OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
INTRODUCTION
I write this introduction with just two days left in my term as chair of the Chemistry Department. Despite the extra work this job entails, it has been (mostly) a pleasure serving the best staff, faculty, and students on campus. I will be turning over leadership (if you can call it that!) to a committee of chairpersons. Will Hollingsworth will come out of chair retirement to handle the duties through Fall Term, and Trish Ferrett will take over in the winter. I like to believe that I am such a hard act to follow that two people will be needed to fill the role after my departure; however, it’s more likely that it will take two chairpersons to clean up the mess I’ve made. In any case, I will be off to Denmark at the end of July, on a sabbatical that I feel I’ve fully earned.
To say the least, it was a busy year in the department. We faced very high enrollments in nearly all of our core courses. For instance, both Organic Chemistry in the fall and Equilibrium and Analysis in the spring enrolled 80 students each! We are grateful to alums Jimmy Blair (’02) and Stephanie Ota (’00) who graciously agreed to put their busy lives on hold to help us out with these two courses. Jimmy taught Organic Chemistry labs in the fall, and Stephanie did the same for Equilibrium and Analysis in the spring. It was wonderful to have them back at Carleton.
We were also fortunate to have a new faculty member, Michael Burand, in the department. Michael was hired just for the year, but he has done such a fantastic job teaching introductory chemistry and helping out in organic chemistry, that we begged him to come back next year. Fortunately, he has agreed.
During reading days, just before final exams this spring, the following poem appeared on the whiteboard in the Mudd Hall conference room – which serves as a study room/hangout for chemistry majors. It seems an appropriate sign-off.
Mudd, Mudd, dumpy old Mudd,
I’ve spent way more time here than anyone should,
But I’ve put in my time, and now grad school awaits,
So, I’m finally leaving your heavy brass gates.
But, I know when I’m gone you’ll still offer your halls
For students to model benzenes and phenols.
’Cause the bio kids split when they’ve finished their orgo
And the physicists won’t stay a minute or so, oh
Geo’s downstairs, but who’s counting them?
They don’t last a course past Will’s intro chem.
No, when all’s said and done, at the end of the day,
Through intros and orgo and then E&A,
Through quantum and thermo and ad-lab ten-pagers,
You’ll always be home to us chemistry majors.
-a senior
David G. Alberg, Chair
OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY NATIONAL MEETING
Felix Amankona-Diawuo
Julia Brown
Nicholas Brown
Matthew Cich
Maraia Ener
Laura Marinelli
Ryan Martinez
David Selassie (’09)
Christopher Zall
AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION FALL MEETING
Beth Friedman
Claire Liepmann (’09)
Juan Medrano (’09)
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY ANNUAL MEETING
Lucas Riley (’09)
Yirong Zhu (’09)
JOSLIN/HARVARD MD-PhD POSTER SESSION 2007
Michael Duyzend
MIDWEST UNDERGRADUATE CONFERENCE IN COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY
Felix Amankona-Diawuo
David Selassie (’09)
STUDENT HONORS AND AWARDS
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Andrew Olson (’09)
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY
Maraia Ener
B.A. DEGREE CERTIFIED BY THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Maraia Ener, Adam Goetz, Yuichiro Takeshita, Christopher Zall
B.A. DEGREE WITH LATIN HONORS
Summa Cum Laude– Michael Duyzend, Maraia Ener
Magna Cum Laude– Felix Amankona-Diawuo, Nikola Babovic, Nicholas Brown, Johanna Dijkstal, Adam Goetz, Caroline Hurd,
Olivia Jee, Samuel Lemonick, Laura Marinelli, William Mitchell, Yuichiro Takeshita
Cum Laude – Julia Brown, Lauren Calcote, Beth Friedman,
Ryan Martinez, Eric Nordland, Christopher Zall
SCOTT TYLER BERGNER PRIZE
Michael Duyzend
BISCOTTI AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SEMINAR ATTENDANCE
Christopher Zall
CRC PRESS FRESHMAN CHEMISTRY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Julie Michelman (’11)
