Sara López Resano, PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Feliu Maseras and Prof. Mónica H. Pérez-Termpano, has defended her thesis entitled “Uncovering the Mechanistic Scenarios of Nucleophilic Couplings in Cp*Co Systems”, publicly on July 27th.
The members of the evaluation committee were Prof. Peter Chen (ETH Zürich, Switzerland), Prof. Alba Collado Martínez (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) and Prof. Stuart A. Macgregor (Heriott-Watt University, United Kingdom).
Dr. Sara López Resano was born in Ayegui, Navarra (Spain). She studied Chemistry at Universidad del País Vasco (UPV-EHU) in San Sebastian (2011-2015). During the bachelor, she enjoyed a year abroad in Oulu (Finland). After that, she pursued a MSC of Chemistry at Aarhus University in Denmark (2015-2017). Sara enjoys practising different activities such as climbing, skiing, hiking, swimming, practicing yoga, and dancing. Additionally, she loves attending concerts and listening to live music.
Why did you become a scientist?
In high school I felt like science was an easy subject, I enjoyed studying for it and doing the exercises was like doing puzzles.
I became a Chemist because one of my teachers explained to me Quantum Chemistry, how all the things are mostly composed by vacuum. I was fascinated and wanted to know more about how the world is made.
What do you want to achieve as a scientist?
I have always cared about the environment, so when I started, I wanted to save the world. Now, I am not sure… I want to build on knowledge and communicate it to people.
What is your thesis about?
My thesis is about mechanism studies on cobalt chemistry, using experiments and computational tools to understand them, improve and find ways to make other molecules that have not been done before in this way.
What triggered your interest for the subject of your thesis?
I have always liked mechanistic studies to better understand things.
What applications can your thesis have in the future?
It is a starting potin that can open the door to new chemistry with Cp*Co systems.
The thing that I like most about my thesis is….
Working with so many people and learning so much from them.
From the lessons learnt (or skills developed) at ICIQ, which one do you value the most?
Critical thinking and being a mentor.
What ICIQ moment you will never forget?
All the calçotadas, the lunchtimes, the PhD days, the coffee times…
What advice do you have for someone who’s starting their PhD now?
There will be hard moments in your PhD, not everything will go as you expected or planned, but don’t worry there are people to help you and in the end, everything will be fixed. So, if you feel lost ask for help!! Everyone will be happy to help you, you are not bothering them, is also their job to help you.
Chemistry/Science is fun because…
It’s super creative, you do things nobody has done before, you work with a lot of people, you travel a lot…
If you were a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?
I would be a spatula because is something you do not pay too much attention to it but it makes your life much easier, you can be more precise and you can always find one when you need it.
