The Department of Chemistry Times
An Electronic Newsletter of the Department of Chemistry
State
University of New York
College at Brockport
Volume 2, No. 5 Brockport, NY 14420 October 2003
An Electronic Newsletter of the Department of Chemistry
Volume 2, No. 5 Brockport, NY 14420 October 2003
CMST Institute Opens for
Business at SUNY Brockport
By Mark P. Heitz
Professor
Mark P. Heitz worked this past summer
with Professor Osman Yasar, Chairman of SUNY Brockport’s Department of
Computational Science, and representatives of the Departments of Biological
Sciences, Computer Science, Computational Science, Earth Science, Mathematics,
and Physics on the first year of a five-year project to infuse computational
science into the mathematics, science and technology curricula of local
secondary schools (grades 7-12).
This
project, dubbed the CMST Institute (CMST = Computational Math, Science and
Technology), began operations this summer under a five-year, $3.4 million NSF
grant awarded to Professor Yasar and co-PI’s from the Departments of Biological
Sciences, Chemistry Computer Science, Education and Human Development,
Mathematics and Physics. Under the
terms of this grant, partnerships between the Rochester and Brighton school
districts, local industries, and SUNY Brockport are to be developed to help
secondary school students and their teachers build a strong sense of the
interconnected nature of math and science.
The central idea on which the project is based is that using computers
to solve problems in the sciences will stimulate student curiosity in both math
and science.
Using
the power of computers and computer simulations students will explore science
and math concepts and problems in a new, inviting, and “fun” way. Some of the computational “tools” are
designed to allow students to explore in “real-time” how changing variables
affect the outcome of a problem. Other
“tools” give students the flexibility to design their own models to solve
problems.
A
four-week long summer workshop, which took place during July 2003, trained 56
teachers from the Brighton and Rochester City School Districts in the use of
several software packages that can be used to augment classroom lessons. The modules introduced in these workshops
included training in Project Interactivate, Texas Instruments Graphing
Calculators, Microsoft Excel, Agentsheets, Stella, and Interactive
Physics. Each of these “tools” can be
used by teachers to provide students with discovery-learning techniques to
investigate math and science concepts.
More
recently, Prof. Heitz developed a new collaboration between SUNY Brockport’s
CMST Institute, the Corning School District and scientists from Corning Glass,
Inc to implement regional training of teachers. The first of a series of workshops for Corning teachers was
completed in October 2003. Monthly
meetings will continue during the academic year to introduce teachers to new
modules. These efforts will also foster
and strengthen the partnerships between the teachers, schools, and local
industry.
Finley Publishes in JOC With
Undergraduate Co-authors
By Thomas W. Kallen
In June of this year, Professor K. Thomas Finley
published an article entitled “Regiospecificity in the Synthesis of Diaryl
Sulfones” in the Journal of Organic Chemistry having three former SUNY
Brockport undergraduates, as well as Professor Kenneth D. Schlecht, as
co-authors (D. E. Allgier, S. A. Herbert, R. Nee, K. D. Schlecht and K. T.
Finley, J.
Org. Chem., 2003 (vol 68, No 12), 4988-4990). While publication by Professor Finley is not
unusual, the time span over which the title study was conducted must be
considered to be highly unusual.
Daniel Allgier (‘72),
who did most of the original synthetic work, began this study in the early
1970’s as an Independent Study project under Professor Finley. Rory Nee (‘76),
one of Professor Kenneth D. Schlecht’s research students
continued the study in the mid-70’s, obtaining 60 MHz NMR spectra and assigning
peaks to the various isomers produced by Allgier. Sue Ann Herbert (‘98)
picked up the study as a summer research project in the mid-90’s, collected 300
MHz NMR spectra and defined isomeric abundance as a function of the pH at which
the synthesis was conducted.
Through all of this, Professor Finley has
been unbelievably persistent in directing this project, putting the finishing
touches on the work, and fighting the inevitable battles with referees. His co-authors owe a great deal to his
determination and drive to get this work published in a “quality journal!”.
