Chemistry Undergrad Published in J. Phys. Chem.

February 29, 2012 by newframe

William Hembree, a chemistry major, published a paper Three-Dimensional Mapping of Microenvironmental Control of Methyl Rotational Barriers last June in the Journal of Physical Chemistry as the first author.

Hembree started working on the project with his mentor Dr. Jerome Baudry, Assistant Professor of the Department of Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology in the summer of 2008. Baudry was proud of what Hembree was able to achieve.

“…it is rare for an undergraduate to be the first author of a peer-reviewed publication, in particular on a paper of ACS caliber.” Baudry said. On top of that, being one of the two authors means Hembree “did the bulk of the work himself.”

Scientific research is not all about glamorous or exciting moments like some might think. Obtaining data can be a boring process. Baudry pointed out that persistence is what leads to success. “William’s project was challenging…he  was willing and able to put a lot of work in  sometimes tedious tasks and never get discouraged or frustrated.”

Hembree is grateful of what this research experience has given him. “I was fortunate enough to work at Oak Ridge National Labs and the University of Tennessee with many top-level scientists. The knowledge and instruction they gave me has been invaluable in my studies. Above all, I owe many thanks to Dr. Baudry for all his help.” Hembree said.

Undergraduate research is much encouraged in all science fields, especially in a Research I Institute like the University of Tennessee. The students who participate will not only gain research experience, but can also find out if doing scientific research is something they will enjoy for their future career.

“…doing good scientific research means that one must like the “journey” as much (if not more) as the ‘destination'” Baudry said, “…if you wake up every morning hoping to get something unexpected and exciting in the lab, then you are a researcher. If you do that in computational chemistry and computational biology, like William did, then you are a scientific researcher. ”

Hembree is graduating this May with a degree in Chemistry and a degree in German. He is excited to see what future will bring him. “My plans are uncertain after graduation;  I am in the process of applying for a post at the IAEA in Vienna, Austria.  I am considering graduate school as well.”

Note:  Out of 127 journals in the Physical Chemistry category, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B ranks #1 in total citations with 113,180 total cites. The Journal received an Impact Factor of 3.603.*

*Based on the 2010 Journal Citation Reports® by Thomson Reuters

Department Hosted 2012 Research Open House

February 28, 2012 by newframe

The past weekend was truly an exciting one for many faculty members, students, and staff of the Chemistry Department. 35 students from all around the nation (even world) participated in the 2012 Research Open House hosted by the Chemistry Department on Friday, Feb. 24 and Saturday, Feb. 25.

The two-day event started with a meet and greet reception in Four Points, and ended with a dinner banquet inside Neyland Stadium. The Department organized faculty poster session, student and alumni presentations, facility tour, program introduction, meetings with faculty, graduate students panel, and student organization social to introduce the Department as a whole to the prospective students. View more pictures of the event.

Stefanie Bragg Received SEAC Student Travel Award

February 8, 2012 by newframe

Stefanie Bragg, a graduate student from Professor Xue Group received Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry (SEAC) Student Travel Award to present her research at 2012 International Pittsburg Conference in Orlando, Florida on March 11th.

Bragg will deliver two oral presentations on “Highly Sensitive Detection of Aqueous Cr(VI) Using Flower-Like Surface Self-Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles” and “Electrochemical Detection of Chromium Based on a Novel Sol-Gel/Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Material.”

SEAC Graduate Student Travel Award was established to help “promising graduate students to offset the cost of travel to the Pittsburgh Conference to deliver an oral presentation in a Conference symposium.”

Born and raised in Glasgow, Kentucky, Bragg graduated from Barren County High School in 2003.  She moved on to Western Kentucky University, where she received a full academic scholarship and completed a B.S. in Chemistry (ACS Certified) and Biology in 2007. In that time she researched with Dr. Les Pesterfield and Dr. Donald Slocum and participated in the NSF-REU program at the University of Cincinnati in 2006.

At University of Tennessee, Bragg has worked with Professor Zi-Ling (Ben) Xue on novel approaches to electroanalysis of metals, and sample pretreatment of biological and environmental samples.  She currently serves as the President of the Association of Chemistry Graduate Students (ACGS).

In 2011, Bragg co-authored a paper with Xue. “Optimization of dry ashing of whole blood samples for trace metal analysis” was published on American Journal of Analytical Chemistry. There are two other articles still in press.