2009-2010 Faculty and Staff Activities

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

Last summer at about this same time of the year I was writing my bit for the Annual Report from Aarhus, Denmark, enjoying the last months of my sabbatical year.  That summer, Gretchen and I were wrapping up our work in the lab during the periods between our exciting trips.   We were trying to squeeze as much European travel as we could into those last few months abroad.  However, we were beginning to look forward to our return to the States, and I closed last year’s report by saying, “It will be nice to settle back in to my office in Mudd Hall.”  Readjusting to life in Northfield took longer than I expected, but a year later, as I look out my office window at a beautiful, crystal clear summer day, I realize that it is nice to have settled back into my life in Mudd!

The sabbatical was very productive.  Gretchen and I were fortunate to work with Karl Anker Jørgensen at the Center for Catalysis at Aarhus Universitet in Aarhus, Denmark.  The Jørgensen group is a leader in the relatively new field of “organocatalysis,” which involves the use of small organic molecules to catalyze stereoselective reactions.  The scientific aim of our sabbaticals was to gain experience in this field, in order to develop some joint organocatalysis research projects back here at Carleton.  Gretchen and I enjoyed the opportunity to talk about our work in Denmark when we gave a joint seminar last February to the Chemistry Department at Macalester College, and it reminded us how grateful we are to Professor Jørgensen for his generosity in letting us join his group for the year.

This summer, Gretchen and I are working with two students, Kaz Skubi (’11) and Sean Roberts (’12), on our first organocatalysis projects here at Carleton.  We are exploring a number of projects that involve the desymmetrization of readily accessible and inexpensive achiral substrates, to provide chiral building blocks for organic synthesis.  At this point, our work is definitely in the exploratory stages, so it is rather exciting to come to lab each day to see what Kaz and Sean have found.

While my research efforts are shifting over to the organocatalysis field, I am still keeping a hand in my long running project involving the synthesis and evaluation of trypanothione reductase inhibitors.  I’ve been working on a manuscript that describes some of the results we obtained just prior to my sabbatical.  It is taking me much longer than it should to get that manuscript completed, but I’ll keep at it.  Just this week I gave a seminar on our trypanothione reductase work at the Medicinal Chemistry Department at the University of Minnesota, which has energized me to get back to that paper.

This past academic year, I enjoyed a more-or-less typical teaching load, teaching both terms of organic chemistry, with Organic I in the fall and Organic II in the spring.  In between I had the chance to teach my upper-level course, Chemical and Biosynthesis.  There were no major new developments for me on the teaching front.  I just had to get back in the swing of teaching every day after a year away from the classroom.  It has been particularly fun to experience, again, the daily interactions with our wonderful Carleton undergraduates.  They keep me on my toes!

At home, life is a blur keeping up with two teenagers.  Well, Sam (16) is a teenager, but Ellie (12) won’t truly become a teenager until August.  Ellie is spending the summer participating in a local art camp and hanging out with friends.  Sam is a rising senior at Northfield High School, so we are in the midst of the college selection process.  Having met with many prospective Carleton students and their parents over the years, it is now a little strange to be in the position of being the parent of a prospective college student, myself.  We’ve already done a couple of college tours, with more to come.  I’ll let you know how it turns out in next year’s report.

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

This year I held a part-time appointment in the Chemistry Department.  After spending two months in the fall traveling abroad with my wife, Claire, I returned to teach during the Winter and Spring Terms.   I taught two general chemistry courses:  An Introduction to Chemistry and Principles of Chemistry during the Winter and Spring Terms, respectively.  One of the best aspects of teaching these courses sequentially is the fact that several of the same students were enrolled in both.  This gave me the opportunity to get to know these students quite well and to see them progress from having a very limited background in chemistry to having a very solid understanding of the subject.  Having taught these courses at Carleton before, I saw this as an opportunity to implement some new course activities, one of which was a “community-based” laboratory for a small group of students.  These students worked with a Northfield homeowner (not affiliated with Carleton) to test the lead content of soil in his gardens.  The students worked hard to provide accurate results to the homeowner and to explain these results to him in terms a non-scientist could easily understand.  I was glad to see the students rise to meet these challenges and do something that benefitted them as well as the local community.

