2003-2004 Faculty and Staff Activities
David G. Alberg, 1993-, Associate Professor. B.A., Carleton College; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.
Dave enjoyed a well-deserved (at least he thought so) sabbatical leave during Spring Term this past year. He stayed on campus, using his time away from the classroom to work in the laboratory on his research. During fall and winter, he taught Organic Chemistry I both terms. In addition to his regular courses, Dave also supervised a comps group this year. Dave and a group of six seniors (Sunny Choh, Mike Baca, Linnea Engel, Nick Penner, Earnie Kim, and Britta Veitenheimer) studied the work of Professor Jack Kirsch, a noted enzymologist from the University of California, Berkeley. The group focused on Professor Kirsch’s work on the mechanistic details of a number of related pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzymes. The group gave an excellent public seminar on what they learned over some 13 weeks of study, and the fun culminated in an exciting day of conversation and dining with Professor Kirsch when he visited campus in April. Professor Kirsch, like all of our comps “subjects,” was impressed with our students and Carleton.
Dave’s research, helped along by his sabbatical leave, is going well. His ongoing project involves the design, synthesis, and evaluation of inhibitors of trypanothione reductase (TR), an enzyme unique to the metabolism of trypanosomes and related parasites, many of which are responsible for numerous diseases, including African sleeping sickness. Last summer, Dave worked with four students. JoAnn Czechowicz (’04) returned for her second summer of research, and she was joined by Aaron Leconte (’04), Linnea Engel (’04), and April Wilhelm (’05). Linnea and Aaron worked on the synthesis of inhibitors, and JoAnn and April prepared samples of the enzyme and evaluated the biological activity of three inhibitors. This summer, April has returned to the lab, and working with newcomer Anna Larson (’06), they are carrying out some final experiments with those inhibitors so that they may write up that work for publication. Aaron Leconte has also returned, after graduating this spring, to wrap up some aspects of his project and to pass off other parts of his project to Andy Wills (’05), who joined Dave’s lab this summer. This past spring, both Aaron and JoAnn represented the Alberg research group at the 227th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, where they presented posters on their work. Dave’s research continues to be supported by an NIH AREA grant that he was awarded in the spring of 2003.
On the home front, life continues to grow more and more busy. Dave’s son, Sam, and daughter, Ellie, are now 10 and 6, respectively. Their many and varied activities keep Dave and Gretchen busy as a makeshift taxi service. The past year was complicated by a major kitchen and basement renovation project on their home, which seemed to never end. Somehow, the family survived living without a kitchen for many months; however, six months later, Dave still has a lot of painting to do before the project can really be said to be completed. That may never get done! At least Dave won’t lack for projects to keep him busy in his retirement.
Charles H. Carlin, 1966-, Charles “Jim” and Marjorie Kade Professor of the Sciences. B.A., Carthage College; Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University.
This June almost marks the end of Chuck’s career at Carleton. He celebrated his “retirement” with a seminar for students (“A Carleton Chemist at Scotland Yard” one more time) in May and a “Conversation with Chuck Carlin” in the Gould Library during alumni weekend in June. He thoroughly enjoyed both events, due in no small part to the knowledge that he will be teaching Fall and Spring Terms at Carleton next year. (We ran a bit short of organic chemists in next year’s schedule.)
Chuck still enjoys teaching Carleton undergraduates as much as ever near the end of what will be a career spanning 39 years in the classroom preaching his fervent belief that organic chemistry is important, vital, and fun!
He will be living in Northfield, among a cluster of fellow emeriti golfers and fishermen, and teaching consumer chemistry in the Cannon Valley Collegium during the Winter Term.
Chuck considers the highlight of his career the wonderful opportunity he’s had to teach Carleton undergraduates – who are among the brightest and the nicest people on the face of this good Earth. He offers his heartfelt thanks to all of you for making his such a satisfying and rewarding career.
Marion E. Cass, 1987-, Professor. B.S., Fort Lewis College; Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder.
This has been a year of intellectual exploration and travel for Marion Cass. Marion began a two year leave (one year of sabbatical and one year unpaid leave) in September of 2003 and will be on leave until September of 2005. Just prior to beginning her leave, Marion was accepted to travel with the Carleton Faculty Off Campus Program in Australia, a program funded through a Fulbright Grant written by Professor Fred Hagstrom in the Department of Art and Art History. Ten Carleton faculty members traveled for 26 days with Fred Hagstrom, Gary Wagenbach (biology) and an Australian naturalist (Rob Elvish) studying the environment, natural history, human history, culture and art in Australia. Marion notes that it was an intellectually stimulating and fascinating experience being a student among enthusiastic, intellectually curious and adventurous faculty peers in an overwhelmingly beautiful natural environment.