DISTINCTION IN THE MAJOR
Felix Amankona-Diawuo, Maraia Ener, William Mitchell
DISTINCTION ON THE SENIOR INTEGRATIVE EXERCISE
Felix Amankona-Diawuo, Maraia Ener, William Mitchell,
Christopher Zall
FRANZ EXNER AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHEMISTRY
Laura Marinelli, Yuichiro Takeshita
JAMES FINHOLT PRIZE IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Michael Duyzend
GATES CAMBRIDGE SCHOLARSHIP
Michael Duyzend
BARRY M. GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP AND EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION PROGRAM
Anna Mork (’10)
LAURENCE McKINLEY GOULD PRIZE IN NATURAL SCIENCES
William Mitchell
HYPERCUBE SCHOLAR FOR WORK ON COMPUTERS IN CHEMISTRY
Felix Amankona-Diawuo
JERRY MOHRIG PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY
William Mitchell
MORTAR BOARD
Class of 2008– Michael Duyzend, Caroline Hurd, Olivia Jee,
Laura Marinelli
Class of 2009 – John Hanks, Cassandra Olson
PHI BETA KAPPA
Michael Duyzend, Maraia Ener
RICHARD RAMETTE TEACHING AWARDS
Maraia Ener, Adam Goetz
REEVE PRIZE
Michael Duyzend
SIGMA XI
Felix Amankona-Diawuo, Nikola Babovic, Julia Brown, Matthew Cich, Michael Duyzend, Maraia Ener, Beth Friedman, Adam Goetz, Caroline Hurd, Samuel Lemonick, Eric Nordland, Eunice Sapp, Christopher Zall
ENROLLMENTS
Fall Term
| 123, Principles of Chemistry | 47 | Burand |
| 230, Equilibrium and Analysis | 38 | Gross |
| 233, Organic Chemistry I | 82 | Hofmeister, Blair |
| 301, Chemical Kinetics Laboratory | 26 | Hollingsworth, Kohen |
| 343, Chemical Thermodynamics | 27 | Kohen |
| 350, Chemical and Biosynthesis | 15 | Alberg |
| 392, Independent Research | 2 | Staff |
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 11 | Staff |
Winter Term
| 122, Introduction to Chemistry | 33 | Burand |
| 123, Principles of Chemistry | 39 | Kohen |
| 233, Organic Chemistry I | 48 | Hofmeister |
| 234, Organic Chemistry II | 45 | Alberg |
| 302, Quantum Spectroscopy Laboratory | 42 | Cass, Hollingsworth |
| 328, Environmental Analysis | 12 | Gross |
| 329, Environmental Analysis Laboratory | 6 | Gross |
| 344, Quantum Chemistry | 43 | Hollingsworth |
| 392, Independent Research | 1 | Staff |
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 7 | Staff |
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 24 | Staff |
Spring Term
| 123, Principles of Chemistry | 46 | Burand |
| 128, Principles of Environmental Chemistry | 27 | Hollingsworth |
| 230, Equilibrium and Analysis | 80 | Gross, Ota |
| 234, Organic Chemistry II | 49 | Alberg |
| 320, Biological Chemistry | 35 | Chihade |
| 321, Biological Chemistry Laboratory | 18 | Chihade |
| 348, Intro. to Computational Chemistry | 10 | Kohen |
| 349, Computational Chemistry Laboratory | 10 | Kohen |
| 351, Inorganic Chemistry | 27 | Cass, Hofmeister |
| 352, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory | 19 | Cass, Hofmeister |
| 392, Independent Research | 1 | Staff |
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 15 | Staff |
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 23 | Staff |
GIFTS AND GRANTS
Steven Drew received an ACM FaCE Enhancing Scholarly Agendas grant of $2,840 for the proposal “Acquiring Proficiency in the Technique of X-ray Crystallography.”
Dani Kohen’s research is supported in part by an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Type B grant, awarded in the summer of 2006. The grant, “Studying the Behavior of CO2 Within Zeolites: Atomistic Simulations,” is for $50,000 over three years.
Steven Drew’s research is supported by an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Type B grant, awarded in the summer of 2004. The grant, “The Synthesis and Characterization of Chiral Platinum(II) Extended Linear Chain Materials and Their Potential Application as Gas Sensing Transducers,” is for $50,000 over three years.
Trish Ferrett received a Carleton College Targeted Opportunity grant for $5,000 to support monthly travel in 2008 to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. These trips are part of a sabbatical project to edit a book on integrative and interdisciplinary science learning based on work by multiple scholars.