The Winter Term provided another opportunity to work on enhancing a course I have previously taught:  Spectroscopic Characterization of Chemical Compounds.  Once again I co-taught this course with Professor Deborah Gross, who focused mainly on the mass spectrometry portion of the course whilst I covered the aspects of NMR.  One of our additions this year was a guest lecture on single-crystal X-ray crystallography techniques, given by Dr. Kari McGee from the University of Minnesota.  This provided the students with an excellent overview of another important characterization technique.  During the latter part of the term we took a field trip to the University of Minnesota to tour their NMR, MS, and X-ray facilities.

In June I will be teaching a chemistry course as part of the Carleton Summer Teaching Institute.  This is a week-long course for high school teachers who will be teaching AP chemistry.  Last year I co-taught this course with Patsy Mueller, an AP consultant and high school chemistry teacher.  This year our enrollment has nearly doubled to almost 40 participants, and fortunately a second AP consultant will be joining us to help handle this larger class.  I always look forward to teaching this course and the special challenges it presents.  During the remainder of the summer I hope to find time to play music, race sailboats on Lake Pepin, and enjoy the outdoors with Claire.  I will also be spending time preparing a new course, Materials Chemistry, which I am looking forward to teaching when I return to Carleton this fall.

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 spent the last year participating in real neat medical situations.  A prime example is a third hip replacement at Mayo.  Many of you didn’t realize that I have three hips.  Kind of awkward walking.

Actually, the first hip replacement failed miserably, causing a lot of damage in the process of grinding its way deeper into my femur.  By the time it was replaced, my right leg was 1½ inches shorter than the left.  The new replacement has pretty much repaired the damage but left me pretty hobbled and trying to regain some mobility at considerable cost in pain and frustration.  Please forgive my absence at alumni events that I would have loved to attended with you chem grads – my favorite people.  Next year will be better(?!?).

By the time you get this Report the number of Carlin grandchildren will total five – ages 15, 12, 7, 2, and 0.  Lots of fun and considerable travel.

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

During the 2009-2010 academic year, I taught two of the three terms at Carleton.  During the summer and then the Fall Term, I lived and worked in Lyme, New Hampshire, with Ada (our dog) and my husband, Steve.  In addition to pruning an old orchard, planting new fruit trees, and building a barn with Steve, I continued to work on computational projects examining the relative energy barriers for the Bailar Twist mechanism vs. the Ray-Dutt mechanism responsible for racemization and/or isomerization in chiral tris chelates.  My research this year has focused primarily on the influence of solvent in these mechanisms.  I also continue to be interested in examining the relative stabilities of a series of isomers of D and L [Co(en)₃]³⁺ (that stems from work in our advanced inorganic chemistry laboratory course).  Each enantiomeric form has four stable conformers (ligand twists) with slightly different energies.  Using computations, I am trying to explore the relative stabilities of these conformers as a function of the solvent and compare the results to experimental findings.

In the Winter Term at Carleton, I taught an upper-division elective course, Molecular Orbital Theory.  Working with ten fantastic seniors, we worked through Jean Yves’ text, Molecular Orbitals of Transition Metal Complexes, in addition to reviewing symmetry approaches in molecular orbital theory, running some computations, doing special topics, and studying the Hoffmann Fragment Approach.  In the Winter Term, I also team-taught Quantum Spectroscopy Laboratory with my colleagues, Will Hollingsworth and Trish Ferrett.  I also supervised a comps group working with five super Carleton seniors; Chris Clark, Henry Heitzer, Lindsey Madison, Colin Russell, and Laura Sofen.  Our group studied the published work of Professor Ken Raymond (University of California at Berkeley).  We began by examining the coordination chemistry of the lanthanides and actinides and then moved to focus on his work in supramolecular chemistry for the majority of the Winter Term and first half of the Spring Term.  In April, Ken visited Carleton to work with our group.  His work was fascinating, and we had a great time working with him at Carleton.  His visit culminated with a great “cheminar” on his work in supramolecular chemistry followed by a celebratory dinner with the group.

In comps this year I also advised Laura Sugerman, who wrote a paper on the chemistry of brewing beer, and I served as a second reader for Katherine Turnage’s paper on the b-amyloid copper metalloprotein.

In the Spring Term I taught Inorganic Chemistry to a group of 22 senior and junior chemistry majors, and I team-taught Laboratory in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry to 14 students with my colleague, Gretchen Hofmeister.  In the advanced laboratory course, in addition to exploring a few extra variations on the synthesis and isolation of chiral cobalt complexes, Gretchen added one new organometallic project to teach glove box techniques to synthesize two molybdenum products.  Once again, as I do in most Spring Terms, I taught glassblowing to senior chemistry majors (and was fortunate to have Grant Buckingham as a glassblowing TA).

