OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
Introduction
I can’t believe it’s time to write this text for the Annual Report again! This year has just flown by. Our department has been busy, in a variety of ways you will see described throughout this installment of our Departmental Annual Report. I am writing this two days after a beautiful graduation ceremony at which we celebrated our 32 chemistry majors’ achievements. The sun was shining, the breezes were refreshing, and the accomplishments of the class of 2011 were impressive! This year our 32 majors included 13 women and 19 men, three of whom were double majors (one with physics, two with math), and seven of whom also completed a concentration (one in French and Francophone Studies and six in Biochemistry). They looked great with diplomas in hand! See the later sections of this Report for their individual achievements and plans.
From the Department perspective, the biggest event of the year has been completion of a once-in-ten-years department review. We were aided in this effort by a team of chemists from other institutions (Judith Klinman from UC Berkeley, Hal Van Ryswyk from Harvey Mudd College, and Lee Park from Williams College), and a team of Carleton faculty and students (Nelson Christensen from Physics and Astronomy, Mija Van Der Wege from Psychology, and Stephen Mohring from Art and Art History, joined by Ben Cotts and Angela Hasler, both members of the class of 2011). We appreciate the insights into our program gained by having a chance for self-reflection, and from having these groups visit with us and share their impressions.
We are preparing for our newest hire, Matt Whited, to start work officially in the fall (you might recall that we hired him in the fall of 2009, with an anticipated start date of September, 2011). We are looking forward to next year when Matt joins us in our work with the 21 majors in the class of 2012 and the 38 majors in the class of 2013.
Deborah Gross
Chair
Off-Campus Student Research Presentations
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR AEROSOL RESEARCH NATIONAL MEETING
Samantha Thompson
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY NATIONAL MEETING
Ryan Babbush
Benjamin Cotts
Elizabeth Hecht
COUNCIL ON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH, POSTERS ON THE HILL
Alison Smyth (’12)
MIDWEST UNDERGRADUATE COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY SYMPOSIUM
Kathryn Deeg (’12)
Diane Walters (’12)
Student Honors and Awards
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Alison Smyth (’12)
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Benjamin Cotts
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY
Kazimer Skubi
B.A. DEGREE CERTIFIED BY THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Benjamin Cotts, Kenneth Ellis-Guardiola, Elizabeth Hecht, Eric Manley, Kazimer Skubi, Samantha Thompson
B.A. DEGREE WITH LATIN HONORS
Summa Cum Laude – Jeremy Grevet, Kazimer Skubi
Magna Cum Laude – Ryan Babbush, Michael Bonin, Benjamin Cotts, Caitlin Dole, Sara Doyle, Sarah Duane, Anna Gallagher, Nolly Gibbs, Sophia Hines, Andrew Hooker, Geunhee Kim, Robert Olsen, Alexandra Schefter, Celine Yeh
Cum Laude – Samuel Althauser, Steven Bowen, Christopher Choo, Grace Cooper, Peter Cormier, Daniel Cremons, John Davis, Kenneth Ellis-Guardiola, Martin Granick, Elizabeth Hecht, Chris Lee, Eric Manley, James McMenimen, Samantha Thompson
SCOTT TYLER BERGNER PRIZE
Kazimer Skubi
BISCOTTI AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING SEMINAR ATTENDANCE