E-mail from Rory Nee perhaps sets the
proper context for this publication.
Rory writes,” Dear
Dr. Finley, What a wonderful surprise to get your letter and the JOC reprints!
I very much appreciate your kind words and for sharing the authorship. I
learned much about research from Drs. Bixler, Schlecht and yourself. As I
recall, Dr. S. and I had that old NMR (I suspect it is now either in a museum
or at the bottom of Lake Ontario) so finely tuned that it was literally
"smoking" (from the low temp. liquid N2 sample probe)!! I still
appreciate the confidence that Dr. S. showed in me by letting me use his
"baby;" as I recall that he wouldn't let the organic chemists
anywhere near it. Do I now hold a chemistry department record for the length of
time from when a student worked on a research project to publication?!?!”
This work is published as a three-page “note”
in the Journal of Organic Chemistry.
“Notes are concise accounts of studies on a more limited scope” than
articles. However, they go through the
same peer review process as articles; and JOC is the premier journal in
the area of organic synthesis.
JOC is now Web-published as well to give
researchers faster access to information contained therein. This note was Web-published May 10, 2003 and
published in hard-copy format in June 2003.
The Times congratulates all who contributed to the
completion of this paper!
Chemistry Club Earns Honors
By
Thomas W. Kallen
The Chair of the Department of Chemistry has
been notified the President of the American Chemical Society that the Chemistry Club,
a Student Affiliates chapter of the American Chemical Society,
had been selected to receive a “Commendable” award for its chapter activities
during the 2002-2003 academic year. The
award winning chapters will be honored at the 227th ACS National
Meeting in Anaheim, CA, on Sunday, March 28, 2004. They were also recognized in C & E News and
in
Chemistry, the student affiliates’ newsletter.
Last year’s Club officers who planned and
carried out the activities recognized by the ACS, were: Amanda Sturdevant (’03),
President; Jason Tubbs, Vice President; Andrea Topolnycky (’03),
Treasurer, and Beth Mastin, Secretary.
The President of the American Chemical Society extended “his warmest
congratulations to the students…for setting such a fine example for other
chapters.”
Professor Markus Hoffmann, Faculty Advisor of the
Chemistry Club, also received special mention from the President of ACS who
wrote, “Few faculty members are willing to make the great commitment of time
and energy that a successful chapter requires of its advisors. It takes more than exceptional effort to be
an award-winning chapter; it takes the nurturing attention of dedicated
advisors. Professor Hoffmann’s efforts
certainly represent the best in undergraduate science education and mentoring
around the country.”
Of the 950 student affiliate chapters in the
United States and Puerto Rico, 29 were honored as being “outstanding,” 52 were
honored as being “commendable,” and 77 received “honorable mention.” Last year’s President of the Chemistry Club,
Amanda
Sturdevant, set the goal to “move up a notch.” They certainly did! This year’s President, Jason Tubbs,
reports that their goal remains essentially the same, to “move up another notch
to ‘outstanding!”
This year’s officers, in addition to Tubbs, are
Ashley
Campanali, Vice President, Kristina Fuller, Treasurer, and JoAnn Viterna,
Secretary.
Four Chemistry Students
Present Papers at the 5th Annual
Robert Laudise Undergraduate
Research Symposium
By Mark P. Heitz
On
Saturday, October 11, Jim Hutchings, Megan Bennett, Kristina
Fuller and Alicia Penna
traveled to Union college, in Schenectady, NY, with Professor Mark P. Heitz to present papers at the 5th
annual Robert Laudise Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Hutchings,
Fuller and Penna presented poster papers: Hutchings (Professor Markus M. Hoffman, research mentor) reported new
results on the “Phase Behavior of Ionic Liquids in CO2;” Fuller (Professor Mark
P. Heitz, research mentor) presented a poster on the “Solvation
Properties of a Room Temperature Ionic Liquid;” and Penna (Professor Margaret E. Logan, research mentor) presented her
research on “The Antioxidant Properties of Novel Diaryl Tellurides in a
Linoleic Acid Free Radical System”.
