Welcome and disclaimer

Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Mark Kozlowski and I am a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (Class of 2012). I majored in chemistry and economics, and my ultimate goal is a PhD in the former subject. This coming year, I will be in Poland on a Fulbright Fellowship at the Politechnika Krakowska in Krakow, Poland, and hope to tell you a little bit about it. But first, some housekeeping:

All the content and opinions expressed in this blog, including but not limited to posts and photographs are solely my own. They are not in any way official, and do not represent in any way the opinions or policy of the Fulbright Program, the United States Department of State, the Institute for International Education, the U.S.-Polish Fulbright Commission or the Politechnika Krakowska. I do not, nor do I claim to, speak for anyone except myself. Any government types on either side of the Atlantic (or, I suppose, any stray irritated Fijian, Seychellois or Maldivian bureaucrats) who feel that this is not a sufficient disclaimer are advised to contact me immediately.  

With that over, a few details about my project. I will be working in the group of Prof. Krystyna Wieczorek-Ciurowa, with a general research interest in aspects of ball milling. In effect, solid chemicals are placed in a coffee can that is full of ball-bearings. The whole apparatus is spun or otherwise agitated, which has the effect of crushing the various reagents together. Because the chemistry is done in the solid state, this has the advantage of obviating the need for organic solvent, which is good because things like benzene, DMF and hexanes are all things that you don't want to drink. The environmental impact of ball-milling is thus potentially less than of methods that require solvent. While ball-milling is kind of an old-school technique, it has the advantage of being reliable and time-honored.

My arrival in Poland is an adventure all in itself, to be discussed in the next post. Stay tuned!