In October, Marion and her husband, Steve, moved to Sydney, Australia, where Marion worked with Professor Gary Willett and his research group at the University of New South Wales learning techniques in Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. In addition to working with one undergraduate student studying the mass spectral properties of fatty acids extracted from indigenous Australian nuts, Marion explored the use of FT-ICR-MS for the characterization and analysis of small highly charged coordination complexes. While in Australia, Marion, Steve and their friend, David Otterness, joined the Carleton Biology Off Campus Study Program on Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef for a week in February, giving a hand to Professor Gary Wagenbach by helping students with research projects and instrumentation at the research station. While on the island they also had a fantastic time snorkeling and observing sea turtles lay eggs and sea turtle hatchlings hatch. Humorously for all of you who remember doing bomb calorimetry experiments sometime in your undergraduate career, Marion, Steve and Dave helped Hilary Christensen (’06) resuscitate a modern (but rarely used and partially disassembled) bomb calorimeter so that she could study the caloric content of different sea weeds.
In March, after Marion wrapped up several months of research at the University of New South Wales, Marion and Steve returned briefly to the United States and then moved to London, England. Steve accepted a position within the London office of his firm, and Marion arranged to work with Professor Henry Rzepa of Imperial College, where she is learning computational methods applied to molecular orbital theory and is being introduced to new programs for the visualization and examination of molecular properties. In addition to running molecular orbital calculations on small molecules, Marion is working with Professor Rzepa and Professor Charlotte Williams to modernize a web site on the Imperial College Department of Chemistry home page to illustrate symmetry operations and symmetry classification.
While on leave, Marion has continued working with colleague, Will Hollingsworth, on their pedagogy project regarding the teaching of molecular orbital theory. Their paper, “Moving Beyond the Single Center – Ways to Reinforce Molecular Orbital Theory in an Inorganic Course,” was published in the July issue of the Journal of Chemical Education. Marion also presented a departmental seminar on the topic at the University of New South Wales in March. The project is ongoing with hopes to generate a set of teaching materials and perhaps a small textbook.
Traveling while on leave presented the opportunity for Marion and Steve to hike in some amazingly beautiful parts of the world. Just prior to leaving for Australia, Marion and Steve hiked for a week in the Weminuche Wilderness of southern Colorado and for 24 days in the Wind Rivers Range in Wyoming. Over their Christmas break in Australia, they took the ferry from Melbourne to Devenport, Tasmania and on New Year’s Eve set out hiking west on the South West Coast Track, several hours drive west of Hobart. Six days of hiking along the coast brought them to an old mining area with a landing strip, where they weathered out a storm and were treated by sighting several orange bellied parrots (one of the rarest species of parrots in the world). They then took an exciting plane ride back to Hobart through the winds of the “roaring forties.” A few months after their trip to Tasmania, Marion and Steve traveled to the South Island of New Zealand with their friend, Dave Otterness. The highlights of the trip included a day of hiking in the spectacularly beautiful Authur’s Pass area, a “tour” of a few pubs with excellent beer, and a three day trip up the Copland Track to an area with hot springs overlooking a phenomenal alpine view. Currently, their backpacks are only being used to carry groceries to their flat in Hampstead, north of Regent Park in London.
Joseph W. Chihade, 2003-, Assistant Professor. B.A., Oberlin College; M.A., Ph.D., Columbia University.
Joe officially joined the department in the fall, after a year of living in Northfield and getting acclimatized to life on the edge of the prairie. He was pleased to be back in the classroom after a very productive year spent doing research in the lab of Professor Karin Musier-Forsyth at the University of Minnesota. Joe taught Chem 234, Organic Chemistry II, in the fall to 11 early-risers. It was a pleasure to teach such a small group of students, especially since the last time Joe taught the same material (at Williams College) the “small” section had 70 students!
Joe also played the role of a student during the Fall Term, sitting in on Chuck Carlin’s Organic Chemistry III and on Shannon Stroschein’s Biochemistry (in the Biology Department). Both courses were well worth the shorter days that resulted. Watching Chuck teach was some of the best “teacher training” Joe’s received, and knowing firsthand what is taught in Biochemistry helped in the preparation of Biological Chemistry, the other major course in the biochemistry concentration.
During winter break, Joe attended the new faculty workshop, which includes a “micro-teaching” experience, where each participant teaches a 10-15 minute lesson to the other participants. Joe decided to go out on a limb and tried to teach electrophilic aromatic substitution to a group that included English, history, religion, and American studies faculty. (There was a token biologist!) Everyone claimed to have learned something, but Joe has a lingering suspicion that this was an example of “Minnesota Nice.”
