Professor Emeritus Lee Magid Became NSSA Fellow

May 30, 2014 by newframe

Lee Magid, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was selected as one of 2014 Neutron Scattering Society of America Fellows, for her “outstanding leadership in cold neutron research on complex fluids and critical service to the neutron field.”

Magid received her PhD degree in chemistry from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1973, and joined the faculty that same year. She retired in 2006.

In her research she studied the structure and dynamics of organized assemblies such as micelles and polyelectrolytes via (among other techniques) small-angle neutron scattering, neutron spin-echo spectroscopy and neutron reflectivity. She served as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Arts and Sciences from 1987 to 1990, and as Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, 1990-91; she was Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Kentucky from 1991 to 1994. She also served as Executive Officer and Science Advisor in the National Science Foundation’s Chemistry Division from 2004 to 2006.

Magid has held several short-term research appointments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zuerich, and the Max Planck Institute in Goettingen, Germany. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and chaired the Solid State Sciences Committee of the National Academies/National Research Council. She also led or participated in numerous studies and planning activities for the Spallation Neutron Source and for a planned European spallation source.

Biology Across the Disciplines

May 29, 2014 by newframe

Researchers interested in systems biology now have a new resource on campus that provides novel bioanalyses. The Biological Mass Spectrometry Center provides state-of-the-art capabilities in metabolomics and lipidomics, which allow simultaneous detection of thousands of metabolites and lipids. This facility engages a number of faculty from the colleges of Arts and Sciences; Engineering; Education, Health, and Human Sciences; and Veterinary Medicine at UT, as well as the UT Institute of Agriculture and the UT Medical Center. Although the center is only a few years old, data generated from this effort has already been incorporated into several successful proposals to the National Science Foundation and has led to joint publications with faculty from the departments of Microbiology; Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology; Chemistry; Nutrition; Animal Science; and Food Science, as well as the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Shawn Campagna, associate professor of chemistry, directs the program with the assistance of an eight-member advisory council of faculty representatives from the participating units. The center also engages undergraduate junior and senior chemistry majors through mentored research. Currently, the facility employs and provides tuition waivers for two graduate students who help maintain the instrumentation and execute experiments. The center also acts as a managed user facility that provides training on the use of and access to state-of-the-art instrumentation for graduate students from a number of departments.

Article from Higher Ground 2013 Annual Report. Picture by Jeremy Hughes.

Professor Williams Retired After 53 Years of Service

May 29, 2014 by newframe

The Chemistry Department held a party for Professor Williams on May 17, 2014 at the University Visitors Center to celebrate his retirement after 53 years of services to the University.

Williams joined the Department in 1961 as an Assistant Professor. His tenure at the University and continuous funding from the Department of Energy for almost 40 years have allowed Williams the chance to do what he loves most – research. He has also been active in teaching, however, and was the recipient of the Student Associates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS) Outstanding Chemistry Professor Award in both 2009 and 2010.

Williams has been engaged in research on various aspects of radiation chemistry and intermediate species in chemical reactions for over 60 years. One of his most-proud-of research projects was conducted in the 1970s. He was the first one to demonstrate quantum-mechanical tunneling and “all-or-nothing” deuterium isotope effects in hydrogen-transfer reactions at low temperatures. Williams has generated more than 200 journal articles, among which many are cited for more than 100 times.

During his years at UT, Williams has directed 18 Ph.D. dissertations and 7 M.S. theses. He has received numerous awards and honors, including being a National Science Foundation Visiting Scientist, which allowed him to conduct research in Kyoto University, Japan; and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, a fellowship that nowadays seems “almost impossible to get” with 4,000 applications each year for some 200 awards. He has also chaired the Gordon Research Conferences on Radiation Chemistry (1971) and Radical Ions (1984).

Chemistry Graduate Students Won Top Fundraising Team Award

May 1, 2014 by newframe

A group of chemistry graduate students won Top Fundraising Team Award given by the American Cancer Society during the 2014 Tennessee Relay for Life event held on April 11th in Circle Park on the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus.

Chemistry team members include: Amanda Clune, Sam Mattern-Schain, Nolan Mitchell, Sam Rosolina, Jonathan Fong, Tess Kirchner, Amber Moody, Matt Dembo, Alexis Dale, Tanei Ricks, Eric Barrowclough, and Adam Carr.

“I want to stress that we had a lot more people than that come out to walk with us, and we had over 100 individual monetary donations to our team.” Rosolina, a third year graduate student in Xue’s Group and the Community Service Chair of Association of Chemistry Graduate Students said.

The chemistry team raised over $6,000 for the American Cancer Society which put them into third place out of forty teams for amount of money raised for the event. Out of a total of 1221 participants, Amanda Clune, a first year graduate student in Musfeldt’s Group, received the honor of top individual participant for most money raised. Overall, the entire event raised over $65,000 for the American Cancer Society.