---

David G. Alberg, 1993-, Professor. B.A., Carleton College; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.

As I write this short report, I am savoring the last few weeks of my year-long sabbatical. Gretchen and I have spent the past year working in the laboratory of Professor Karl Anker Jørgensen at the Center for Catalysis at Aarhus Universitet in Aarhus, Denmark. Professor Jørgensen’s group is a leader in the development of methods for organic synthesis using small chiral organic catalysts to achieve enantioselective reactions. This research, dubbed “organocatalysis,” represents a fairly new and very fast-moving field in organic chemistry. The Jørgensen group operates in a highly collaborative way, and people move from project to project as the need for manpower and their own interests dictate. I’ve had the chance to work on three different projects over the past year and have learned a great deal. It has been exhilarating! Gretchen and I are now frantically trying to finish up work on our current project so that we can spend our last weeks in Europe enjoying a bit of traveling before returning to the States in early August.

Living abroad has been a great experience for our family, although the very, very short winter days in Denmark were a bit trying – even for a native Minnesotan! Of course, we are now enjoying the wonderfully long days of a Scandinavian summer – with twilight lasting until near midnight and the northern sky never quite getting totally dark at night. It is amazing! Although the summer here is great, and we are looking forward to a trip to Spain and a tour through Sweden and Norway in the coming weeks, we are looking forward to returning home. It will be nice to settle back in to my office in Mudd Hall.

Michael Burand, 2007-, Visiting Assistant Professor. B.S., University of Minnesota, Duluth; M.S., Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

This past year I taught two general chemistry courses: CHEM 122, “An Introduction to Chemistry,” and CHEM 123, “Principles of Chemistry,” during the Fall and Spring Terms, respectively. I have taught these courses at Carleton before, so it was nice to work on improving what I had done in the past. The independent laboratory projects for CHEM 123 were particularly enjoyable this year; it was great to be able to work closely with students in the laboratory, many of whom were doing this kind of work for the first time. Additionally, I was a laboratory instructor for Organic Chemistry I (fall) and II (winter). It was nice to have the opportunity to work with some of the students I had taught in CHEM 123 the previous year.

During the Winter Term I co-taught CHEM 306, “Spectroscopic Characterization of Chemical Compounds,” with Professor Deborah Gross. This was my first time teaching an upper-level spectroscopy course, and it was definitely challenging and rewarding at the same time. It was a great experience to be able to discuss NMR theory with students as well as to provide them with guidance for hands-on NMR experimentation using our department’s 400 MHz instrument. The class also took a field trip to the University of Minnesota to tour their extensive NMR and MS facilities.

In June I co-taught CHEM 1233, a week-long course for high school teachers who will be teaching AP chemistry for the first time. The co-instructor for the course was Patsy Mueller, who teaches AP chemistry in Lake Forest, IL. She and I taught this course last summer, and I am happy to report that we had another excellent group of students this year. They were enjoyable to work with in the classroom and laboratory, and they helped me to further understand what chemistry background many AP students receive before attending college.

The Chemistry Department faculty members continue to provide me with help and guidance, for which I am most grateful. I will be returning next year to teach chemistry at Carleton in the winter and spring. This coming fall my wife, Claire, and I will be travelling to Europe for two months, spending time mainly in France but also Italy and Spain. I am very excited about the trip, but also about the subsequent return to Carleton in the winter to being teaching again.

Charles H. Carlin, 1966-2004; Charles “Jim” and Marjorie Kade Professor of the Sciences, Emeritus, 2004-. B.A., Carthage College; Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University.

I continue to learn the intricacies of my pontoon boat on nearby Cedar Lake. I still hang out with my Carleton fishing buddies, all retired guys like me. My children and grandchildren keep me busy and happy. And I am recovering from a hip replacement done in summer 2009 on my left side (second time around!), trying to become stronger, more mobile, and less grumpy about adapting to legs of the same length (finally!). My wife, Carolyn, is taking good care of me and others who care for me, because I am not a very good patient. I love to hear from Carleton alums!

Marion E. Cass, 1987-, Charles “Jim” and Marjorie Kade Professor of the Sciences. B.S., Fort Lewis College; Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder.

Once again, I taught two of the three terms at Carleton. During the summer and then the Fall Term, I lived in Boulder, Colorado, with my husband, Steve, who heads the Energy Resources Team of the Rocky Mountain Institute. While in Boulder, I was officially appointed as a Visiting Faculty Member at the University of Colorado. This gave me access to the library and some other facilities. In return, I taught three lectures in Inorganic Chemistry at CU in the fall (on my favorite topic of symmetry and group theory), and I continued to work on computational projects using a Web Interface (WebMO developed by Will Polik from Hope College) to our server running Gaussian 03 at Carleton. I have been working on two projects: one looking at relative energy barriers for the Bailar Twist mechanism vs. the Rây-Dutt mechanism responsible for racemization and/or isomerization in chiral tris chelates. I have found computational verification of the experimental observation that the choice of the ligand in chiral tris-chelate (ML₃) complexes will influence whether a Bailar Twist mechanism is preferred relative to a Rây-Dutt mechanism. In a second project, I am exploring the relative stabilies of a series of isomers of D and L [Co(en)₃]³⁺ (connected to a research project in our Advanced Inorganic Chemistry laboratory course). Each enatiomeric form has four stable conformers (resulting from l or d ligand twists) with slightly different energies all of which show solvent dependence.