On a personal note, I want to thank all my students and colleagues for making this an intellectually stimulating and fun academic year!  And thanks to Steve and Ada for keeping me going at the speed of light.

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

In terms of teaching, this year was one of “first in awhile”s.  This fall I had the opportunity to teach my first new small literature based seminar class at Carleton, Chem 360, Chemical Biology.  While it took a bit of explaining during advising week to help sort out the differences between Chemical Biology, Biological Chemistry, and Biochemistry, I ended up with an excellent group of seven students with whom to explore recent literature about the use of organic chemistry to develop new tools for understanding biological systems and using biological tools to create new chemical functionality.  In the Winter Term, I taught the second half of Organic Chemistry for the first time in several years.  It’s always fun to come back to carbonyl chemistry and to break out the accordion for the aldol song.  (My playing has improved dramatically now that my daughters are taking piano lessons.)

During the Winter Term, Deborah Gross and I helped our comps group explore mass spectrometry based proteomics.  We learned about a variety of approaches to identify and quantify the specific proteins present in particular biological samples, focusing on the powerful activity based protein profiling methods developed in Benjamin Cravatt’s lab at the Scripps Research Institute.  Professor Cravatt’s visit in the spring was a great opportunity to hear about the evolution of a research idea from a simple idea to a general, recently commercialized, method.

During the Spring Term, I once again taught Chem 320, Biological Chemistry.  This year marked the first use of our new 3D projection system in the course, as well as the first use of process oriented guided inquiry group exercises.  Moving equipment around allowed the Biological Chemistry lab course, Chem 321, to be taught on the first floor of Mudd for the first time.  Having the class adjacent to my research space and near all of the required large equipment made for a very pleasant lab environment.  The larger windows and better view of Lyman Lakes were nice too!

My research on the substrate specificity of mitochondrial alanyl-tRNA synthetases is continuing.  Michael Bonin, ’11, and Koua Her, ’13, both will join the lab this summer, employing some new HPLC techniques to learn about the quaternary structure of these enzymes.  Jeremy Grevet, ’11, spent the Winter and Spring Terms this year learning several bioinformatics and computational modeling software packages and using them to analyze “our” enzymes.

Many frequent flyer miles were accumulated as I did quite a bit of professional travel this year, to Colorado for a biochemistry teaching workshop, North Carolina for a workshop on undergraduate learning spaces, and Wisconsin for another teaching workshop, in addition to the ACS national meeting in Washington, D.C., and the ASBMB meeting in Anaheim.  We fit in some personal travel as well, learning that December is a risky time to schedule a ski trip to Vermont (There might not be snow!), and that an old time music festival in Wisconsin is just as fun the second time around as it was the first.

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

Serving as treasurer of our condominium association, playing bassoon in chamber and orchestral ensembles, attending Elder Collegium courses, and some travel are my continuing interests.  Last winter was good for cross country skiing, and my spills, fortunately, were gentle.  Spring brings biking and walking, the latter often with Jerry Mohrig.  During the recent alumni weekend it was a pleasure to see at the departmental reception a number of people whom I had known in years past.  Thanks to the current chemistry faculty for making this possible.

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

The past year has been productive and fun.  I taught a nice variety of courses, and I was able to get some writing done.  On the teaching front I taught Principles of Chemistry (CHEM 123) in the fall and Equilibrium and Analysis (CHEM 230) in the spring.  In the winter I advised a comps group that studied the work of Geri Richmond from the University of Oregon.  Prof. Richmond’s research on chemical interfaces was interesting and challenging.  We learned the fundamentals of vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy, a non-linear spectroscopic technique, and studied how it was applied to probe the water-carbon tetrachloride and water-air interfaces.  It was surprising how much information on orientation of water molecules can be obtained when the spectra are modeled appropriately.  The students in the comps group did a wonderful job working through some difficult concepts and mathematical models.

I was also able to make some progress writing up research results from the past several years.  One paper was published in Chemistry of Materials late last year.  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 have also had a second paper accepted in Sensors and Actuators, B that describes work I’ve done in collaboration with Carleton students studying the enantiomeric vapochromic selectivity of an enantiomeric pair of platinum containing materials.  Using solid-state fluorescence and some principal component analysis we were able to demonstrate enantiomerically selective detection of R- and S-2-butanol vapor.  I’ve also written and submitted one proposal, and I hope to submit another at the end of this summer.  So I hope to be back in the lab working with Carleton students next summer with some new funding.

