OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
Introduction
My first year as chair of the Chemistry Department has had its share of ups and downs—but no matter the situation, the collegiality and spirit of the staff and students in the department have reminded me how lucky I am to work with such a great group of people.
In the fall, we welcomed a new tenure-track faculty member, Chris Calderone, who is a biological chemist. Chris’s research is motivated by a desire to understand how organisms translate genetic information into complex and beautiful molecules. In particular, he studies how fungi synthesize the agents that they deploy to sequester iron from the environment. This year, Chris taught a new advanced course, Chemistry and Biology of Antibiotics, as well as Principles of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry. He has fit right in to the department, taking over the cloak of “Department Chair of Humor” from Marion Cass, who will be on sabbatical next year.
Spring Term, Lesley-Ann Giddings taught Principles of Chemistry as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Lesley-Ann is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the NIH-National Cancer Center, developing therapeutic agents from natural products. We appreciate that she took some time off to apply her talents to teaching and to discover whether an academic position at a liberal arts college suits her. Happily, the experience has encouraged Lesley-Ann to pursue this career, and we wish her every success in her job search for a tenure-track position.
We experienced a great shock in the spring when Brian Mars, our longtime laboratory manager and instrument specialist, passed away suddenly at his home. Brian had worked here for thirty years, and the impact of losing him continues to reverberate in the department. Everyone has stepped in to do his work, but most especially, Julie and the student stockroom workers are pulling us through. Their experience and hard work enabled us to make it through the term, and we should have a new person in place before Fall Term begins.
This year’s seniors are inspiring; they were stellar in comps, they were outstanding prefects for new faculty, they organized a seminar on the Chemistry of Chocolate by Professor Emeritus Jerry Mohrig, and they seemed to take every advanced course that we offer. We eagerly anticipate hearing from them in the future, just as we are pleased to learn of the activities of the class of 2003, reported in this edition of the Annual Report of the Chemistry Department. Happy reading!
Gretchen Hofmeister, Chair
Off-Campus Student Research Presentations
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY NATIONAL MEETING
Tyler Bechtel
Joseph Boerma
Meredith Borden
Milan Cvitkovic
Daniel DeRosha
Galen Gorski
Christian Padilla
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY ANNUAL MEETING
Jennifer Borchardt (biology)
Brady Still
MINNESOTA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE ANNUAL MEETING/WINCHELL UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM
Alex Kosanovich (’14)
Michael McClellan
Erin McDuffie
Student Honors and Awards
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY SCHOLAR
Allison Cardiel
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Julia Bakker-Arkema (’14)
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Alexander Deetz (’15)
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Meredith Borden
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY
Zheyue Yang
B.A. DEGREE CERTIFIED BY THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Joseph Boerma, Meredith Borden, Erin McDuffie
B.A. DEGREE WITH LATIN HONORS
Summa Cum Laude – Allison Cardiel, Milan Cvitkovic, Michael McClellan, Brady Still, Zheyue Yang
