Research project connects UC Blue Ash ‘Decision Day’ students

University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College students Joel Berger and Sebastian Mejia-Pretto discovered a unique bond they have while working together this semester on an undergraduate research project.

Both are excellent students who maintained a 4.0 grade-point-average in high school, they are pursuing meaningful careers in health care, and they are in the Honors program at UC Blue Ash. But the unusual connection they have is related to a surprise the college provided for each of them in January 2025.

Berger and Mejia-Pretto were the lucky two students selected for the 2025 UC Blue Ash Decision Day events where college leaders visited each student’s high school to surprise them with the news that they have been accepted into the college and present each of them with a $6,000 grant that could be used toward their tuition and fees. The student’s parents and high school administrators were in on the surprises.

Photos above: Mejia-Pretto, left, and Berger, right, celebrate on Decision Day 2025. Photos/UC Blue Ash.

The events on that January morning nearly two years ago were conducted at separate high schools, so neither student knew anything at the time about the other also receiving the good news. Mejia-Pretto was surprised by his family and classmates at Fairfield High School, while Berger’s moment in the spotlight happened a short time later at Lakota West High School.

Both students enrolled at UC Blue Ash in fall 2025, had a few classes together and knew each other in passing, but they didn’t realize the Decision Day connection until a few weeks into their undergraduate research project. Mejia-Pretto was looking through the UC Blue Ash website and saw Berger’s name as part of the Decision Day news story and social media posts.

"Sebastian brought it up to me and I thought, 'That’s crazy. What are the odds of all the people that go here and we got picked for this?'” said Berger.

“It’s pretty cool that we got the same scholarship and are in the same lab, but those two things aren’t related. It’s definitely surprising,” added Mejia-Pretto.

The undergraduate research project that brought the two together is led by Smita Jadhav, PhD, an assistant professor of chemistry at UC Blue Ash. She is working with Berger and Mejia-Pretto to research cost-effective ways to detect PFAS (per and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which are also known as forever chemicals.

PFAS repel water and oil, and they barely break down in the environment or in our bodies because the bond between carbon and fluorine is one of the strongest in chemistry. They are man-made synthetic chemicals that are found in products that include non-stick cookware, waterproof fabrics, food packaging and firefighting foam.

The students are testing whether infrared spectroscopy can detect PFAS. The technology allows them to look directly at the chemical bonds to identify forever chemicals, which have a very distinctive fingerprint.

Jadhav says the students are making excellent progress. 

"They are the first to bring infrared to the project," she said. "Through troubleshooting they have learned how concentration, background settings and the number of scans can affect what the instrument can see.”

The next steps will be working on ways to concentrate samples so PFAS can be detected at low levels, and then testing water and soil samples collected around the Blue Ash campus and community. The work will continue in the spring.

The goal of the research is to build affordable, accessible screening methods that a teaching lab can use to check water and soil for PFAS. These would complement the expensive instruments used for official testing, not replace them.

“And along the way, students get real research experience,” adds Jadhav.

Berger is pursuing a degree in health sciences with the goal of becoming a physician assistant so he can provide care and develop treatment plans for patients. He says the research not only brings his organic chemistry course to life, it’s an important step toward his career goals.

“Learning new techniques and working closely with a professor is really good. Having this experience is essential,” said Berger. “At other colleges it’s harder to get this experience, so for professors here to take the time to do this with us is great.”

Mejia-Pretto is pursuing a degree in biochemistry with plans to become a pharmacologist, a research-focused career where he can develop and improve medications. He says this is the first research project where he has been able to get hands-on experience and conduct experiments. “It’s learning how to be a scientist,” he said.

Berger and Mejia-Pretto say they were excited to start their college journey at UC Blue Ash, and they both plan to transition to the UC Uptown campus to continue their education. They are also grateful to receive the grant that was part of Decision Day surprise. The financial support has helped them focus more on their academics and has provided a unique connection that will stay with them throughout their academic and professional careers

Featured photo: Joel Berger, left, and Sebastian Mejia-Pretto, right, are outstanding students who are pursuing careers in medicine. Photo/UC Blue Ash.