In the Winter Term, Joe taught Chem 320, Biological Chemistry, to a very strong group of chemistry and biology majors. Though Joe’s research interests are in biochemistry, this was his first time teaching a complete biochemistry course. He was excited by the challenges of deciding how to give a representative picture of this broad field in a ten-week term. The students also felt the challenge, as most of them were either doing comps or taking Chemical Thermodynamics concurrently. One of the highlights of the term was the student poster session, where students summarized and presented work from the current biochemical literature while eating snacks.
In the spring, Joe taught Chem 233, Organic Chemistry I, to another small group of students. This was the first time Joe had taught the first course in organic chemistry, so he was more than happy to have a small section. It was great fun to introduce the basic concepts in organic, rather than building on them, and Joe looks forward to teaching the course again in the future. Joe also co-taught Advanced Lab III, Spectroscopic Characterization of Chemical Compounds, with Gretchen Hofmeister. He had to brush off some pretty dusty NMR chops and develop new mass spec ones, which was a lot of fun.
Joe took Jerry Mohrig’s research space this year, though Jerry held on for dear life, keeping research students active through the Fall Term! Remodeling the lab for biochemical research involved removing two fume hoods and installing more bench space. One of the fume hoods ended up at the local Crime Scene Investigators office, so it’s gone on to a new and productive life. New equipment in the lab includes a French press (not for making coffee, but for breaking open bacterial cells), a benchtop high-speed centrifuge, and a cold cabinet that looks an awful lot like a deli case. Three rising juniors, Alice Agyiri, Greg Ducker, and Andy Nieuwkoop, start work in the lab this summer. They will be characterizing alanyl-tRNA synthetases – enzymes that are crucial for translation of the genetic code – from animal mitochondria, continuing work that Joe started at Williams. At the beginning of the summer Joe will travel to Korea to present some of the results from this work at the International Conference on Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases.
Joe and his wife, Daniela Kohen, are getting used to home ownership and parenthood and are ready to take the next big step: a new baby is expected at the end of August!
William C. Child, Jr., 1956-1990; Emeritus Professor, 1990-. B.A., Oberlin College; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin.
Bill was again active in the Cannon Valley Elder Collegium, both as a student and a teacher. With a friend he taught a course on three musical works by Johannes Brahms. Recently he began a term on the Board of Directors of the CVEC. Other activities were pretty much as in the past: playing the bassoon in several musical groups, spending a week at a chamber music festival in Bozeman, Montana, assisting in computer classes at the Northfield Senior Center, and working in the annual used book sale. In the spring he attended the annual meeting of the Superior Hiking Trail Association and this summer plans to hike several sections of the trail, with the goal of eventually completing its entire length.
Steven M. Drew, 1991-, Associate Professor and Chair. B.A., St. John’s University; Ph.D., University of Colorado.
Steve continued as Chair of the Chemistry Department this year. After two years as Chair, Steve has a growing appreciation and admiration for the work that past Chairs have put in to make this department what it is today.
In the fall Steve taught a new course, “Chemistry in Context,” for non-science students looking to fulfill their math-science distribution. Topics covered included ozone in the troposphere and stratosphere, energy, drug design, and food chemistry. In the winter Steve offered a section of Chem 123, “Principles of Chemistry,” followed by a section of Chem 230, “Equilibrium and Analysis,” in the spring. Even through Steve has taught these courses numerous times, he still finds interesting aspects of the courses to develop and improve. For example, he continues to tinker with the five-week lab project in Chem 123 examining the chemistry of metal-acetylacetonate compounds and will be developing a new lab for Chem 230 in cooperation with Deborah Gross this coming summer.
This past summer marked the last year of Steve’s NIH grant to study the reaction of nitric oxide with iron porphyrins immobilized on carbon electrode surfaces. He worked with three students, Elizabeth McEachron (’05), Janel Uejio (’05), and Adam Sunderland (’05), on various aspects of this project last summer. Steve recently received a new grant from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund to fund a project studying the chemistry of chiral platinum(II) extended linear chain materials. These materials have potential applications as gas sensors. Last year Travis Ruthenburg (’04) was working with Steve on this project in Professor Kent Mann’s laboratories at the University of Minnesota with NSF RSEC support. This summer Steve will be working on his own to finish up some aspects of his previous nitric oxide project and start his new research project at Carleton. Next summer students will return to his lab to join in the fun.
Other professional activities have kept Steve busy the past year. Steve reviewed two American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund proposals and traveled to the University of Illinois to present a seminar on his research to the Analytical Division of the Chemistry Department. Steve also traveled to the spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society to present a poster on his research. There he visited the posters of nine Carleton undergraduates who were presenting posters on their summer research projects.
Tricia A. Ferrett, 1990-, Professor. B.A., Grinnell College; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.
