2019 Chemistry Department Annual Report

Introduction

Welcome to the Chemistry Annual Report. This is the final report to be written partly from the department’s temporary offices in old Music Hall. I’m sitting in my office, surrounded by packed boxes, while other members of the department are finishing off their packing and making sure that instruments are ready to move into Evelyn Anderson Hall over the next few weeks. By the time you read this report, we should be settling into our new digs and gearing up to make good use of our new space.

As you probably know, the college is two years into the process of constructing an integrated science complex that will link Hulings and Olin halls to a new 50,000 square foot building, Evelyn Anderson Hall, that will house classrooms, labs, and offices for Chemistry, Geology, and Physics. The building is named in honor of a member of the class of 1921 who was a pioneer in the understanding of endocrinology, going on to lead the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases at the NIH. Google her, you’ll be impressed!

The new combined facility will bring together those three departments, along with Biology, Computer Science and Psychology. To make way for the new building, Mudd Hall was demolished in the fall of 2017. Concrete footings were poured, and the steel skeleton of the new building was erected during the 2017-18 academic year. This year we watched as the new space was enclosed, the glass sides of the atrium between Olin and the new space were mounted, and casework was installed in the labs. We’ll need to wear hardhats and safety vests to get to our offices this summer, but the entire new space, including labs, will be open in the fall. You can follow the progress by checking out the weekly updates online. The final phase of the project will involve renovating much of Olin, work that will start this summer and continue through all of next year.

This year the department has been a bit dispersed. Our offices were in Old Music. Intro and organic labs were taught in Hulings, and the advanced labs were taught on the ground floor of Olin. The temporary spaces were good, but we are very excited to be back together in one building this fall. This summer will be especially strange, since the construction will shut down nearly all research. With help from the Dean’s office, we’ve arranged to send students to the labs of colleagues and friends across the country, including those of several alumni! Meanwhile, the faculty will be enjoying a little more flexibility then we usually have, so several of us have trips planned.

Although the construction has certainly been on our minds all year, there has been lots of other news in the department. This fall we were lucky to have Visiting Assistant Professor Kim Huynh join us. Kim came to us from the University of Maryland, where she did her Ph.D. work on materials that can be used in gas masks to absorb and neutralize chemical warfare agents. Kim taught Organic III in the fall and Organic II in the winter and spring. We’re very pleased that she’ll be staying with us for another year, taking on CHEM 123 in addition to courses in the Organic sequence. During the winter term, we got the expected, but still much anticipated news that Chris Calderone was awarded tenure. We’re thrilled, and looking forward to having Chris as a member of the department for many years to come.

As you may know, this was Marion Cass’s final year in the department. After being at Carleton since 1987, Marion has made the decision to focus full time on building the most energy efficient house in all of New Hampshire, among what I’m sure will be many other adventures. We’re going to miss her wisdom, humor, and her boundless enthusiasm for chemistry and for Carleton students.

Many more details of the year can be found in the following pages. We hope you enjoy reading about our now graduated senior class and alums. As always, we look forward to seeing them and you at future Carleton reunions, ACS meetings, and other events. When you visit, make sure to check out our new spaces! Keep in touch.

Joe Chihade, Chair
July 2019

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The Class of 2019

Alex Battiste – Northfield, MN – was part of a Synder Scholarship (research) at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign last summer. In August, he will start pursuing a PhD in chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign in the subfield of chemical biology. He did research under Steve Drew and Paul Hergenrother of the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. Alex was a member of the Swimming and Diving team at Carleton.   

Natalie Bulger – Bellevue, WA

Nathan Carroll – Minneapolis, MN – participated in the CPRIT-CURE summer research program at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston last summer.  He worked in the department of genetics lab of Dr. George Eisenhoffer.  The project was on the effects of a long non-coding RNA on blood cell proliferation. Last summer and for the next 2 years, Nathan will be working at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in the lab of Dr. Jason Spence as a research technician and plans to attend grad school after this. Other research Nathan was involved with were the Seattle Children’s Research Institute under Hank Farr, III, Mayo Clinic under Xueying Lin, Ph.D., and MD Anderson Cancer Center under Shuo-Ting Yen, Ph.D.

