Ashita Bhatnagar ’18, one of the more than 700 international students at Valpo, has immersed herself in the community both inside and outside the classroom. As a Christ College — The Honors College student and biology and psychology major with her eyes set on chemistry as a third major, Ashita is fully engaged academically with hopes to attend medical school upon graduation.
In summer 2016, Ashita engaged in a 10-week research experience in the chemistry department. Working alongside fellow students and faculty advisor Thomas Goyne, the research team sought to chemically synthesize a fluorescent amino acid. The goal is to understand how a protein works in a living cell. Ashita is one of an elite few who have worked with the Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography Instrument, which is used to analyze the products of the synthesis process.