• From the Chair

    Welcome back to Carleton and the Chemistry Department! We hope you all have had a great summer. As everyone gets started with a busy year, we wanted to make sure you knew about several things that are going on in the department this year.

    Most importantly, we want to welcome our new departmental administrative assistant, Tami Little. Tami will be working with both the Chemistry and the Geology departments. She has been at Carleton for 20 years, working with the American Studies, Environmental Studies, Linguistics, and Women’s & Gender Studies programs. When Tami is not on campus, you might find her out by Wolf Creek where she lives with her husband Tim, her golden retriever Sir Ernest T. Bass, six chickens and a few farm cats. She might be catching up on her bookwork for her family’s grain hauling / cash crop farming business, reading a book next to her goldfish pond, playing in their swimming hole with her grandchildren or retreating to “Brand X” up north. Tami is taking on some big challenges this year, working with two departments and replacing Wendy Zimmerman, who retired this spring after 46 years of service to our department. Do stop by Mudd 161 to introduce yourself to Tami and make her feel welcome!

    We also want to congratulate Gretchen Hofmeister, who is moving over to Laird Hall for the next three years to serve as Associate Dean of the College. Gretchen will be managing various aspects of the college from budgets to summer programs. We’ll miss having Gretchen around in the department every day, but we are thrilled for her and for the college as she takes on this new role.

    Finally, we want to welcome Chris and Dani (and me!) back from sabbatical and wish Dave and Will happy and productive sabbaticals. Will will be away this Fall term, while Dave will be “away”, though on campus in his research lab, for the entire academic year.

    Have a great year!

    Joe Chihade

  • Department Events

    As always, we have a lot going on in the department. In particular, we have a great line up of seminars. You should make an effort to attend our Friday seminars (3:30 p.m., in Olin 04) whenever possible. We start off the term this Friday with our very own Buck Taylor, who will be talking about his research on computational chemistry and chemical catalysis. Please visit the seminar page, where you can see the rest of speakers scheduled this year.

    We also encourage you to go to lunch with the speaker on most Fridays (check the window of the Mudd computer room for the time). Meeting these visitors, whether over lunch or by attending seminar, is a terrific way to learn about the breadth of opportunities in chemistry and related fields. On Thursdays during common time, meet with Chemistry faculty for Periodic Table or Journal Club.

  • Welcome Chloe Bergstrand to Mudd!

    There will be a new face in Mudd for fall and winter terms this year — Chloe Bergstrand is working with the FOCUS program as an Educational Associate this year. She will spend fall and winter terms in Mudd 167, Marion Cass’s office. Marion will be back in the spring term. Some of you may know Chloe, who graduated with a Biology major last June. Deborah is especially glad to welcome her to work with the FOCUS program organizing activities and programs, working to connect FOCUS and the CCCE office, and working on evaluation of the program with SERC. It will be a busy year for Chloe and for FOCUS! Please welcome Chloe when you see her around in Mudd.

  • Periodic Table Meets This Week

    Thursday, September 15th, 2016
    12:00 – 1:00 pm / LDC-’51 Dining Room

    Periodic Table meets this Thursday in the LDC. We meet at noon in the chemistry hallway and walk over together, or you can join us there. If you are off board, the department will cover your lunch. Note: We have the Class of ’51 Dining Room reserved this week.

  • Seminar Announcement

    Friday, September 16th, 2016
    3:30 p.m. in Olin 04

    Buck Taylor: How to Use Computers to Understand Chemical Reactivity: Palladium-Catalyzed C–H Activation and Cross-Coupling

    A major challenge in organic chemistry is the synthesis of useful products from cheap, readily available starting materials. To do this, organic chemists need a wide range of versatile and selective reactions, which requires an understanding of the underlying reaction mechanisms. This talk will discuss a computational study of palladium catalysts that selectively functionalize allylic C–H bonds, highlighting the role of ligands in controlling regioselectivity. The presentation will also describe the basic steps needed to use computer modeling to study organic reaction mechanisms and highlight some recent findings in palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling.

  • Industrial Job and Summer Internship opportunities

    The Brady corporation in Milwaukee, WI has openings for summer internship and a materials science full time position. More information and job descriptions can be found at the links below:

    The deadline for applications is Sept. 23, 2016.

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