U CHEM
A
Chemistry Department News
A monthly newsletter
for faculty, graduate
students,
undergraduates,
alumni, and friends
Special points of
interest:
• Koser wins National ACS award
• BS in Biochemistry initiated
• $80,000 in
scholarships
awarded at Annual Knight Lecture banquet
• Dr. Robert Morse
presents the
2009 Knight
Lecture
Inside this issue:
Knight Lecture
2
Student Awards
2
Graduates
3
Staff changes
3
Grants, Contracts
and Patents
4
Faculty News
4
The Department of Chemistry, The University of Akron
March 2009
Dr. Koser Wins ACS Award for Iodine Chemistry
Dr. Gerald Koser, a Department of Chemistry faculty
member gained high professional honors within recent
months. Koser, Distinguished
Professor Emeritus, was
named winner of the 2009
American Chemical Society
Award for Creative Research
and Applications of Iodine
Chemistry. The award is
sponsored by SQM S.A., a
Chilean corporation noted for
its iodine based products.
Koser will formally receive the
award at a special ceremony
during the 237th National ACS
Meeting in Salt Lake City,
Utah, March 24. Consisting of
a $10,000 certificate and
travel expenses to the meeting, it is awarded biennially.
Koser joined the university in
1969, retiring in 2005. He
was promoted to Distinguished Professor in 2001
and served as Department
Chair from 1996 to 1999. He
is well known for his work on
hypervalent iodine compounds, especially Koser’s
reagent, and their use in organic synthesis.
A recent issue of C&EN tells
about his work: http://
pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/
journals/cen/87/i06/
html/8706awards3.html
Dr. Koser has explored the
use of hypervalent iodine
compounds and iodonium
ylides in many organic synthetic transformations. He is
responsible for reopening the
interest of the organic community in this class of compounds.
In addition to the vast amount
of synthetic and mechanistic
work he produced, he was a
committed teacher. He was
recognized as a premier organic lecturer in both the undergraduate and graduate
courses.
2008-2009 Marks First Year of BS in Biochemistry curriculum
Approved by the Ohio Board
of Regents in 2007, this
marks the first year that all
the courses required for the
BS in Biochemistry degree
will be offered.
The BS Biochemistry combines a basic chemistry curriculum with the molecular
based material in a biology
curriculum. To develop the
curriculum, the Department of
Chemistry introduced two
new courses specific for Biochemistry. These courses
are Physical Chemistry for
Biochemists and Biochemistry
Laboratory.
This last Fall semester, the
new physical chemistry
course was unveiled by
David Perry. This Spring
semester, Kim Calvo initiated
the Biochemistry Laboratory
course.
Even though the degree was
only approved one and half
years ago, we currently have
18 students pursuing the degree and expect to have our
first graduate at this Spring’s
Loading an SDS-PAGE gel in
biochemistry lab.
Page 2
March 2009
Dr. Daniel E. Morse: the 2009 Knight Lecturer
Self-Assembly and Emergent
Properties”. The lectures
were February 26 and 27.
The 2009 Knight Lecturer was
Dr. Daniel E. Morse of the
University of California, Santa
Barbara.
energy conversion, batteries,
IR detectors, catalysts and bio
-inspired adaptive optical materials.
Dr. Morse is the Wilcox Professor of Biomolecular Science and Engineering and the
director of the UCSB-MITCaltech Institute fro Collaborative Biotechnologies.
He presented two lectures:
“Learning from Nature: Biologically Inspired, LowTemperature Nanofabrication
of Semiconductors and Ferroelectric Thin Films and
Nanoparticles”, and Dynamically Adaptive Biophotonics:
Protein Phosphorylation
Drives Changes in Iridescence in Squid, Inspiring New
Approaches to Dynamically
Tunable Optical Materials and Dr. Daniel E. Morse, Wilcox Professor
at the University of California, Santa
New Pathways for Encoding
He is known as the developer
of “silicon biotechnology”, and
his current work is on the interface biotechnology and
materials science. He has
made major innovations in low
-temperature nanofabrication
of semiconductors for solar
Barbara.
2009 Undergraduate and Graduate Scholarship and Award Recipients
Thirty-five undergraduate and graduate students received more than $80,000 in scholarships and awards at the 2009 Knight Lecture
banquet held Feb. 27.