In the Winter Term at Carleton, I team-taught Quantum Spectroscopy Laboratory with my colleague, Will Hollingsworth, and I supervised a comps group working with seven Carleton seniors; Jennifer Bigelow, Joe Brown, Mia Brown, Jamie Chen, Robert Kennedy, Jennie Miller and Fumiko Yashiro. Our group studied the published work of Professor Nate Lewis (California Institute of Technology) and focused on his research in dye-sensitized solar cells as well as his newer work using Silicon nanowires as electrodes in photogeneration of H₂. In April, Nate visited Carleton to work with our group as well as with Steve Drew’s group who were also studying Nate’s work. In addition to giving a seminar in our department on his most current research, Nate gave an evening public lecture about global energy sources and demand titled “Powering the Planet.” Working with Nate was great! He provided wonderful insights about how science can unfold, shared stories of working on political initiatives and challenged students to think about new chemistry and new technologies. We talked about all sorts of things that ranged from how to be interviewed in front of a television camera to why grass is long and thin. His talk about global energy needs was a hit throughout the Carleton and Northfield community.

In comps this year I also advised Kareem El Muslemany who wrote a paper on palladium and copper catalyzed allylic alkylations. In addition, I served as second reader for Emily Ruff’s comps on electron tunneling in proteins and Lauren Jarocha’s comps on quantum control in reaction processes.

In the Spring Term I taught Inorganic Chemistry to a group of 23 senior and junior chemistry majors and Advanced Laboratory in Inorganic Chemistry to 16 students. In the advanced laboratory course we researched several avenues for synthesizing and purifying chiral [Co(en)₃]³⁺ species and then chemically capping those species to form Sargeson-type encapsulated cobalt complexes. We optimized routes to form each enantiomer, synthesized deuterated compounds for examination with NMR, explored using circular dichoism to determine enantiomeric excess, and optimized enantiomeric excesses through purification techniques. We plan to write a paper that outlines our findings which we will submit to the Journal of Chemical Education. Once again, as I do in most spring terms, I taught glassblowing to senior chemistry majors. This year had the largest participation ever with 16 seniors and 2 juniors (2 juniors convinced me that if I let a couple of juniors take the class, I might have TAs next spring. Smart juniors! I hope that they are good TAs!).

On a personal note, Steve and I adopted a yellow lab puppy in November. Beautiful little Ada (9 months old as this goes to press) is training us to be conscientious dog owners. We can open a door and throw a stick or Frisbee on command.

Joseph W. Chihade, 2003-, Associate Professor. B.A., Oberlin College; M.A., Ph.D., Columbia University.

After a year off from teaching Organic Chemistry, I came back to it with a bang, teaching all of the Chem 233 sections offered, two in the Fall Term (one at 9:50 a.m. and one at 12:40 p.m., with just enough time for lunch in between) and another one in the Winter Term, for a total of 129 students. It was a real pleasure to bring all these students through one of my favorite classes and to get to know almost all of the sophomores who declared a chemistry major. In the spring I again taught Biological Chemistry and its lab course, in which students further characterized site-directed mutants of E. coli cystathionine-b-lyase and designed a new set of mutations that will be explored in experiments next year.

Over the Winter Term, I had a great comps group focusing on David Tirrell from CalTech, whose work involves incorporating non-canonical amino acids into proteins. The wide variety of applications for these “artificial proteins” had us learning about topics from endothelial cells to measuring Young’s modulus using atomic force microscopy, with plenty of biochemistry in between. When Professor Tirrell visited in the spring, we gave him a real rural Minnesota experience, dining at El Ranchero Supper Club in Webster. Highly recommended.

Last summer, several students who were new to the lab continued research on the substrate specificity of mitochondrial alanyl-tRNA synthetases. Jon McMurry, ’09, worked on expressing mutants of the human mitochondrial enzyme, Eamon Flynn, ’09, and John Hanks, ’09, tried out and troubleshot an efficient new 96-well plate based aminoacylation assay, and Jolene Mork, ’10, and Nakita Natala, ’09, the only lab veteran in the group, used metal ion catalyzed RNA hydrolysis to probe the structural stability of mitochondrial tRNAs. This summer I will be working on my own to finish up the work these students started. The high point of the summer (quite literally) was traveling to Annecy in the French Alps for the Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase meeting in early September. Even with the fine food and excellent scenery, I managed to pick up a lot of science.

A more personal trip to Europe came in December, when the family traveled to Spain to visit Dani’s family. For my daughters, the best thing about the trip was playing with their two-year-old cousin, but seeing the “real life castle” in Manzanares el Real was a close second.