Magna Cum Laude – Kim Bauer, Meredith Borden, Anna Brezny, Daniel DeRosha, Elaine Downie, Galen Gorski, Erik Klontz, Alexandra Lai, Erin McDuffie, John Mullaney, Megan Narvey, Christian Padilla, Adrienne Werth, Yimeng Zhou
Cum Laude – William Gagne-Maynard, David Hanna, Theodore Harmon, Austin Jiang, Kenichi Miyamoto, Evan Osborne, Katherine Ratliff, Frederick Wieffering, Nicholas Wright
WARREN L. BESON MEMORIAL AWARD
Erik Klontz
BISCOTTI AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING SEMINAR ATTENDANCE
Joseph Boerma, Christian Padilla
CARLETON SCIENCE FELLOWSHIP
Christian Olivares (’15)
CARLETON SOCIAL JUSTICE INTERNSHIP
Molly Burness (’15), Allison Cardiel
CHARLES CARLIN PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY
Meredith Borden, Christian Padilla
CRC PRESS FRESHMAN CHEMISTRY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Natalie Kingston (’16)
DISTINCTION IN THE MAJOR
Kim Bauer, Meredith Borden, Allison Cardiel, Milan Cvitkovic, Daniel DeRosha, Galen Gorski, Erik Klontz, Michael McClellan, Erin McDuffie, John Mullaney, Christian Padilla, Zheyue Yang
DISTINCTION ON THE SENIOR INTEGRATIVE EXERCISE
Kim Bauer, Meredith Borden, Allison Cardiel, Milan Cvitkovic, Daniel DeRosha, Galen Gorski, David Hanna, Erik Klontz, Michael McClellan, Erin McDuffie, John Mullaney, Megan Narvey, Christian Padilla
FRANZ EXNER AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHEMISTRY
Galen Gorski, Erin McDuffie
JAMES FINHOLT PRIZE IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Daniel DeRosha
FULBRIGHT FELLOWSHIP
Milan Cvitkovic
LAURENCE McKINLEY GOULD PRIZE IN NATURAL SCIENCE
Michael McClellan
HYPERCUBE SCHOLAR FOR WORK ON COMPUTERS IN CHEMISTRY
Milan Cvitkovic
KOLENKOW REITZ FUND FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
Emily Greene (’14)
BRIAN MARS AWARDS FOR LABORATORY SERVICE
Anne Duncan (biology), Beret Fitzgerald (philosophy ’15), Elizabeth McKenna (’15), Brandon Taitt (’14)
MINNESOTA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEST POSTER AWARDS
Alex Kosanovich (’14), Erin McDuffie
MINNESOTA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BEST TALK
Michael McClellan
JERRY MOHRIG PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY
Allison Cardiel, Milan Cvitkovic
MORTAR BOARD
Class of 2013 – Meredith Borden, Allison Cardiel, Yimeng Zhou
Class of 2014 – Emma Southgate, Reid Whitaker
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP
Christian Padilla
PHI BETA KAPPA
Allison Cardiel, Milan Cvitkovic, Erik Klontz, Michael McClellan, Brady Still, Zheyue Yang
PHI BETA KAPPA PRIZE
Nathan Bamberger (’15)
RICHARD RAMETTE TEACHING AWARDS
Meredith Borden, Elaine Downie
THE M. LEITH SHACKEL ’29 INTERNSHIP
Connor Hodges (’15)
SIGMA XI
Tyler Bechtel, Meredith Borden, Anna Brezny, Allison Cardiel, Milan Cvitkovic, Christopher D’Amato, Daniel DeRosha, Galen Gorski, Koua Her, Alexandra Lai, Michael McClellan, Brittney Mikell, Zheyue Yang
WRITING PORTFOLIO RECOGNITION
Emily Greene (’14)
Enrollments
FALL TERM
| 123, Principles of Chemistry | 34 | Whited |
| 230, Equilibrium and Analysis | 38 | Drew |
| 233-1, Organic Chemistry I | 42 | Alberg |
| 233-2, Organic Chemistry I | 43 | Hofmeister |
| 292, Independent Research | 2 | Staff |
| 301, Chemical Kinetics Laboratory | 28 | Chihade, Ferrett |
| 324, Chemistry and Biology of Antibiotics | 10 | Calderone |
| 343, Chemical Thermodynamics | 30 | Kohen |
| 391, Independent Study | 1 | Staff |
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 12 | Staff |
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 3 | Staff |
WINTER TERM
| 122, Introduction to Chemistry | 16 | Whited |
| 123-1, Principles of Chemistry | 39 | Calderone |