Undergraduate Scholarship and Awards
Leora Stratka Scholarship: Caroline Gallo,
Megan Cesta, Christina Tsimperas
Dr. G. Edwin and Mrs. Wilson Award
for NMR: Xiaohung Li
Petrotex Scholarship: Brett Sitzler
The Department of Chemistry NMR
Dr. William R. Murphy Jr. Scholarship: Award: Anna Pischera
Paul Misseldine
The Department of Chemistry Graduate Teaching Assistant Award: Cody
Harold G. Cassidy Scholarship: Rita
Anderson, Aaron Lineberry, Sarah PhilKramer
lips, Nikki Robishaw, Tim Smith, Heather
Arthur L. Robinson Scholarship: Jac- Steele
queline Klayco
Emanuel and Rose Gurin Scholarship: Dustin
Faculty Senior Research Award: CaroSchrom, David Besse, Ryan Canatsey, Hilary
line Gallo
Ray
Exxon Corporation Scholarship: David Meranda
G. Maxine and James Harwood Scholarship:
Colin Wright
Graduate Scholarships and Awards
Dr. Henry C. and Mrs. Jean Stevens
Award: Saovaliak Sripothingak, Zin-Min
Tun, Vincenzo Scionti
John Franklin Coleman Scholarship: Joseph
Scavuzzo
Front (l to r): Caroline Gallo, Christina
Tsimpiris Back (l to r): David Besse,
Louis Britton, Pat Wagers, Colin Wright,
Paul Misseldine
Ernest E. and Lois M. McClellan Scholarship:
Anthony Miller, Christina Coleman
Julius Muehlstein Scholarship: Joseph Powell, Patrick Wagers
Lubrizol Corporation Scholarship: Corey
Groff, Caitlin Glover, Hira Qayyum, Ashley Allison
M. M. Harrison Scholarship: Louis Britton
H.E. Simmons Scholarship: Noah Stalcup
Front: (l to r) Caitlin Glover, Megan Cesta,
back: (l to r) Aaron Johnson, Ryan Canatsey, Corey Goff
Page 3
March 2009
Summer and Fall 2008 Graduates
We are pleased to welcome the following students to the distinguioshed
ranks of Chemistry Department Alumni.
Zin-Min Tun “Interactions
of Group 13 Lewis Acids
with Hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene”,
Medvetz “The Synthesis,
Characterization and Antitumor Properties of Ag(I),
Cu(II), and Ru (III) Metal
Complexes”, Tammy SicilPhD Chemistry : Kittisak- iano “A Stability CompariChaicharoen “Mass and
son and Antimicrobial
BS Chemistry : James
Tandem Mass Spectromet- Evaluation of Gold NEngle
ric Studies on Synthetic
Heterocyclic Carbenes and
Polymers”, Chanda Elam
Their Silver Precursors”,
BS with Polymer Option : “Synthesis and FunctionalSilapong Baiagern
Renee M. Weber
ity of Polymeric Diazenium- “Multidimensional Studies
diolates in the Use and
of Polymers”, Paul Custer
BA Chemistry : John P.
Control of Nitric Oxide Re- “Transition Metal CoordinaO’Brien, Tariq Farooki
lease for Severe Medicinal tion for the Construction of
Atherosclerotic Plaque Ap- Supramolecular MoleMS Chemistry : Natalie
plications and Human
cules”, Wendy Lewis
Barone “The Synthesis
Papillornavirus Treatment, “Study of the Chain Dyand Characterization of
Khadijah Hindi “The Menamics of Polyaniline by
Oxygen Containing Pordicinal/Pharmaceutical Ap- Solid-State NMR”, Sara
phyrin Analogs and Rheplications of Imidazolium
Witson “The Development,
nium Coordination Chemis- Carbene Metal ComImplementation and Applitry for Diagnostic Imaging”, plexes”, Nuttara Jarmoncation of Ambient IonizaNarinThanamongkollit
nak “(Epislon)-Acetytion Mass Spectrometry to
“Modification of Tung Oil
Lysine Analogs: Synthesis Complex Polymeric Sysfor Bio-Based Coating”,
and Application”, Douglas tems”
Some our recent graduates.
Above, top to bottom: Doug
Medvetz and Khadiah Hindi.