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 two years ago 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 this summer.  Second, I received a grant from HHMI to try some “green” synthetic techniques in the laboratory portion of my materials-themed Principles of Chemistry course.  I’ll be looking at whether amorphous metal hydroxides can be used as reactants with acetylacetone to make metal acetylacetonate products with only water as a biproduct.  I’ll also be trying out some “greener” solvent mixtures in an attempt to eliminate the use of chlorinated and aromatic solvents.

Other professional activities have also kept me busy the past year.  I reviewed a manuscript for the Journal of Chemical Education, a PRF proposal, two textbook manuscripts, and a colleague up for promotion at another liberal arts college.  I continue to serve as a member of Carleton’s Faculty Personnel Committee.  This is the committee that makes the tenure recommendations to the Dean and President.  The number of files to read was not too overwhelming this year, but next year there will be seven faculty members to review.  This will keep me quite busy in November and December.  Finally, I had a great time working with some Northfield Middle School sixth graders doing chemistry this spring.  We studied some aspects of air pressure, blew a few things up (always a crowd pleaser), and made liquid nitrogen ice cream.  I was tired after a full day of working with sixth graders, but it was very rewarding.

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

In fall 2009, I taught a new course, Abrupt Climate Change (ENTS 288), for Carleton’s environmental studies major.  The experience was transformative for me and a number of students, bringing together the young science of abrupt climate change with complex issues of human concern.  Student teams worked to define a human issue for study, and they authored web sites that told a story crafted from their research.  Each team also worked with a local, regional, or global civic organization.  I did “tutorial” teaching, meeting weekly with each team.  The web sites were presented at a public event near the end of the term, and the sites will soon be public on web sites for Environmental Studies and Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) at Carleton.  ACE Coordinator, Adrienne Falcon, also worked with me (thanks!) and my students to help find and form relationships with civic groups.  We also interacted with geoscientist Wally Broecker (Columbia U.), the “grandfather of climate science.”  His live videoconference with our class, driven by student questions, was amazing after spending all term asking “what would Wally say?”

I learned so much from my students about how to honor and capitalize on what they bring to this kind of compelling academic work that touches the real world so directly.  I will teach this course again in fall 2012, coupled with an off-campus winter break trip to the Yucatan and the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve.  There we will study issues of Mayan culture, the environment, and climate change.  Understanding the rich and complex student learning in this course is the main focus of my scholarship on teaching and learning.

Winter Term I co-taught Chem 302 (Quantum Spectroscopy Laboratory) with Will and Marion.  I encountered a new discussion pedagogy that Will and Marion had tried out the year before.  I was impressed with how deeply students thought about the science with this approach.  I also enjoyed working with Karen Spettel on her comps paper on 3D NMR and protein structure.

This was an eventful year for my own research.  I got a book contract with Indiana University Press for “Connected Science:  Strategies for Integrative Learning in College.”  I am co-editing this volume with David Geelan (University of Queensland, Australia) and working with a dozen international science faculty – all doing scholarship on student learning in interdisciplinary college science courses.  We have delivered a draft manuscript, and with luck the book will appear in 2011.  I did a panel talk on the book ideas with several of my co-authors this year at the annual meeting for the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) in October 2009 in Bloomington, IN.

I have also been doing research in an HHMI-funded cohort of 10 faculty scholars – a kind of scholar circle for classroom research.  We are studying student learning in interdisciplinary science settings.  I co-led the group and have my own project within it related to ENTS 288 (above).  Five liberal arts colleges (Carleton, Grinnell, Hope, St. Olaf, and Whitman) are participating.  We aim to better define student learning outcomes for interdisciplinary science, show what students can really learn and do in a range of course contexts, and study pedagogies and approaches that hold promise.  Our scholarship, which has a strong collective component, is grounded in the analysis of real student work.  The recent June 2010 cohort meeting at Hope College allowed us to deeply discuss our projects through examination of student writing, move our projects to closure, and begin preparations for a collaborative white paper for publication.

I have kept my hand in a few national projects related to another
passion – making college science education more inclusive.  I worked with faculty from a number of liberal arts colleges, funded by a Mellon 23 grant, on a workshop and web site that helps colleges move to create a comprehensive framework for inclusive education for their institutions.  I gave a talk at the annual AAC&U meeting in Washington, D.C., in January 2010 on this project, with Jim Swartz (Grinnell) and Wendy Raymond (Williams).  Finally, I participated in the Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) Pedagogies of Engagement project, doing hands-on faculty development workshops in Minnesota for the PKAL/MnSCU network.