Kallinikos Chalvatzis – Thessaloniki, Greece – shadowed a general surgeon at 424 General Military Hospital of Thessaloniki this past summer. He was involved with Chamber music, solo music performance and chess at Carleton. Plans for the future include to obtain a master’s degree first, and then either medical school or a PhD program.

Eavan Donovan – New York, NY – participated in the Biochemistry REU research program at the University of Utah under Wes Sundquist. Eavan plans to obtain a PhD in Biological Sciences from Columbia University.

Will DeSnoo – San Francisco, CA

Benjamin Greenvall – Branford, CT

Jacob Heath – worked in Joe Chihade’s biochemistry research lab developing a new aminoacylation assay last summer at Carleton. Jacob works at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis as a medical scribe in the emergency department and plans to be there for the next year. He hopes to be in medical school by the fall of 2020. Jacob was a four-year member of the Carleton football team. He also spent a lot of time volunteering at the Northfield Hospital.

Austin Heuer – Elk River, MN – worked campus research with Deborah Gross in Chemistry and Tsegaye Nega in ENTS last summer.  Following graduation, Austin went to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for 9 months to continue working on a clean cookstove project with Tsegaye. He would like to get a PhD in epidemiology and work in global health. Austin was a 4-year member of the Carleton baseball team.

Dakota Hunt – Seattle, WA – interned with the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean last summer. He worked as a research assistant with the Genetics and Genomics Group in NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory which identified optimal protocols for the preservation, extraction, and amplification of seawater eDNA. Dakota will be working as a Research Technician in the Tsukiyama lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, investigating how chromatin structure is regulated in vivo. The lab is interested in understanding mechanisms of chromatin regulation within these important biological contexts, and uses a diverse set of approaches, including genomics, molecular genetics, cell biology and biochemistry. He would like to obtain a PhD in Biochemistry. Dakota participated in Club Soccer, was an ITS Technology Support Assistant and a KRLX DJ while at Carleton.

Cullen Irvine – Pasadena, CA – interned for the Department of Energy at the Ames Lab in Iowa last summer. He worked for Prof. Javier Vela synthesizing precursors to make binary intermetallics. This fall, Cullen started the chemistry Ph.D. program at Ohio State. Cullen also did research at the University of Utah under Prof. Shelley Minteer and at Carleton under Prof. Steven Drew.

Quinn Johnson – Roseville, MN – worked research at Carleton with Rou-Jia Sung and previously with Peggy Nelson at the University of Minnesota. Quinn will be a medical scribe at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis with plans to attend Medical School. He was a member of the Carleton men’s basketball team.

Jonah Kan – travelled in Europe with friends, hiked the John Muir Trail in California, and spent time in Maine last summer. Jonah will start medical school at the University of Rochester this fall. He has done research with the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health under Dr. Eric Rimm, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center under Dr. Shao-Cong Sun. Jonah cherished his work with the CCCE in fighting food insecurity on campus (with Swipe Out Hunger) and in the Northfield community (with the Food Shelf and Food Recovery Network). He enjoyed cooking and organizing culinary workshops with Firebellies, DJing for KRLX, and playing IM ultimate frisbee and dodgeball with friends at Carleton.

Ruby Kazemi – Missoula, MT – studied physics at Montana State University last summer. Ruby will be working in Dr. Sundquist’s lab at the University of Utah School of Medicine studying the molecular and structural biology of retroviruses. She plans to attend medical school. In a previous summer, she conducted research at the University of Chicago under Dr. De Jong. Ruby was the captain of Carleton’s women’s soccer for two years.

Adam Kumar Nijhawan – worked in Prof. Daniela Kohen’s research group studying cation behavior in zeolites using Molecular Dynamics simulations. Adam will be pursuing a PhD in chemistry at Northwestern. He was very involved in the jazz program and club soccer at Carleton.

Anna Lauko – Whitefish Bay, WI – participated in the REU program at Vanderbilt under Dr. Carlos Lopez with focus on modeling apoptosis decision signaling. Anna also did research at Black Hills State University under Katrina Jensen. She is going to graduate school at the University of Washington in biological physics. She was a member of the Carleton softball team.