During Fall Term, Trish taught Chem 122 using the interdisciplinary issues of global climate change and dietary fat in ChemConnections modules. Hedda Larsson, a visiting professor from Sweden, co-taught this course and helped improve the use of writing to aid the learning of chemistry. Trish also taught Chem 304 with Will Hollingsworth and enjoyed working with the new chemistry majors. In Winter Term, Trish worked with eight comps seniors on the molecular electronics work of Jim Heath’s group at Cal Tech. Jim’s visit in Spring Term also helped the department learn about the exciting new area of nanosystems biology. Trish also learned a lot supervising Brandy Rippy’s (’04) comps paper on DNA-functionalized carbon nanotubes that are used as biosensors.
Also in Fall Term Trish wrote (with the able help of Patricia Martin and Scott Bierman) the college’s fifth Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) proposal - a major source of funding for the sciences. The proposal was a result of numerous spring and summer 2003 faculty/staff retreats, led by Trish and the Dean’s Office. Science and math faculty decided to create a new long-term initiative in biology-centered interdisciplinary education. One major aim is to infuse the curriculum with the study of complex and integrated systems, which requires multidisciplinary approaches. Carleton just received $800,000 from HHMI to fund faculty and student activities related to the new Carleton Interdisciplinary Science and Math Initiative (CISMI). Money will be used for faculty workshops, course development, student summer research, instrumentation, and the prefrosh program in science and math. Funds extend for four years starting in September 2004. Trish is directing the HHMI grant and CISMI as one-third of her job. This year she got one course release to work on these projects. Related to CISMI, Trish attended a Project Kaleidoscope meeting in Richmond, VA, last fall on “How People Learn,” so the latest knowledge about learning and cognition can be applied to pedagogy in the sciences.
Trish’s summer 2004 research group is tackling two projects related to her new scholarship in interdisciplinary science education. With Dana Kraus (biology, ’06), she is developing a curricular module on abrupt climate change and drought. Jade Bender (psychology, ’05) returned to work a second summer in 2004 on the connection between student intellectual development and interdisciplinary science learning. Both projects address the need to prepare college science students to study the interdisciplinary problems of today and tomorrow. Also in spring/summer 2004, Trish revised her ChemConnections ozone module with W.W. Norton, updating it from the 1998 edition.
Trish continues to play a role in the summer Environmental Studies at Carleton (ESC) outreach program for high school students and teachers. Trish and hubby, Tom Baraniak (with help from Deborah Gross) are doing a project on particle pollution in air. Trish is continuing ESC teacher workshops on abrupt climate change and drought with the help of her summer 2003 and 2004 research students. In summer 2003, Trish also joined the three-day trip to the Long Lake Conservation Center.
Trish took more unpaid family leave during part of Winter and Spring Terms for the arrival and care of her second son, Alex Tae-Yeong Baraniak. Alex was born on July 9, 2003 in Korea. Trish brought Alex home from Seoul on February 27, 2004. Family life is now very busy and joyful with the two boys (Adam is almost 2). Carleton recently added adoptive parenting paid leave to equalize employee benefits for biological and adoptive parents. Trish started this discussion, drafted the college’s new policy, and helped move it through the governance system (a two year process!).
Travel this year was limited with two small boys at home! Trish did get to XC ski with a girlfriend at Devil’s Thumb Ranch in Colorado in January, and she spent a week in Seoul with her mom to bring Alex home. Future travel will await a time when the boys can sleep well away from home and grow up enough so one parent can handle their care. In the meantime, local adventures to the zoo, park, and grocery store are great fun.
James E. Finholt, 1960-2001; William H. Laird Professor, Emeritus, 2001-. B.A., St. Olaf College; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.
Retirement continues to be an enjoyable time. It is not hard to adapt to a leisurely lifestyle after the hectic rush of life as a member of the Carleton faculty.
Travel is still an important part of life for Jim and Bev. The harsh bite of Minnesota winter was moderated by a couple of weeks in Hawaii. They also spent some time in England this spring to complete the trip that was cut short two years ago when Jim fell and injured his shoulder. Fortunately, he has had almost a 100% recovery from the trauma of that fall. This summer they tried a new Lake Michigan ferry service between Milwaukee and Muskegon during a trip to Ann Arbor. The service is fast and quite pleasant. Future plans include an August visit to Seattle and an October trip to Mexico to learn more about the Dia De Los Muerto.
Jim still enjoys biking and tennis and put in a fair amount of time working in the garden. For some reason he has not had much sailing time. Playing with a new digital camera has also been a fun activity.
Professional activities have included reviewing a number of journal manuscripts and some chemistry activities with church groups.
