SSCC chemistry students travel to Florida for symposium

Three Southern State Community College chemistry students recently traveled to Tampa, Fla., for the annual Archaeological Sciences of the Americas Symposium hosted by Florida State University.

Danielle Bohrer of Hillsboro, Paij Griffith of Hillsboro and Katie Surharski of New Vienna presented their research project entitled, “Emission or Absorption? A Comparison of Spectroscopic and Colorimetric Methods for Characterizing Extractable Phosphate in Archaeological Soils.”

Their work was conducted on soil samples collected from ancient soil surface at the archaeological site of Palmarejo in northwest Honduras.

The soil samples were collected this summer by Kara A. Rothenberg, a graduate student at the University of South Florida, who spent a week at Southern State this spring, working with students in Dr. Donald A. Storer’s chemistry class as part of her master’s theses in applied anthropology.

The students’ work is related to techniques archaeologists use to determine cultural practices of ancient civilizations.

For more information about Southern State Community College, please call 1-800-628-7722, email info@sscc.edu or visit www.sscc.edu.