Charles E. Schmidt College of Sciencechemistryundergraduatestudent Celina Detwiler Gray’s image of donut-shaped SrSO4 crystals was featured on the cover of thehighly rankedjournal, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (Oct. 14, 2025). Herpeer-reviewed publication, “Engineering Curved Strontium Sulfate Crystals through Biomimetic Crystallization,” also appeared in the issue.While the mineral strontium sulfateusually formsedgy,tabular crystalsin sedimentary rocks, theFlorida Atlanticresearchers engineereddoughnut-shaped crystalsby incorporating the peptidepolyglutamic acid.In doing so, theymimicked the crystallization of skeletal elements in manylivingorganisms.

This study was developed in the Bioinorganic Materials Lab run by Vivian Merk, Ph.D., correspondingauthor and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistryinthe Schmidt College of Science,and theDepartment of Ocean and Mechanical Engineeringin the College of Engineering and Computer Science. The researchhighlightsthe importance ofnanoscale molecular interactions between growing crystals and charged polyelectrolytes, which are crucial to understanding the self-assembly of hierarchical organic–inorganic superstructures.Earth alkaline minerals beartechnological potential in the field of optoelectronics,such ascurvedwaveguides.

While Gray is thefirstauthor of the paper, other studentsfrom Merk’s lab served asco-authors:Alejandra Coronel-Zegarra, a chemistryPh.D.student, Andrienne Martin, a recentM.S.biomedical engineeringgraduate, and Oliver Wang, a summer intern.

“Celinavolunteeredin my laboratory for two years as adual-enrolled太阳城娱乐 HighSchool andundergraduate studentmajoring in chemistry,” said Merk.“I am proud ofheraccomplishments in undergraduate research.Herdedicationand passion for science haveled to this outstanding achievement.”

This publication arose from a collaboration with the University of Alabama,the Center for Nanophase Materials Science atOak Ridge NationalLaboratory and the Diamond Light Source synchrotron in the United Kingdom.