At Carleton, I have kept busy in the new role of department assessment coordinator.  This activity is important for the college and for us – as we embark on our first department review since 1999.  I also serve on the Argument and Inquiry Seminar Committee (our new required first-year seminar), the Steering Committee for our new Visuality (VIZ) Initiative, and the college’s classroom committee.  This work has taken me into the new Arts Union to help with the design of “21^st century” classrooms – very fun work with Carleton colleagues and creative architects.  I continue to Co-Direct CISMI, this year in a larger role so that Director Fernán Jaramillo could take a fall 2009 leave.  Next year I will be working closely with the new CISMI Director, Joe Chihade, and many others as we do some long-term strategic planning in the sciences and gear up for major grant writing.

At home, I got a crazy new dog named Henry.  He’s a young English Setter and part of my exercise plan.  Adam (8) and Alex (7) are now at Prairie Creek School, where I help in classrooms, serve lunch, bake goodies, and will serve for three years on the Board of Trustees.  Alex and I joined the local UCC church, where he listens to the organ (his passion), and we both enjoy music and community.  Finally, I am now on a 60% permanent contract at Carleton, giving me more time for scholarship (my own, and at Carleton’s Science Education Resource Center), family/kids/pets, gardening, healthy eating, and yoga.  I have come to believe that living a slower, more intentional life around my greatest passions is what it’s all about.

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.

I have discovered that it is easy to be a couch potato.  The lure of the World Cup, Wimbledon, the Tour De France, and a new high definition television has been hard to resist the past few weeks.  On the whole, there has not been much change in my life.  Care giving takes many hours each day, but there is still time for some reading and biking.  I continue to greatly enjoy helping seniors enhance their computer skills at our local senior center.

It would be nice if the world beyond Northfield were a little more stable.  As I write this report, I am eagerly awaiting word about the success or failure of the latest attempt to halt the oil flow in the Gulf of Mexico.  There seems to be no end to terrorist violence.  The economy may or may not be getting better.  Tea Party activity may or may not have an impact on the fall elections.

The tulip bloom this spring was awful again.  I am pondering making an all out effort next fall with critter fences, above ground screens, below ground screens, etc.  I may also decide to surrender and forget about tulips.  I have not had much of a problem with moles this year.  My neighbor has trapped eight moles.  Perhaps this is why mole activity on my property has dropped.

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.

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

Beyond the continual joys of being Department Chair, this has been a busy year for me.  I taught Chem 230, Equilibrium and Analysis, in the fall, Chem 306, Spectroscopic Characterization of Chemical Compounds with Michael Burand in the winter, and I taught the labs for Chem 230, which was taught by Steve Drew, in the spring.  In addition, Joe Chihade and I co-led a comps group studying mass spectrometry-based proteomics techniques and the work of Professor Benjamin Cravatt, from The Scripps Research Institute.  The students learned a great deal about how modern mass spectrometry experiments are carried out, and I got to pursue my not-so-secret agenda of integrating mass spectrometry into many aspects of the curriculum!

In addition to the teaching experiences described above, I continued to have a busy research agenda.  During this academic year, I worked with five research students:  Ross Hamilton (’10), Sicelo Masango (’10), and Samantha Thompson (’11), who worked in the lab last summer; Lisa Wang (’10), who worked in the lab two summers ago; and Alison Smyth (’12), who will join Sam for our work this summer.  We continue to work on various aspects of characterizing atmospheric aerosols.  Students presented their work at two national conferences this year.  Ross, Sicelo, and Sam each presented their work on secondary organic aerosol composition, ambient measurements in Dearborn, MI, and emissions from construction-related metal and glue grinding in posters at the American Association for Aerosol Research conference, which was held in Minneapolis this year.  The posters were all very well received, and as usual, the attendees were shocked to learn that these students were undergraduates!  For me, the conference was a bit of a blur, as I joined a large fraction of my Fall Term students by contracting H1N1 flu that week.  Lisa presented her work on the analysis of aerosols emitted by meat charbroiling at the American Chemical Society’s spring meeting in March, in San Francisco.  Excitingly, her poster was chosen among the 21 presentations which were highlighted by the ACS for a press conference and press release (out of ~12,500 given at the meeting).  Lisa and I got to talk with reporters and to hear our work mentioned briefly on Science Friday!  There was a lot of press coverage after this, showing that people are very interested in knowing what goes into the air from their local restaurants.  This summer, Sam, Alison, and I look forward to spending about a month measuring the ambient air in Milwaukee, with the goal of joining an NSF and EPA funded project to try to determine the various pollution sources that contribute to the particle pollution in that city.

