Chemistry Undergraduate Received NSF Predoctoral Fellowship

April 5, 2013 by chemweb

Chemistry undergraduate student Britta Johnson, who graduated last year, recently received National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP). Johnson was also the receipient of 2012 Outstanding Graduate in College Scholars at the University of Tennessee, College of Arts and Sciences and the winner of Best Presentation Award in 2012 EUReCA.

The NSF GRFP  will provide Johnson with funding for three years ($30,000 per year) along with a full tuition waiver. Johnson is now a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Chemistry Department, Physical Chemistry Division. While looking forward to start her research project at the beginning of this summer, Johnson is currently focused on completing her first year of classes and teaching.

When Johnson entered UT, her concentration was Mathematical and Chemical Physics. As a freshman, Britta won the C. W. Keenan Prize given to the best student in Honors General Chemistry and in 2011 she was one of three UTK students to be awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Johnson began her research in computational quantum chemistry with Professor R. J. Hinde in the Department of Chemistry as a freshman, an experience she described as most rewarding. “I wanted to thank Dr. Hinde for all of the support and opportunities that he provided me that made this (NSF GRFP) possible. I could not have gotten this without him!” Johnson said.

Her work with Professor Hinde has resulted in one peer-reviewed publication to date: B. Johnson and R. J. Hinde, “Pairwise Additive Model for the He-MgO(100) Interaction,” Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2011, 115, 7112-7119. During the summers Britta worked as a resident advisor for the Governor’s School for the Sciences and Engineering while carrying on research in chemistry or mathematics.

Founded in 1952, NSF GRFP is a program that recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions.This year, they awarded 2000 graduate students out of the 13000 who applied.

For more information about their program, check out NSF GRFP website.

Chemistry Department Held 2013 Research Open House

March 11, 2013 by chemweb

The Department of Chemistry held 2013 Research Open House on Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9 to showcase exciting research happening in the Department to the prospective students.

35 students from all around the country participated in this two-day events. Each one of them was paired with a current graduate student as their host to answer any questions they might have about research and study at the University of Tennessee as well as the student life and living in Knoxville.

The two-day event started with a meet and greet reception in Four Points on Friday, and ended with a dinner banquet inside Neyland Stadium. The Department organized faculty poster session, student and alumni presentations, facility tour, campus tour, meetings with faculty, graduate students panel, and student organization social to introduce the Department as a whole to the prospective students. More than 20 faculty members and staff and over 40 current graduate students participated to help organize the events and welcome prospective students.

Professor Fred Grimm Passed Away

February 16, 2013 by chemweb

I am sad to report that Dr. Fred Grimm, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, passed away on Saturday, February 9, 2013.  Fred was born on June 15th, 1937 and is survived by his wife, Pam and daughter, Gail.

Professor Grimm received his B.S. in Chemistry from Rutgers University in 1963 and a PhD in Chemistry from Cornell University in 1968.  He joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee in the same year he received his PhD degree.  As a Full Professor in Chemistry, Dr. Grimm was granted emeritus status upon his retirement in 1999 after 32 years of service to the University.

Fred had a strong reputation in the area of chemical physics, where his research emphasis was in theoretical methods of studying photoelectron dynamics and surface phenomena.  He published over 70 papers in scholarly journals, was a long-time collaborator with Tom Carlson and Manfred Krause at ORNL, and was an invited Research Scientist at the Swedish National Research Council.  Professor Grimm was a dedicated and skilled teacher who taught general chemistry and all levels of physical chemistry.  He served as the Director of General Chemistry for the department for more than a decade.  Fred was always a gentleman and treated colleagues, staff and students with gentleness and respect.  He will be missed.  A memorial service for Fred Grimm will be held on Saturday, March 2nd at 10 AM in the Mann Heritage Chapel at Rose Mortuary, 6200 Kingston Pike.

Chuck Feigerle
Professor and Head
Department of Chemistry
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-1600

Professor Jenkins Received NSF CAREER Award

February 12, 2013 by chemweb

David Jenkins, an assistant professor of inorganic chemistry at UT, has been announced a recipient of the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. This marks the third CAREER award inside the Chemistry Department in the past 3 years.

CAREER award is one of “the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.”

Jenkins’ award includes a 5-year $650,000 grant to support his research and educational activities. “Being granted a CAREER award is an awesome feeling and a great honor, and more importantly it provides us the financial stability to keep working on a fantastic project — catalytic aziridination using our macrocyclic tetracarbene catalysts.” Jenkins said.

Funding from this award will be primarily used to support graduate students working on the project and to purchase necessary supplies to move the project forward. “We have completed a lot of preliminary work, but I am confident that we have many more productive years of research on this project.” said Jenkins, “We have scratched (or maybe dented) the surface of this exciting new field in organometallic chemistry.”

