OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
INTRODUCTION
This summer marks the end of my first year as Chair of the Chemistry Department. I made it through relatively unscathed with the help of Wendy and all my other colleagues. While it wouldn’t be truthful to say that I’m excited about all the extra paperwork that comes with being Chair, I can state that it is an honor to be the figurehead for such an outstanding group of faculty and students. Carleton alumni can rest assured that the college continues to attract excellent students and vibrant new faculty.
Working in academics there is always a significant number of comings and goings on the part of students. But lately, we’ve had many changes in our staffing. First, the goings. Jerry Mohrig is retiring after 36 years of service to the department. His curricular advice and research with undergraduates will be sorely missed. Jerry Fest was held in April to celebrate his accomplishments at Carleton and beyond. Nearly 60 Carleton chemistry alumni and other well-wishers came to campus to share fond stories about Jerry and to wish him the best in his retirement. Also leaving our ranks this year will be Rob Rossi. Rob has had a significant impact on our department during his two years at Carleton. We will miss his enthusiasm for teaching and his willingness to continually challenge our conceptions about what works in the classroom. Finally, this coming academic year will mark the last year at Carleton for Chuck Carlin, another beloved organic chemist. We are planning a send-off for Chuck next spring. If you have stories about Chuck that you would like to share as part of his retirement, please send them to me (sdrew@carleton.edu). More information on the festivities will follow at a later date.
Now, the comings. Last fall we successfully completed a search for a new biochemist. We are pleased to announce that Joe Chihade will be joining the chemistry faculty at Carleton this fall. Joe comes to us from Williams College, where he was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. His spouse, Daniela Kohen, is especially excited to now live in the same town as her husband! Other arrivals this year include Adam Baraniak, son of Trish Ferrett and Tom Baraniak, and Margo Chihade, daughter of Daniela Kohen and Joe Chihade. It will be fun to watch these two young scientists develop into future Carleton students!
Steven M. Drew, Chair
STUDENT HONORS AND AWARDS
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Matthew Bush
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY
Julie Rivers
B.A. DEGREE WITH LATIN HONORS
Magna Cum Laude – Jane Coughlin, Laura Phillips, Julie Rivers, Maroya Spalding, Heidi Spoelhof
Cum Laude – Paul Archer, Matthew Bush, Amit Reddi
DISTINCTION IN THE MAJOR
Matthew Bush, Amit Reddi
DISTINCTION ON THE SENIOR INTEGRATIVE EXERCISE
Matthew Bush, Amit Reddi
DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS
Aaron Leconte (’04), Andrew Nieuwkoop (’06), Julie Rivers (’03), Meghan Thurlow (’05)
FRANZ EXNER AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHEMISTRY
Maroya Spalding
JAMES FINHOLT PRIZE IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Amit Reddi
HYPERCUBE SCHOLAR FOR WORK ON COMPUTERS IN CHEMISTRY
Matthew Bush
PAT LAMB AWARD FOR ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
Maroya Spalding
MORTAR BOARD
Nicholas Penner (’04), Julie Rivers
PHI BETA KAPPA
Laura Phillips, Julie Rivers
RICHARD RAMETTE TEACHING AWARD
Paul Archer
SIGMA XI
Matthew Bush, Jane Coughlin, Dominique Fontanilla, William Myers, Laura Phillips, Amit Reddi, Julie Rivers
SIGMA XI GRANTS-IN-AID OF RESEARCH AWARD
Amit Reddi
OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY NATIONAL MEETING
Matthew Bush
Jane Coughlin
Laura Phillips
Alexandra Schmitt (’04)
Maroya Spalding
Heidi Spoelhof
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Matthew Bush
ENROLLMENTS
| Fall Term | ||||||||||
| 100, The Chemistry of Drugs | 15 | Hofmeister | ||||||||