This spring Jim completed a number of years as a member of the Charter Commission of the City of Northfield. He also finished a long term of service on the Board of Trustees of his church. He has enjoyed helping senior citizens learn how to use computers. The Northfield senior organization has developed an excellent computer education program and its classes are always filled.
Jim enjoys hearing from former students. His e-mail address is still jfinholt@carleton.edu so send a message when you have a minute or two.
Deborah S. Gross, 1998-, Assistant Professor. B.A., Haverford College; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.
This year was busy for Deborah, and included teaching Chem 230 in the fall, Ad Lab II and comps in the winter, and Chem/ENTS 328 and 329 (Environmental Analysis) plus a section of Chem 230 lab in the spring. The classes were great, as usual, and Deborah found it especially fun to participate in Advanced Lab again. In addition, a new collaboration was added to the many that are in place for Deborah’s research – this one requiring learning a new language to enable communication with computer scientists (at Carleton and at the University of Wisconsin, Madison)! So far, Deborah’s group is doing pretty well and the computer scientists are even learning some chemistry.
In addition to getting this new collaboration off the ground, last year saw Deborah’s research group gathering data in Colorado and Yellowstone National Park during the summer and in East Saint Louis over the winter. The group now has a number of very large data sets which they are excited to get to analyze, now that summer is here. The students who will be working on the data this summer are Lexie Schmitt (’05), Andrew Ault (’05) and Melanie Yuen (’06), who are working diligently with the data right now. This summer will see travel to Milwaukee, on the continued quest to better understand the sources and dynamics of airborne mercury emissions. These data sets will be among those that the computer scientists will develop tools to help analyze.
Two of Deborah’s students (Lexie Schmitt (’05) and Renee Frontiera (’04)) had a chance to present their research last October in poster sessions at the American Association for Aerosol Research annual meeting in Anaheim, CA. They did a great job, and were likely the first two undergraduates to attend the meeting, let alone to present results. Deborah had opportunities to present the group’s work at a user’s meeting sponsored by the vendor of our mass spectrometer at the same meeting, as well as at Bowdoin and Grinnell Colleges, as part of the chemistry seminar series at each institution. She had fun traveling and meeting the students and faculty at these other colleges. This summer Deborah will teach for the second time in the Aerosol and Particle Measurement Short Course at the University of Minnesota, which is always fun.
This year, Deborah and Dani Kohen began a stint as seminar chairs, and they had great fun bringing in an array of seminar visitors. They also started a “Journal Club” for the department, where the faculty and students got a chance to read and discuss a paper that the seminar visitor suggests, the day before they visit. In addition to this, Deborah and Dani co-led a comps group focusing on the spectroscopic work of F. Fleming Crim at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It was a great group of students (Nick Boekelheide, Louisa Carr, Eric Feise, Renee Frontiera, Aaron Leconte, and Travis Ruthenburg) and everyone learned a tremendous amount. The group took a road trip to Madison to tour Crim’s labs, and had a really exciting time (pun intended!).
This summer Deborah and Markus are enjoying watching their newly planted vegetable garden grow. Married life is treating them both well, but doesn’t seem to diminish how busy everyone is.
Gretchen E. Hofmeister, 2002-, Associate Professor. B.A., Carleton College; Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley.
This past year was very busy for Gretchen. She had a research leave in the fall, and she taught Organic II in the winter and Inorganic and Advanced Lab III in the spring. Gretchen taught Inorganic Chemistry because Marion Cass was on leave this past year. She particularly enjoyed re-learning applications of group theory in chemistry and introducing students to the reaction chemistry of coordination and organometallic compounds. Marion will be on leave again next year, so Gretchen will get another chance to teach this interesting and challenging material.
In Advanced Laboratory III, Joe Chihade and Gretchen developed a new experiment that introduced the students to more sophisticated tandem mass spectrometry experiments (MS/MS), which are the basis for a wide range of analyses, including protein sequencing. In this experiment, students isolated different ions of a short peptide and analyzed the mass spectra produced when these ions were dissociated. By analyzing this information, students deduced the sequence of the peptide. This experiment utilized the electrospray ion trap mass spectrometer, acquired by Deborah, Steve and others for the department.
This past year, Gretchen’s research laboratory got set up, and they began to make significant progress in their experiments in the fall and winter. The goal of her research is to develop new metal-based reagents that will selectively control the outcome of organic transformations or polymerization reactions, similar to how biological enzymes selectively control the transformation of biological metabolites or the synthesis of biological polymers. Specifically, Gretchen is working on preparing new bis- and tris-phenols for coordinating metals such as titanium and aluminum and exploring the catalytic role of the metal complexes in the preparation of poly(lactic acid), a biodegradable polymer.