Bennett,
(Professor Markus M. Hoffman, research
mentor), delivered an oral presentation entitled “Surfactant Research Utilizing
Hydrogen Nuclear Magnetic Resonance”.
Above: pictured from left to right, Jim
Hutchings, Megan Bennett, Kristina Fuller and Alicia Penna, the 5th
Annual Robert Laudise Symposium presenters.
According
to Professor Heitz, all of the student presentations were well received by the
attendees at the symposium.
Hutchings’
research was funded last summer by Professor Hoffmann’s Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation grant,
while Bennett’s research was funded by a summer research grant from Rochester Midland Corporation.
Fuller,
recipient of the Morris Fellowship for
Undergraduate Research in Chemistry, received support for her 2003
summer research from the Brockport Foundation.
Penna,
recipient of the Chemistry Alumni Fellowship for
Undergraduate Research in Chemistry, received support for her summer
2003 research from the Brockport Foundation,
the Bixler Fund, and the Rochester Midland Corporation.
Above: Poster
Session at the 5th Annual Robert Laudise Undergraduate Research
Symposium at Union College.
Chemistry Student
Participates in Yale University
Minority Medical Education
Program
One of the greatest blessings that I have ever
received was the opportunity to participate in the Minority Medical Education
Program at Yale Medical School. This experience allowed me to essentially be a
graduate student for the summer and learn about different career pathways in
the biomedical field. Specifically, MMEP consisted of biomedical lecture
series, an in depth MCAT preparation, writing and communications classes, an up
close and personal participation in an autopsy, clinical applied basic sciences
scenarios, a financial planning workshop, medical ethics lectures, biomedical
lectures, an introduction to public health and epidemiolgy, interviews with
members of the medical college admissions committee, and a series of mock
medical school interviews.
Yale University is in the top ten colleges known
for its research. A requirement upon graduation from the medical school,
epidemiolgy and public health, and other of its graduate programs involves an
in depth research project and thesis. Most of the medical students do their
research during the summer after the end of the first year of medical school.
One particular medical student who was a teaching assistant for the MMEP
program began her project on health disparities and disease in Haiti. With Yale
Medical School funding, students have the opportunity to research anywhere in
the world, given an excellent proposal.
Yale also offers undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students
opportunities to embark on summer research internships. Specifically, the
BIOSTEP program is designed for underrepresented students with some or no
research experience to take part in a molecular biology and biophysics project.
Another program that Yale offers is a post-baccalaureate program. This program
allows students to take free graduate biology courses for credit, and work with
a mentor on a research project. This program is geared for students who wish to
enter an MD, PhD, or an MD/PhD program.
Yale
Medical School has the no grade system for the first two years of medical
school. The tests are optional and are confidential. The students are given a
yearly evaluation, and that would constitute as somewhat of a
"grade". The requirement, however, is successful completion of the
USMLE Step 1 before entering the clinical phase of the curriculum, which is at
the end of the second year. Other medical schools have letter grading, or
pass-fail systems, and some do not even require successful completion of the
USMLE Steps 1, 2, or 3 to receive the medical degree; future doctors need these
steps for certification as a physician though.. The didactic education consists
of lectures and group problem based scenarios. For the most part, the classes
at MMEP were problem-based learning.
Enrichment
programs such as MMEP allow undergraduate and post baccalaureate students the
opportunity to explore the different career pathways in the biomedical
field. It provides good preparation for
what is to come in these graduate programs and the careers that follow, and it
enables the participants to look at alternatives that may not have been
considered previously. MMEP fortified
my decision to pursue a career in medicine; for others it allowed them to research and pursue other
careers within the biomedical field. Those who are interested in graduate
school, especially within the biomedical field, should seriously consider an
enrichment program; it provides insight in the decision making of the graduate
program and career.