| 122, Introduction to Chemistry | 8 | Ferrett | ||||||||
| 123, Principles of Chemistry | 45 | Rossi | ||||||||
| 230, Equilibrium and Analysis | 35 | Drew | ||||||||
| 233, Organic Chemistry I | 42 | Alberg | ||||||||
| 291/391, Independent Study | 1 | Staff | ||||||||
| 304, Advanced Laboratory I | 23 | Ferrett, Hollingsworth | ||||||||
| 344, Quantum Chemistry | 24 | Hollingsworth | ||||||||
| 353, Organic Chemistry III | 8 | Carlin | ||||||||
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 7 | Staff | ||||||||
| Winter Term | ||||||||||
| 113, Concepts of Chemistry | 13 | Cass | ||||||||
| 123, Principcles of Chemistry | 25 | Rossi | ||||||||
| 128, Principles of Environmental Chemistry | 14 | Hollingsworth | ||||||||
| 233, Organic Chemistry I | 44 | Hofmeister | ||||||||
| 234, Organic Chemistry II | 33 | Carlin | ||||||||
| 292/392, Independent Research | 1 | Staff | ||||||||
| 305, Advanced Laboratory II | 22 | Cass, Gross, Kohen | ||||||||
| 338, Introduction to Computers & Electronics | 6 | Drew | ||||||||
| 343, Chemical Thermodynamics | 23 | Kohen | ||||||||
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 3 | Staff | ||||||||
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 9 | Staff | ||||||||
| Spring Term | ||||||||||
| 123, Principles of Chemistry | 53 | Drew, Kohen | ||||||||
| 230, Equilibrium and Analysis | 36 | Gross | ||||||||
| 233, Organic Chemistry I | 21 | Hofmeister | ||||||||
| 234, Organic Chemistry II | 43 | Mohrig | ||||||||
| 291/391, Independent Study | 11 | Staff | ||||||||
| 292/392, Independent Research | 3 | Staff | ||||||||
| 306, Advanced Laboratory III | 22 | Alberg, Hofmeister | ||||||||
| 320, Biological Chemistry | 30 | Alberg | ||||||||
| 351, Inorganic Chemistry | 17 | Cass | ||||||||
| 352, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory | 9 | Cass | ||||||||
| 370, Solar Energy Conversion | 15 | Rossi | ||||||||
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 26 | Staff | ||||||||
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 8 | Staff |
GIFTS AND GRANTS
Gretchen Hofmeister was awarded an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Type B $50,000 three-year grant for her proposal, “Titanium and Aluminum Complexes of Chiral and Achiral Trisphenol as Selective Lewis Acid Catalysts.”
The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund continues to support the research of David Alberg until the end of this summer.
The Dow Chemical Foundation continues to support chemistry at Carleton by funding each year one new four-year chemistry scholarship. These scholarships provide a stipend of $4,000 per year. Dow also provides $2,500 per year to the department for summer research and other needs.
Deborah Gross is co-PI on a project spearheaded by James J. Schauer, James P. Hurley, Dave E. Armstrong (University of Wisconsin, Madison) and David P. Krabbenhoft (USGS, Middleton, WI). The project continues to be funded by the EPA-STAR program and is entitled “Speciated Atmospheric Mercury: Gas/Particle Partitioning, Transformations, and Source Characterization.”
Funds were received from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to support the summer research of five chemistry students.
A few years ago the estate of James D. Morrison gave $10,000 to support the annual Dr. James D. (’30) and Julia P. Morrison Lectureship. The lectureship was held this year by Professor David E. Cane of Brown University.
David Alberg was awarded a National Institutes of Health AREA grant of $132,117 for his project, “Inhibitors of Trypanothione Reductase.”
Jerry Mohrig continues to receive support from a National Institutes of Health two-year research grant for the project, “Stereochemistry of Elimination and Proton Transfer.”
Steven Drew continues to receive support from a National Institutes of Health Academic Research Enrichment Award grant for his proposal “Microsensors for Nitric Oxide – Design and Evaluation.”
