Senior shocked to win award at international conference

Fortunately, Angel Bishop was able to beat a massive case of impostor syndrome in about 30 seconds. Bishop's story isn’t just about the feeling of not fitting in somewhere, but rather overcoming the heart-racing shock of unexpectedly receiving an international award in front of a large crowd.

Also, Bishop never sensed the honor was even a possibility.

With students who have achieved individual research success in his lab, Steven Stevenson, director of the FIRST Molecules Research Center at Purdue University Fort Wayne, likes to reward them with a trip to a major conference. As he says, it’s a chance to expose the students to a broader audience and give them an experience that can shape their future.

After Bishop, who’s entering her senior year at Purdue Fort Wayne, discovered and identified a Carbon 102 molecule during her junior year, Stevenson invited her to accompany him to the Electrochemical Society’s annual conference in Montreal this spring. Stevenson often presents at international conferences, but Bishop felt she was just along for the ride. Her plan was to present the work, do some sightseeing, meet new faces in the field, and enjoy the week.

“I was playing dress up,” Bishop said. “I was pretending to be a real scientist.”

But the morning after her May 20 presentation, Stevenson received an email indicating Bishop would be among those being honored at an awards ceremony the following day. It was an astonishing achievement because Bishop represented one of only a few undergraduate students who were participating. Everyone else was at the very least working toward their master’s degree, and most were in the midst of earning a doctorate.

To temper expectations—and probably nerves—Stevenson never informed Bishop, but suggested she should probably attend.

In what was a major surprise to both, Bishop was announced as one of three third-place honorees in the “Carbon Nanostructures and Devices" division.

“I kind of like froze for a second,” Bishop said. “I was a little bit shocked and panicked because I was just not emotionally prepared for that. I had to pretty quickly get up and go towards the front and then stand there with the rest of them.”

All the while, Stevenson was watching from the corner, snapping pictures and smiling from ear to ear.

“The whole place was packed with brainpower,” Stevenson said. “She had no idea she was even entered, but if you present, you are eligible. I was beaming because I knew this was so good for her, and she will always have that moment, and the stamp of being a winner for the rest of her life. Because she was only an undergrad, I’m guessing her poster had to be twice as good because they probably leaned toward the others.”

Even crazier, Bishop is not a chemistry major but focuses on biology and psychology with a goal of attending veterinary school. Because they were a requirement, she took introductory chemistry classes with Stevenson and occasionally visited his office. One day last summer, he offered her a spot in his lab.

The award, Stevenson said, boosts Bishop’s career options about five years ahead.

“It was globally worthy,” Stevenson said. “Everybody was assuming she was already a Ph.D. student, and the world just opened up for her.”

It’s important to note that Purdue Fort Wayne does not offer master’s degrees or doctorates in chemistry, though students in Stevenson’s lab often produce comparable work. Whenever someone asks why he’s smiling all the time, Stevenson just replies it's because he gets to collaborate with high-quality students and inspire them to reach further into their research.

“Students have a way of rising to the occasion, so I put them in some exciting projects,” Stevenson said. “Then, if they’re successful, they’ve done something amazing, and it gives them that experience.”

And giving undergrads the opportunity to join research projects earlier in their studies is a major selling point for PFW compared to other universities.

Bishop said she’ll likely stay at PFW to work on a master’s degree biology. She’s also planning to keep in touch with people she met in Montreal who now have another level of respect for her.

“It was really a wonderful experience,” Bishop said. “I’m still trying to process all of it. It definitely makes me feel more self-assured, a little bit more confident.”