Elizabeth Hecht, Kazimer Skubi
CLASS OF 1966 DIVERSITY OF ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Samantha Thompson
CRC PRESS FRESHMAN CHEMISTRY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Annette Martin (’14)
DISTINCTION IN THE MAJOR
Benjamin Cotts, Nolly Gibbs, Sophia Hines, Kazimer Skubi
DISTINCTION ON THE SENIOR INTEGRATIVE EXERCISE
Benjamin Cotts, Daniel Cremons, John Davis, Nolly Gibbs, Elizabeth Hecht, Sophia Hines, James McMenimen, Kazimer Skubi
FRANZ EXNER AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHEMISTRY
Sara Doyle, Nolly Gibbs, Sophia Hines
JAMES FINHOLT PRIZE IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Benjamin Cotts
BARRY M. GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIPS
Cody Finke (’12), James Morrissey (’12)
HONORS IN INDEPENDENT STUDY
Samantha Thompson
HYPERCUBE SCHOLAR FOR WORK ON COMPUTERS IN CHEMISTRY
Michael Bonin
INITIATIVE FOR SERVICE INTERNSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Puja Patel (’12)
LAB JOULES AWARDS FOR EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE TO THE CHEMISTRY STOCKROOM AND THE LABS
Emily Kelly (Sociology/Anthropology), James McMenimen
LARSON INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP
Alfred Yeung (’12)
JERRY MOHRIG PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY
Ryan Babbush
MORTAR BOARD
Class of 2011 – Caitlin Dole, Sara Doyle
Class of 2012 – Katherine France, James Morrissey, Sean Roberts, Erika Warrick
MORTAR BOARD PRIZE
Zheyue Yang (’13)
MULTICULTURAL ALUMNI NETWORK SCHOLAR
Yimeng Zhou (’13)
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP
Musetta Steinbach (’10)
NOYES PRIZE
Kazimer Skubi
PHI BETA KAPPA
Class of 2011 – Michael Bonin, Jeremy Grevet, Kazimer Skubi (elected in 2010 as a junior)
Class of 2012 – James Morrissey
PHI BETA KAPPA PRIZE
Zheyue Yang (’13)
RICHARD RAMETTE TEACHING AWARDS
Jeremy Grevet, Kazimer Skubi, Samantha Thompson
SIGMA XI
Ryan Babbush, Grace Cooper, Peter Cormier, Benjamin Cotts, John Davis, Sara Doyle, Kenneth Ellis-Guardiola, Anna Gallagher, Nolly Gibbs, Jeremy Grevet, Elizabeth Hecht, Sophia Hines, Chris Lee, Eric Manley, James McMenimen, Kazimer Skubi, Samantha Thompson, Celine Yeh
STRANG PRIZE
James Morrissey (’12)
WRITING PORTFOLIO RECOGNITION
Katherine France (’12)
Enrollments
FALL TERM
| 100, Air Pollution and Human Health | 14 | Gross |
| 128, Principles of Environmental Chemistry | 41 | Hollingsworth |
| 230, Equilibrium and Analysis | 42 | Drew |
| 233-1, Organic Chemistry I | 36 | Alberg |
| 233-2, Organic Chemistry I | 43 | Chihade |
| 291, 391, Independent Study | 2 | Staff |
| 301, Chemical Kinetics Laboratory | 29 | Burand, Ferrett, Gross, Hofmeister |
| 306, Spectroscopic Char. Chem. Compounds | 5 | Burand, Hofmeister |
| 343, Chemical Thermodynamics | 26 | Ferrett |
| 353, Organic Chemistry III | 7 | Hofmeister |
| 361, Materials Chemistry | 14 | Burand |
| 392, Independent Research | 1 | Staff |
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 9 | Staff |
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 3 | Staff |
WINTER TERM
| 113, Concepts of Chemistry | 16 | Cass |
| 122, Introduction to Chemistry | 26 | Kohen |
| 123, Principles of Chemistry | 36 | Burand |
| 233, Organic Chemistry I | 39 | Alberg |
| 234, Organic Chemistry II | 58 | Chihade, Hofmeister |
| 302, Quantum Spectroscopy Laboratory | 26 | Hollingsworth, Kohen |
| 338, Computers & Elects. in Chem. Instrumen. | 10 | Drew |
| 344, Quantum Chemistry | 28 | Hollingsworth |
