I'm Samuel, a Brazilian chemical engineering student from UFMG, currently doing an internship at CHILL on the Brightlands Chemelot Campus. In my previous professional experience, I worked in business consulting, which is very different from what I’m doing here. My research project focuses on optimizing a Hantzsch thiazole synthesis using an automated flow setup with in-line analysis.
It has been amazing to learn new techniques and actually apply them in practice, in a way that is quite different from what we do in Brazil.
I can’t deny it's challenging, but working on research that is meaningful to industry and dealing with real problems at the edge of scientific knowledge is truly rewarding. A big milestone that marked the midpoint of my experience is that I had the opportunity to give a talk at the Autumn Symposium 2025 of Organic Chemistry, promoted by KNCV at HAN University in Nijmegen. It was my first time presenting to a larger audience in another language, and the audience included not only my coach and key people from the Living Lab, but also specialists in organic chemistry.
I’m grateful for the opportunity and the trust placed in me and that’s the main feeling I have here, I’m trusted and given independence (with support) to guide my research project, which makes this experience unique and magnifying.
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