Casey Lee-Foss – Minneapolis, MN – did summer research with Marty Baylor and Gretchen Hofmeister at Carleton and at the University of Minnesota with Steven Kass. After gaining experience in industry, Casey plans to attend grad school.      

Yuheng Miao – China – did summer research at BASF Shanghai. Yuheng also did research with Matt Whited and Chris Calderone and participated in the OCS studies in Japan while a student at Carleton. She plans to attend graduate school in polymer engineering.

Tristan Pitt – Los Alamos, NM – worked as a research assistant under Jeunghoon Lee at Boise State University in Boise, ID last summer. He was involved in the DNA-functionalization of gold nanoparticles for bio-sensing applications. Tristan will begin a 1-2 year post-bachelor’s position at LANL in July working with a materials characterization group, then begin on his Ph.D.  While a student at Carleton, Tristan was an Arabic minor, Middle East Studies minor, KRLX music director and DJ and took piano and Oud lessons. He participated in the modern music production and studied abroad in Lebanon.

Zoya Siddiqui – shadowed pediatric oncologists and did some volunteer work in Pakistan last summer. This fall, Zoya will be in grad school at VCU with the goal of becoming a physician. As a student, did research with Dr. Michael Nishizaki at Carleton and HCMC with Dr. Uzma Samadani at HCMC. She also volunteered with Northfield Hospital, Humane Society, Paper Airplanes, and Adult ELL. Zoya was involved with theater, social dance, and the Table Tennis Club.

Jonas Sun – China – spending a year in Madison, WI. Jonas was involved in filmmaking and other media production while at Carleton.

Andy Tangen – worked as a research and development chemist intern at Sherwin-Williams in Minneapolis in the resin group synthesizing various types of polymers for many different industrial coatings platforms last summer. He will continue at Sherwin-Williams as a research and development polymer chemist. Andy did research with Marion Cass at Carleton and participated in football and as a tour guide.

Nick Vetterli – Alamo, CA – worked campus research with Deborah Gross last summer. Nick plans to attend grad school.  He participated in west coast swing at Carleton.

Aliza Yazdani – Princeton, NJ – worked on photocatalysis as an intern at Merck Process in Rahway, NJ last summer. Aliza will begin a Ph.D. program at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in organic chemistry. Other research included work in 2016 at Rutgers under Alan Goldman, in 2017 at Bristol-Myers Squibb under Trevor Sherwood and in 2018 at Merck under Daniele Schultz. Aliza was involved in Broomball, tour guiding, and taking classics and history classes at Carleton.

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Student Honors and Awards

JAMES ADAMS MEMORIAL AWARD FOR POSITIVITY

Duncan Peterson, Claire Shugart

ALVAREZ AWARD FOR APPLIED RESEARCH

Austin Heuer, Nicholas Vetterli

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

Sam Darwish

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY

Austin Heuer

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Alex Battiste

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Alex Battiste

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

Anna Lauko

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY

Cullen Irvine

B.A. DEGREE WITH LATIN HONORS

Summa Cum Laude – Jonah Kan

Magna Cum Laude – Alex Battiste, Dakota Hunt, Cullen Irvine, Ruby Kazemi, Casey Lee-Foss, Kitty Miao

Cum Laude – Nathan Carroll, Anna Lauko

BISCOTTI AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING SEMINAR ATTENDANCE

Nick Vetterli

CHARLES CARLIN PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY

Eavan Donovan

DAVID C. DONELSON ’77 FELLOWSHIP

William Pangburn ’20

DIMSDALE PRIZE FOR UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL RESEARCH

 Ruby Kazemi

DISTINCTION IN THE MAJOR

Will DeSnoo, Benjamin Greenvall, Cullen Irvine, Jonah Kan, Ruby Kazemi, Nick Vetterli

DISTINCTION ON THE SENIOR INTEGRATIVE EXERCISE

Will DeSnoo, Benjamin Greenvall, Cullen Irvine, Quinn Johnson, Jonah Kan, Ruby Kazemi, Nick Vetterli