No description of this year would be complete without mentioning the work that I have continued to do with the FOCUS program.  We’re about to start selecting our fourth cohort, and we’re thrilled with how the program is going, so far.  FOCUS is a program designed to identify and support students from diverse (broadly defined) backgrounds who are interested in the sciences and who we hope will benefit from being a part of a structured cohort program.  So far, the three cohorts we have are terrific and there are many science students from the group.  As part of this work, I have also participated in workshops and meetings related to the general area of “Broadening Access” to the sciences, and I find this to be both a great deal of work and really rewarding.

One of the most notable things about this academic year is a non-academic fact:  spring came really early this year, and it’s been gorgeous.  I have enjoyed much more time working in the garden by now than I usually have, and we’re already harvesting salad greens for dinner, which is a record, I think.  Markus and I look forward to a productive summer, including a little bit of travel and a lot of vegetables!

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

Last August, my family and I returned from Aarhus, Denmark, where we had been living while Dave and I did research in the laboratory of Karl Anker Jørgensen.  We had a fantastic year, making new friends and experiencing different cultures, as well as learning a great deal about the field of organocatalysis and developing new synthetic methodologies.  While we were extremely grateful for our experiences abroad, we also returned with a renewed enthusiasm for our lives in Northfield and at Carleton.

The courses that I taught this past year were Organic Chemistry I in the fall and winter and Laboratory in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry in the spring.  I also led a comps group studying Dean Toste’s research on gold(I) catalysis in carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions and enantioselective transformations.  Dave and I taught separate but concurrent sections of Organic I in the Fall Term.  It was fun to teach this course at the same time, because we discussed lab experiments, stayed together as we progressed through the material, and shared ideas for quiz and exam questions.  Marion Cass was my co-instructor in advanced laboratory; changes we made in that course were to revise the organometallic Migratory Insertion experiment that we used two years ago by switching from iron to molybdenum.  This enabled the students to work exclusively in the glovebox and obtain and analyze beautifully pure products.  Because I am shifting away from organometallic chemistry in my research, I moved my glovebox to Marion’s research space, which she shares with Steve Drew.  When our new organometallic chemist, Matt Whited, arrives in the fall of 2011, he will adopt and modify my glovebox for his research program.

In research, Dave and I (along with several other co-authors from the Jørgensen group) finished our paper, “Transition-Metal-Free Formal Sonogashira Coupling and a-Carbonyl Arylation Reactions,” which was published in Chemistry:  A European Journal.  Now we are working with two students, Kaz Skubi (’11) and Sean Roberts (’12), in a joint project employing organocatalysts for desymmetrizing achiral anhydrides and lactones to generate useful chiral synthetic building blocks.  We are still in the early project development stage, which involves running lots of reactions.  Because I am also interested in developing methods for utilizing biorenewable starting materials in organic synthesis, I will be attending the Gordon Conference in Green Chemistry during the last week of July.

We recently celebrated our 25^th Carleton reunion with old friends, several of whom will have children enrolling at Carleton in the fall.  We also enjoyed re-connecting with many chemistry alumni during our departmental reunion reception.  In talking with some more recent alums (i.e., ’00 and ’05), they could not believe how old our children, Sam (16) and Ellie (12), have gotten.  Sam learned to drive this year, got his first “real” job as a cook at Mandarin Garden, and swam and played baseball on the Northfield High School teams, earning his first athletic letters.  He also took four AP exams (we hosted his AP Chemistry class for a laboratory experiment at Carleton), and he is starting the college selection process.  Ellie jumped right into 7^th grade at the middle school without any trouble, meeting new friends, playing volleyball, and making the “A” Honor Roll by the end of the year (her personal goal).  She has been focusing on art and languages (currently Spanish and French), and she wants to study Classics in college (inspired by the Percy Jackson book series).  It’s been great to come back to a full and rich life in Northfield and at Carleton – if you are ever back on campus, I would love to see you.