In fact, Jenkins’ group has published some great results already. Four graduate students from the group, Alan Cramer, Chris Murdock, Heather Bass and Brianna Hughes, will attend an American Chemical Society meeting this April in New Orleans and give talks during the meeting.

“I encourage all of my group members to attend at least one ACS meeting or more before they finish their PhDs.” Jenkins commented, “Oral communication skills are vital for almost any career that they pursue after their time at UT.”

Besides efforts put into scientific research, Jenkins group is also actively engaged with Central High school through the Pre-Collegiate Scholar Program. As part of the CAREER award, they will continue working closely with the school. The group will partner up with one of their high school teachers to develop new teaching materials for AP chemistry labs that focus on sustainable synthesis.

Meng Rowland Received NIH Fellowship

February 1, 2013 by chemweb

A recent graduate from the Chemistry Department, Dr. Meng Rowland, received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA)from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a fellowship for individual postdoctoral fellows.

The NRSA provides two year funding starting in January 2013 for Rowland’s proposal entitled “Molecular determinants of DNA sliding and hopping by a DNA repair glycosylase.” The fellowship is highly competitive with less than 10% of applicants funded.

Rowland worked in the research group of Professor Michael Best during her 5 years at the University of Tennessee. “I had 9 publications working with Dr. Best, which weighed heavily in the fellowship evaluation.” Rowland said, “I want to thank Dr. Best for being such an extraordinary mentor and the UT Department of Chemistry for years of training!”

After graduation, Rowland joined the department of pharmacology at Johns Hopkins Medical School and is now receiving postdoctoral training in enzymology and  molecular biology in the lab of Dr. James Stivers.

Orignally from China, Rowland received her B.S. in pharmacology from Jilin University in 2004 and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee when she enrolled in the Chemistry Ph.D. program in 2006. She met her husband Garland Rowland and got married while studying at UT. They now reside in Baltimore, MD with their beloved dog Edgar.

ACGS Held Bake Sale to Help Ownby Family

January 20, 2013 by chemweb

Association of Chemistry Graduate Students (ACGS) held a bake sale on January 17 and 18 in the chemistry tutorial center to help Ownby family, whose house was burned down two weeks ago. Marilyn Ownby works for the Chemistry Department in the general chemistry lab.

An email calling for participation was sent two weeks prior to the bake sale. Over thirty people volunteered to bake. Baked goods ranged from freshly baked loaves of bread to brownies to cheesecakes.

More than a hundred faculty, students and staff showed up during the two days of sale and contributed over a thousand dollars in total.

“The idea was to provide a more accessible way for graduates and undergraduates to help.” Sam Rosolina, Community Service Chair of ACGS said. “With a limited disposable income it’s hard for us to see our few dollars going far for causes like this, but this sale was proof that a little can go a long way when so many people are involved.”

Rosolina was also surprised to see how many undergraduate students came to show support once they found out what the cause was.

Almost everyone in the Department participated and helped to organize the event. “I want to especially thank Pam Roach and Christiane Barnes who performed large roles in making the event happen.” said Rosolina.

Fundraising is still going on for Ownby family. If you would like to make a donation, please following the link created by their daughter http://www.giveforward.com/reliefforfirevictims.

Chemistry Department Held BoV Career Workshop

January 15, 2013 by chemweb

The Department of Chemistry held 2013 Board of Visitors Career Workshop Unveiling the Mystique of Industry and Government Jobs, co-sponsored by Association of Chemistry Graduate Students, on Thursday, January 10 from 1pm to 5pm in Buehler Hall 511.

Six speakers, all on Chemistry Board of Visitors, are from industry, ORAU and ORNL. They were invited to give talks on different aspects of job hunting including interviewing and hiring process, resume building, dos and don’ts during on-site interviews, identifying jobs, government jobs and specifics about being a chemist at ORNL. Each speaker gave a presentation and took questions both during and after their presentations.

32 graduate students attended the workshop. A survey conducted afterwards shows that all students found it useful. “I thorougly enjoyed the workshop.” Morgan McConico, a graduate student from Vogt’s group said, “Before the workshop I had several open ended questions, and after the workshop I feel that all of my questions have been answered.  I now feel better equipped for the entire process of applying and interviewing for jobs.” McConico is expected to graduate in May and is actively looking for jobs in industry.

Not only students, but also BOV members enjoyed the workshop. “One of the greatest personal rewards I enjoy is meeting students.” Warren Schmidt, Chemistry BOV member said, “I look forward to my visits to UT as an opportunity to meet some more of our future leaders and scientists. In this workshop, I was pleased with the pre-work completed by many of the students, their attention to the presentations, and especially the quality of the questions.”