| 392, Independent Research | 1 | Staff |
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 6 | Staff |
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 30 | Staff |
SPRING TERM
| 123-1, Principles of Chemistry | 39 | Burand |
| 123-2, Principles of Chemistry | 27 | Kohen |
| 230, Equilibrium and Analysis | 65 | Drew, Gross |
| 234, Organic Chemistry II | 41 | Alberg, Hofmeister |
| 320, Biological Chemistry | 31 | Chihade |
| 321, Biological Chemistry Laboratory | 18 | Chihade |
| 328, Environmental Analysis | 10 | Gross |
| 329, Environmental Analysis Laboratory | 2 | Gross |
| 351, Inorganic Chemistry | 20 | Cass |
| 352, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory | 14 | Cass, Hofmeister |
| 354, Lasers and Spectroscopy | 5 | Hollingsworth |
| 355, Lasers and Spectroscopy Laboratory | 3 | Hollingsworth |
| 391, Independent Study | 1 | Staff |
| 392, Independent Research | 1 | Staff |
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 15 | Staff |
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 30 | Staff |
Faculty Bibliography
Publications:
Cich, Matthew J.; Hill, Ian M.; Lackner, Aaron D.; Martinez, Ryan J.; Ruthenburg, Travis C.; Takeshita, Yuichiro; Young, Andrew J.; Drew, Steven M.; Buss, Carrie E.; Mann, Kent R. “Enantiomerically Selective Vapochromic Sensing,” Sensors and Actuators B 2010, 149, 199-204.
Dutcher, D. D.; Pagels, J.; Bika, J.; Franklin, L.; Stolzenburg, M.; Thompson, S.; Medrano, J.; Brown, N.; Gross, D. S.; Kittelson, D.; McMurry, P. H. “Emissions from soy biodiesel blends: A single particle perspective,” Atmospheric Environment 2011, 45, 3406-3413.
Dutcher, D. D.; Stolzenburg, M. R.; Thompson, S. L.; Medrano, J. M.; Gross, D. S.; Kittelson, D.; McMurry, P. H. “Emissions from Ethanol-Gasoline Blends: A Single Particle Perspective,” Atmosphere 2011, 2, 182-200.
Thompson, S. L.; Masango, S. S.; Hamilton, R. M.; Smyth, A. M.; Zach, M. J.; Gross, D. S. “Emissions from the Construction-Related Grinding of Metal and Carpet Glue,” Manuscript submitted.
Madison, Lindsey; Heitzer, Henry; Russell, Colin; Kohen, Daniela “Atomistic Simulations of CO2 and N2 within Cage Type Silica Zeolites,” Langmuir 2011, 27, 1954.
Kim, Yongho; Mohrig, Jerry R.; Truhlar, Donald G. “Free-Energy Surfaces for Liquid-Phase Reactions and Their Use to Study the Border Between Concerted and Nonconcerted α,β-Elimination Reactions of Esters and Thioesters,” Journal of the American Chemical Society 2010, 132, 11071-11082.
Mohrig, Jerry R.; Reiter, Nicholas J.; Kirk, Randy; Zawadski, Michelle R.; Lamarre-Vincent, Nathan “Effect of Buffer General Acid-Base Catalysis on the Stereoselectivity of Ester and Thioester H/D Exchange in D2O,” Journal of the American Chemical Society 2011, 133, 5124-5128.
Ramette, Richard W.; Ramette, Joshua J. “Siphonic Concepts Examined: A Carbon Dioxide Gas Siphon, and Siphons in Vacuum,” Physics Education 46 (2011) 412-416.
Conference Presentations:
Ferrett, T. A.*; Russo, J.*; Schlegel, W.*; Stewart, J.; Swartz, J.; Lopatto, D. “Globally-Focused Learning in the Interdisciplinary Classroom: A Research-Based Framework for Learning Goals and Pedagogies in Science-Rich Courses,” Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, January 26-29, 2011, San Francisco, CA.
Ferrett, T. A.*; Schlegel, W.*; Swartz, J.*; Stewart, J.*; Lopatto, D. “A Multi-Institutional Study of Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning in STEM,” AAC&U Meeting with Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), Engaged STEM Learning, Miami, FL, March 24-26, 2011.