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

There are fewer activities to report this year.  I kept the summer open and was able to arrange to take off the Fall Term from formal teaching in order to be available to assist with some family matters in Texas.  I appreciate the members of the department for helping make this time away a reality.  The time also allowed me to drive out west to Sacramento during a week in October with my son, Anthony, who was starting a year of service before college in AmeriCorps NCCC.  The trip had its epic moments, including seeing the remote and mysterious Carhenge, battling an early season snow storm that threatened to stop us cold in Nebraska and Wyoming, driving across the very emptiest portions of Nevada, and even spending a night in Yosemite National Park.

After returning to normal activities, I taught a pretty typical schedule for the rest of the year.  In the Winter Term, I taught quantum chemistry and the spectroscopy lab (with Marion and Trish).  In the spring, I taught environmental chemistry.  Carleton duties included serving on a new committee taking a thorough look at ways to better coordinate curriculum and research support across campus.

I was also involved in some fun independent studies concerning aspects of physical chemistry.  In the winter, Dani and I explored ways with a group of students to use Mathematica software to develop exercises to help learn quantum mechanical and to demonstrate some of the beautiful mathematical properties and patterns that emerge.  We hope to implement some of these into the class next year.  In the spring, I worked with a group of seniors reading the new 2^nd edition of the classic text, Molecular Reaction Dynamics, providing one last dose of extra p-chem before allowing them to graduate.

After taking last summer off, I am glad to be returning to my research program this summer and working with students, Dan Cremons and Nolly Gibbs.  We hope to build on some recent work studying the dissociative properties for Mn₂(CO)₁₀ scanning through the region of several different absorptions in the near ultraviolet using doubled output from a YAG-pumped dye laser.  We also plan to extend computer control over additional equipment.  This advance, coupled with an enhanced ability to apply a more precise calibration method, will allow us to make more easy progress in our work.

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.  Additionally, I co-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 as I have come to expect (which is a bit scary, I know!):  full of learning and fun times both at work and at home.  I taught Chemical Thermodynamics and Chemical Kinetics Laboratory (with Steve Drew) in the fall, Principles of Chemistry (Chem 123) in the winter, and Computational Chemistry in the spring.  The Fall and Winter Terms were good; I love introducing Carleton students to physical chemistry in thermo and kinetics and to “the wonders of chemistry” in intro chem.  But the spring was fantastic.  This was my third time teaching Computational Chemistry, so I am getting a better handle on how to teach this difficult material, but what made the term so spectacular was the students in the class.  They were really committed to learning and worked together to produce wonderful results in the computational lab and to ensure that our discussions of journal articles were meaningful and knowledgeable.  Gretchen Hofmeister was also a “student” in the class, which contributed greatly to the level of the conversation.  The experience was very intense, but it was amazing to see all students thrive under the challenge the material presented them.  We learned so much.  It was a great pleasure!

Research is progressing slowly but 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.  This summer Katie Deeg (’12) and Diane Walters (’12) are starting to model the effect of cations on the behavior of these systems while I wrap up the research conducted by Lindsey Madison (’10), Henry Heitzer (’10), and Colin Russell (’10) the previous two years.  Their results deepened our understanding of the peculiar behavior within materials with cages connected by narrow hallways of molecules with a large quadrupole (like carbon dioxide), and I believe it can be described in a nice journal article.  I am looking forward to continuing a productive summer with Katie and Diane, packed with ups and downs – doing research is emotionally, not only intellectually, demanding – but full also of learning and discovery.

Life at home, like at Carleton, continues to be a source of pleasures and challenges.  Margo (almost 8 years old) and Sofia (almost 6 years old) are a lot of fun to be with.  As they have grown, their games, stories, and relationships have gotten richer and richer, and I do enjoy them tremendously.  Family life is pretty good!

All in all, another year has gone by, and I am so fortunate to be looking forward to another one not that different from this.

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

I spent much of Fall Term and part of Winter Term dealing with a mercury problem in Goodsell Observatory.  The mercury had been part of the optics of a telescope dating back to the 1880s.  It was no longer being used, but mercury contamination remained in one of the rooms.  A private contractor removed the contamination, and extensive replacement of woodwork and carpeting was needed.

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.