Gretchen’s returning student, Charlie Weiss (’05), succeeded in resolving one of the intermediates in the chiral trisphenol ligand synthesis, so that he has >95% of the levorotatory enantiomer. He is currently scaling up this process and using it to prepare enantiomerically pure trisphenol, which they will use as a ligand for titanium or aluminum in enantioselective synthesis.
Gretchen has three additional research students this summer: Andy Ryan (’05), Aistis Tumas (’05), and Sarah Russell (’06). Aistis and Sarah are working to resolve difficulties that emerged last summer in employing the titanium trisphenolate complexes as catalysts for the polymerization of lactide, to produce poly(lactic acid). Thus far, the chemistry appears to be working, which is reassuring. Sarah is becoming the master of the new size exclusion chromatography apparatus. This is used to determine the relative molecular weights and molecular weight distributions of the polymers that they make. Aistis is currently attempting to prepare a specific isomer of the titanium trisphenolate catalysts, and Andy Ryan is preparing aluminum trisphenolates, which they plan to use as polymerization catalysts.
In addition to these developments at work, Gretchen and Dave had extensive remodeling done to their house last fall. It was an experience that she has no desire to repeat, but now that it is “done,” they are very happy.
William E. Hollingsworth, 1986-, Professor. B.S., B.A., University of Texas, Austin; M.S., Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.
Will taught 344 (Quantum Chemistry) and Advanced Lab I (with Trish) in the fall, 354 (Lasers and Spectroscopy) and the associated laser lab (355) in the winter, and 128 (Principles of Environmental Chemistry) in the spring. In attempting to change the laser lab from more of a special projects lab to include more regular projects for the entire group to enjoy, it was entertaining and sometimes frustrating to see all the mishaps that could occur. Highlights included drilling a hole through a quartz (!) cuvette with the laser while hoping to see a Raman signal as well as the usual transients and variations in a signal everyone wished would be more stable.
The results of a few projects finally appeared. Most notably, the molecular orbital paper he has been working on with Marion Cass finally appeared in the July 2004 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education – check it out, it’s destined to become a classic! In spite of Marion’s leave from Carleton that is underway, they managed to push forward with more planning for future extensions to this work.
Will worked with Margaret Lo (’04) and Matt Sheldon (’04) last summer in research. Anyone who knows these two will appreciate how amusing as well as engaged in research this partnership turned out to be. We exploited the stability and output control in the current YAG/dye laser system to obtain some quantitative fragmentation patterns at a selection of wavelengths for our major client molecules (Mn2(CO)10, Re2(CO)10, Co3(CO)9CH, and Co3(CO)9CCH3) to serve as benchmarks. Then we focused our attention - no pun intended - on a set of studies centered around 350nm to compare how the wavelength-dependent fragmentation patterns of Mn2(CO)10 compare to those reported from recent solution-photolysis work, in particular, trying to determine how the metal-ligand and metal-metal bond-breakage channels compete as the color queries different molecular orbitals. This study is only just beginning, and Will is using the time this summer to work on a few development aspects (with instrumentation, software support, and interpretation).
Will continues to participate in activities outside the department such as discussions on ethics, ENTS (Environmental and Technology Studies), which was reviewed as a program this year, the Summer Teachers’ Institute, and the summer program Environmental Studies at Carleton. He supervised groups of high school students both summers in studying the levels of lead found in different soils.
Julie Karg, 1988-, Chemistry Technician. B.S., Mankato State University.
This past year, Julie worked with professors to develop and prepare new laboratory exercises and with organic chemistry faculty to help them adopt a new laboratory textbook for teaching the labs associated with Chemistry 233/234. She also made major and minor exercise upgrades to previously performed experiments. In addition, Julie worked with Brian Mars to develop a system of mobile gas chromatographs and water baths and to replace an ancient malfunctioning computer (Apple II) used for making labels in the chemistry stockroom with an updated label-making system. Julie continues to manage the Chemistry Department’s weekly electronic newsletter, “The Weekly Beaker,” and the electronic version of the department’s “Annual Report.”
Daniela Kohen, 2002-, Assistant Professor. B.A., Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Ph.D., University of Notre Dame.
This last year has been another really good one for Dani. She taught Chemical Thermodynamics and Advanced Laboratory II in the winter and Principles of Chemistry (Chem 123) in the Fall and Spring Terms. As in the previous years, she loved teaching these classes and interacting with the students. It is such a pleasure for her to see how, at Carleton, every term is full of learning and packed with cool moments, what a delight! This past year, for the first time, Dani supervised a “comps” group. With Deborah Gross and a remarkable group of six seniors she learned about Fleming Crim’s work on laser mediated chemistry. The students learned an immense amount and gave a wonderful public seminar. The group was also able to visit Professor Crim’s lab at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and also host him at Carleton for a two-day visit full of very stimulating conversations. Dani truly enjoyed participating in the comps program and is looking forward to doing it again in the future.