Smyth, A. M.*; Thompson, S. L.; Gross, D. S.; Snyder, D. C.; Schauer, J. J.; de Foy, B. “Size, Chemical Composition and Sources of Industrial Atmospheric Aerosol Particles,” Poster presentation, April 2011 Council on Undergraduate Research Posters on the Hill, Washington, DC.
Thompson, S. L.*; Smyth, A. M.; Gross, D. S.; Snyder, D. C.; Schauer, J. J. “Temporal Dynamics and Sources of Particle Types in Milwaukee, WI Studied with Single-Particle Mass Spectrometry,” Poster presented at the American Association for Aerosol Research national conference, Portland, Oregon, October, 2010.
Gianini, M. F. D.*; Hueglin, C.; Herich, H.; Lanz, V. A.; Prévôt, A. S. H.; Gross, D. S. “Source apportionment of ambient aerosols based on a combined analysis of ToF-AMS and ATOFMS mass spectra,” Oral presentation at the International Aerosol Conference, Helsinki, Finland, August 30–September 3, 2010.
Gross, D. S.*; Thompson, S. L.; Smyth, A. M.; Gälli, M. E. “Temporal Effects of Clustering Single-Particle Mass Spectra from Ambient Measurements,” Poster presented at the International Aerosol Conference, Helsinki, Finland, August 30–September 3, 2010.
Gross, D. S.*; Walser-Kuntz, D.; Ciner, E.; Willett, G.; Iverson, E.; Manduca, C. “Two Cohort Programs Contributing to Broadening Access to the Sciences at Carleton College,” Poster presentation, June 2010 Council on Undergraduate Research National Meeting, Ogden, UT.
Kohen, Daniela “Atomistic simulations of CO2 and N2 within zeolites,” Midwest Theoretical and Statistical Mechanics Conference, Wheaton, WI, May 2011.
Kohen, Daniela “Atomistic simulations of CO2 and N2 within zeolites,” Fall ACS Meeting, Symposium Title: Surface Chemistry and Environmental Applications of Nanoporous Materials, Boston, MA, August 2010.
Deeg, Katie*; Walters, Diane*; Kohen, Daniela “The role of cations in the behavior of carbon dioxide on zeolites,” Oral presentation, Thirteenth Midwest Undergraduate Computational Chemistry Symposium, Madison WI, July 2010.
Gifts and Grants
Gretchen Hofmeister received a Carleton College Targeted Opportunity Grant from the Smith and Hewlett Mellon faculty development funds for two course releases during the 2011-2012 academic year.
Carleton’s 6th grant of ~$1.4 million from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) funds a range of activities for faculty and students in Carleton’s Interdisciplinary Science and Math Initiative (CISMI): faculty-student research, faculty and curriculum development, broadening access to science, outreach, and assessment. Trish Ferrett ended her role in CISMI as Co-Director in 2010-2011 as Joe Chihade becomes Director for several years.
Trish Ferrett’s scholarship was funded in 2010-11 by Carleton’s 6th HHMI Grant and the Carleton Chemistry Department.
Deborah Gross received a Curriculum Development Grant from HHMI, “Introduction of Climate Modeling into Climate Science Course,” summer 2011.
In 2006 Jerry Mohrig made a donation to the college to establish the Jerry and Jean Mohrig Lectures in Chemistry. This endowed fund is intended to bring to campus renowned chemists as part of our comps program. This year’s lectures were given by Jeanne Pemberton, University of Arizona, and Barbara Imperiali, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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 Jess Adkins, California Institute of Technology, and William Jones, University of Rochester.
The National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Grant received by Steven Drew, Melissa Eblen-Zayas (Physics), and Cameron Davidson (Geology) continues. The $305,000 grant is for the proposal “Acquisition of an X-ray Diffractometer for Powder and Thin Film Materials Characterization.”
