Chemistry BOV Member Buchanan named Deputy for Science and Technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Press Release from ORNL
Media Contact
David Keim, Communications
keimdm@ornl.gov, 865.576.9122
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., July 20, 2017—Michelle Buchanan, an accomplished scientific leader and researcher, has been appointed Deputy for Science and Technology at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory by new Lab Director Thomas Zacharia. Her appointment is effective Oct. 1, 2017.
“Dr. Buchanan’s research accomplishments, programmatic expertise, and reputation for achievement support ORNL’s role as a premier research institution that provides scientific expertise and breakthroughs that are critical to national priorities in energy, industry, and national security,” said Zacharia, who served in the deputy’s position until becoming lab director on July 1.
Buchanan has been Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences since 2004, with responsibilities including the lab’s Chemical Sciences, Physics, and Materials Science and Technology divisions, as well as its Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, a DOE Office of Science user facility. The lab will conduct an international search for her replacement.
As Deputy for S&T, Buchanan’s responsibilities will cover the range of ORNL research—computing and computational sciences, neutron science, nuclear science and engineering, the physical sciences, energy and environmental science, and national security—as well as the lab’s leadership role in U.S. ITER, the Exascale Computing Project, and ORNL research centers and institutes.
“The scientific challenges and impact of Oak Ridge’s research has compelled me for many years,” said Buchanan, who came to the lab as a chemist in 1978. “It is a great privilege to be entrusted with shaping our future as a laboratory. My focus will be on strengthening collaborations across our diverse disciplines and promoting scientific achievement among ORNL staff, as well as the world-leading scientists who use ORNL facilities and benefit from our expertise.”
Buchanan is a fellow of the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has written or contributed to more than 100 scientific publications and reports, holds two patents, edited a book on Fourier transform mass spectrometry, and worked extensively at the national level helping shape research directions for DOE as well as the National Science Foundation. She has held multiple positions in the American Chemical Society and the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. She is currently a member of the Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology, National Academy of Sciences, and serves on advisory boards for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Chemistry, the University of Tennessee Department of Chemistry, the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education, and the Georgia Institute of Technology Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC). Her stature in the research community has made her an effective advocate for increased opportunities for women, girls, and other underrepresented groups in STEM-based careers.
Buchanan earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Kansas and her doctorate in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focused on the development of mass spectrometry for trace detection of materials related to energy, health, and the environment for multiple DOE offices and other federal agencies.
Professor Xue Named 2017 ACS Fellow
Professor Ben Xue (right) with Professor Donna J. Nelson, ACS Immediate Past President
Ziling (Ben) Xue, Professor of Chemistry, has been named one of the 65 American Chemical Society Fellows in 2017, announced in the June 19 issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) and was honored at the fall ACS National Meeting in Washington, DC. ACS Fellows Program recognizes members for their “outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the profession, and the Society.”
Xue was honored for his “significant contributions to synthetic and physical inorganic chemistry. He discovered the pathway to the archetypical carbene that led a Nobel Prize and is cited in textbooks in the field, ” stated on the ACS website.
Also mentioned was Xue’s contribution to the ACS community. “As the Division of Inorganic Chemistry Membership Chair for eight years, Xue led successful recruitment activities, resulting in 300%, 20%, and 31% increases in undergraduate, student, and total new memberships, respectively, in 2015.”
Xue came to UT in 1992 after receiving his bachelor’s degree from Nanjing University-Nanjing University College of Pharmacy, completing his doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles, and doing postdoctoral research at Indiana University. He was previously named an National Science Foundation (NSF) Young Investigator. Xue is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served as UT’s College of Arts and Sciences representative on university-wide committees. Xue has also been an associate editor of Science China Chemistry, a flagship publication of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Picture credit: American Chemical Society
Professor Kovac Selected Panelist of 67 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
Jeff Kovac, professor of chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville was invited to be a panelist, leading a discussion of “Ethics in Science,” at the closing panel of 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. The meeting will be held from June 25th to 30th, the panel discussion will take place on June 30th on Mainau Island, Germany.
“In preparation of this panel discussion, our scientific chairpersons Professor Astrid Gräslund and Professor Wolfgang Lubitz suggested Professor Kovac as a panelist, based on his large experience in the field and his publications and presentations.” said Wolfgang Huang, Director Executive Secretariat of Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.
Kovac joined the chemistry department at UT. He has a bachelor’s degree from Reed College, a doctorate from Yale University, and two years of postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In recent years, Kovac has frequently spoke about ethics in chemistry. He gave a talk titled “Ethics of chemical weapon research” during 2016 American Chemical Society’s meeting in Denver, CO in March. His talk was highlighted on C&EN website as part of “Denver National Meeting Mania.” Then in fall 2016, Kovac was invited by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) to speak in SCNAT Ethics Lecture Tour, where he visited six universities and academic institutions in Switzerland at the end of October and beginning of November.
The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting started in 1951. Each year, “the most promising young students come to the small island of Lindau to meet with Nobel Laureates for a week full of inspiration,” said Huang. For this year’s meeting, 420 young scientists from 78 countries have been selected to participate after passing a multi-stage international selection process.