Naixiong (David) Jin, a graduate student from Zhao’s Group was especially thankful for the variety of speakers this workshop has brought together. “The speakers had extended experience in the hiring process either for industrial jobs or positions in national laboratories. They shared many details and useful tips all the way from resume preparation to on-site interviews.” Jin will also graduate in May and is open to all opportunities in industry, national laboratories and universities.

Positive feedbacks and constructive suggestions have strengthened the belief that this is a constant need of the students. “If possible, we plan to host this workshop every year.” Rachel Rui, Development Coordinator of the Department said. “We may also bring some students who recently graduated and found jobs to share their succesful stories. So the students are able to get information from two different perspectives.”

Rebecca Horton Article Featured on Cover of Analytica Chimica Acta

September 26, 2012 by chemweb

Dr. Rebecca Horton, a student graduated from Professor Vogt’s group in May 2012 had her article featured on the cover of October 2012 issue of Analytica Chimica Acta.

The artilce entitled ” Introducing nonlinear, multivariate ‘Predictor Surfaces’ for quantitative modeling of chemical systems with higher-order, coupled predictor variables ” introduced ‘Predictor Surfaces’, an innovative chemometrics tool developed for studies of more chemically complex systems such as biological materials in order to ensure accurate quantitative analyses and proper chemical modeling for in-depth studies of such systems.

“Understanding the biochemical interactions microalgae have with their environment is key in studying the effects of environmental contaminants.” Horton commented on the significance of her study. “Since microalgae respond to their environments in a nonlinear fashion, a novel method for investigating these responses was necessary. While this work has been applied to the study of microalgae, these algorithms open new possibilities for studying a variety of nonlinear systems and responses, both biological and chemical.”

Horton came to UT from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, TN. Her achievements in research involve growing microalgae under different environmental conditions along with sample preparation methods for spectroscopic analyses and complex chemometric algorithms for studying biological processes. This work also resulted in a publication in Applied Spectroscopy in 2011. She recently received a travel award from Eastman Chemical Company for presenting her work at the ACS National Meeting and won the 2010 Chemistry Board of Visitors Poster Competition.

Sepaniak Group Received NSF Funding

September 18, 2012 by chemweb

With funding of $400,000 from National Science Fundation, and support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Michael Sepaniak at University of Tennessee, Knoxville and his group will tackle the challenges of creating pillar arrays for chemical separations (PACS) that function as miniaturized liquid phase separation systems.

An original processing sequence for the fabrication of high aspect ratio pillars yields mechanically robust systems. Importantly, the characteristic morphologies in the implemented highly ordered pillar arrays are scalable to nanometer dimensions. Thus the fluidic structures, operated in enclosed pressure-driven or open capillary action-driven modes, offer the potential for substantial improvements in separation efficiency and permeability over traditional packed and monolithic columns, as well as traditional thin layer chromatography plates. PACS provides an alternative approach to separation media with precisely controlled nano- and micro-scale architectures. New insights into the retention mechanisms in nanoscale fluidic systems are expected.

Moreover, advanced lithographic techniques will be used to create for the first time uniform pillar structures suitable for high performance open format, 2-D spatial separations.In addition to the scientific objectives of this proposal, an underpinning goal is to introduce young researchers (high school through undergraduate) to cross-disciplinary science and technology ranging from microfabrication and nanotechnology, studies of surface properties, the development of new instrumental approaches to separations, fluidics, and ultra-low volume detection/imaging.

General Chemistry Redefined: Chemistry for the 21st Century

September 12, 2012 by chemweb

Modern chemistry laboratories have witnessed many striking advancements in the past few decades as computers have been integrated into almost every facet  of the collection, processing and storage of measurement data. The introductory chemistry sequence (our beloved Gen Chem), introduces students to the fundamental concepts in chemistry as well as basic techniques used to mea­sure the properties of compounds and materials. After more than 30 years of tinkering with this course, the chemistry department undertook a major redesign of General Chemistry and its laboratory. In the Fall of 2012 the new curriculum was unveiled to the main body of undergraduate students (~2000!) that take it every year.

About six years ago, Craig Barnes, professor and former head of the chemistry department, saw the need to redesign the general chemistry program to fit the needs of modern chemistry education. A committee, composed of faculty, instructors and graduate teaching assistants was formed two years ago to begin working on this challenging project. They decided to look closely at the two main parts of the course – the text and the laboratory – and make whatever changes were needed.

“The General Chemistry lab really needed to be updated.” said Barnes, “Some of the current labs had not changed much in several decades, while the modern chemistry laboratory doesn’t look at all the same.”