Left, from left to right: Nuttara
Jammonak, Narin Thanamongkolit, and Kittisak Chaicharoen
Staff changes in the chemistry department
With the retirement of Don
Sidaway, Jose Arbutal was
named Chemical Storekeeper
for the Organic Chemistry
Labs. Mr. Arbutal, who had
previously held a position at
Will Research, has a B.S. in
Biology from Kent State University. Jose, who started
February first, says he is
“happy and excited to be able
to assist students and faculty”. Although he acknowl
edges there is a lot to learn,
he has already started to update the stockroom with new
shelving.
Dr. Joseph Massey who had
been the network manager for
the NMR laboratory, was
named Director of Technology in Chemistry. Joe’s job
responsibilities remain essentially as they were in the past,
and this promotion reflects
having a reliable network for
the transmission of instrumental data given our expanded department based
instrument centers.
Dr. Todd Wagler was chosen to replace the retiring
Supervisor of Chemical
Laboratories, Dr. William
Schloman. He was previously a Senior Research
Associate in the NMR Lab.
(l to r) Jose Arbutal, Todd
Wagler
March 2009
Todd has been very active in
assisting in the development of
the freshman laboratory. He
has worked to switch from the
old PC based data acquisition
system to one based on hand
held data loggers. He has also
taken steps to update the third
floor chemical stockroom.
Jean Garcia was recently chosen as the Departmental Secretary, replacing Jeannette Kontac. Jeannette left the chemistry
department to work in the College of Polymer Science and
Polymer Engineering. Jean
previously held the position of
Administrative Assistant in the
Department of Sociology.
State University where he
earned his PhD in chemistry
with emphasis on mass spectrometry.
Phyllis Hughely works as the secretary
in the Molecular Spectroscopy Lab. Lisa
Zickefoose is the Senior Budget and
Fiscal Director.
Page 4
Dr. Venkat Dudipala remains
as the Manager of the NMR
Lab for solution NMR. Dr.
Ming Ming Guo is the Manager of the NMR Lab for Solid
NMR. Simon Stakleff was
recently named Assistant Director of the NMR lab.
Top (l to r) Simon Stakleff, Dr. Peter Rinaldi,
Joe Massey, Ming Ming
Guo, Venkat Dudipala
Left (l to r) Jean Garcia,
Nancy Homa, Lisa Zickefoose
Dr. Xiopeng Li is the new Manager of the Mass Spectrometer
Laboratory . Dr. Li is a December 2008 graduate of Cleveland
Grant and Research Support
The faculty in the department continue to attract research funding.
Last fiscal year, the department faculty submitted 35 proposals to federal, state and private agencies, 16
of those were funded for a total of
$1,655,306.
$16,000 from DOE
Goodyear
Peter Rinaldi: $10,000 from OMNOVA
Dr. Chris Ziegler: $104,000 from NSF
Chrys Wesdemiotis: $788,600 from
NSF
The following patents were awarded in
this same period:
Bill Donovan: $10,000 from NSF
For this fiscal year, the following proposals have been funded:
Dr. Yi Pang: $75,000 from NASA
Jun Hu “Coulter Counter with a Plurality
of Channels”
David Modarelli: $112,592 from
NSF
Dr. Dan Smith: $20,100 from SNS Nanofiber Technology LLC
Wiley Youngs: $25,000 and
Dr. Chrys Wesdemiotis: $19,095 from
Dr. David Perry: $122,000 from DOE
Chris Ziegler “Boron-Based Organic
Cations and Related Methods”
Jun Hu “7-Ethynyl-2,4,9Trithiaadamantane and Related methods”
Faculty News
Dr. Weiping Zheng has
been invited to be a session chair at the Enzymes,
Coenzymes & Metabolic
Pathways Gordon Conference this summer. The
session is titled “Chromatin
Remodeling and Transcription”.
Dr. Bill Donovan is coordi-
nating chemistry department volunteers for the
Science Olympiad to be
held March 14 this year.
The department will play
host to a total of 10 events.
Beth Subel, Melinda
Carnahan, and Tatiana
Eliseeva along with Dr. Donovan are supervising events,
and Danijela Smiljanic
and Dolly Casiano will be
helping Beth and Melinda. Dr.
Henry Stevens will also be
there to assist.