The Kennesaw State chemistry student is gaining freshmen experience through a summer internship

KENNESAW, Ga. | Oct 14, 2024

Inspired by his two brothers who attended Kennesaw State University, biochemistry student Jacob Erasmus has wasted no time getting involved on campus.

Through KSU’s First-Year Scholars program, Erasmus found a lab and research project within his first month on campus and parlayed that work into a summer internship with a nature-based ingredients company. Now he has continued his research and shows no signs of slowing down as a sophomore fellow.

“It’s easy to get involved and make a name for yourself here at Kennesaw State,” he said. “The professors here care about your success and have welcomed me with open arms.”

Erasmus can trace his interest in scientific inquiry to his upbringing. He is the son of an engineer and a psychologist. Additionally, his brothers Oliver and Thomas both graduated from Kennesaw State. Oliver Erasmus, a former Birla Carbon Scholar, studied Chemistry and graduated in December 2021, while Thomas Erasmus studied Engineering and graduated in May 2022.

All three brothers graduated from the Living Science Academy in Woodstock, but the Erasmus family laid the foundation for science early on.

“Fundamentally, we all love learning,” said Jacob Erasmus. “My father and Thomas are both engineers and were always tinkering around with something, and Oliver always got the cool experiments with fire from school. We lived on a farm and I looked after the chickens, so I thought I should study biology, but biochemistry really appealed to me.”

Erasmus followed his brothers to Kennesaw State and participated in student engagement events during the Weeks of Welcome. He discovered the First-Year Scholars program and learned about a variety of research projects that are also open to undergraduate researchers. He ultimately landed on a project on peptide therapeutics, a field that uses short-chain amino acids called peptides to treat diseases and other medical conditions. Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry Carl Saint-Louis supervised the project.

“One of the things that appeals to me about Dr. “What I liked about Saint-Louis was that he made a ‘Breaking Bad’ reference in our interview, and that’s one of my favorite shows, so we hit it off straight away,” said Erasmus. “The project itself sounded very practical from the start, so that was a big selling point too.”

A graduate of Kennesaw State University, Saint-Louis has taught at KSU since 2020 and has enthusiastically built his lab into a popular location for undergraduate researchers. Saint-Louis has established a program to guide research and help students stay on track toward a career in the sciences.

“I firmly believe that the First-Year Scholars program at KSU is critical to the development of future scholars,” Saint-Louis said. “I developed a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) course that provides undergraduate students with hands-on experience conducting their own research while also allowing KSU faculty members to present their research and recruit students within their discipline.”

Looking for more opportunities to explore chemistry, Erasmus found a summer internship at Cumberland-based CP Kelco, a company that produces natural and organic ingredients for food and household goods. The company placed Erasmus at the forefront of meeting customer needs by using his chemistry skills to develop better products alongside full-time scientists.

The summer experience affirmed his life’s path and renewed his commitment to a career in chemistry serving humanity. Now in the Sophomore Scholars program, Erasmus is working on the synthesis and characterization of novel dyes that can be used as multifunctional materials to detect pressure, temperature and pH changes for therapeutic purposes.

Saint-Louis can imagine Erasmus pursuing an advanced degree, but for now Erasmus wants to expand his work in pharmaceutical chemistry – and become the youngest scientist in his family.

“It’s harder to get into because it’s a very specific thing, but I’m hugely interested in neurochemistry,” he said. “The pharmaceutical industry is advancing rapidly and, frankly, I like the idea of ​​using our rapidly growing knowledge in chemistry to improve people’s lives.”

– Story by Dave Shelles

– Photo by Matt Yung

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Kennesaw State University is a leader in innovative teaching and learning, offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees to its more than 47,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global relationships and entrepreneurial spirit attract students from across the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-accredited doctoral research institution (R2), placing it in an elite group of just 7 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.