Biosketch for David Schnepple

David happy in his glovebox.

Background

David is a recent graduate of the University of Hawaii at Hilo, having finished his bachelor’s degree in chemistry with an emphasis on health science.   In the past he was a member of the UHH Chemistry Society (student affiliate of the American Chemical Society), worked at the campus Mo’okini library circulation desk for several years, and has helped to sponsor open-air panel discussions on topics such as extraterrestrial life. Currently he lectures for the University, and is the youngest individual yet hired by the UHH Chemistry Department.

This semester (spring 2000), David is teaching just one course, Chemistry 141 -- Fundamentals of Organic and Biological Chemistry.

David's short term goal is to enter either a medical scientist program (dual degree, MD-PhD) or a straight doctoral program focusing on whatever interface of neuroscience, immunology, endcrinology, and nuclear chemistry he can manage.

In the past, David has pursued diverse research interests and projects, some of which include:  electromedicine, plutonium chemistry, sonoluminescence, extraction of essential oils and the bioactivity of terpenoids, and neurochemistry.  For a link to some information on David's first summer project with plutonium, click the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute for Transactinium Science icon below.

Just so you know...the link above will bring you to David's summer 1998 research project.  This centered around plutonium chemistry, focusing on plutonium purification and separation methods as well as the production of specific isolated oxidation states.  This research opportunity allowed him to work with plutonium in a glove box and to gain experience using several spectroscopic techniques, such as alpha scintillation counting, direct alpha spectrometry using a solid-state detector, gamma spectroscopy, and absorption spectroscopy of plutonium solutions.  The primary objective was the preparation of pure plutonium in the +5 oxidation state.  This was accomplished by first removing americium (a decay-product contaminant) from the sample, before manipulating the oxidation state of the plutonium using a three-electrode cell.  Products from this research will be used by other scientists to study the behavior of plutonium as it applies to nuclear storage and waste repositories (i.e., Yucca Mountain, WIPP). David’s mentor for this project was Dr. Kevin Roberts of the Chemistry & Materials Science Directorate, Nuclear Chemistry Division.

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