Of course, getting the news that Dani had been awarded tenure at Carleton was the absolute highlight of the year. It will be great to have another associate professor around – both in the department and in the family.

William C. Child, Jr., 1956-1990; Emeritus Professor, 1990-. B.A., Oberlin College; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin.

Life continues pretty much as described in recent annual reports. I continue to enjoy Elder Collegium courses and to participate in three musical ensembles. Recently I managed to shed volunteer positions as personnel manager of the St. Paul Civic Symphony and treasurer of the Minnesota Bassoon Association, after having served eight years in the former and twelve in the latter.

Any time recovered from these terminated responsibilities seems cancelled by a new job as treasurer of the homeowners association here at the Village on the Cannon. Because Jerry Mohrig has taken on the more demanding job of president of the association, it appears that we two chemistry colleagues have become a power center in our new residence.

Steven M. Drew, 1991-, Professor. B.A., St. John’s University; Ph.D., University of Colorado.

Returning to Carleton after a year on sabbatical is never an easy transition. I discovered this after my first sabbatical and found it to be even more true after my second sabbatical ended last summer. However, with another school year under my belt, I am now fully reintegrated back into the life of the college. This past year was challenging and fun as I returned to teaching and worked to complete the projects I started on my sabbatical. On the teaching front I taught Equilibrium and Analysis twice, once in the fall on my own and a second time in the spring with Deborah. The spring enrollment was quite high so we juggled a few course assignments so I could co-teach the course with Deborah. In the winter I was the leader for a comps group that studied the research of Nate Lewis from Cal Tech. We were one of two groups studying his work. We chose to look closely at his research on semiconductor/electrolyte solution interfaces. The science was very challenging to learn, but I think our time investment definitely paid off. In the end we were able to read and mostly understand some very interesting data on electron transfer rates at semiconductor/electrolyte solution interfaces that could be modeled reasonably well using Marcus Theory. I thoroughly enjoyed working with my group of students, and we had a stimulating set of discussions with Nate when he was on campus.

This past year I have also been working on completing two manuscripts based on research I did during my sabbatical and during the past few years. The first paper has been accepted and will be coming out soon in Chemistry of Materials. This paper describes a platinum containing material that selectively uptakes benzene vapor and undergoes a dramatic color change from yellow to blue. While the sensitivity to benzene was not very high, the material was highly selective for benzene and did not respond to other benzene derivatives such as toluene, xylenes, and chlorobenzene. I am also working on a second paper I will complete during the summer, and I plan to write a proposal for new funding. I hope to be back in the lab working with Carleton students next summer.

In addition to working on research related writing I am also working on two additional projects this summer. First, I received a grant from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest to enhance my understanding of X-ray crystallography so I can more effectively integrate the technique into my research. I’ll be working with folks in the X-ray Crystallography Facility at the University of Minnesota to complete this project. Second, I received a grant from the college to further enhance the laboratory portion of my materials-themed Principles of Chemistry course. I’ll be looking into materials students can synthesize that have application as organic light emitting diodes (OLED’s). As part of this project, I hope to design a way that students can also make prototype OLED’s in the lab and test how well they emit light under the presence of an applied potential.

Other professional activities have kept me busy the past year. I reviewed a manuscript for the Journal of Chemical Education and reviewed a colleague for tenure at another liberal arts college. I was elected to and now serve as a member of Carleton’s Faculty Personnel Committee. This is the committee that makes the tenure recommendation to the Dean and President. I was humbled to be elected to this committee, but after my first year of work, I now understand why the committee assignment comes with a one course reduction in teaching load – it was a lot of work and stress. Finally, I had a great time presenting a chemistry show for students at St. Dominic School. This was Olivia’s (my youngest daughter) last year in grade school so I helped her go out with a bang, literally.

Tricia A. Ferrett, 1990-, Professor and Chair. B.A., Grinnell College; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.

I completed my sabbatical in December, spending most of 2008 editing and writing a book titled “Connected Science: Strategies for Integrative Learning in College.” I was a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Palo Alto). We have a publisher and book contract in hand! The book will highlight a diverse group of scholarly classroom studies on undergraduate interdisciplinary learning in science-rich settings. I am co-editing this volume with David Geelan, who teaches K-12 science teachers at the University of Queensland (Australia).

I also began work with a national Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) effort to disseminate “pedagogies of engagement.” This involves faculty development workshops in regional networks primed for change in teaching that enhances active learning by students. I joined the project at the September “Summit of Pedagogical Pioneers” in St. Paul. I then worked intensely with Deans and faculty in the Minnesota State College and Universities (MnSCU) network, doing faculty development workshops at Central Lakes College in Brainerd (October), at the “Realizing Student Potential” MnSCU Conference in Minneapolis (February), and at Bemidji State University (April). I learned much by working intensely with Jim Swartz (Grinnell College) and Brenda Lyseng (MnSCU Chancellor’s Office). Finally, I helped a small team led by PKAL Director Jeanne Narum write a CCLI Phase 3 National Science Foundation dissemination proposal – to continue the project for four more years. We should hear by August 2009 about funding.