Editor’s
Note: Luis is a Biological Sciences major, Chemistry minor and member
of the SUNY Brockport’s CSTEP program.
His CSTEP mentor is Professor Margaret E.
Logan of the Department of Chemistry, a member of the College’s
Premedical Advisory Committee. Luis
participated in Yale University’s Minority Medical Education Program during the
past summer.
By
Thomas W. Kallen
It
has been such a long time since a child was born to a faculty member in our
department that the Times just could
not pass-up the opportunity to announce formally the birth of a baby girl to Markus and Phonesada
Hoffmann! So, here it is, in
Professor Markus M. Hoffmann’s own words: “Hi
Everyone, Phonesada and I have wonderful news to share. On Sunday, Oct. 12,
at 5:32 PM, Pallas Brenna Hoffmann was born at Strong Memorial Hospital.
Pallas’ birth weight was 6 lbs and 7 oz and she measured 19-1/4 inches
long. Phonesada and Pallas both
came home yesterday (October 14th) and we spent the first night
together as a family at home. God is good.
Markus” At the left:
the proud father, Markus, and his infant daughter, Pallas Brenna
Hoffman.
Alumni News
By
Thomas W. Kallen
Rory Nee (’76),
who married fellow chemistry major, Polly Ann Wells (’76), recently “bumped into” our Web site; and,
after reading the back issues of The Department of
Chemistry Times, sent the following e-mail message, reproduced in
its entirety following consultation with our lawyers.
“Hi
KDS & TWK! During some recent net
surfing I went to the SUNY Brockport Chem. Dept. web site and had a great time
reading the issues of the Newsletter that are posted there. It was good to hear
that you guys are still doing a great job preparing young folks for futures in
science/chemistry. It seems like you have some very outstanding students to
keep you motivated. I was particularly impressed with KDS's "Road
Show" work with bringing chemistry to young kids in a fun way, and that
the Chemistry Club has been very active. It was also great to read some of the
alumni news of the "old folks" from back in the early/mid-70's. (If
you want to really get depressed, I'll tell you that Polly and I are now
knocking at the door of 50!)
An
update on us.... We live in Kalamazoo,
MI, and I have now been at Pfizer (formerly Pharmacia, formerly Upjohn) nearly
25 years, working as a QA Specialist. You would probably be a wee bit
disappointed that I have been "out of the lab" for a long time,
solidly entrenched as a "bureaucrat," but there are many things that
need to be done to bring you guys the high quality Lipitor, Viagra, Zoloft,
Detrol, Rogaine and Kaopectate that you probably now need at your age; and it
does a great job with paying the bills for the high priced college educations
of our kids.
You would probably be a bit more proud of Polly, as she has stayed very close
to lab chemistry. She is the QA Manager at KAR Laboratories, which provides
analytical services in both the environmental and pharmaceutical industries.
Thru a contact from a previous job, they lured her away from Pharmacia about
four years ago. She keeps the labs honest, making sure that all their methods
are properly validated and executed so that only good data goes out the door.
We have both had great careers, and are also thankful to you guys (and your
past Smith Hall compatriots) for the part that you played in preparing us for
it.
We have two daughters, who were both adopted from South Korea as infants, who I
think you guys have met when we stopped by a few years ago. Carmen (20) is a
junior at Hope College (Holland, MI) doing a double major in Psychology and
Kinesiology and is a "flyer" on the cheerleading squad (this is the
kind of thing that makes you very grateful for good medical insurance). She is
looking into grad schools in Psychology. Krista (18) is starting her freshman
year in the Honors Program in Medicine at Northwestern Univ. She had to be
interviewed and pre-accepted at the NU Medical School, and will spend 3 years
at the campus in Evanston, IL (will get a degree in Chemistry!) and then moves
to the med. school in downtown Chicago (only 1 block from the high-priced
"Magnificent Mile" shopping district). We are very proud of both of
them. We are also accepting donations. We are considering having our paychecks
sent directly to Hope and Northwestern and letting them send us a small allowance
to live on.
