Jacob Bryant Is In On the Action
Jacob Bryant, ‘25 Biochemistry, recently received the SJSU Club Sports Male Scholar Athlete Award for his work with the powerlifting club. Photo courtesy of Jacob Bryant.
This is the fourth in a series of Countdown to Commencement stories celebrating the Class of 2025. Join us in celebrating the hard work, dedication and achievements of graduating Spartans.
Jacob Bryant, ’25 Biochemistry, is busy. Possibly too busy, but not according to him. In fact, as he prepares to graduate from San José State and take his first steps out into the wider world, he worries he’ll miss the level of bustle in his current day-to-day life.
“I do wonder, ‘Where is this busyness going to go?’” he admits. “Because I’ve had such a continuous, [active] life here.”
His undergraduate activity came in many forms – coursework, volunteering at Kaiser, campus groups and clubs – but his two main areas of interest could not be more different: chemistry and powerlifting.
He’s got a great deal to show for both: In chemistry, he recently won second place in a national conference poster competition and is soon to be a published co-author of a scientific paper with Madalyn Radlauer, associate professor of chemistry. And in powerlifting, he recently received the SJSU Club Sports Male Scholar Athlete Award.
The science half
As a student researcher in Radlauer’s lab, Bryant researches polymers, which he describes as the beads strung onto a necklace. “Our goal [in the lab] is to develop these beads into star polymers, which link the beads together to create this cool compound that you can use for selective chemistry like drug encapsulation,” he summarizes. Essentially, these star polymers can be the “car” that “drives” needed medicine to the right part of the body in order to help a patient.
But that’s not all: Radlauer’s project also promotes sustainability. A good deal of laboratory chemistry generates waste of both biological and physical materials, and Radlauer’s lab group hopes to mitigate that. “We’re focused on using materials [in the lab] that are better for the environment, less or lower cost and more biodegradable,” Bryant says.
Polymers themselves can also help; as Bryant explains, new types of polymers (“customizable, elongated beads” in the necklace) can be developed to help with various environmental issues, including removing bad chemicals from water to make it safe to drink.
An early love
Bryant discovered his love for chemistry early, with the help of a high school teacher in his native Fairfield, California. He loved her class, and her interest in biochemistry sparked his. When the time came for college, he chose SJSU for the biochemistry and the location, which was close enough for him to drive home on the weekends.
And he’s flourished here – he began his research in Radlauer’s lab shortly after his first year, and has since progressed to co-authoring a soon-to-be-published paper and his excellent performance at the American Chemistry Society (ACS) conference poster competition.
“I was really nervous going into it at first because it was this huge national meeting,” he says. “There are tens of thousands of people, and I’d never done anything with chemistry at that large of a scale. It was just an awesome, all inclusive experience of everything that you could imagine for a chemist.” He presented his poster (detailing his polymer research in Radlauer’s lab) along with around 100 other students, both undergrad and graduate, to 18 people over the course of two hours.
“I was nervous because [I was presenting to] a different, broader range of chemists. But I had fun with it,” he remembers. “I just tried to be natural and have really meaningful conversations.” He hadn’t even known that there were specific awards until he got an email a week later informing him that he had won second place among polymer-based posters. It was, to say the least, a pleasant surprise.
The athletic half
But in the midst of all this chemistry, Bryant’s other passion, powerlifting, was also growing. He played football in high school and when COVID stunted some of his athletics, he worked out at home to stay in shape, primarily with weight lifting and bodybuilding. As things began to open up, he came to SJSU and discovered the powerlifting club team. He quickly transitioned to the new sport. Bodybuilding, he explains, is generally judged based on how your body looks – powerlifting, on the other hand, is all about what it can do.
He’s been on the SJSU powerlifting team for two years now, and qualified for nationals this past April, where he competed against powerlifters from all across the country, eventually ranking 13th nationally in his weight class. (For the record: he can bench press 341 pounds, squat 512 and deadlift 551.)
When Bryant returned from nationals, he discovered that he had also received the SJSU Club Sports Male Scholar Athlete Award for his powerlifting. Each of the 40 SJSU club sports teams nominates a male and female athlete each year, and only one of each is chosen.
“I was really excited,” he says. “I was really honored to be nominated two years in a row, and actually being able to win it was awesome, especially [given] all these other amazing people who are putting in so much time and effort into club sports. It was great to walk up on that stage.”
What’s next
As mentor, teacher and lab director, Radlauer has always been impressed by Bryant’s personality and work ethic.
“Jacob is an all-around great person in addition to being an excellent researcher and group member, a (literally) strong athlete and a dedicated student,” she says. “One of the things that people often mention about Jacob is his kindness; he is one of those people who helps and supports other people and makes you feel at ease. Also this year he’s had a bevy of successes, and it’s exciting to see so much of his hard work being recognized. How often do you find someone who can succeed as a pre-med, a chemistry researcher and a power-lifter all at once?”
Bryant will bring this energy with him as he looks to the future. He hopes to become an anesthesiologist and is preparing to apply to medical school for fall 2026. What he calls his “gap year” in between degrees isn’t exactly a walk in the park, however; he plans on studying for the medical school entrance exams, working on his med school application, applying for full-time jobs at medical clinics, volunteering and making time (somehow) for other hobbies.
As he looks back on his time at SJSU, he’s grateful for all the activity in his college life. “What’s made this campus and San José State as a whole so special to me was how involved I got [in campus life],” he says. “My first year I was a commuter and so wasn’t really that involved. But when I look at myself now that I’m about to graduate, and I compare myself and think about how much I’ve put into school, our clubs, different campus groups, on-campus jobs, all the different meetings… Getting involved at San José State has meant a lot to me. It’s honestly what keeps me going.”