| 123-2, Principles of Chem. With Prob. Solving | 18 | Kohen |
| 233, Organic Chemistry I | 59 | Alberg |
| 234, Organic Chemistry II | 41 | Chihade |
| 292, 392 Independent Research | 3 | Staff |
| 302, Quantum Spectroscopy Laboratory | 27 | Cass, Hollingsworth |
| 339, Survey of Instrum. for Chemical Analysis | 8 | Drew |
| 344, Quantum Chemistry | 29 | Ferrett |
| 353, Organic Chemistry III | 14 | Hofmeister |
| 359, Molecular Orbital Theory | 11 | Cass |
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 11 | Staff |
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 32 | Staff |
SPRING TERM
| 123, Principles of Chemistry | 35 | Giddings |
| 128, Principles of Environmental Chemistry | 25 | Hollingsworth |
| 230, Equilibrium and Analysis | 67 | Drew |
| 234, Organic Chemistry II | 48 | Chihade, Hofmeister |
| 306, Spectroscopic Char. Chem. Compounds | 12 | Alberg |
| 320, Biological Chemistry | 43 | Calderone |
| 321, Biological Chemistry Laboratory | 17 | Calderone |
| 351, Inorganic Chemistry | 18 | Whited |
| 352, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory | 14 | Cass, Whited |
| 354, Lasers and Spectroscopy | 9 | Hollingsworth |
| 390-11, Electrochemistry | 8 | Whited |
| 390-12, Time Dependent QM | 6 | Kohen |
| 394, Student-Faculty Research | 25 | Staff |
| 400, Integrative Exercise | 34 | Staff |
Faculty Bibliography
Publications:
Ferrett, Tricia A.; Geelan, David R.; Schlegel, Whitney M.; Stewart, Joanne L. Connected Science: Strategies for Integrative Learning in College, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN. Book published June 25, 2013.
Newman, D. J.; Giddings, L. A. “Natural Products as Leads to Antitumor Drugs,” Phytochemical Reviews. Early online publication: April 15, 2013 (doi: 10.1007/s11101-013-9292-6).
Smyth, A. M.; Thompson, S. L.; de Foy, B.; Olson, M. R.; Sager, N.; McGinnis, J.; Schauer, J. J.; Gross, D. S. “Sources of metals and bromine-containing particles in Milwaukee,” Atmospheric Environment 2013, 73, 124 – 130. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.03.014.
Huang, Y.; Li, L.; Li, J.; Wang, X.; Chen, H.; Chen, J.; Yang, X.; Gross, D. S.; Wang, H.; Qiao, L.; Chen, C. “A case study of the highly time-resolved evolution of aerosol chemical and optical properties in urban Shanghai, China,” Atmos. Chem. Phys. 2013, 13, 3931–3944. doi: 10.5194/acp-13-3931-2013.
de Foy, B.; Smyth, A. M.; Thompson, S. L.; Gross, D. S.; Olson, M. R.; Sager, N.; Schauer, J. J. “Sources of Nickel, Vanadium and Black Carbon in Aerosols in Milwaukee,” Atmospheric Environ. 2012, 59, 294-301. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2012.06.002.
Pagels, J.; Dutcher, D. D.; Stolzenburg, M. R.; McMurry, P. H.; Gälli, M. E.; Gross, D. S. “Fine Particle Emissions from Solid Biofuel Combustion Studied with Single Particle Mass Spectrometry – Identification of Markers and Trends for Organics, Soot and Ash Components,” J. Geophys. Res. 2012, 118, 1-12. doi: 10.1029/2012JD018389. 2012.
Mohrig, J. R. “Stereochemistry of 1,2-Elimination and Proton-Transfer Reactions: Toward a Unified Understanding,” Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 1407–1416.
Krylova, V.; Djurovich, P. I.; Aronson, J. W.; Haiges, R. M.; Whited, M. T.; Thompson, M. E. “Structural and Photophysical Studies of Phosphorescent 3-Coordinate Cu(I) Complexes Supported by N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands,” Organometallics 2012, 31, 7983–7993 (Invited Article for Thematic Issue on Organometallic Chemistry of Copper).
Whited, M. T. “Metal–Ligand Multiple Bonds as Frustrated Lewis Pairs for C–H Functionalization,” Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1554–1563 (Invited Article for Thematic Issue on C–H Functionalization).