Other professional travel related to department and college business and my scholarship. I represented the department at the NOBCChE meeting in St. Louis (April) linked to our expanding efforts to create more diverse applicant pools for faculty positions at Carleton and other selective liberal arts colleges. I worked with Arjendu Pattanayak (physics/astronomy) and faculty from Haverford, Williams, Smith, and Grinnell to design a faculty workshop funded by Mellon 23 ($20,000) held at Carleton on “Broadening Access to STEM Fields” (June). As part of a new HHMI-funded project on assessment of interdisciplinary learning, I collaborated with David Lopatto (psychology) at Grinnell College (May) on the development of faculty and student surveys. This assessment project is a consortium effort involving Carleton, Grinnell, St. Olaf, Hope, and Whitman Colleges. Also on this project, I helped design and lead a workshop for a faculty “inquiry group” in June at Carleton with Whitney Schlegel (Indiana University) and Joanne Stewart (Hope College). This group consists of ten faculty from the five colleges to support their development of scholarly projects that investigate student learning in interdisciplinary classrooms in 2009-10. Finally, I presented my own scholarly work at the 5^th meeting of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) in Edmonton (October). I co-presented on the Connected Science book with Matt Fisher (St. Vincent College) and Whitney Schlegel (Indiana University) at the AAC&U meeting on “Engaging Science, Advancing Learning” in Providence, RI (November).

I returned from sabbatical to be department chair for six months – a fun and productive ride! It was great to be back in the department, and we managed to gain approval for two tenure-track positions in chemistry in the next several years. In winter 2009, I taught Chem 123 and had a blast. I lengthened special lab projects to four weeks and totally enjoyed watching my students get excited about and engage in their own research. Spring Term I did department chair and CISMI administrative work.

While in Palo Alto, I led a nifty scholarly life enriched by good food, runs on the Stanford campus, wine with Carnegie friends, and yoga. I traveled to Portland and Port Orford, Oregon, with a girlfriend. My family took summer trips to Kansas City and Duluth. I broke my foot in January, so exercise was out for a while. I have since resumed yoga and running while trying to keep up with my energetic boys, Alex and Adam (ages 6 and 7).

Finally, I am excited about my new Carleton contract. Starting in fall 2009, I will be at 60% time permanently (three courses or its equivalent), with teaching in chemistry and the new ENTS major. I will continue to be Co-Director of CISMI through 2012. I will also be a Senior Research Scholar at Carleton’s Science Education Resource Center (SERC), allowing me to work with Cathy Manduca, other SERC staff, and national partners on grant-funded projects related to undergraduate science education and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

James E. Finholt, 1960-2001; William H. Laird Professor of Chemistry and the Liberal Arts, Emeritus, 2001-. B.A., St. Olaf College; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.

Nothing very exciting has happened to the Finholts in the past year. We discovered that air travel goes very well for us. Friends drive us up to Minneapolis, and we bring our wheelchair and put Bev into it as soon as we arrive at the airport. Bev can go through security without getting out of it, and we can use it to move her right to the end of the jetway. The chair is then stowed in baggage and brought up for our use at our destination. Everyone at Northwest (now Delta, formerly Northworst) has been very helpful. Delta is Georgia based so once again peanuts are provided in flight.

The computers used at the Northfield Senior Center were all replaced this year. I learned to appreciate the college tech support because it really is a lot of work to select a computer, negotiate a price, buy software, and get everything installed. I also spent some time learning how to use Vista and the Microsoft Office 2007 software. The use of the ribbon was more than a minor change. Now it looks like System 7 will be upon us this fall and Office 2010 following in 2010. These developments should keep me out of mischief.

The tulip bloom this spring was awful. Only 2% of the bulbs I planted bloomed. I think I provided a feast for the squirrels. I tried some alliums and they were beautiful. Our faithful daffodils came through again.

It is a treat to hear from former students. My email address has changed to jfinholt@charter.net. Please send a message when you have a minute or two.

Peter Gittins, 2008-2009, Visiting Assistant Professor. MChem., Lancaster University, UK; Ph.D., The University of Sheffield, UK.

The past year at Carleton has been a hugely enjoyable and extremely rewarding experience. Fall Term I had the opportunity to teach Organic III as well as Organic I labs. Teaching an upper-level chemistry class gave me a fantastic appreciation for the caliber of Carleton students. The class was based on primary literature, and with a small group of six excellent students we were really able to look in depth at some fascinating areas of organic chemistry. In lab I got to know a good number of the lower class students and experienced the true liberal arts nature of Carleton – an English major in a chemistry class.

Over winter break I worked with a student to develop learning and assessment tools based on game shows for use in the forthcoming term and was also able to take some time out to visit family in England. Winter Term, I taught Organic II lecture and lab. It was great to see some familiar faces from Organic I lab and help them develop into the students I’d seen Fall Term. Spring Term I was again teaching Organic II lecture and lab, although switched the format of the lecture to Team-Based Learning. This was received extremely well by the majority of students and made the class immensely more enjoyable. The increased interaction with students was refreshing and their overall engagement in class was observably higher.