Daniela Kohen received a NSF MRI Grant, “MRI: Acquisition of a Computer Cluster for Undergraduate Chemistry Research and Teaching by the Midwest Undergraduate Computational Chemistry Consortium (MU3C),” September 2010.
Seminars
Academic Civic Engagement Staff; Brent Nystrom, Career Center; Chemistry Faculty: Volunteer and Career Exploration and Information Session
Ned Bowden, University of Iowa: Behave! How to Separate Unruly Catalysts and Reagents in One Pot Using Materials Chemistry
Carleton Science Majors: Annual All-Science and Math Poster Session
Malika Jeffries-EL, Iowa State University: Design and Synthesis of Conjugated Polymers for Advanced Applications
Philippe Buhlmann, University of Minnesota: Polymeric Fluorous Phases: From the Ultimate Limits of Low Polarity to Biocompatibility
Carleton Chemistry Faculty: Summer Research Recruiting
Silvia Cavagnero, University of Wisconsin, Madison: How Do Proteins Acquire a 3D Structure in the Cell? An Interdisciplinary Journey across Organic, Physical and Biological
Matthew Whited, University of Southern California/Carleton College: Excitation Management in Solar Dyes Using Singlets and Triplets
Daniela Kohen, Carleton College: Can a computational chemist help curb carbon dioxide emissions? (or Atomistic simulations of carbon dioxide in zeolites)
Amy Palmer, University of Colorado, Boulder: Development of fluorescent sensors to monitor metal ions in living cells
Marion Cass, Carleton College: Mechanisms that Interconvert Enantiomers in Chiral Metal Tris Chelate Molecules
Richard Caprioli, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine: Imaging Mass Spectrometry: Providing New Insights to Biology and Medicine
Isiah Warner, Louisiana State University: NanoGUMBOS: A New Breed of Nanomaterials
Jess Adkins, California Institute of Technology: Journey to the Bottom of the Sea: How Deep-Sea Corals Calcify and Why We Care; James D. and Julia P. Morrison Lecture
William Jones, University of Rochester: Strong C-H and C-C Bond Cleavage Reactions Using Homogeneous Transition Metal Complexes; James D. and Julia P. Morrison Lecture
Jeanne Pemberton, University of Arizona: Rhamnolipid Biosurfactants from Nature’s Bacterial Microsynthetic Factories; Jerry and Jean Mohrig Lecture
Kirk Williams, University of Alabama, Birmingham: Approaches to Understanding Obesity: Computational Chemistry and Molecular Dynamics
Barbara Imperiali, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Chemical Tools for the Study of Complex Biological Systems; Jerry and Jean Mohrig Lecture
Aaron Massari, University of Minnesota: Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Organic Electronic Interfaces
Cora MacBeth, Emory University: Bioinspired Ligand Systems for Transition Metal Mediated Small-molecule Binding and Activation
Senior Comps Talks:
Ben Cotts, Ken Ellis-Guardiola, Anna Gallagher, Nolly Gibbs, Eric Manley, Alexandra Schefter, Kaz Skubi: Transition Metal-Catalyzed C-H and C-C Activation: How Hydrocarbons Go Boom, Gracefully
Sam Althauser, Grace Cooper, Dan Cremons, Sophie Hines, Andrew Hooker, Duncan Olsen, Samantha Thompson, Celine Yeh: The Role of Past Ocean Processes in Abrupt Climate Change: Secrets Held by Deep-Sea Corals and Sediments
Ryan Babbush, Grant Bowen, Kevin Cannaday, Martin Granick, James McMenimen: Surface Characterization by Raman Spectroscopy
Michael Bonin, Chris Choo, Caitlin Dole, Sara Doyle, Sarah Duane, Jeremy Grevet, Liz Hecht: A Sweet Biomarker: Asparagine-Linked Glycosylation
John Davis: Solar Hydrogen from Nanostructured Titanium Dioxide