We hope that all is well with you, your families, and the rest of the current
and past "Smith Hall Gang." We have many fond memories…the
"punch bowl" at the Dept. Christmas parties, "re-convening"
at a local "establishment" after the Monday night research project
seminars/meetings, spilling the first drop of oil on Schlecht's virgin garage
floor of the newly built Hex House (I needed to change the oil in my car before
we drove to Cleveland for the Pittsburgh Conference), watching the Celtics on Eiler's
color TV, babysitting 1 year old Kendra Schlecht., home-made ice cream and wine
coolers at Bixler's house, Frank Melia (chemistry major and weightlifter)
lifting Schlecht over his head at a party in my apartment., Bill Stevens
passing out in the closet of my apartment (same party), my all-time worst
Brockport memory - losing to Mancuso in a 1 on 1 basketball game (I intend to
stop by someday for a rematch. I heard he had some hip replacements, so I may
have a chance), and my all-time best Brockport memory – meeting Polly (in a
chem. lab; little did Schlecht know what he would start when he made Gen. Chem.
Lab Assistant assignments that year).... and the list could go on and on! Thanks for the memories.... Rory & Polly Nee ('76)”
All
this editor can say to Rory is, “thanks for reminding us, the elderly, of all
those “memories!” KDS doesn’t even
remember being “pressed,” or was it “cleaned and jerked,” by Frank Melia!
Lisa Stevens (’00) gave birth to twin boys on August 28th. Lisa writes, “Hello Everyone:
Wanted to let you all know that the boys have arrived. Andrew Keith Pace
Stephens was born at 11:59 am weighing 6 lbs 8 oz and Philip Timothy Pace
Stephens was born at 12:01 pm weighing 4 lbs 2 oz -- on Aug. 28. Andrew and Lisa got to come home yesterday
(Monday) but Philip had to stay in the special care nursery to grow a little.
By God's grace who should be able to join us at home tomorrow. Thanks to all
for your thoughts and prayers throughout my pregnancy. Take care, Lisa.”
Michael Nicholson (’01), now a a third-year
graduate student in Biochemistry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore MD,
writes, “I am writing to share some good new with you - my son, Graham Thomas
was born on August 24. He was and is a very healthy baby (8 lbs 14 oz, 22 inches)
and is growing like crazy - pretty soon he'll be able to help his Dad out in
lab. Sara is doing well, and is pleased to find that the little guy sleeps
enough during the day that she has been able to get some work done on her
dissertation.
In other news, I passed my qualifying exams this past spring and I'm gearing up
for my first Thesis committee meeting. I've also started writing my first paper
- we hope to have it submitted by the New Year. I hope all is well with you
all, and please forward this to anyone I unintentionally left out.”
Gordon Brown (’03), now a first-year
graduate student in Environmental Engineering at the University of Florida in
Gainesville, writes “Hi there Profs, from down here in sunny and hot
(Yikes!) Florida. So far I have made a
very smooth transition into my graduate work at the Environmental Engineering
Sciences department at UF.”
“Dr. Annable, my
research advisor, and I have decided that I should evaluate the
effectiveness of “surfactant (SDBS) enhanced air sparging of DNAPL's.” Much to my liking, the work will incorporate
both lab experiments and lots of fieldwork. This year will be mostly lab
work with some trips to field sites in Seattle (TCE at Air Force Base) and
Jacksonville (TCE & PCE at the site of a dry cleaner).”
“Next summer I will be
in Waterloo, Canada monitoring the surfactant air sparging remediation of a
TCE/PCE release at Borden CFB. We will be measuring both groundwater and
contaminant mass flux before and after remediation to evaluate the effectiveness.