Adrienne and I chose to retire in Northfield because of its vibrant community.  Three facets of community life have been particularly important to me this year ― the Village on the Cannon, where we live, the 1^st UCC, our church, and the Cannon Valley Elder Collegium.  Last fall in the Elder Collegium I took Jim McDonnell’s course on Irish Literature, and this spring I again taught my course on the History and Chemistry of Chocolate; like last year, it was great fun.  I was also elected to the Elder Collegium Board.  It should be a good opportunity to think about effective and fun ways to teach science to non-scientists.  In January I was elected to a second two-year term as president of the Homeowners Association at the Village on the Cannon, working with a vigorous community of elders.  At 1^st UCC, as chair of the Nominations Committee and a member of the Interim Pastoral Search Committee, I have been in the midst of our ministerial transition after the retirement of our minister of 13 years.  In addition, the UCC men’s group that we began three years ago continues to flourish. I have come to value strong, healthy communities more than ever.

Writing continues to be a focus of my retirement.  It was a relief when the new 3^rd edition of Techniques in Organic Chemistry was published in January.  The book is written to provide effective support for guided-inquiry and design-based lab experiments.  We had initially thought that this revision would not be a major undertaking, but a great set of reviews convinced us otherwise.  Work on the new edition was not far from my mind for a year and a half.  Among the new features are chapters on UV-visible spectroscopy and on designing a chemical reaction, as well as expanded coverage of computational chemistry and ¹³C NMR.  I was also a co-organizer of an NSF-funded workshop at the University of Minnesota in June on teaching guided-inquiry labs, the fourth such workshop since 2005.  The advantages of the guided-inquiry approach to organic chemistry lab teaching have become much more widely appreciated in the past half-decade, which is about time.

In late June a computational article on the mechanisms of the 1,2-elimination reactions, which models the reactions of some of the compounds that Carleton students in my lab studied over many years, was accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.  The article reports the latest methods that Professor Don Truhlar and his group at the University of Minnesota have developed, including an appropriate solvent field on the pathway calculations.  It was exciting and challenging to write an article that we hope will be understandable both to physical and organic chemists, which demonstrates the great value of modern computational chemistry in understanding the reaction pathways of ionic reactions.

The travel highlight of our year was a month-long trip to Sedona, Arizona, in February and March.  The beauty of the red rock country was a marvelous backdrop to our daily hikes.  On our return to Minnesota we stopped at David’s home in Austin, Texas, for three days.  Sara and her family came up from Harlingen, and we had a family reunion to complement the one we had in Harlingen at Christmastime.

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

My scientific activity of late is a joint effort with my 15-year-old grandson, Joshua.  We’re preparing a paper for J. Chem. Educ., “Siphonic Concepts Examined:  A Carbon Dioxide Gas Siphon, and Siphons in Vacuum.”  The gas siphon shows that intermolecular forces are not needed to explain siphons, and the vacuum experiments show that such forces do not prevent siphon collapse under reduced pressure.  The results belie the common analogy of a linked chain over a pulley.  Joshua did some of the experiments at Carleton, with the help of Steve and Brian.

Activities in Green Valley, AZ, include monitoring and fitness instruction in the Rec Center exercise room and competitive shuffleboard, for which I’m club statistician.  Shuffleboard gets a bum rap.  It should be an Olympic sport, like curling.  Only serious shufflers can appreciate how much it demands of your tactical thinking under rapidly changing conditions, and physical coordination.  Given the chance, college students would take to it like Ultimate Frisbee.

In addition to monitoring at the Computer Club of Green Valley (2000 members), I was elected to the Board and to my surprise was chosen to be President.  We have superb facilities and state of the art equipment, both PC and Mac, and instructional classes every day.

Swimming is still important to me, and I did four events in the March GV Senior Games:  25 yards each in freestyle (bronze), breaststroke (silver), backstroke (silver), and butterfly (gold).  When one is in the 80-84 age group, competition is finite but minimal.

Life in the desert is good, with plenty of time for reading, my latest diversion being Bulfinch’s Mythology, sparked by reading Divine Company by Frederick Kettering.  I like photographing critters and cactus blooms, puzzling over NYT crosswords, managing our Netflix queue, and riding the links of the internet.  My web page is: http://www.mindspring.com/~rwramette/Index.html.

Wendy J. Zimmerman, 1970-, Administrative Assistant.

As you read in the Introduction, the department conducted a faculty search this year.  Something different for me was the way we handled the applications – we accepted only electronic ones.  As seems to be the case the first time you do something, it took more time to set up electronic files than paper ones, and it ended up being a very busy Fall Term.  As in the past, I’m the editor of this report and “The Weekly Beaker,” the department’s weekly newsletter, and I help manage the department’s web site.

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