Philip Nguyen has been named our second Undergraduate of the Quarter for Fall 2014.  Phillip is originally from Oregon City where he attended Oregon City High School.  He cites his AP Chenistry teacher, Mr. Taylor for his love of Chemistry.  Phillip came to OSU to obtain a Bachelor’s degree and familiarize himself with the campus and surrounding community before continuing on to Pharmacy school.  An after high school job at a Pharmacy made him realize that while he loved the pharmaceutical industry, he’d have a better foundation if he started in Chemistry first, so that’s exactly what he did.

Phillip’s favorite class was CH 361/362: Experimental Chemistry.  He said it was this class where he got his first real hands on experience with chemistry and realized that sometimes, your experiments fail.  He also stated that he really liked how energetic the instructors were about their teaching and how when something did fail, they used it as a lesson for the class.  He has participated in Undergraduate Research for Dr. Paul Cheong since his freshmen year.  He tells his friends that research is like a homework problem that you can’t solve for weeks.  “You go in every single day and you work at it, and work at it, and work at it.  You finally get an answer, then you realixe you did the math wrong, so you go back and keep trying.

Phillip plans on applying to Pharmacy school this summer after graduation.  He says he feels really integrated into the department and it’s someplace he can call home.  We’re proud to have students like Phillip as part of our department.