Welcome to the Nacsa Group at Penn State!
Back row, left to right: Kayla Constantini, Ed Hilvano, Chris Haines, Cordelia Beck-Horton, Andrew Wolfram.
Front row, left to right: Cole Clapperton, Ayush Sharma, Jian Han, Dylan Babcock, Eric Nacsa, Jaxon Barney, Jake Piane
The primary aim of the Nacsa Group is to develop new concepts in catalysis to improve the state of synthetic organic chemistry. Another paramount goal is to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for chemists from diverse sets of ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, races, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, and religious beliefs. We particularly acknowledge that many groups of people have been systematically underrepresented in society at large – especially in science – and we are proactively seeking to remedy this injustice. Our group holds ongoing discussions concerning representation in science, and we dedicate at least one group meeting per semester to diversity, equity, and inclusion topics. We are also inaugural members of the Rainbow Science Network in the Eberly College of Science, and Eric is an active member of both the department– and and college-level Climate and Diversity Committees. By training a scientific workforce that more equitably represents our community, we believe that a greater diversity of ideas will be promoted, which will accelerate scientific innovation, and that we can make progress against social inequity.