Last summer and during the winter break, Dani and three students, Greg Haman (’06), Meghan Thurlow (’05) and Eric Feise (’04), did research together. Dani’s group research focuses on using atomistic simulations to understand and characterize at the molecular level how small gas molecules interact with pure CO2 in the pores of molecular sieves, and how this interaction changes in the presence of other gases present in the atmosphere. The goal of these studies is to provide a basic understanding of the processes that underlie the use of molecular sieves as filters to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Last summer we set ambitious goals – each student had a complex problem to tackle. The learning curve is steep in this kind of research, but the results are very satisfying, and Dani’s student collaborators made significant progress in their own projects and enjoyed doing research. This summer, Meghan and Eric are continuing to do computational work in Dani’s group and have been joined by Disan Davis (’06). Dani and her group are looking forward to continuing a productive summer packed with ups and downs – doing research is emotionally, not only intellectually, demanding – but full also of learning and discovery.
Meeting scientists and talking about science has always been a source of pleasure and replenishment for Dani, so she is very pleased that last year she had many opportunities to do it.
Last August, Dani’s research group met with groups from Hope College and Macalester College that do computational and theoretical work to share experiences and learn from each other. The first Midwest Undergraduate Conference in Computational Chemistry (MUCCC) was held in Chicago, and it was co-organized by B. Krueger (Hope) and Dani. It was very successful in providing undergraduates doing research in computational chemistry (a small field) with an opportunity to present their work to others who have a similar research background and creating an intellectual “support” group. In February, with the goal of keeping the contacts alive, the first on-line MUCCC conference was held. The second MUCCC will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, this August.
In an effort to establish more ties to other people doing research at Carleton, last summer Dani organized a series of informal meetings at which faculty from various science disciplines told each other about their research. The meetings were structured so faculty and students from all sciences met for tea and cookies (and informal and productive interaction), and then a faculty member gave a talk about their research. The meetings drew a nice crowd and were a great opportunity to interact with and learn from each other, so Dani is happily organizing them again this year.
The Chemistry Department routinely holds a seminar series throughout the academic year. This year Dani and Deborah Gross had the pleasure of organizing the series. Dani enjoyed the task of deciding which speakers to invite and the opportunity to spend a little more time with them. To help everyone interested to prepare for these visits, Deborah and Dani started the “journal club” – informal meetings over pizza where students and faculty discussed a paper that the speaker had selected as a good introduction to their work. Dani believes these get-togethers made a big impact in the quality of understanding during the seminars; at least this was the case for her!
This summer Dani has also attended two National Science Foundation workshops focused on incorporating computational chemistry into the curriculum, one in Atlanta, Georgia, and the other in Riverside, California. She has also gone to Sedona, Arizona, where the 8th International Conference on Fundamentals of Adsorption was held.
On a personal note, Dani and husband, Joe, are expecting their second child, a girl that will – if everything goes well – join Margo in being an enormous source of joy. Hopefully the challenges of having two kids will be more than balanced by the pleasures!
Brian T. Mars, 1983-, Laboratory Manager. B.A., California State University, Chico.
This past year, Brian and Julie replaced the 20-year old Apple IIe that had been used for making labels for lab bottles with a new Dymo thermal-print label maker. Brian also replaced the paper copy work scheduling system with a digital sheet that gets e-mailed to students, who then fill it out and e-mail it back. The original idea came from the sharp mind of Deborah Gross. Also replaced this year was the Perkin-Elmer Lambda 4 UV/VIS spectrophotometer. Taking its place is an Evolution 300 from Nicolet.
Finally, after 3½ years of distance learning, Brian received his Master of Theology degree from Andersonville Theological Seminary.
Jerry R. Mohrig, 1967-2003, Herman and Gertrude Mosier Stark Professor, Emeritus, 2003-. B.S., University of Michigan; Ph.D., University of Colorado.
Jerry retired in September 2003 after his last summer of research. This first year of retirement has been like a sabbatical leave with plenty of time for living. Jerry and Adrie took up ballroom dancing and Jerry started to cook. He also finally took the time to undertake a regular exercise and diet program. With greater physical stamina and fun activities, it was a very good year.
The Mohrig lab closed down during Fall Term after a few weeks spent tying up the loose ends remaining from summer research. They were lucky to find the answers to the questions they had posed, providing not just an ending but closure to the research. During Winter and Spring Terms Jerry worked with four Carleton students on the evaluation of their experimental data. Lea McMartin (’04) and Andrew Wild (’04) had studied the stereochemistry of the 1,2-elimination reactions of deuterated b-trimethylacetoxybutyrate esters and thioesters, to compare to the results of the earlier research with the analogous acetoxy substrates. Their experimental results point to an intramolecular syn elimination pathway from the oxyanions of the less hindered acetoxy substrates, a pathway that has never before been observed with esters. Nick Penner (’04) finished his study of solvent effects on the rates of the elimination reactions. Martha Montgomery (’04) used NMR for a very nice study of the conformational populations of the many substrates whose stereochemistry they have studied.
