Dr. Anuja Bharadwaj presents “Analysis of Cannabinoids in Marijuana Products”

Quinnipiac Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society

Seminar Series presents

Dr. Anuja Bharadwaj, Assistant Scientist II

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

“Analysis of Cannabinoids in Marijuana Products”

Wednesday, October 23, 2:00 PM, Buckman Theater

The legalization of marijuana in CT has opened many opportunities in this new field of study so she decided to come home to CAES to develop and validate methods for the analysis of medical and adult-use marijuana products. Currently, her focus area is method development for HPLC-UV for the analysis of cannabinoids.

Dr. Bharadwaj earned her Ph.D. in Biology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, India in 2004.  Before that, she worked in industry as a chemical and microbiological analyst. She conducted chemical, toxicological, and microbiological analyses of various samples such as pesticides, soil, water, cosmetics, food, etc. Coming back to academia, Anuja researched the use of mycorrhiza as a biocontrol agent and biofertilizer. Her post-doctoral work at CAES continued in biocontrol, researching the role of entomopathogenic fungi in the control of black-legged tick, the causal agent of Lyme Disease.  Then she joined the Toxicology Unit of the Chemical Analysis Section of the Forensic Lab of the State as Chemist. Her work involved qualitative and quantitative chemical analyses to determine the identity and concentration of drugs, controlled substances, and alcohol in biological samples such as blood, urine, and other residue samples submitted by law enforcement and the Office of Medical Examiner’s office. She developed expertise in the area of analytical chemistry working on GC-MS, GC-FID, GC-FID-MS, EMIT, ELISA, and LCMS/MS and drug chemistry.  This led to her return to CAES where she has risen to the level of Assistant Scientist II.

Nicole Granucci presents “Looking for a More Accurate Luminosity Indicator for Quasars”

Quinnipiac Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society

Seminar Series presents

 Nicole Granucci, Instructor of Physics at Quinnipiac University

“Looking for a More Accurate Luminosity Indicator for Quasars”

Thursday, October 10, 2:15 PM, Mt Carmel Auditorium (CCE 101)

Quasars (QSOs), known for being exceptionally luminous, have the potential to serve as standard candles if a sufficiently accurate way is found to determine their inherent luminosity. Our research focuses on a selected sample of QSOs within the redshift range of 1.5-1.75 where their ultraviolet light (UV) is significantly redshifted into the optical allowing for ground based observations of the QSO UV emission. We then generate color-magnitude and color-color diagrams using data from the COSMOS 2020 Catalogue to look for correlations that would connect to the QSO’s luminosity. This work aims to enhance cosmological understanding by improving estimates of the universe’s age and size by using QSOs as a distance indicator.

Nicole Granucci received her B.S. in Physics from UCONN, a M.S. in Science Education from the University of New Haven and M.S. in Applied Physics-Optics at Southern Connecticut State University. She has taught both public and private high school physics and astronomy for over 10 years. She came to Quinnipiac as an Adjunct Professor of Physics in 2015 and became a full time Instructor of Physics in Fall 2019. She has worked on several astronomy research projects through NITARP (NASA/IPAC Teacher Achieve Research Program) where she has taken students to the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Meetings to present posters in astronomy research. She is continuously looking for new ways to engage students in authentic astronomy research and traveling to present their research.