To start the process, Barnes was successful in a proposal to the College of Arts and Sciences to outfit the Honors Chemistry laboratory with new computer interfaced lab stations, one for every two students. The next year 25 MeasureNet (MNet) stations were installed and Jeff Kovac, Professor and Director of the College Scholars Program, who has taught Honors Chemistry for many years, took on the task of developing new MeasureNet labs for his students.

“MeasureNet has allowed us to perform some experiments that we could not do in the past.” Kovac said. “For example, we can now use the MeasureNet advanced colorimeter to follow the kinetics of a chemical reaction spectroscopically. It has also allowed students to collect higher quality data that can be processed using Excel.” Kovac continued, “Modern science uses electronic, computer-controlled equipment, not the traditional glassware of the chemistry lab. What we try to do is to mix the older techniques with the more modern.”

After a year and a half of developing and testing new labs, the department felt it was ready to take the leap and introduce MeasureNet into the main General Chemistry sequence.  “It’s a lot of work to make such a big change in a lab taken by almost 2,000 students each semester,” Barnes said, “we also knew we’d have to rewrite the lab manual because you have to first understand MeasureNet, then you have to modify all the procedures that were written for hand data collection.”

There was also the question of how to fund such a massive overhaul of the lab. Barnes again went to the College and, with the positive responses from students in Honors Chemistry, was able to secure the funds needed to bring MeasureNet to the main body of UT students starting out in General Chemistry.

In total, the College of Arts and Sciences has invested over $500,000 toward the redesign of the entire undergraduate general chemistry program at UTK which culminated in the installation of 150 MeasureNet instrument stations in the General Chemistry labs with twenty computer hubs during the summer of 2011.

“Without the support of the College and upper administration at UTK we could never have even dreamed of pulling this off. This is a testament to the importance of undergraduate education here.” Barnes said.

The newly installed MNet system is a network-based electronic data acquisition interface. It performs data acquisition tasks that enables users to monitor, collect, store, and disseminate laboratory data, as well as share lab instruments. While there is still value in learning traditional lab methods, Kovac believes that it is essential to show students how things are done in both research and industrial labs in the 21st century. Each two students have their own MeasureNet station with which to collect data such as temperature, time, pressure, pH, etc.

“Having both used and taught with MeasureNet, I can honestly say that it was probably my favorite part of General Chemistry Lab.” James Humble, a recent chemistry graduate in the Chancellor’s Honors Program and undergraduate teaching assistant, said. “It made performing experiments, especially titrations, much easier and more interesting because we actually had time to think about what our data meant and to observe the experiment instead of simply mindlessly recording dozens of data points.”

“The laboratory makeover not only benefits the first-year students, but will help improve their preparation and success as they go on to take upper-level chemistry courses, “ said Al Hazari, Director of Undergraduate Laboratories.

Although MeasureNet gave committee the opportunity to review the entire lab manual, Barnes mentioned that it’s only one of the reasons why the manuals all need to be re-written. “The last edition was written almost 15 years ago. Most of the experiments needed major updates and several brand new labs were developed.”  Heather Bass, graduate teaching associate and student member of committee, said besides integrating MeasureNet information into the lab manuals, another major change is “making sure that labs and topics covered in section coincide better than in the past, so that students would actually see the material for lab before the actual lab itself. This way they have a better grasp on what is going on.”

While this was going on, the committee had also been working for almost two years to consider new text books for the introductory chemistry sequence and rewrite the lab manual for the course.  Along with the teaching lab make over, as part of redesigning the General Chemistry program, the Department also published a newly customized text book in collaboration with Pearson Publishing. With more than 60 pages added to the introduction, the text book is specifically tailored towards students taking classes in the UT Chemistry Department.

“We were able to rearrange some materials in the text book to meet our curriculum needs.” Barnes said. “What is really new is the section at the beginning of the book which describes our department, the curriculum and possible careers in chemistry to students just as they begin their studies here at UT.”  The added section also includes study tips, departmental information, tutoring information, and advising information for chemistry majors and minors. Although a lot of these materials were available online or through various sources, the committee consolidated this information and provided them to the students in one location.

“Many students need assistance while taking general chemistry, and although there are an abundance of resources available, many students aren’t aware of all the possible avenues of help.” Belinda Lady, graduate teaching assistant and member of the committee said. “Now instructors can direct students to this section of the custom textbook.”

The new Chem120 laboratory manual is in the hands of the students this semester with the MeasureNet stations in the laboratory.  The final touches are being put on the new Chem130 manual as it goes to the printers for next semester.  “Without a doubt we will find things to change and keep making the experiments better, but it sure feels good to have ‘version 1.0’ done.” the committee said.