FRANZ EXNER AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHEMISTRY

Jonah Kan, Ruby Kazemi

JAMES FINHOLT PRIZE IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Adam Nijhawan

BARRY M. GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP

Sarah Finstuen-Magro ’20

SARAH F. HAMM-ALVAREZ ’86 AND R. MICHAEL ALVEREZ ’86 AWARD FOR APPLIED RESEARCH

Austin Heuer, Nick Vetterli

HONORS IN MUSIC PERFORMANCE

Adam Nijhawan

KOLENKOW REITZ FUND FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

Alexander Idrogo ’21

BRIAN MARS AWARD FOR LABORATORY SERVICE

Jamie North

JERRY MOHRIG PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY

Adam Nijhawan

PHI BETA KAPPA

Alexander Battiste, Cullen Irvine, Jonah Kan, Ruby Kazemi, Casey Lee-Foss, Yuheng Miao

RICHARD RAMETTE TEACHING AWARDS

Alex Battiste, Aliza Yazani

SECOND CENTURY STUDENT AWARD

Jonah Kan

SIGMA XI

Nathan Carroll, Eavan Donovan, Jacob Heath, Dakota Hunt, Casey Lee-Foss, Eric McGregor, Adam Nijhawan, Andrew Tangen, Nicholas Vetterli, Aliza Yazdani

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Off-Campus Student Research Presentations

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY NATIONAL MEETING

Alex Batiste
Adam Kumar Nijhawan
Miao Yuheng

AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

Casey Lee-Foss

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Kyle Duplessis, Jacob Heath, Ian McCarthy, Hannah Kennicott, Clara McCurdy, Jessica Makori

MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER

Jonah Kan

IDAHO CONFERENCE ON UNDERGRAD RESEARCH

Tristan Pitt

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH SUMMER RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

Eavan Donovan

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Enrollments

Fall 2018

CourseStudentsFaculty
122, Introduction to Chemistry20Kohen
123-1 Principles of Chemistry I40Calderone
123-2 Principles of Chemistry I with Problem Solving21Whited
224, Principles of Chemistry II47Drew
233-1, Organic Chemistry I31Alberg
233-2, Organic Chemistry I23Chihade
292, Independent Research4Staff
301, Chemical Kinetics Laboratory24Chihade, Gross
343, Chemical Thermodynamics31Kohen
353, Organic Chemistry III12Huynh
392 Independent Research1Drew
394, Student-Faculty Research7Staff
400, Integrative Exercise2Staff

Winter 2019

CourseStudentsFaculty
113, Concepts of Chemistry12Drew
123, Principles of Chemistry I57Kohen
233, Organic Chemistry I52Alberg, Calderone
234, Organic Chemistry II34Huynh
292, Independent Research5Staff
302, Quantum Spectroscopy Laboratory24Ferrett, Hollingsworth
344, Quantum Chemistry28Hollingsworth
358, Organometallic Chemistry9Whited
360, Chemical Biology6Calderone
392, Independent Research1Staff
394, Student-Faculty Research8Staff
400, Integrative Exercise25Staff

Spring 2019

CourseStudentsFaculty
123, Principles of Chemistry I & Lab35Kohen
224, Principles Chemistry II & Lab68Gross
234, Organic Chemistry II & Lab42Chihade, Huynh
259, Molecular Visualizations14Cass
292, Independent Research6Staff
306, Spectroscopic Char. Chem. Compounds8Alberg
320, Biological Chemistry37Calderone
321, Biological Chemistry Laboratory20Calderone
330,331, Instrumental Chemical Analysis14Drew
351, Inorganic Chemistry10Whited
352, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory8Cass
359, Molecular Orbital Theory3Cass
392, Independent Research3Staff
394, Student-Faculty Research13Staff
400, Integrative Exercise23Staff

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Faculty and Staff Activities

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Faculty Bibliography

Publications

Drew, S. R.; Gross, D. S.; Hollingsworth, W. E.; Baraniak, T.; Zall, C. M.; Mann, K. R. “Overdriven Pulsed Light Emitting Diodes: An Inexpensive Excitation Source for Time-Resolved Luminescence Lifetime Measurements” J. Chem. Educ. 2019, 96, 1046-1050 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b01024

González-Serrano, L.E.; Chihade, J.; Sissler, M. “When a common biological role does not imply common disease outcomes: Disparate pathology linked to human mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases.  Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2019, 294, 5309-5320. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.REV118.002953

Manning, M.E.; Danson, E.J.; Calderone, C.T.  “Functional Characterization of the Enzymes TabB and TabD Involved in Tabtoxin Biosynthesis by Pseudomonas syringae.”  Biophys. Biochem. Res. Comm., 2018, 496, 212-217.