Whited, M. T.; Boerma, J. W.; McClellan, M. J.; Padilla, C. E.; Janzen,
D. E. “trans-Acetyldicarbonyl(η5-cyclopentadienyl)(methyldiphenyl phosphane)molybdenum(II),” Acta Crystallogr., Sect. E: Struct. Rep. Online 2012, 68, m1158–m1159.
Trinh, C.; Whited, M. T.; Steiner, A.; Tassone, C.; Toney, M; Thompson, M. E. “Chemical Annealing of Tetraphenylporphyrin Films: Effects on Film Morphology and Organic Photovoltaic Performance,” Chem. Mater. 2012, 24, 2583–2591.
Thompson, M. E.; Whited, M. T.; Patel, N. M.; Djurovich, P. I.; Forrest, S. R.; Allen, K. R.; Trinh, C. “Compounds Capable of Undergoing Symmetry Breaking Intramolecular Charge Transfer in a Polarizing Medium and Organic Photovoltaic Devices Comprising the Same,” PCT Int. Appl. WO2013066453, 05/10/2013.
Thompson, M. E.; Trinh, C.; Whited, M. T. “Chemical Annealing Method for Fabrication of Organic Thin Films for Optoelectronic Devices,” PCT Int. Appl. WO20120177813, 07/12/2012.
Conference Presentations:
Cvitkovic, Milan*; Alberg, David; Hofmeister, Gretchen; Kohen, Daniela “Mechanistic Study of Organocatalysts for Biorenewable Desymmetrization,” Poster presented at the 245th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 2013.
Still, Brady*; Her, Koua; Chihade, Joseph “Using in-line probing to characterize pathogenic mutations in human mitochondrial tRNAs,” Poster presented at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting, Boston, MA, April 21-24, 2013.
Borchardt, Jennifer*; France, Katherine; Chihade, Joseph “Understanding the basis of pathogenicity in the R592W mutant of human mitochondrial alanyl-tRNA synthetase,” Poster presented at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting, Boston, MA, April 21-24, 2013.
Borden, M.*; Gorski, G.*; Drew, S. M. “The Synthesis and Characterization of Vapochromic Platinum-Based Materials for the Detection of Benzene,” Poster presented at the 245th National American Chemical Society Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2013.
Gross, D. S. “Real-time analysis of atmospheric aerosol particles: From single-particles to emissions sources,” Consortium for Aerosol Science and Technology Seminar, Lund University, Sweden, March 2013.
McClellan, M. J.*; Gross, D. S. “After The Spray: Investigating The Fate Of Particles From Cyclodextrin-Containing Air Fresheners,” Oral presentation at the Minnesota Academy of Sciences Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, April 2013.
McDuffie, E. E.*; Gross, D. S. “A New Instrument For Analysis Of Single Aerosol Particles: The Coupling Of Atofms And Libs,” Poster presentation at the Minnesota Academy of Sciences Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, April 2013.
Gross, D. S.* “Air Quality in the Northfield Community: A Class Project for First-Year Students,” Oral presentation at the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, June 2013.
Roberts, Sean; Skubi, Kazimer; Lai, Alex; Cvitkovic, Milan; Brezny, Anna; Alberg, David G.; Hofmeister, Gretchen E.* “Mechanistic Studies of the Organocatalytic Asymmetric Desymmetrization of a Citric Acid-Derived Anhydride,” Poster presentation at the Gordon Research Conference in Green Chemistry, Lucca, Italy, July 22-27, 2012.
Kosanovich, A. J.*; Whited, M. T. “Synthesis and Reactivity of Late-Metal Silylamides,” Poster presented at Winchell Undergraduate Research Symposium (MN Academy of the Sciences), Minneapolis, MN, April 2013 (Best Chemistry Poster Award).
Boerma, J. W.*; Whited, M. T. “Small-Molecule Activation at Late-Metal Silylenes via Polydentate Ligands,” Poster presented at the 245th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 2013 (Selected for SciMix).
