Research & Development

R&D or research & development is the investigative activities that a business chooses to conduct with the intention of making a discovery that can either lead to the development of new products or procedures, or to improvement of existing products or procedures. Research and development is one of the means by which business can experience future growth by developing new products or processes to improve and expand their operations.

Name: Caitlin Tovar

Assisted By: Alan Lopez

Institute: Texas A&M University Kingsville - Chemistry Department

Topic: Polymer Research

Date: Summer 2015

Description: “Research done with a professor in a lab is a lot like organic chemistry lab but on a whole other level. I used chromatography, NMR and IR spectroscopy, ring opening metathesis polymerization, and other processes to develop dendrimers. I mainly worked alone with guidance from my professor or graduate students when needed. I made calculations to figure out my yields and how much of each starting material was needed. At the end of the summer, I presented my research in the National ACS Convention in Boston.”