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Presentations

Food For Thought: Xiao Su and Teresa Cardador

Monday, March 25th, 2024
Xiao Su
M. Teresa Cardador
11:00am-1:00pm

Levis Faculty Center, Room 210
919 W. Illinois St
Urbana

Event Description

11:00am, Xiao Su, Electrochemically-Mediated Enantioselective Interaction through Chiral Redox Metallopolymers

Chirality plays a critical role in various industrial domains, such as molecular recognition, asymmetric catalysis and chiral purification. Thus, constructing and leveraging precise chiral structures for enantioselective interaction can benefit healthcare, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. In this research, we successively synthesized two types of chiral metallopolymers containing point chirality and planar chirality, respectively. Enhanced recognition was also observed in comparison with their monomer precursors, and the affinities toward analyte enantiomers were flipped when tested over their four enantiomeric and diastereomeric stereoisomers, respectively. Further investigations on solvent polarity, supporting electrolyte and pH effect revealed that the enantioselective interaction between the chiral polymer and analyte is influenced by the competition between π-π interaction, hydrogen bonding and steric effect. Our results demonstrate the potential of adopting chiral redox-metallopolymers in electrochemically mediated platforms for enantioselective sensing and separation.

Noon, Teresa Cardador, Associative Status Elevation Dynamics between Women in Lower and Higher Status Occupations

An extensive literature on gender status inequality in the workplace shows how such inequality disadvantages women, particularly high-status women. While important, this focus has shed limited light on the experiences of lower occupational status women. For these women, a novel challenge is attaining status in occupations where they must simultaneously navigate two institutional hierarchies linked to lower status—gender and occupation. Drawing from interviews with 42 nurses, this study presents a model illustrating what the authors refer to as “associative status elevation” dynamics between low and high occupational status women. The model highlights how organizational and occupational systems characterized by high gender and occupational status inequality set the stage for low-status women’s need for status elevation and explains how such need shapes low-status women’s interactions with high-status actors, particularly high-status women. The findings shed new light on gender dynamics in the workplace, reveal a novel explanation for tensions and expectations between women collaborating across occupations, and suggest new avenues for research at the intersection of gender and occupational status inequality in the workplace.

Xiao Su

CAS Beckman Fellow 2022-23
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

M. Teresa Cardador

CAS Associate 2022-23
Labor & Employment Relations