Carleton College received a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) for $1.5 million for 2008-12. Trish Ferrett completed administering Carleton’s fifth HHMI grant ($800,000, 2004-2008) in the fall of 2007. Both of these grants fund projects in the Carleton Interdisciplinary Science and Math Initiative (CISMI).
Funds were received from Carleton’s Howard Hughes grant to support the summer 2008 research of three chemistry students.
A few years ago the estate of James D. Morrison gave $10,000 to support the annual Dr. James D. (’30) and Julia P. Morrison Lectureship. The lectureship was held this year by Steven Boxer of Stanford University.
Joe Chihade’s research continues to be supported by a $199,277 three-year National Institutes of Health AREA grant, awarded in the spring of 2006, for his project, “Unusual Basis of tRNA Identity in Human Mitochondria.”
SEMINARS
Carleton Chemistry Faculty: Seminars Kick-Off/Careers Discussion
Rebecca Jockusch, University of Toronto: Intrinsic Conformations of Biomolecules Probed by Mass Spectrometry, Optical Spectroscopy and Computations
Neil Sbar, SAGE Electrochromics, Inc.: Electrochromic Smart Window Technology
Carleton Science Majors: Annual All-Science and Math Poster Session
Robert Coates, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: Stereochemistry and Mechanism of Terpene Synthase Cyclizations
Jimmy Blair (’02), Carleton College and University of California, Berkeley: Harnessing the Power of Chemical Genetics: Rationally-designed Affinity Probes for Tyrosine Kinases Report EGFR Inhibition in Cells
David Reingold, Juniata College: Aromatic Systems with Gaps and Holes
Carleton Chemistry Faculty: Summer Research Recruiting
Nancy Mills, Trinity University: Understanding Aromaticity Through Antiaromaticity: How a Failed Research Project Turned Golden
Kathryn Splan, Macalester College: Bivalent Peptide Antagonists of Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins (IAPs)
Scott Larsen, Cephalon, Inc.: Research Chemistry Beyond the Bench: A Practical Guide to Inventorship and U.S. Patent Law
Lisa Berreau, Utah State University: Dioxygen Reactivity of Ni(II) Enolate and Enediolate Complexes
Geoff Coates, Cornell University: Development of New Catalytic Routes to Benign Polymeric Materials
Jennifer Al-Rashid, University of Wisconsin, Madison: Synthesis and Cycloadditions of Chiral Allenamides
Jeffrey Carney, University of Notre Dame: Intramolecular Hydroamination of Aminoalkynes with Silver-Phenanthroline Catalysts
Peter Gittins, St. Mary’s University: Branching in New Directions: An Introduction to Dendrimers and Hyperbranched Polymers
Launa Lynch, Grinnell College: Isoflavones and Their Novel Analogues: Effects on EGFR Mediated Signaling Pathway in Glioblastoma Multiforme Cells
Clark Landis, University of Wisconsin, Madison: Construction, Application, and Mechanism of Enantioselective Hydroformylation Catalysts Based on 3,4-Diazaphospholanes
John Hartwig, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: Organometallic Chemistry of Carbon Heteroatom Bond Formation
Steven Boxer, Stanford University: Re-engineering Photosynthetic Reaction Centers; The James D. and Julia P. Morrison Lecture
Kristopher McNeill, University of Minnesota: Natural Photochemical Nanoreactors in Aquatic Systems
Rachel Green, Johns Hopkins University: Quality Control on the Ribosome Following Peptide Bond Formation
Jerry Mohrig, Carleton College: Achieving More Effective Learning in Undergraduate Laboratories; 2008 Brasted Award Seminar
Senior Comps Talks:
Felix Amankona-Diawuo, Matt Cich, Maraia Ener, Bill Mitchell, Eric Nordland: Hey guys, guess what! I just saved a bunch of money on asymmetric hydrogenation research by switching to computational methods!
Adam Goetz, Carrie Hurd, Sam Lemonick, Laura Marinelli, Ryan Martinez, Yui Takeshita, Kit Zall: Doctor John Hartwig/Optimizing catalysts/For the greater good
Julie Brown, Nick Brown, Hanna Dijkstal, Michael Duyzend, Beth Friedman, Matt Haffner, Olivia Jee, Hana Podhoretz, Eunice Sapp: Investigating Electron and Energy Transfer in Photosynthetic Reaction Centers