Two Graduate Students Received Shull Wollan Center Graduate Research Fellowship

September 11, 2017 by newframe

Two Graduate Students Received Shull Wollan Center Graduate Research Fellowship

Shelby Stavretis, a 4th year graduate student in Dr. Ben Xue’s research group, and Fatema Wahida, a 3rd year graduate student in Dr. John Larese’s research group, were awarded Shull Wollan Center Graduate Research Fellowship for May 2017 through April 2018. The Fellowship includes a year of stipend in support of  the awardees’ research.

In 1998 Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee (UT) established the Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences, which had been reconstituted as the Shull Wollan Center: a Joint Institute for Neutron Science.

“(Clifford) Shull and (Ernest) Wollan were pioneering researchers of neutron diffraction in the 1940s, laying the groundwork for scientific breakthroughs that continue to this day in physics, energy science, materials science, and biological science,” stated on UT’s Office of Research & Engagement website.

“Dr. Xue forwarded an email announcement for the fellowship,” Stavretis said. “When I was notified I received the award I felt excited that my research in neutron scattering was being recognized. This fellowship will provide invaluable support for my neutron scattering research projects. It will help advance my research goals and provides opportunities for further collaboration with the scientists at the Spallation Neutron Source.”

Stavretis completed her undergraduate degree in chemistry at Butler University. In 2014, she joined Xue’s inorganic chemistry research group. Since then her work has focused on using neutron scattering techniques to probe molecular magnetism. Her research relies on the user facilities at the Spallation Neutron Source and the the NIST Center for Neutron Research at ORNL.

“I was very excited and pleased to receive this award.” Wahida said. “A great deal of my research requires neutron scattering to gain insight into the dynamics of the molecular systems under study. This fellowship is a great inspiration and recognition of my work. I believe it will help me contribute to neutron science by accomplishing my graduate school research goals. I sincerely thank the committee for selecting me as a recipient. I am also thankful to my advisor Professor J. Z. Larese for his endless support and guidance in my research.”

Wahida completed her undergraduate in Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Dhaka. She joined Larese materials and neutron scattering group in fall 2014. Her current research focuses on studying the thermodynamics and molecular dynamics of the adsorption of cyclic hydrocarbons on surfaces with comparable symmetries. Neutron scattering is used in her research to probe the microscopic dynamics and the structure of the adsorbed molecular films. Most of the neutron experiments are conducted at the user facilities of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at ORNL.

Graduate Student Attended National School on X-Ray and Neutron Scattering

September 11, 2017 by newframe

Zhiming Liu, a second year graduate student in Dr. Ben Xue’s Research Group, attended the 19^th National School on X-Ray and Neutron Scattering from August 5^th to 19^th held at Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The School aims to “educate graduate students on the utilization of major neutron and x-ray facilities.” The two-week program included lectures, presented by researchers from academia, industry, and national laboratories, and provided basic tutorials on the principles of scattering theory and the characteristics of the sources, as well as seminars on the application of scattering methods to a variety of scientific subjects.

“It was a very precious opportunity to learn first-hand experiments from the top scientists in each field.” Liu said. “Form the experiments, we had chance to work on 3 different instruments at both Argonne and ORNL. We spent every afternoon with different beamline scientists. They were very nice and patient. They answered our questions in depth and extended our knowledge further from different point of views.” Liu continued. “These really help me to know what kind science these state-of-art techniques can probe and how these can fit to my own research.”

Liu was born and grew up in Weihai, Shandong Province, northeast coast of China. He obtained his B.S. in Applied Chemistry from Jiangnan University in 2016, and came to UT the same year to start to work towards a Ph.D. degree in chemistry. He is currently working on probing molecular magnetism by neutron scattering.

“I want to thank ORNL and Argonne National Lab for offering this great opportunity to boost my knowledge and field of vision.” Liu expressed his gratitude towards mentors who have helped him along the way. “Thank you Dr. Ziling Xue and Shelby Stavretis for the help with my application. And the thank you Dr. Sheng Dai and Dr. Zhiguo Gu for the recommendation.”

Strong Hall Impacts Chemistry Education

September 8, 2017 by newframe

The newly completed Strong Hall is a 268,000-square-foot academic science structure that houses Anthropology and Earth & Planetary Sciences departments, General Biology and Chemistry teaching labs, as well as state-of-the-art teaching spaces and lecture halls.

Construction at Strong Hall started in Spring 2014 and finished in Summer 2017. A dedication ceremony was held on Friday, September 8th.  The building maintained historic details from the 1926 Sophronia Strong Residence Hall and included a total restoration of the 19th-Century Queen Ann Style Cowan Cottage at the corner of the site.

Faculty and staff at the Department of Chemistry are quite excited about the impacts of this new building and the 14,000-square-foot new lab space could bring to chemistry education.

“I think that the new building enhances the student and faculty experience at UT.  The building looks great and has tons of natural light.” David Jenkins, Associate Professor of Chemistry, said. “All of the labs have much more space per student and are designed with technology in mind. In particular, the organic labs are excellent with a top-notch facility for instruction. Having an NMR in every lab is fantastic.”

Bhavya Sharma, Assistant Professor of Chemistry agrees. “I think the new labs are amazing. They’ve got so many new features. The set-up lets an instructor put instructions up on a screen instead of having to write them out on a board. They have new instruments, and the new design of the lab spaces let the Teaching Assistants be able to see all of the students at one time. It’s really exciting.”

Sharma is particularly interested in seeing how this could impact recruitment. “I taught the Governor’s Schools for Science and Engineering in Chemistry at Strong Hall this summer. They were high school students who had never had a college level chemistry class. They were impressed with the facilities at UT, so hopefully that will encourage them to come here in the future.”

UTRF Inventor Spotlight: Dr. Namgoo Kang

September 6, 2017 by newframe

Dr. Nam-Goo Kang served as a Research Assistant Professor and Facilities Director of the Polymer Characterization Lab in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee (UT). Dr. Kang joined UT after completing a post-doctoral appointment at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, bringing with him a rich background in polymer science research and experience in academia and industry. Specifically, his research focused on the synthesis of functional polymers via living anionic polymerization, and his knowledge in this area was an asset for his work on superelastomers at UT.

Read more on UTRF website.