Zhang, J.; Foley, B. J.; Bhuvanesh, N.; Zhou, J.; Janzen, D. E.; Whited, M. T.; Ozerov, O. V. “Synthesis and Reactivity of Pincer-Type Cobalt Silyl and Silylene Complexes” Organometallics 2018, 37, 3956–3962.

Whited, M. T.; Trenerry, M.; DeMeulenaere, K. E.; Taylor, B. L. H. “Computational and Experimental Investigation of Alkene Hydrogenation by a Pincer-Type [P2Si]Rh Complex: Alkane Release via Competitive σ-Bond Metathesis and Reductive Elimination” Organometallics 2019, 38, 1493–1501.

Conference Presentations (* indicates presenting author):

Gross, D. S.*, Maini Rekdal, V. “Young Chefs Program Lesson Plan Development: A Student-Led Independent Study Project in Cooking and Science” Oral Presentation at the American Chemical Society National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 2018.

Gross, D. S.*, Nega, T. “The Earth’s Climate and Human Health Taught Through the Lens of Clean Cookstoves” Oral Presentation at the International Aerosol Conference, St. Louis, MO, September 2018.

D. Kohen*. “Molecular insight into cation motion within zeolites”. Oral Presentation at Thirteen Fundamentals of Adsorption Conference, Cairns, Australia. May 2019.

A. Nijhawan*, B. Lynch, and D. Kohen. “Cation Behavior within Zeolites” Poster presented at ACS, Orlando Fl, March 2019. This poster won the “Recognition for Outstanding Research” award.

W. deSnoo*, M. Whited, and D. Kohen. “Structure and Reactivity in Ruthenium Silyl and Silylene Complexes: a Computational Study”. Poster presented at the 257th ACS National Meeting, Orlando Fl, March 2019.

A. Conley*, Jim Zhang*, M. Whited, and D. Kohen. “Synthetic and Computational Investigation of Cobalt Silylene Reactivity”. Poster presented at the 257th ACS National Meeting, Orlando Fl, March 2019, (Selected for SciMix).

Adam Nijhawan* and Brody Lynch*. “Sodium Cation Behavior within Zeolites.” Poster presented at Scholars at the Capitol Event, St. Paul, MN. January 2019.

Adam Nijhawan* and Brody Lynch*. “Cation Motions within Zeolites: A Molecular Dynamics Study.” Oral Presentation at Thirty-First Midwest Undergraduate Computational Chemistry Symposium, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. July 2018.

Will deSnoo*. Structure and Bonding in Ruthenium Silyl and Silylene Complexes.” Oral Presentation at Thirty-First Midwest Undergraduate Computational Chemistry Symposium, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. July 2018.

Miao, K.; Calderone, C.T.  “Deciphering AMB Biosynthesis.”  Poster presented at Spring 2018 American Chemical Society National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 18-22, 2018. Vaze, A.; Calderone, C.T.  “Understanding the Generation of the Non-Proteinogenic Amino Acid b-Hydroxyasparagine in Bleomycin Biosynthesis.”  Poster presented at Spring 2018 American Chemical Society National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 18-22, 2018.

Hannah Kennicott*, Clara McCurdy, Jessica Makori, and Joseph Chihade. “Pathogenic Mutations in a Human Mitochondrial Enzyme Affect Protein Stability.” ASBMB National Meeting, Orlando, Florida. April 7, 2019.

Kyle Duplessis*, Jacob Heath, Ian McCarthy, Joseph Chihade. “Towards a new aminoacylation assay for alanyl-tRNA synthetases.” ASBMB National Meeting, Orlando, Florida. April 7, 2019.