Spring Term also provided the opportunity to work with research students for summer projects in the area of dendritic polymer chemistry (Nolly Gibbs, ’11, Kevin Pollock, ’10, and Mia Zutz, ’10) preparing. Nolly is working on the core modification of hyperbranched polymers; Kevin is investigating the arrangement of branching units in similar molecules, with the goal of preparing model compounds that can be investigated by 2D-HPLC/GPC; Mia traveled to the UK, to conduct research work on the use of dendrimers in catalysis as part of collaboration with Lance Twyman at The University of Sheffield.

Over the last three terms I have received tremendous support, for which I am extremely grateful, not only from faculty and staff in the Chemistry Department, but also from the college as a whole. Along with outstanding students, this made for a great year. Fun highlights included lecturing outside in the ‘amphitheater’ between Mudd and Hulings, candy-based lecture demos, and some excellent lab snacks. Next year, despite disapproval of many Carleton students, I’ll be teaching across the river at St. Olaf – I hope this won’t tarnish my reputation too much, and I’ll be allowed back to attend the odd seminar.

Deborah S. Gross, 1998-, Associate Professor. B.A., Haverford College; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.

I had a busy but fun year this year (as always!). I got to teach a nice mix of familiar and new courses and to work with a comps group on a really unusual topic. Research has been proceeding apace. It was fun and gratifying to see some significant initiatives on campus with which I have been involved approved by the faculty: a new environmental studies major and new graduation requirements – the distros!

In terms of teaching, in the fall I worked with Dani Kohen and a giant-sized group of majors in the kinetics lab, which was as fun as it usually is. There were many interesting projects and lots of opportunity for the students to pursue their own interests within them. I taught two lab sections of the course, which filled up my Fall Term. In the winter I had two really unique experiences. First, I team-taught the Spectroscopic Characterization of Chemical Compounds course (Ad Lab III in the old-days) with Michael Burand. This was a really exciting experience, for two reasons: I got to teach much more about modern mass spectrometry techniques than we usually can incorporate into this course, which I think is valuable for our students; and I didn’t have to teach the NMR! Michael ably handled that significant portion of the course, and I now think that I understand NMR theory a bit better. Second, comps was great, and I will describe it in more detail below. In the spring, because of the second year in a row of overwhelming Chem 230 enrollments, Steve Drew and I got to team-teach a giant version of that course. We each took on two of the four lab sections each week (but I am sure the students could never predict who would be there in any given lab section), and we shared teaching the classes, etc. It was great to get to learn from each other again, and it took me back to my very first term at Carleton, when I team-taught this course with Steve!

Throughout the year, I also had the pleasure to teach the FOCUS colloquium that supports the Focusing on Cultivating Scientists (FOCUS) cohort program, which I have directed for the past two years. The students engaged with science and math in a variety of ways throughout the year, all in ways that also brought them into closer contact with scientists on campus and the scientific method. This year’s cohort comprised 15 very high-energy first-year students. I also worked significantly with the sophomore cohort, who inaugurated this program last year. Seven of them have declared science majors, which is very exciting!

Now for comps. Dani Kohen and I co-lead a comps group about “Food Chemistry” – a very broad topic. We worked with six wonderful seniors (Eamon Flynn, Sarah Kunelius, Kristine Mackin, Keven Tell, Sarah Toews, and Xia Xiong), and they had a really hard task. Food chemistry is a broad topic, and it was their job to narrow it down. The group ended up spending most of its time understanding the complexities of the Maillard Reaction, which is the reaction that occurs when sugars and proteins are heated together, causing food to brown. Our comps experience was tied together with a visit from Dr. Chris Loss, from the Culinary Institute of America’s Napa Valley campus. Not only did Dr. Loss (who has both a culinary degree from the Culinary Institute and a microbiology Ph.D. from Cornell) enlighten us about the Maillard Reaction and other aspects of food chemistry through discussions, but he did so more effectively through a meal that we cooked together. This was our menu:

Salad of mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette, toasted walnuts and crispy shallots
Braised carrots with lemon, honey, and dill
Rice pilaf with sautéed mushrooms and fresh herbs
Roasted beets
Braised beet greens
*Chicken breast two ways: slow poached in court bouillon, and sautéed with white wine and herb reduction
Apples with honey and red grapes
*Pound cakes two ways: with regular sugar and with corn syrup
*Dulce de leche time-course
*Home roasted coffee

All the dishes were wonderful, and those marked with a * were designed specifically by Dr. Loss to illustrate features of the Maillard Reaction. We were all very confident that we had the best comps experience ever.

In research, this year was relatively productive. I worked with a total of seven students during the academic year (five who have worked in the lab in the past 1-2 summers and two new students who are starting this summer). While the scheduling challenges were sometimes overwhelming, we have made progress on a number of projects. Two students (Ross Hamilton and Keven Tell) attended the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco in December, 2008, and both presented really nice posters. This summer we are planning more work on organosulfates in aerosol particles.