Professor Schweitzer to Receive Central Methodist University Alumni Award
The significant achievements and exemplary careers of six graduates from Central Methodist University will be celebrated at Central Methodist University’s 71st annual Alumni Awards banquet on Saturday, May 6. Among them is George K. Schweitzer, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Schweitzer came to UT in 1948 to initiate the inorganic division of the newly-established Ph.D. program in chemistry and to participate in the early UT-Oak Ridge graduate instructional and research program. He has mentored over 130 graduate students, has been elected UT Phi Kappa Phi lecturer, served as UT’s first Mace Bearer, gave the 1996 UT commencement address, has been named a Distinguished Service Professor by the UT Alumni Association and received the Joe Johnson Lifetime Service Award in 2014 in recognition of his 65 years of dedicated service to UT.
Dr. George K. Schweitzer, Class of 1945
Knoxville, Tenn./Hometown: Poplar Bluff, Mo.
The lifetime achievements of CMU Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Dr. George K. Schweitzer of Knoxville, Tenn. abound, and continue to this day. A native of Poplar Bluff, Mo., he earned the first of his six degrees, a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry, from then-Central College in 1945. His degrees include: MS in Geochemistry, MA in Theology, PhD in Chemistry, PhD in History and Philosophy of Religion, ScD for work in the History of Science.
He began teaching chemistry at the University of Tennessee in 1948 and remains active in the department. Schweitzer also served a faculty fellowship at Columbia University (New York, N.Y.). The author of over
200 scholarly articles and publications, mainly scientific, but including some on the topic of genealogy, he has lectured to over 200 scientific, historical, and genealogical societies and universities in Europe and North America.
While his professional preparation has been in science, Schweitzer also taught university-level course on the Civil War, the History of Religion, the History of Technology, and more. A man of many interests, he has done research in radiochemistry, nanoparticles, PET body scanner detectors, and solvent extraction, and his memberships range from the American Chemical Society to the American Philosophic Association.
Department of Chemistry Held 2017 Honors Day
Department of Chemistry held 2017 Honors Day on Thursday, April 27 to recognize the achievements among students, faculty and staff members of the department. Below, you will find a complete list of awardees this year. Click to view this year’s pictures.
UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS
CRC Press General Chemistry Award – Seth S. Street
C. W. Keenan Outstanding General Chemistry Student Award – Andrew C. Dixson
Halbert and Anne Carmichael Scholarship – Anna C. Fraser
Dr. Lucy E. Scroggie Scholarship – Taylor D. Payne
C. A. Buehler Chemistry Scholarship – Carolyn E. Barnes
East Tennessee Section, ACS, Award – Peymon C. Baghernejad
ACS-Hach Land Grant Scholarships – Tyler H. Mann and Grace C. Wilson
Melaven-Rhenium Scholarship – Wesley N. Cox and Frederick A. Crawford
Honors Chemistry Recognition – Jacob C. Carpenter, Molly E. Landon, Trell F. Stroud, Jonathan C. Thomas
GRADUATE AWARDS
Outstanding Teaching Awards – Justin K. Kirkland and Brandon J. Kennedy
Keenan Teaching Awards – Amanda J. Clune
Second Year Candidacy Award – Ethan W. Kent and Terence J. Moore
Judson Hall Robertson Fellowship in Analytical Chemistry – Zachary L. Ogburn
Graduate Fellowship for Achievement in Inorganic Chemistry – William C. Anderson
Jerome Eastham Fellowship in Organic Chemistry – Adam J. Carr
Eugene John Barber Fellowship in Physical Chemistry – Brian S. Holinsworth
Burchfield Burridge Warner Fellowship in Polymer Chemistry – Bethany M. Aden
East Tennessee Section, ACS, Graduate Fellow – Kevin R. Gmernicki
Gleb Mamantov Graduate Chemistry Scholar – Lauren A. Brown
STUDENT RECOGNITIONS
Chancellor’s 2017 Top Collegiate Scholar Award – Allison S. Poget
Chancellor’s 2017 Extraordinary Academic Achievement – Allison S. Poget
2017 Faculty Senate Research Council Summer Graduate Research – Assistantship Committee – Peter Pham
J. Wallace & Katie Dean Graduate Fellowship (Access & Diversity) – Peymon C. Baghernejag
UTK PEER Graduate Fellowship Award – Brian S. Holinsworth
Winners of the Board of Visitor’s Poster Competition – William C. Anderson and Wei Lu
STAFF AWARDS
Outstanding Service Award – Kristina M. Robinette and Jessica VanBrunt
Carol Moulton ACGS Service Award – Dr. Rachel Rui
James F. Green ACGS Service Award – Jessica L. VanBrunt
FACULTY AWARDS
New Faculty – Dr. Konstantinos Vogiatzis
Alexander Van Hook Faculty Awards – Dr. Tessa R. Calhoun and Dr. Craig E. Barnes
Professor Jenkins Awarded at Chancellor’s Honors Banquet
Associate Professor of Chemistry David Jenkins received Research and Creative Achievement—Professional Promise Award at the 2017 Chancellor’s Honors Banquet on April 19.
