more graduate student highlights in the weeks to come!