Good Chemistry
Kwabena Bediako is serious about chemistry—and about Calvin’s lip syncing contest.
Kwabena is one of the best lip sync contestants on Calvin’s campus—he’s also one of the smartest. Each year Bediako does his karaoke thing in Calvin’s Airband event and performs in Rangeela, an international variety show. But Kwabena also spent two summers researching something called “the spectrophotometry of inorganic complexes in solutions.”
Kwabena is serious about chemistry. He’s a research assistant in Calvin’s chemistry department and spends a lot—but not all—of his time in the laboratory. He takes a variety of classes and says he likes studying different subjects. “We’re taught that every inch of creation belongs to God. Even as a chemistry major, I’ve taken all kinds of classes – psychology, theology, and philosophy - and I found them all very exciting. One hour I’d be writing equations. The next hour I’d be thinking, ‘what is this author trying to say?’”
Kwabena grew up in Ghana and followed his older brother to Calvin. Sitting in on one of his brother’s biochemical engineering classes piqued his interest in chemistry. “I just had this sudden feeling that I was really interested in fundamental research. Calvin professors are outstanding researchers, and they like to mentor their students. I’ve had great opportunities here."
Using cutting-edge scientific technology, Kwabena is working with Prof. Doug VanderGriend on something called “synthesis and UV-vis Spectrophotometric Analysis of Nanoscale Structural Motifs.” He expects that they will present their work at a national conference and publish their findings in a scientific journal. “How many undergraduate students get to do that?”
In addition to the access he has to great classes and professors, Kwabena is happy he can study chemistry in a Christian environment. “It’s great to know that my professors are both Christians and great scientists. They show us how we can be scientists and live deliberately as people of faith.”