Otherwise, this has been a busy year but not for any specific reason. Probably that means it is normal. However, the next three years will, I fear, be anything but normal as I prepare to follow in the lofty footsteps of many of my colleagues and take my turn as chair of the Chemistry Department. Stay tuned for next year’s installment to see if I survive.

Gretchen E. Hofmeister, 2002-, Associate Professor. B.A., Carleton College; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.

This past year Dave and I and our family have been living in Aarhus, Denmark, where I (along with Dave) have been doing research in the laboratory of Karl Anker Jørgensen. Jørgensen is an established researcher, who started his career in organometallic catalysis and who more recently has been working on developing small organic catalysts for accomplishing selective organic transformations. I became interested in the field of organocatalysis while teaching students in Organic Chemistry III about an asymmetric proline-catalyzed aldol reaction developed by Carlos Barbas III and others at Scripps Institute.

Over the past year, I have worked on the organocatalytic asymmetric addition of HBr to α,β-unsaturated aldehydes, but the bulk of my work has been on a new project in the Jørgensen group. This project specifically concerns developing “metal free” methods for achieving Sonogashira, Heck, and other palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions. In the process, I returned to the laboratory full-time. It was initially strange to NOT purify solvents before use and NOT to worry about exposing reactants to air and water, but I quickly adjusted to the simplicity and ease of working under ambient conditions. Also, I have gotten a lot quicker at running columns! Currently, I am writing a manuscript summarizing the results from this project, which constitute the metal-free alkyne and homoketone coupling with electron deficient arenes.

At the same time, Dave and I are working on developing a new joint research project in the area of small molecule catalysis. We are also planning to develop two new laboratories for the Organic I and Organic II courses – one in gold (I) catalysis and one in organocatalysis.

It has been an amazing year for me – the longest I have ever lived outside the U.S. I have been happy to be far removed from the U.S. presidential election and the economic crisis. It has been interesting for me to view these events through a European lens, and I have enjoyed many lunchtime conversations with my colleagues about life in Europe vs. the U.S. During my tenure in Jørgensen’s group, I worked with Italians, Spaniards and Germans, in addition to Danes, which has been a wonderful exposure to different European societies. My family has also been able to plan some of our travel within Europe to visit these people, which has enabled us to see or do things that typical tourists are not able to do. Finally, it has been renewing to gain time and perspective, to be removed from the relentless “doing” of things to a more balanced combination of reading, thinking, and doing. I am anticipating my return to the U.S. with naturally mixed feelings, but I particularly look forward to re-connecting with my friends, coworkers, and students. Without a doubt, the year has given me a renewed appreciation for Carleton and its energetic and talented people.

William E. Hollingsworth, 1986-, Professor. B.S., B.A., University of Texas, Austin; M.S., Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley.

This was a very satisfying year, chock full of physical chemistry developments in teaching and research. In the summer, I worked with Lauren Jarocha (’09) and Emily Ruff (’09) on a series of gas-phase studies on the photodissociative properties of Mn₂(CO)₁₀ in the near ultraviolet using doubled output from a YAG-pumped dye laser. The method involves time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled with multiphoton absorption from focused laser light. Emily and Lauren were particularly successful making the dye laser scan effectively and gathered a lot of precise data on the trends of the excited atomic states of manganese produced when the color of the laser was scanned over the region of 300 to 370 nm. Emily continued some of this work over the winter break. Assisted by Bruce Thomas (emeritus professor of physics), we also implemented new precise wavelength-calibration procedures using the optogalvanic effect on neon. I also worked with Emily and Lauren on their very successful comps papers throughout the year.

After teaching Chem 128 (Principles of Environmental Chemistry) in the fall, the rest of the year was spent teaching physical chemistry, first in the winter in Chem 344 (Quantum Chemistry) and the Chem 302 spectroscopy lab, which was co-taught with Marion Cass. This was followed in the spring teaching to a large and lively group in Chem 354 (Lasers and Spectroscopy). For the first time in quite a few years, there was room in the schedule to also offer the associated laser lab (Chem 355) which was run with a strong emphasis on special projects. We were aided ably by Lauren as a teaching assistant. The eight students, Lauren, and I spent a lot of time implementing some new laser experiments including the wavelength-dependent patterns of fluorescence in iodine and trying out optogalvanic spectroscopy inspired by the previous summer’s research work.

In the spring, I was also pleased to be able to join Dani Kohen and a number of eager students in her special offering of a class in which we carefully analyzed selections from a textbook on time-dependent quantum mechanics, an activity which turned out to be quite challenging. Over the next few years, Dani and I are planning a series of activities to develop some new activities for quantum mechanics in the curriculum, and the time-dependent approach will certainly be represented.

While not teaching, I was involved in other activities at Carleton, including serving on the library advisory committee and a continued participation with ENTS. I also was chair of the Chemistry Department in the fall before Trish Ferrett started her stint in the winter. In support of the recently approved ENTS major, Deborah Gross and I are embarking on some activities this summer which will eventually lead to a new intermediate-level science class on climate at Carleton to help fill a hole in the curriculum.

