Erin Broderick is attracted to atoms and to difficult projects. The first encounter was in seventh or eighth grade, when she had to create a model of an atom for a science assignment. There are dozens of simpler atoms, but Erin passed them all by for rubidium. So reactive that it is never found outside of a compound, rubidium has 37 protons, 37 electrons, and 48 neutrons. That's a whole lot of pompoms from the art store, which is what Erin used to compose her model. And in the process, she learned that atoms were "the part of science that I really liked," she says.

Fast-forward a decade or two, and you'll find her in the chemistry and biochemistry labs at UCLA, where her doctoral studies have brought her into a close relationship with other complicated atoms. For one, there's cerium, a rare earth that's also usually found in her compounds. Cerium has 58 protons, 58 electrons, and 82 neutrons. A form of cerium that's missing four electrons is the one that has her totally intrigued, and it's the most unstable--and most challenging to work with--of all.

Since her first year at UCLA, Erin has been looking for a way to bind cerium twice to the same oxygen atom, something "that's never been seen before," she says. "It should work, but it's never been done." Her adviser, Paula Diaconescu, occasionally reminds her that she could try something easier, but "I really like cerium, so I keep trying," Erin says, acknowledging that "it's been a long road, and nothing might come out of it." In the process, however, she synthesized a cerium(IV) complex that is capable of catalyzing the formation of biodegradable polymers. That accomplishment has made her one of the first chemists to perform this reaction with cerium(IV).

Erin's work is supported by a Department of Energy grant because of its potential "green" applications. The agency is particularly interested in Erin's work with depleted uranium, which might show how to take the by-product of nuclear reactors "and make something useful out of it," she says. Using uranium to break apart two parts of a compound and attach them to a third molecule leaves no waste--all of the materials used end up in the resulting product.

If she can make a cerium double-bonded to oxygen complex, it might have some interesting uses, too, Erin says. "I haven't got there yet but along the way, I've found some interesting things."

Published in Fall 2010, Graduate Quarterly