DeRosha, D. E.*; Whited, M. T. “Diydrosilyl Ligands for Synthesis of Ambiphilic Late-Metal Complexes,” Poster presented at the 245th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 2013.
Padilla, C. E.*; Whited, M. T. “Synthesis and Reactivity of Late-Metal Silylamides,” Poster presented at the 245th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 2013 (Poster Presentation – ACS-DIC Travel Award).
Gifts and Grants
Matt Whited received an Undergraduate New Investigator Award from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund ($50k) for “Ambiphilic Scaffolds for Cooperative Metal–Ligand Activation of Small Molecules,” to fund his research during 2012–2013.
Gretchen Hofmeister received a $4,200 grant from the Carleton College Towsley Endowment to fund a summer research stipend for Anna Brezny.
Dave Alberg received a $4,200 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to fund a summer research stipend for Alex Lai.
Trish Ferrett received a HHMI curriculum development grant of $2,000 to support the development of a new upper-level course (Chem 362, Chemistry at the Nanoscale), to be offered for the first time in the fall of 2013.
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 lecture was given by Robert Grubbs, California 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 Graham Fleming, University of California, Berkeley.
Steven Drew received a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Grant (2010-2013) of $305,000 for the proposal “Acquisition of an X-ray Diffractometer for Powder and Thin Film Materials Characterization.” PI: Melissa Eblen-Zayas (Physics), co-PI: Cameron Davidson (Geology).
Steven Drew received a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Grant (2011-2014) of $201,787 for the proposal “MRI Consortium: Acquisition of a Single-Crystal X-ray Diffractometer for a Regional PUI Molecular Structure Facility.” PI: Daron Janzen (St. Catherine University), co-PI’s: Ted Pappenfus (University of Minnesota, Morris), James Wollack (St. Catherine University), Alicia Peterson (College of St. Benedict).
Deborah Gross (PI), Dave Alberg, Joe Chihade, Steven Drew, and Gretchen Hofmeister (co-PIs) received a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Grant (2012-2015) of $351,622 for “MRI: Acquisition of an LTQ-Velos-Pro for Research and Research Training in Chemistry and Biochemistry at Carleton College.”
Matt Whited received a Cottrell College Science Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement ($52k, including partial matching funds from Carleton) for “Silylamides as Nitrene Delivery Agents for Late Transition Metals,” to fund his research during 2011–2013.
Seminars
Carleton Chemistry Faculty and Academic Civic Engagement Staff: You Decided to Major in Chemistry – Now What? Volunteer Opportunities and Career/Grad School Information
Sibrina Collins, College of Wooster: Designing Azaindole Ligands for the Development of Anti-Tumor Transition Metal Complexes
Terry Acree, Cornell University: Flavor Chemistry and Perception
Nancy Levinger, Colorado State University: Impact of a nanoscopic environment on the nature of water
Oleg Ozerov, Texas A&M University: Reaction Discovery With Pincer Complexes
Dipa Kalyani, St. Olaf College: Transition Metal Catalyzed Synthesis of Biaryl Compounds
Olga Selifonova and Sergey Selifonov, Founders of Reluceo, Inc. and XLTerra, Inc.: Polymers for the 21st century: New planet and human friendly materials with exceptional performance
Jeff Peake (’81), Shepherd Color Company: The Chemistry of Complex Inorganic Colored Pigments
Valerie Pierre, University of Minnesota: Imaging Metal-Induced Oxidative Stress – Lanthanides to the Rescue
Jerry Mohrig, Emeritus Professor, Carleton College: Insights on the Stereochemistry of Proton Transfer Reactions or Twenty-Five Years of Undergraduate Research
Timothy Jamison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Continuous Flow Multi-Step Synthesis
Carleton Chemistry Faculty: Summer Research Recruiting
Thomas Epps, University of Delaware: Using Block Copolymers to Create Conducting Nanomaterials
