By Ripon Media in College Days, Feature Story, Student Life on August 19, 2025
Jacob Abraham, senior chemistry major, details the duties he performs in the Franzen Science Center to keep it running.
When it comes to the inner workings of the Chemistry Department at Ripon College, few names bear as much weight as Jacob Abraham. A chemistry major with minors in mathematics and physics, Abraham has been an integral component in ensuring that the department’s labs run smoothly — all while pursuing research opportunities and hobbies outside the classroom.
Graduating in the spring of 2025, Jacob plans to spend the next year after graduation completing internships before pursuing either a master’s or Ph.D.
“I’m planning to do an internship gap year, where I do one or more internships for about a year, and then go back to graduate school,” Jacob said.
Jacob Abraham, senior, poses while performing his daily tasks in the Franzen Science Center. Photo courtesy of Ryder Ebbe.
Abraham’s love for chemistry was forged before even attending Ripon College.
“We had decent physics and chemistry programs[in high school], and I really enjoyed science. I liked biology too, but at the upper levels, I found myself more drawn to chemistry and physics. Taking AP Chemistry sealed the deal for me” he said.
Jacob Abraham’s work for the Chemistry Department started early in his undergraduate years. In his second week at Ripon, thanks to an early connection with Professor Byron, Jacob was given the unique opportunity to begin his work within the department.
“She offered me the opportunity to start working pretty much right away,” he said.
Abraham’s job for the department focuses on many different aspects within each of the different chemistry labs: gathering chemicals, preparing solutions, organizing glassware, and anything else needed for his peers’ coursework.
“First-year labs like Structures and Reactivity and Organic 1 are definitely more intensive because students need more support at that stage,” he said.
For upper-level chemistry coursework, Jacob explains that students are expected to be more self-sufficient; however, Jacob is still involved in prepping materials, mixing unknown samples, and handling chemical inventory.
Flexibility within the department is vital for managing his workload throughout the semester.
“Some weeks are really busy, especially if I have to prepare 20 solutions for a lab. Other times, it’s a lighter week where I can catch up on homework. The job is flexible enough that I can adjust based on my own schedule,” he said.
The time within the department has provided Jacob a deeper understanding of the field — information that helped him prepare for more advanced classes like Quantitative Analysis.
Abraham strategically stores beakers, ready for future labs. Photo courtesy of Ryder Ebbe.
“Setting up the labs taught me the background skills, especially regarding precision techniques, which made upper level labs much easier,” Abraham said.
His contributions push beyond the academic year here at Ripon. From participating in Ripon’s SOAR (Summer Opportunities for Advanced Research) program to completing an off-campus Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIUC), Abraham has been able to understand the field with a deeper level of knowledge. At Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, he worked on designing nanomaterials for antimicrobial surfaces.
“At SIUC, they had all the fancy equipment — scanning electron microscopes, transmission electron microscopes — so it was a really great opportunity to learn new techniques,” he stated.
When the science departments moved into the new science building, Jacob’s expertise became even more critical to the department. Here, Jacob transported chemicals, glassware, and smaller instruments, noting that while some breakage occurred, “thankfully it wasn’t anything incredibly rare or expensive.”
Abraham sets up all the materials needed for chemistry students to perform lab experiments. Photo courtesy of Ryder Ebbe.
Reflecting on his proudest moments throughout his undergraduate experience, Abraham highlighted his research experiences.
“The REU at SIUC was really rewarding because I was given a lot of independence. On campus, working with total synthesis projects under Professor Willoughby has been fulfilling, even if the experiments don’t always succeed,” he said.
Outside of academics, Abraham is an avid blacksmith.
“I mainly do knife-making with high-carbon steels,” he said, adding that its appeal parallels his love of chemistry. “You can’t just use any piece of metal — you have to understand the properties of different steels and how slight changes in composition can create big differences,” he said.
Chemistry plays a crucial role in countless aspects of life, often in ways one may not even realize. “Before college, you don’t realize how much chemistry shapes everyday life. In upper-level courses, you learn how context matters — like how a toxic compound might be harmless at low concentrations, or how petroleum products aren’t inherently bad once chemically transformed,” he said.
Abraham had advice for students considering chemistry or any new field: “There’s no harm in trying something. Even one class can open your eyes to a passion you didn’t know you had. And even if you don’t like it, you’ve learned something about yourself.”