Leticia Bodo - Chemistry Specialist student

At CIC Annual Career Fair, besides connecting with company representatives, it is also a perfect opportunity to meet new people and connect with your peers within the GTA chemical community, such as Leticia Bodo.

Leticia is currently in her final year as an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, enrolling in the Chemistry Specialist program. As of May 2022, she started working for the Aspuru-Guzik group as a student researcher/ research assistant. Besides that, Leticia also enriched her undergrad experiences by volunteering with the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering Discovery Program at U of T. Check out the interview to learn more about Leticia, her exciting journey and excellent skillset!

Why did you decide to enroll in the Chemistry Specialist program at the University of Toronto? 🧪

When I started university, I was not considering going into chemistry. But after completing my first year, I came to the realization that I enjoyed lab work and the content taught in the introductory chemistry courses. This prompted my decision to become a Chemistry major and an Earth and Environmental Systems Major instead of enrolling in the Geology specialist program which is what I first intended to do. The more chemistry courses I took, the more I wanted to pursue chemistry. The University of Toronto has an excellent chemistry department. Lots of events and opportunities for undergraduate students. Moreover, laboratory courses were very well thought out, organized, well equipped, and you got the chance to synthesize a plethora of compounds with varying properties! Hence, I did not have to think twice about enrolling in the Chemistry Specialist program once I got to the end of my second year.

What is it like working as a student researcher in the Aspuru-Guzik group, and what skillset have you acquired from this experience?🔬

Working as a student researcher in the Aspuru-Guzik group was a valuable experience for which I am grateful. I learned useful organic synthesis techniques, received training on how to operate an HPLC-MS, got the chance to run NMR samples in the CSICOMP (The Centre for Spectroscopic Investigation of Complex Organic Molecules and Polymers) NMR Facility and learned how to process the obtained FID in MestReNova. Not to mention, the Matter Lab is composed of an amazing group of knowledgeable graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from whom I learned a lot from.

What’s one thing you’re working on now that you’re particularly excited about?✨

I am excited about the project I am working on this year at the Wheeler Microfluidics Laboratory through the undergraduate research course at the University of Toronto, CHM499Y. The goal of the project is to automate the processing of sexual assault samples on a digital microfluidic device. This project is in collaboration with ANDE and the Ontario Centre of Forensic Sciences.

In your opinion, what are some of your greatest strengths?🧠

Choosing to go into science inadvertently allowed me to become more resilient, gain critical thinking and analytical skills. When conducting research, unprecedented events/results arise frequently. Reflecting on what went wrong, producing new ways to combat the problem at hand and attempting to make progress despite setbacks has been a workflow I have come to know well.

As you head to your final year, what are your plans and goals after graduation? 🗒️

My plan after graduation is yet to be finalized. I hope to work in industry after graduating in April 2023 and/or pursue a graduate studies