Fargo, N.D. – NDSU chemistry graduate student Anoklase Jean-Luc Ayitou has been selected to attend the Building Engineering and Science Talents Symposium Oct. 1-3 in Midland, Mich. Commonly known as BEST, the symposium is part of a program initiated by the DOW Chemical Co. to introduce African American, Hispanic and Native American U.S. doctoral and postdoctoral scientists to the wide range of rewarding careers in industrial research.

Ayitou is scheduled to give a short presentation about his graduate research work. A fifth-year doctoral student in the group of Sivaguru Jayaraman, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Ayitou’s thesis focuses on using light to synthesize chirally enriched molecular building blocks.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.