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Eva Keohane 鈥�21 is proof that, in life, plans are important, but so is flexibility and being open to new experiences. When Eva arrived on the Le Moyne campus in the fall of 2017, she envisioned studying biology and eventually becoming a physician assistant. Then she took her first college-level chemistry class. There was something about the discipline, and its ubiquitous presence in our daily lives, that spoke to her. She would turn to her chemistry assignments before any of her other work, eager to discover more about how substances combine with other substances and how they interact with energy. In short, she鈥檇 found her calling.

This fall Keohane will head to Colorado State University, where she will pursue a doctorate in chemistry with the long-term goal of becoming an educator and researcher. She had already gained experience in the latter, working in the lab of Associate Professor of Chemistry Anna O鈥橞rien, Ph.D. Keohane is continuing the study of聽a nitrogen-based ligand system that utilizes alkaline earth metals as metal organic chemical vapor deposition precursors for the formation of electronic thin films.聽These films are typically found on microchips that are used for memory storage and are becoming increasingly common. Her research聽is part of a larger project that is being spearheaded by O鈥橞rien and Karin Ruhlandt of Syracuse University.

鈥淚 love that the work we are doing is a continuation of an ongoing project,鈥� Keohane said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a reminder that in research progress is measured not in weeks or even months but years. I look forward to checking back in five years to see what further progress has been made.鈥�

Keohane鈥檚 work would not have been possible without the support of the Clare Boothe Luce Research Program at Le Moyne. Named for playwright, journalist, U.S. ambassador to Italy and first woman elected to Congress from Connecticut, the program聽encourages women like Keohane to pursue vocations in science, mathematics and engineering by providing them with research, networking and professional development opportunities. The聽Clare Boothe Luce Program聽has become one of the single largest sources of private funding for women鈥檚 STEM higher education in the United States. As of 2020, the program聽has supported more than聽2,800 women in STEM聽through a total of聽807 grants to 200 different institutions, including 64 minority-serving institutions.

The benefits of the program are manifold.

Its most immediate impact is to alleviate the financial pressure students often feel to work while they are in school, freeing them to spend more time to conduct research. As O鈥橞rien pointed out, 鈥淭hat is especially important in chemistry, which requires you to be flexible with your schedule. After all, if you鈥檙e running a reaction that is going to take three hours, you can鈥檛 leave during hour two to go to work.鈥� The more time a student spends in the lab, the more curious and analytical she becomes, and the more meaningful the results of her work become.

The聽Clare Boothe Luce Research Program聽also allows participants to take part in regular conversations with other CBL scholars and their mentors, and to forge a sense of community in ways that otherwise would not be possible. Together these burgeoning researchers learn crucial lessons about professionalism, resiliency and having a global mindset. The program has become a聽critical component of the College鈥檚 overall goal of encouraging more women to enter the STEM fields. The federal government estimates that women make up 48 percent of all workers, but just 27 percent of those working in STEM. That disparity is concerning because studies have long shown that diverse teams arrive at better decisions than homogeneous ones. They tend to聽focus more on facts, to process those facts more carefully, and to be more creative in their thinking.

Among its most important achievements, the program has created an environment in which more women scientists are able to share their stories, their perspectives and their approaches to their work. And that is a boon to people like Keohane.

鈥淏eing a CBL Scholar was extremely rewarding,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not many opportunities at small colleges to gain research experience similar to the quality that you could find at a large university. But that is what I found at Le Moyne. More than anything else, this experience taught me that I love research and I can see myself continuing down his field.鈥�

Eva Keohane 鈥�21 is one of two students currently enrolled in the Clare Boothe Luce Research聽Program at Le Moyne. The other is Isabela Fernandez 鈥�22, a chemistry major working in the lab of Associate Professor Chemistry Joseph Mullins, Ph.D. 聽Since it was launched at Le Moyne in 2019,聽three Le Moyne students have聽received CBL Research Scholar Awards; all three are聽either pursuing a doctorate currently聽or planning to after graduating. College officials聽expect聽to聽name聽four additional聽CBL Research Scholars聽next year and 19 Scholars in all.