Julie Karg, 1988-, Chemistry Technician. B.S., Mankato State University.

This past year, I continued to co-manage the chemistry stockroom – preparing laboratory experiments, supervising student workers, and providing assistance to laboratory and research classrooms. I worked with professors to develop and prepare new laboratory exercises for their courses and modify previously performed experiments, as well as providing additional assistance to visiting professors. I improved guidelines and signage designed to assist professors, lab assistants, and students and generated improvements that allowed the lab floor to run more smoothly and efficiently, including the development of an instructional guide for the department’s refractometer instrument. Additionally, I managed the department’s website in conjunction with Wendy Zimmerman.

Daniela Kohen, 2002-, Associate Professor. B.A., Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Ph.D., University of Notre Dame.

Life this past year has been good: full of learning and fun times, both at work and at home.

I taught Chemical Thermodynamics and Chemical Kinetics Laboratory (with Deborah Gross) in the fall and Principles of Chemistry (Chem 123) in the winter, and again in the spring! The fall was good; I love introducing Carleton students to physical chemistry. But teaching introductory chemistry twice this year was fantastic, in part because I was able to implement changes in the spring while the previous experience from the winter was still fresh, but mostly because both groups of students were spectacular. In the winter I also co-supervised a “comps” group that studied the chemistry of food – we learned a lot of chemistry, but the highlight was a long afternoon that the group spent cooking with our comps visitor, Chris Loss from the Culinary Institute of the Americas. This spring I also had the pleasure of spending time with a group of 12 students as they learned Time Dependent Quantum Mechanics, a subject very dear to my heart, as much of my Ph.D. work was in this field. Our weekly meetings were very intense, as the subject matter is pretty demanding, but it was amazing to see some students thrive under this challenge. Will Hollingsworth also participated in our meetings, making them even more interesting.

As has become usual at Carleton, I loved teaching all these classes and interacting with the students. I learned so much from all of them, and I am pretty sure the students learned quite a bit as well! There were so many good questions asked and so many cool moments in the lab and in the classroom…it was a pleasure!

Research is progressing nicely. My group’s research uses atomistic simulations to understand and characterize at the molecular level how small gas molecules interact with pure CO₂ in the pores of zeolites (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, Lindsey Madison (’10), Henry Heitzer (’10), and Colin Russell (’10) started working in my group and they are continuing to do so this summer. Reed Jordan (’13) has joined them this summer. The summer so far has been very exciting as the results my students are obtaining are deepening our understanding of a problem that has proved richer than we had anticipated – that of the peculiar behavior within materials with cages connected by narrow hallways of molecules with a large quadrupole (like carbon dioxide) and mixtures containing such species.

I am looking forward to continuing a productive summer with my research students, packed with ups and down – doing research is emotionally, not only intellectually, demanding – but full also of learning and discovery. Summer is also the time when my group and I attend conferences. Last year Henry, Colin, and Lindsey presented posters at the MERCURY conference on Computational Chemistry at Hamilton College, NY. This year all the members of my group will present their results at the Midwest Undergraduate Conference in Computational Chemistry (MU3C) at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Furthermore, last year I presented at the ACTC (American Conference of Theoretical Chemistry), also at Northwestern University, and this summer I will present my work at the 2009 Foundations of Molecular Modeling and Simulations (FOMMS) meeting in Blaine, WA. Meeting scientists and talking about science has always been a source of pleasure and replenishment for me, so I am very pleased that last year everyone in my group had an opportunity to do so.

Life at home, like at Carleton, continues to be a source of pleasures and challenges. Margo (almost 7 years old) started kindergarten last fall and Sofia (almost 5 years old) will start this fall – parenting school age children brings new and interesting issues to the table. It should not be surprising that Margo and Sofia keep us entertained and busy, and constantly remind me of how much there is to see, to do, to understand and to experience.

All in all, another stimulating year has gone by. And now, as a recently tenured professor, I am thrilled by the prospect of many, many more years like this at Carleton College.

Brian T. Mars, 1983-, Laboratory Manager. B.A., California State University, Chico; M.Th., Andersonville Theological Seminary.

I managed to keep the instruments operating in spite of planned and unplanned power outages. A third FTIR was purchased to supplement our aging (the Mattson Galaxy is over 22 years old) equipment. I was reappointed as college chemical hygiene officer by Bev Nagel. This happened just in time to be involved in the upcoming EPA self-audit.

Jerry R. Mohrig, 1967-2003; Herman and Gertrude Mosier Stark Professor of the Natural Sciences, Emeritus, 2003-. B.S., University of Michigan; Ph.D., University of Colorado.

This spring I did my first formal teaching since retirement in 2003, in the Cannon Valley Elder Collegium where I taught the History and Chemistry of Chocolate. The course spanned from before the Mayas up to Hershey and included a comparative tasting as well as a field trip to a Minneapolis chocolatier. It was great fun.