Invited lectures

Galambos, D.; Calderone, C.T.  “Biosynthetic mechanism of the nonribosomal peptide AMB in Pseudomonas aeruginosa”  Poster presented at 2019 American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 31-April 4, 2019.

Joe Chihade, “Human mitochondrial alanyl-tRNA synthetases – ‘bizarre’ enzymes for ‘bizarre’ tRNAs, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Minnesota, May 28, 2019.

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Gifts and Grants

National Science Foundation grant for the proposal “MRI: Acquisition of a High Performance Computing Cluster for Undergraduate Chemistry Research and Teaching by the Midwest Undergraduate Computational Chemistry Consortium (MU3C)” PI:  Brent Krueger (Hope College), coPI: Keith Kuwata (Macalester College),  Daniela Kohen, Jason Gillmore (Hope College),Erin Speetzen (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point). $400,400.

National Science Foundation grant for the proposal “RUI: Molecular Insight into Cation Motion within Zeolites,” PI: Daniela Kohen. $183,416.

National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant for the proposal “MRI: Acquisition of a Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope at Carleton College,” PI: Cameron Davidson, co-PI’s: Steven Drew and Anne Gothmann (St. Olaf College).  $437,589.

Matt Whited is a Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar.  The Dreyfus award comes with a $60k unrestricted grant to support research and teaching during 2016–2021.

Matt Whited received a CAREER award for $400k from the National Science Foundation for the project, “CAREER: SusChEM: Cooperative Small-Molecule Activation by Ambiphilic Pincer-Type Complexes Feature Metal/Main-Group Bonds.” The CAREER is the NSF’s premier award program for junior faculty, and the grant will support research during 2016–2021. Matt Whited received an Undergraduate Research Award from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund ($70k) for “Stoichiometric and Catalytic Nitrene-Group-Transfer Reactions from Late-Metal Silylamides,” to fund his research during 2015–2019.

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Seminars

Emma Southgate ’14:  Dearomative Dihydroxylation Reactions: Method Development and Synthetic Application

Yvonne Martin ’58:  Computational Tools for Drug Design in the Absence of Known Structure of the Target Biomolecule

Mark Schoenfisch, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:  Nitric oxide-releasing therapeutics for disease management and biomedical applications

Ben Buehrer ’86, Zen-Bio, Inc.:  Phenotypic and Target-based Screening in Early Stage Drug Discovery

Olester Benson, 3M Corporate Research Process Laboratory:  Chemistry the Central Science: Looking Beyond the Flask

Pamela Peralta-Yahya, Georgia Tech:  Olfactory receptors: from metabolic engineering tools to novel drug targets

Steve Drew, Charles “Jim” and Marjorie Kade Professor of the Sciences & Chemistry, Carleton:  Renewable Energy Storage: Applications of Electrochemistry

Abraham Badu-Tawiah, Ohio State:  Serving the Underserved Population through Technology Development

Kaz Skubi ’11:  Enantioselective [2+2] Cycloadditions Using Visible Light Photoredox Catalysis

Anna Brezny ’13:  The Role of Off-Cycle Species in Rhodium-Catalyzed Styrene Hydroformylation Using High-Pressure NMR Spectroscopy

Carleton seminar at St. Olaf, Daniela Kohen:  Molecular Insight on behavior within zeolites

Aaron Leconte ’04, Pitzer College:  Using biochemistry and evolution to build better enzymes

Gail Karet, American Medical Association:  Pharmaceutical Nomenclature in the US

Jeff Long, University of CA, Berkeley:  Cooperative Adsorption and Gas Separations in Metal-Organic Frameworks

Carol Fierke,  Texas A&M:  Ribozymes to Proteins:  Enzymology of precursor-tRNA Processing Enzymes

Cherie Kagan, University of Pennsylvania:  Designing Solid State Materials from Quantum Dots: Artificial Atomic Building Blocks

John Battiste ’90:  Characterization of Photo-Initiated Living Radical Polymerization Kinetics With In-Situ NMR Spectroscopy

