Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College graduate Angel Gibbons recently received an award from the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Gibbons, a 2021 ABAC graduate, was honored for research she is conducting while pursuing her doctorate degree in Chemistry at Auburn University.

“My research work is on determining the physicochemical properties of human respiratory aerosols,” Gibbons said. “I use fluorescence probe spectroscopy to analyze the phase state, pH, and viscosity of submicron model respiratory aerosol particles. Changes in these properties can impact the viability of viruses contained in the particles. Developing an understanding of how different factors influence these properties can be helpful to develop strategies to mitigate virus transmission.”

She said that her research is aimed towards developing a knowledge base of changes in the physicochemical properties of the particles at different RH, such as changes in pH, viscosity, and phase state, which can affect the viability of viruses contained in the particles, can help develop strategies to lessen disease transmission.

ABAC professor Dr. Kennon Deal, Associate Professor of Chemistry, said that he is quite proud of his former student. Gibbons took Deal for biochemistry and quantitative and instrumental chemistry.

“She started working on this project and kind of took it by the horns and made it her own,” he said. “She came up with some of her own ideas for it and applied to the NSF based on some of her research and they awarded her funds to continue the process, which pays for her research.”

Deal said that Gibbons has always been a very intelligent, driven person.

“She always wanted to be challenged,” he said. “She always wanted to be given harder questions, and if you didn’t give her the answer she wanted or it didn’t make her happy, she would come and hound me for other answers and explanations and whatnot. That carried over into her being a good research scientist.”

Deal said that Gibbons also recently published some of her research in a scientific journal.

“That’s a credit to her and to ABAC,” he said. “And it’s a credit to our biology program, which is high level and is turning out great students doing wonderful things.”