A fascinating opportunity came about late last year through the invitation of Professor Don Truhlar, a physical chemist at the University of Minnesota, to participate in a project to model the results of some of the experimental research on the stereochemistry of base-catalyzed 1,2-elimination reactions done by Carleton students in my lab over the years. This project has used the latest computational methodology that the Truhlar group has developed. A particularly important development is the ability to impose a solvent field on the reaction pathway calculations. This computational approach has been successful in differentiating E2 and E1cB pathways, as well as providing insights on anti and syn stereoselectivity. A manuscript will be submitted on these calculations later this year.

Most of my writing in the past year has been on the new 3^rd edition of Techniques in Organic Chemistry, which is due to be published late in 2009. An article presenting a guided-inquiry lab project, Synthesis and Hydrogenation of Disubstituted Chalcones, was published in February. This finished my triad of articles on how inquiry-driven experiments and projects can provide opportunities for more effective learning in undergraduate organic chemistry labs. In February I traveled to the University of New England on the Maine coast as a consultant on institutionalizing undergraduate research. I continue to be a member of the selection committee for the James Flack Norris Award for Achievement in Teaching Chemistry.

This is the second year that I have been president of the Homeowners Association at the Village on the Cannon in Northfield, where Adrienne and I live. It has been quite an experience in the past nine months, as the housing crisis affected our lives. Foreclosure in February resolved the situation, which again is stable and healthy. I have had to learn more about business matters than I ever expected or wanted to know.

Last August Adrienne and I spent three weeks in the Province of Quebec on an Elderhostel program. It provided a fascinating perspective on a part of Canada we had not visited before. This May we spent a number of days on Minnesota’s Lake Superior shore and enjoyed this beautiful part of God’s country. We continue to enjoy life.

Richard W. Ramette, 1954-1990; Laurence M. Gould Professor of the Natural Sciences, Emeritus, 1990-. B.A., Wesleyan University; Ph.D., University of Minnesota.

The travel highlight this year was a cruise on the River Seine, with visits from Paris to Normandy, including a sobering look at the D-Day beaches and cemetery. I’ve given illustrated talks on this trip to the Green Valley Forum, the GV Travel Club, and the GV Library.

The Journal of Chemical Education is planning a special issue for fall, and asked me to contribute a short piece on why I chose iodine as my favorite element:

In(to) My Element, by Dick Ramette

Long ago, in the first years of my teaching at Carleton, I began a clock reaction demonstration by saying, “You’ll like this. It’s about iodine, my favorite element.” At the end of the term my questionnaire included, “What did you like about this course?” To my surprise, one student wrote, “I liked that you have a favorite element. I asked my geology professor what his favorite mineral was, and I was disappointed when he had none.”

I’ve found much to like about iodine (Greek, Iodes, violet). It was discovered in 1811 as purple-black crystals that came out of burning seaweed. Its tincture kills germs, and nowadays it’s swabbed liberally around my eye when I get injections for macular degeneration. When a brown water solution of iodine is shaken with colorless CCl₄ the water becomes colorless and the CCl₄ turns purple. That’s a perfect demonstration to show solvent extraction, and to discuss molecular polarities.

As a boy chemist in high school my happiest moments were “feather-catalyzed” explosions of nitrogen triiodide, releasing glorious purple plumes with a satisfying “CRACK!” I learned to make it from my favorite book, Partington’s Inorganic Chemistry. This skill almost got me expelled from Wesleyan’s freshman chem lab.

An early Dick Tracy strip had a bad guy escape using a “gun” carved from a potato and turned black by iodine solution that he coaxed from a guard to treat a self-inflicted cut. Think, “starch indicator.” My college students assayed vitamin C tablets by potassium triiodide titration. They determined the tiny amount of KI in “iodized” salt, first oxidizing iodide to iodate with bromine, and then using the Dushman reaction to make a titratable quantity of I₂. One of my earliest publications was “Benzene Extraction of Antimony Triiodide,” a compound with beautiful orange crystals. In my display collection of favorite substances are the sparkling deep green crystals of tetramethyl ammonium pentaiodide (90% I!). While on leave at Oak Ridge National Laboratory my research with Donald Palmer, on high temperature equilibria of iodine, was the best work I ever did.

An entrancing crystallization is the snowfall-like formation of glistening golden hexagons of lead iodide, as a hot solution cools in the light of a sunbeam. A spectacular flare is set off by adding a few drops of water to a mixture of aluminum and iodine powders (Google aluminum iodine for great videos). For years my vanity license plate, IODINE, elicited questions from the curious. Now, in Arizona, I monitor desert heat with my “iodine thermometer” (“Colorful Iodine,” Journal of Chemical Education 2003, 80, 878), a 12-L flask containing solid iodine that uncomplainingly sublimes to deep purple vapor during hot days and reverts back to lustrous crystals at night.

These are some of the reasons for choosing iodine as my favorite element.

Wendy J. Zimmerman, 1970-, Administrative Assistant.

Working with me in the office for part of the year was my student assistant, Matthew Fink (’11). I continue to be the editor of this report and “The Weekly Beaker,” the department’s weekly newsletter, and I help manage the department’s web site.

Back to Annual Report for 2008-2009 Academic Year

---