Michael Summers, University of Maryland, Baltimore County: Insights into the Mechanism of HIV-1 Genome Packaging and Assembly
Matt Ginder-Vogel (’00), University of Wisconsin, Madison: Influences on Environmental Arsenic and Uranium Mobility: Oxidation by Transition Metal (Hydr)oxides
Loren Williams, Georgia Institute of Technology: Historical Biochemistry
Eric Anslyn, University of Texas, Austin: Supramolecular Analytical Chemistry
Robert Grubbs, California Institute of Technology: Green Chemistry and Catalysis; The Jerry and Jean Mohrig Lecture
Robert Grubbs, California Institute of Technology: Olefin Metathesis Catalysts for the Preparation of Molecules and Materials
Graham Fleming, University of California, Berkeley: Lessons from Nature on Solar Light Harvesting; The James D. and Julia P. Morrison Lecture
Senior Comps Talks:
Elaine Downie, Bee Lee, Brady Still, Adrienne Werth, Alex Lai, David Hanna, Ted Harmon, Brittney Mikell: From RNA to Loren Williams and Beyond: An RNA perspective of cations involvement in the evolution of life
Erik Klontz, Will Gagne-Maynard, Kim Bauer, Katie Ratliff, Ken Miyamoto, Jack Mullaney, Tyler Bechtel, Sharyl Rich: Ansyln’s Analytes and Assays
Joe Boerma, Mia Borden, Anna Brezny, Dan DeRosha, Christian Padilla, Nick Wright: One Word: Polymers. The development of ruthenium-based catalysts for ring opening metathesis polymerization
Milan Cvitkovic, Chris D’Amato, Emily Fairfax, Galen Gorski, Austin Jiang, Erin McDuffie, Freddy Wieffering: Probing the Workings of the Primary Light Event in Photosynthesis using Ultrafast Laser
Michael McClellan: Taking Chiral Cobalt out of the Mesozoic Era: Improved Co(diNOsar) Synthesis and Analysis in an Undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory
Megan Narvey: Raising the Hunley: Corrosion Processes and Conservation Strategies for Metals in Historic Shipwrecks
In Memory of Brian Mars
Chemistry Lab Manager, Brian Mars, passed away on April 27, 2013, at his home in Cannon Falls, MN. Brian had just received recognition for 30 years of work at Carleton, having joined the Carleton Chemistry Department in June of 1983.
Brian was born in San Francisco, CA, and grew up on a ranch in Ukiah, CA. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War and served aboard the aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Hornet, as a sonar technician. He attended Chico State University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry. He later earned a Master’s degree in theology from Andersonville Theological Seminary.
Brian lived life to the fullest and had many hobbies and interests. He directed and starred in plays for the local community theater, was an amateur pilot, and an active member of Riverwood Community Church. He also enjoyed gardening, motorcycling, model trains, and taking trips with his family.
Brian was a vital component of the teaching and research mission of the department, and he excelled at solving problems associated with installing, maintaining, and operating equipment and instruments. Brian took great pride in Carleton’s NMR instrument, and he acquired NMR data for sophomore organic chemistry students. A few years ago we celebrated his 10,000th spectrum for Carleton students; on April 26, he acquired 64 additional spectra, pushing his total well over 12,000.
Brian enjoyed working with students, and he especially appreciated those who worked with him in the stockroom. Several years ago, Brian instituted a departmental award for a senior student who does outstanding work in the stockroom. The award reads: “In recognition of superiority in preparing chemical reagents and energetic service to the laboratories, the chemicals, glassware and other scientific apparati have pledged subservience to (name of student) for the rest of his/her natural life, or until the next scientific revolution, whichever comes first.” As you can see, he incorporated his sense of humor into the commendation. We have re-named the award the “Brian Mars Award,” to honor his memory–his love of chemistry and his commitment to responsible work. We will strive to keep Brian’s spirit alive in the Carleton Chemistry Department.