The first writing project that Jerry undertook in retirement was the editing of his first wife’s “Tastes Good” columns from the Northfield News, which had appeared between 1980 and 1986. Some 170 will be published as a book in August. Jean’s book will feature recipes made simply from fresh, locally-available ingredients. Her recipe introductions are filled with wit and wisdom, reflecting Jean’s imagination and sense of humor.
Jerry finished his work as a consultant to the Committee on Professional Training of the American Chemical Society after attending its January meeting in Sedona, AZ. Jerry and Adrie then spent another week vacationing in the Arizona mountains. In February, he served as a consultant to the chemistry and biology programs of Emmanuel College in Boston under the aegis of Project Kaleidoscope. In June, at the 10th National Conference of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Jerry was named a CUR Fellow for his devotion to undergraduate research; he spoke on “Are Enzymes Perfect?” in his award address.
Richard W. Ramette, 1954-1990; Laurence M. Gould Professor, Emeritus, 1990-. B.A., Wesleyan University; Ph.D., University of Minnesota.
In March Dick addressed the Green Valley Forum on the topic, “Timekeeping and You: From the Big Bang to GPS Satellites.” Last October the Ramettes joined a Carleton alumni tour, led by Emeritus Professor Dale Haworth, for a wonderful visit to Kyoto and surroundings. Thanks to the freedom of digital photography, Dick returned with 1,700 memorable images.
Wendy J. Zimmerman, 1970-, Administrative Assistant.
Wendy and this year’s student office assistant, Andrew Schrag, worked together to ensure that things ran efficiently in the departmental office. Wendy is the editor of the Annual Report and “The Weekly Beaker,” the department’s weekly newsletter.
In June Wendy said happy retirement to the geology administrative assistant, Betty Bray, her office mate of 28 years. During their time together Betty and Wendy shared many laughs, a few tears, countless cups of coffee, and the highs and lows of learning how to use the computer. She will be missed by everybody in Mudd.
Marion E. Cass, “Student-Directed Explorations to Learn about Ligands in an Inorganic Chemistry Course,” Journal of Chemical Education, 2004, 81, 1145-1147.Marion E. Cass and William E. Hollingsworth, “Moving Beyond the Single Center – Ways to Reinforce Molecular Orbital Theory in an Inorganic Course,” Journal of Chemical Education 2004, 81, 997-1005.
Steven M. Drew, Jennifer E. Mann, Brian J. Marquardt, Kent R. Mann, “A Humidity Sensor Based on Vapoluminescent Platinum(II) Double Salt Materials,” Sensors and Actuators B. 2004, 97, 307-312.
Tricia A. Ferrett, essay titled “Is this ‘real science’?” in Reflections on Learning as Teachers, edited by Susan Singer and Carol Rutz, College City Publications, Northfield, MN, 2004.
Sharon Anthony, Thomas W. Brauch, Elizabeth J. Longley, Jade Bender (’05), Tricia A. Ferrett, “Climate Change: What should we do about Global Warming?”, revised edition, a ChemConnections module, W.W. Norton, 2004 (in press).
T. A. Ferrett and S. Anthony, “Why does the ozone hole form?”, revised edition, a ChemConnections module, W.W. Norton, 2004 (in press).
Z. Huang, L. Chen, J.-Y. Cai, D. S. Gross, D. R. Musicant, R. Ramakrishnan, J. J. Schauer, S. J. Wright, “Mass Spectrum Labeling: Theory and Practice,” IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, submitted June 2004.
R. Ramakrishnan, J. J. Schauer, L. Chen, Z. Huang, M. M. Shafer, D. S. Gross, D. R. Musicant, “The EDAM Project: Mining Atmospheric Datasets,” International Journal of Intelligent Systems, submitted January 2004.
Will Hollingsworth, “In Search of the Magical Moment,” chapter in Reflections on Learning as Teachers, edited by Susan Singer and Carol Rutz, College City Publications, Northfield, MN, 2004, pp. 71-78.
R. W. Ramette, “Colorful Iodine,” Journal of Chemical Education 2003, 80, 878.
R. W. Ramette, “Why Does a Helium-filled Balloon Rise?”, Journal of Chemical Education 2003, 80, 1149.
R. W. Ramette, “Strength Training Guidelines for Senior Newbies,” Private publication for GVR Fitness Club, January 2004.