Does 75% mass removal decrease contaminant mass flux into groundwater? It
is pretty exciting stuff for me. The work is a part of a three-part grant
from the EPA to study the effectiveness of three remediation techniques, with
the U of Arkansas and the U of Texas involved with the modeling and vapor
remediation technique. The PhD I'm under is evaluating mass flux of DNAPL
co-solvent flushing with ethanol.”
“The VOC's are easily
detected by GC and all the instruments have auto samplers including the HPLC
and ICP.”
“This fall I am taking
Fluid Flow in Environmental Systems, Contaminant Subsurface Hydrology, &
Soil Physics. Next semester I hope to take Environmental Organic
Chemistry, Pollution Prevention & Control, and Wetland Hydrology or the
Bio/Geochemistry of Trace Metals.”
“My advisor is great
and his “post doc” is extremely helpful. I am playing Flag Football on
the departmental intramural team (both faculty and students) and hope to
tryout for the UF Roller Hockey Club team in October, time permitting.”
“Beka is doing very
well in her job at Shand's Hospital. She passed her Nursing boards, so
she is working as an RN on a medical/surgical floor. It’s the premier
hospital in the state, much like Strong Hospital in Rochester. They even
cancelled her last 2 weeks of training because she impressed them so much.”
“We rented a house in
the northwest side of town with a fenced yard for our dogs, but they don't
go outside for long because it’s too humid. Winters are supposed to be
milder. Now it rains ever day, for 20-30 minutes in the afternoon.”
“We are going to our
first “Gators” football game Saturday against San Jose State. It's definitely
the talk of the town.”
“Anyway, that's a quick
summary for now. Feel free to pass this on or contact me anytime.
Hope you all had a productive summer and have a great fall semester. Even
though we are both making new friends and settling in down here, we do miss you
all and Upstate NY. Gordon.”
Jason Carr (’03), who is now a graduate student at the SUNY at Buffalo, writes, “Greetings and salutations!! I hope the fall semester has been pleasant
so far. I just thought I'd drop a line or three to let you know how
life's been treating me.
My first couple of weeks at UB have been quite nice... I did well
enough in the battery (more like battering...) of ACS exams that I had the pick
of the litter as far as what 3 classes I was to take. I'm in Analytical,
Organic, and Physical (Surprise Dr. Hoffmann!!!) and God as my witness, I actually
think P-Chem will be the easiest of the three! I will be conducting 2
recitations (and TA-ing the lab immediately after) each week starting with the
week of the 8th. I will also have 2 office hours every week, during which
I'll be the only CHE 101 (general chemistry) TA available for the 1000 (yes,
that's ONE THOUSAND) students taking the course. Along with the 500
others taking CHE 107 (chem for engineers, if memory serves me well), I will be
a busy little beaver. I'm also close to choosing an advisor to do my
research under (if he'll have me...). He's heavy into Mass Spectrometry
(which I enjoyed) and seems like he'd be easy to work with.
On the personal front, Lynn is expecting in early October so I'll then have 3
rug rats, total, to deal with... I personally can't wait, but don't tell
Lynn that, I'm getting mileage out of it. I also miss you all quite a
bit. Keep in touch and I'll do the same. I'm giving ya'll my E-Mail
address. Feel free to forward it to students considering UB, I can answer
lots, if not all, of the questions they might have. Take care... Jason Carr”
If you
have news about yourself that you wish to have included in the “Alumni
News” section of The
Department of Chemistry Times, please send it by e-mail to the editor, Tom Kallen, at tkallen@brockport.edu.
SUNY BROCKPORT
The Department of Chemistry Times is posted on the Department of Chemistry Web site at irregular intervals
by Professor, Chairman and Editor Dr. Thomas W. Kallen, Department of
Chemistry, SUNY College at Brockport, 350 New Campus Drive, Brockport NY
14420-2971. You may visit the
Department of Chemistry Web site at www.brockport.edu/~chemistry/.
E-mail messages to the Times should be addressed to Professor Kallen at tkallen@brockport.edu.