Jerry Mohrig continues to receive support from a National Science Foundation three-year research grant on the topic, “RUI: Stereochemical Determinants in Elimination and Proton Transfer Reactions.”
Steven Drew continues to receive support from a Research Site for Educators in Chemistry (RSEC) grant through the University of Minnesota and the National Science Foundation for a proposal entitled “The Synthesis and Characterization of Chiral Platinum(II) Double Salt Materials and Their Application in the Detection of Chiral Gases.”
Steven Drew, Deborah Gross, Marion Cass, David Alberg, and Jerry Mohrig continue to receive support from the National Science Foundation’s Chemistry Research Instrumentation Fund (CRIF) for a proposal entitled “Acquisition of an Electrospray/Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer to Support Student-Faculty Research at Carleton College.”
The NSF-CCLI Program continues to support Steven Drew, David Alberg, Deborah Gross, Will Hollingsworth, and Jerry Mohrig for a proposal entitled “Capillary Column Gas Chromatography into Project-Oriented Laboratories.”
Carleton College money raised to match the National Science Foundation 1992 Young Investigator Award (NYI) to Trish Ferrett is still supporting her pedagogical research and curricular development for her new project. Combined NSF and Carleton-raised funds total to about $458,000 since 1992.
SEMINARS
Carleton Chemistry Faculty: Welcome Reception and Careers Seminar
Carleton Science Majors: Annual All-Science/Math Poster Session
Martin Gruebele, University of Illinois, Urbana: Slow Energy Flow and Fast Folding: The Complex Dynamics of Molecules Small and Large
Lara Weinstein Szewczak, Yale University: Atoms matter! Nucleotide analogs reveal RNA-protein interactions in living cells
Peter J. Alaimo, University of California, San Francisco: Chemical-genetics: A Tool for Decoding Cellular Signaling Pathways
Joseph Chihade, Williams College: Freaks, Geeks, and the Second Genetic Code: Mitochondrial Alanyl-tRNA Synthetases
Scott D. Rychnovsky, University of California, Irvine: Prins Cyclization Reaction In Natural Product Synthesis
Dave Alberg, Steve Drew, Deborah Gross, Gretchen Hofmeister, Will Hollingsworth, Dani Kohen, Jerry Mohrig: Summer 2003 Research in the Carleton Chemistry Department
Douglas H. Ohlendorf, University of Minnesota: Structural Biology of Gram Positive Virulence
John Wright, University of Wisconsin, Madison: Coherent Multidimensional Vibrational Spectroscopy – The Optical Analogue to 2D-NMR
Natalia Tretyakova, University of Minnesota Cancer Center: Mass Spectrometry of Chemically Modified DNA
Robert Fecik, University of Minnesota Cancer Center: The Design of FtsZ Polymerization Inhibitors as Novel Antibacterial Agents
Robert Kennedy, University of Michigan: Analytical Chemistry of Neurotransmitters and Hormones
Eric Simanek, Texas A&M University: Dendrimers Based on Melamine: From Medicine to Materials for the Environment
Paul Archer, Jane Coughlin, Dominique Fontanilla, Will Myers, Laura Phillips, Julie Rivers, Carleton Chemistry Seniors:
DEBS Does Erythromycin: The BEST and ONLY Chemistry Comps Talk of 2003!!!
David E. Cane, Brown University:
Mechanism and Structure of Biosynthetic Enzymes. How Nature Makes Vitamin B6; The James D. Morrison Seminar in Chemistry
Eric Jacobsen, Harvard University:
Advances in Asymmetric Catalysis; The 2003 Lecture on Organic Synthesis, Sponsored by Organic Synthesis, Inc.
Andy Borovik, University of Kansas: Rigid Organic Frameworks Around Metal Ions: Controlling Metal Ion Reactivity via the Secondary Coordination Sphere