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Senior Comps Talks

Will DeSnoo, Jonah Kan, Anna Lauko, Tristan Pitt, Jonas Sun, Andy Tangen, Nick Vetterli, and Aliza Yazdani/ Jeff Long group; Metal-Organic Frameworks: Designing Effective Systems for Gas Storage

Alex Battiste, Dakota Hunt, Eric McGregor, Nayoung Kwak, Jacob Heath, Kallinikos Chalvatzis, Nathan Carroll, and Quinn Johnson/ Carol Fierke group; RNase P: Convergent Evolution and an Insight into the RNA World Hypothesis

Cullen Irvine, Benjamin Greenvall, Zoya Siddiqui, Casey Lee-Foss, Eavan Donovan, and Adam Nijhawan/ Cherie Kagan group; Nanocrystal Conductivity:  Paving the Road for Electron

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The Class of 2009

Jennifer O. Bigelow received a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Minnesota in 2015. Jennifer is a Senior Development Chemist at Boron Specialties. She lives with her husband, Ben Lurie (2009) in Pittsburgh, PA.

Nicholas Brom is a chemical engineer at Honeywell Aerospace in Des Plaines, IL and works mainly on aerospace environmental control systems. Nicholas has been on a NASA project to recycle carbon dioxide from cabin air in long term spacecrafts. Nicholas would like to be a project manager in the future. He lives with his wife, Whitney Webster and son Everett Nicholas in Chicago, IL.

Mia C. Brown * lives in Rolla, MO.

Thomas Joseph Brown received his MBA from Tuck School of Business. Joseph is a pricing manager for CarGurus. He lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife Ayesha Mahmud. He has run a marathon, loves to travel and would like to move to California.

Jamie Y. Chen received a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015 and published her most significant PhD work in JACS.  She went on to pursue postdoctoral work where she learned about nanoparticle synthesis and organic electrocatalysis. Her postdoc eventually took her to Boston, which is the first major big city she lived in since moving to the US when she was 12! At the start of 2019, Jamie began working as a Senior Chemist at Dupont Electronic & Imaging where she developed formulations for electroplating (for circuit boards and connector pins,etc). She developed a formulation for an alloy composition that they have been struggling with for 2 years! They are now starting the long and arduous process towards commercialization (fingers crossed) but it’s really exciting! Her current work is in R&D but she’d like to be involved in customer support/engagement as well in the future. Jamie and her partner, Jon Jaworski a Senior Chemist at Bristol Myers Squibb, live in Worchester, MA.

Kareem M. El Muslemany received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of California-Berkley in 2015. He worked in management consulting for Bain & Co. from 2015-2017. Since 2017, Kareem works for Microsoft in monetization strategy. Kareem married Elizabeth Tan in 2017 and lives in Seattle, WA.

Eamon P. Flynn receive his Master in Public Health from the University of Minnesota in 2014. He worked for the Minnesota Department of Health as a Planner Principal in the Climate & Health Program. He worked on Health Impact Assessments to analyze proposed policies from a health perspective (2014-2016). In 2017, Eamon began working for the Maryland Department of Health as a Health Policy Analyst. He works with environmental public health programs on regulations, reports, and the legislative session. He will continue to look for opportunities to improve population health by bringing a health equity perspective to public policy. Eamon and Claire Brookmeyer (2010) are happily living in Baltimore, MD with their dog, Mason. Claire is a radiology resident at Johns Hopkins University, and Mason is a Very Good Boy. When Eamon and Claire were at Carleton they walked Marion’s dog, Ada, and now have a little goofball of their own! They will go on many more adventures together, and look forward to where their careers will take them next.

John E. Hanks * lives in Ann Arbor, MI.

Michael P. Henneberry * lives in Oklahoma City, OK.

Katherine A. Horton received her M.S. in Food Science from Michigan State University. She is a Product Development Scientist for Kellogg. Katherine lives with her husband Scott, and children Simon and Mabel in Kalamazoo, MI.

Claire B. Janssen * lives in San Diego, CA.

Lauren E. Jarocha * lives in Oxford, United Kingdom.