David Jenkins
Associate Professor of Chemistry David Jenkins has been called one of the most promising synthetic inorganic chemists of his generation. Colleagues describe him as a dynamic teacher and a leader in undergraduate chemistry education who is, as one put it, “a shining example of the kind of teacher-scholar that is the foundation of excellence in top 25 academic institutions.” Jenkins’s work involves creating new synthetic “tools” that may help chemists more effectively produce pharmaceuticals such as chemotherapy medicines. Jenkins received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award for his research in 2013 and just completed a successful proposal for the National Institutes of Health. He has published more than 30 papers in some of the top journals in chemistry, 18 of them written in the past five years. In that same span of time, he also completed two books and filed for a patent. He received the Department of Chemistry’s 2014 Mamantov Professorship Award for an outstanding junior faculty member in chemistry and the Chemical Communications Young Investigator Award in 2014.
Second Year Graduate Student Paper Featured on Journal Cover
Zachary Ogburn, a second year chemistry graduate student from the Frank Vogt’s Research Group, published his first paper titled “Microalgae as embedded environmental monitors” on Analytica Chimica Acta (ACA), a leading journal in analytical chemistry. The paper was selected to be featured on the journal’s cover (Vol. 954).
In his first-authored paper, Ogburn developed analytical methodologies that utilize microalgae’s adaptation as a novel approach for in-situ environmental monitoring. Microalgae are important component in marine ecosystems because of their ability to transform large quantities of inorganic compounds into biomass. The study specifically looked at phytoplankton’s sequestration of atmospheric CO2, a greenhouse gas, and nitrate, one cause of harmful algae blooms.
Frank Vogt, associate professor of chemistry and Ogburn’s mentor, is quite proud of Ogburn’s achievement. “I want to point out that ACA is a leading journal in analytical chemistry and Zack got this paper accepted at the end of his 2nd year!” Vogt said.
ACA is an international journal that publishes research in all branches of analytical chemistry. According to 2016 Journal Citation Reports published by Reuters, ACA has a 5-year impact factor of 4.841.
Ogburn grew up in Loganville, GA, where he graduated from Loganville High in 2009 as well as enlisted in the Georgia Army National Guard. He was a recipient of the Georgia Military Scholarship and graduated from the University of North Georgia with his B.S. in chemistry in 2013. Upon graduation Ogburn received a commission as an officer in the Chemical Corps and he is currently a 1st LT serving as the chemical officer for the 1-121 Infantry Battalion of the Georgia Guard. Ogburn joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in the spring of 2015 and is currently working towards his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry.
UT-ORNL: Small Nanoparticles Have Surprisingly Big Effects on Polymer Nanocomposites
Polymer nanocomposites mix particles billionths of a meter (nanometers, nm) in diameter with polymers, which are long molecular chains. Often used to make injection-molded products, they are common in automobiles, fire retardants, packaging materials, drug-delivery systems, medical devices, coatings, adhesives, sensors, membranes and consumer goods.
When a team of scientists, including UT’s Alexei Sokolov, tried to verify that shrinking the nanoparticle size would adversely affect the mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites, they got a big surprise. They found an unexpectedly large effect of small nanoparticles.
The findings were reported recently in the journal ACS Nano.
In addition to Sokolov, the team included scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sokolov is a UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair based in the Department of Chemistry.
Blending nanoparticles and polymers enables dramatic improvements in the properties of polymer materials. Nanoparticle size, spatial organization and interactions with polymer chains are critical in determining behavior of composites. Understanding these effects will allow for the improved design of new composite polymers, as scientists can tune mechanical, chemical, electrical, optical and thermal properties.
Small nanoparticles stick to segments of polymer chain about the same size as the nanoparticles themselves. These interactions produce a polymer nanocomposite that is easier to process because nanoparticles move fast, quickly making the material less viscous. At right, many segments of a polymer chain stick to a larger nanoparticle, making it difficult for that nanoparticle to move. Its slower movement results in a viscous material that is more difficult to process. Source: ORNL
Until recently, scientists believed an optimal nanoparticle size must exist. Decreasing the size would be good only to a point, as the smallest particles tend to plasticize at low loadings and aggregate at high loadings, both of which harm macroscopic properties of polymer nanocomposites.
“We see a shift in paradigm where going to really small nanoparticles enables accessing totally new properties,” Sokolov said. That increased access to new properties happens because small particles move faster than large ones and interact with fewer polymer segments on the same chain. Many more polymer segments stick to a large nanoparticle, making dissociation of a chain from that nanoparticle difficult.
“Now we realize that we can tune the mobility of the particles—how fast they can move, by changing particle size, and how strongly they will interact with the polymer, by changing their surface,” Sokolov said. “We can tune properties of composite materials over a much larger range than we could ever achieve with larger nanoparticles.”
Continue reading on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory website.
Chemistry Graduate Student Neil Williams Featured in USA Today
Neil Williams, a 4th year PhD candidate in Professor Sheng Dai’s group, had his research featured in a USA Today article. Williams is part of a team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that discovered a method for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from air. This breakthrough in carbon capture was also mentioned by Knoxville News Sentinel and Forbes.
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