Chemistry major Madeline Goodhart ’20 discovered her love for working in research labs during her summer internship with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation materials and testing lab.

The chemistry major, who is also minoring in environmental studies, worked for the summers of 2018 and 2017 as an intern in the lab’s chemistry section.

She focused on quality assurance for road paint, bridge paint, epoxies, rock salt, glass beads for road paint and various thermoplastics. Goodhart often tested density, viscosity and reflectance of paint and the gradiation and roundness of beads from samples to determine properties of new materials.

Goodhart says her favorite part of her job was being able to work on projects independently.

“The chemist I worked under basically had me do most of the lab work myself while she worked on projects outside of the lab,” she says.

“I learned how much I enjoy working in a lab setting and how standard labs operate,” she adds.

Goodhart would like to work in more research labs and, in the future, manage a sustainable energy or conservation research team.