Robert M. Kennedy received his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Northwestern University in 2017. Robert has been with Argonne National Laboratory since 2018 as a Postdoctoral Appointee.  He lives in Lakeville, MN.  

Frederick M. Kieley received a MD from the University of Minnesota in 2014 and graduated Pediatric Residency in 2017. He is a Pediatrician at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, N.D. He hopes to get his MBA in hospital administration. Frederick’s wife, Libby, is an RN and they live in Fargo, N.D. 

Hae Young Kim launched a career in public health after graduating from Carleton, thanks to the support of Dani and Joe. She received her PhD in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University in 2017 and has been enjoying her research career in epidemiology and population health in sub-Saharan Africa.

Following her passion for HIV/Tuberculosis research in Africa, Hae joined as a postdoctoral research fellow at an institution called Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa. She is towards the end of a 2-year fellowship and will join the Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine later this year.

In 2017, Hae married Hyeoncheol Park who is doing his postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, where we met! Despite a really long-distance marriage between US and South Africa, life has been so precious and amazing. Hae will join the Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine later this year as a one-year postdoctoral fellow and hopes to make a transition to a more permanent position there! Hae and Hyeoncheol live in Baltimore, MD.

Gregory P. Laskin * lives in Gambier, OH.

Claire D. Liepmann * lives in Kalamazoo, MI.

Kristine A. Mackin received her PhD in Biochemistry from Brandeis University in 2014. In 2015, she began working as a Principal Business Insights Analyst and was promoted to Principal Analyst for Decisions Resources Group.  Kristine was elected to Waltham City Council and inaugurated in 2018, and is committed to leading efforts for social and environmental justice in her community. She is hoping to get re-elected and ideally become the next Rush Holt. Kristine and husband, Reid Gilman (2009) live in Waltham, MA.

Daniel M. Mammel * lives in St Louis, MO.

Jennifer N. Miller * lives in Fergus Falls, MN.

Sarah Nelson * lives in Ann Arbor, MI.

Andrew C. Olson received his PhD in Chemistry from University of California-Berkeley. He began his career as a consultant at ZS Associates and then was an investment banker at Silicon Valley Bank. Andrew is currently at Biotech Corporate Development, which is an oncology startup and he plans to keep on developing drugs. He and his wife, Emily Hedges live in San Francisco, CA along with their cat.

Cassandra R. Olson * lives in Roseville, MN.

Emily F. Ruff received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014. From 2015-2017, Emily worked on a F32-funded postdoc with Nick Levinson at the University of Minnesota studying the regulation of Aurora A kinase. In 2017, she accepted a position as assistant professor of Biochemistry at Winona State. Emily is currently developing class materials and research projects at Winona State and is really enjoying her work there. Emily started dating David Schmidt (2009) after Reunion 2014, and were married on July 20, 2019. David works for The Nature Conservancy as the conservation coordinator for southeast MN. She and David adopted a dog, Rosie, and live in Winona, MN.

Robert A. Schmitz received his PhD in Chemistry from Arizona State in 2014. He has worked as a Product Developer at 3M in the Commercial Solutions Division since 2015. Bobby has traveled to the Galápagos Islands, raised chickens and launched a product from start to finish. He would like to volunteer for Earthwatch, see National Parks and develop more sustainable products.  He lives in St. Paul, MN.

David G. Selassie * lives in Portland, OR.

Jia-Shyuan K. Su * lives in Woodbury, MN.

Keven A. Tell is expecting to receive his MA in teaching from Hamline University this fall. Kevin has been a science teacher at Sanford Middle School in the Minneapolis Public School district since 2013. He inadvertently became the face of MN Reading Corps, and even today (7 years later), his face is the homepage for their website and on about every flyer posted in the Twin Cities! Kevin helped support 2 projects to get 1st place at Nationals for the National History Day competition last year and is sending 4 projects this year as well.  He lives in St. Paul, MN.

Sarah E. Toews Keating * lives in Agoura Hills, CA.

Xia Xiong * lives in St. Paul, MN.

Fumiko Yashino * lives in Tokyo, Japan.

Yirong Zhu * lives in Park Ridge, IL.

*Did not respond to our questionnaire; information may not be current.

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