Not a lot of people can say that they have worked for half a century, let alone for one employer – the University of Tennessee. Professor Ffrancon Williams (in picture left) was proudly being recognized for his 50 years of service to the University during the Service Awards Luncheon with UT President Joe DiPietro (in […]

Christiane Barnes, Lecturer of Chemistry, is appointed as the Director of General Chemistry effective January 1, 2012. Dr. Jeff Kovac stepped down as Director after 12 and one-half years of service. As the new Director, Barnes will take over the responsibilities such as planning and conducting Graduate Teaching Associates (GTA) training, assigning GTA to courses, […]

Just graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemistry last December, Irene Abia’s education in the Chemistry Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville is truly fruitful. After winning ACS Young Chemistry Award last July, Abia has been recently appointed as an associate to the Committee on Younger Chemists (YCC). YCC is a committee at the highest […]

Ben Xue, Professor of Chemistry was appointed Associate Editor of Science China Chemistry last year and recently edited the December issue on the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). The December issue includes 29 papers from Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, and the […]

Jeff Kovac, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and Michael Weisberg, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania published a new book on science history, Roald Hoffmann on the Philosophy, Art, and Science of Chemistry. They gathered together chemist Roald Hoffmann’s most significant contributions to the field of philosophy and […]

A retirement party was hosted for Darrell Lay today in Buehler Hall 511 to honor his 46 years of service to the Department of Chemistry. With food, flowers, gifts, laughters, tears, speeches, holiday spirit, and even a “money tree”, chemistry faculty, staff, and students joined each other to celebrate the coming holiday and Darrel Lay’s […]

It’s again time of the year that we say congratulations and goodbye to some of our friends. Yesterday, 2011 UT Fall Graduate Hooding Ceremony was hosted in Thompson-Boling Assembly Center & Arena. While more are graduating, four Chemistry Ph.D students were able to attend and being hooded on the stage. Please join us in congratulating […]

Alan Cramer, a third year graduate student in Dr. Jenkins’ group, published a paper about synthesis of Aziridines in Journal of American Chemical Society (JACS). Co-authored with Professor Jenkins, Cramer is the first author of this paper Synthesis of Aziridines from Alkenes and Aryl Azides with a Reusable Macrocyclic Tetracarbene Iron Catalyst. In this paper, […]

Dr. Jeff Kovac, Professor of Chemistry, was appointed the new Director of College Scholars Program in the College of Arts and Sciences. Being a faculty member in the Chemistry Department since 1976, Kovac directs the department undergraduate programs, serves as the Director of the Tennessee Governor’s Schools for Science and Engineerigthe and also directed the […]

Chemistry graduate student Xiaojun Wang in Professor Mays Group is selected as one of two recipients of American Chemical Society (ACS) Graduate Travel Award to attend 2012 ACS National Meeting in San Diego. This Travel Award is sponsored by the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry’s Membership Committee. Each year, the Committee provides funding for two […]

Members of the American Chemical Society (ACS) nationwide will be celebrating National Chemistry Week (NCW) October 16-22. During this week, ACS members will have the opportunity to present the positive aspects of chemistry, promote science education, and to heighten the public awareness of the contributions chemistry has made to society and to everyday life. The […]

KNOXVILLE – Michael Best, associate professor in the department of chemistry, will be speaking at this week’s Pregame Showcase on “Bioorganic Chemistry: Advancing the Frontiers of Medicine.” The showcase will take place Saturday, October 15, before the Vols’ home game against Louisiana State University. The showcase will begin at 1:30 p.m., two hours before the […]

Department of Chemistry hosted 2011 Board of Visitors Annual Meeting on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Buehler Hall 511. Eight BOV members participated in this year’s meeting and 19 students from all five divisions presented their posters during the Students Poster Competition. Heidi Bostic from Best group and Chris Bennett from Camden group won […]

Chris Bennett, a fourth year graduate student in Dr. Camden’s group, published a paper on two-photon properties of molecules in JACS. Bennett and Camden have worked on this project with their collaborators Dr. Lasse Jensen and Daniel Silverstein at Penn State University for the past two years. They compared experimentally measured resonance hyper-Raman spectra to […]

Vighter Iberi, a third year graduate student in Dr. Camden’s group, published a paper on plasmon imaging in NanoLetters. In the paper, the researchers obtained spatial maps of the localized surface plasmon modes of high-aspect-ratio silver nanorods using electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and correlated to optical data and classical electrodynamics calculations from the exact […]

Dr. Michael Best recently accepted an invitation to join the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal “Chemistry and Physics of Lipids”. This journal, published by Elsevier, featuring an impact factor of 2.86, is focused on the properties and biological activities of lipids, which play key roles in both normal physiological processes and those associated with […]

Charles Feigerle, professor of physical chemistry, has been named the new Head of University of Tennessee’s Department of Chemistry, effective July 1. Feigerle has been in the department for 26 years and has served as the Associate Head for four and half years. This played an important part in the Head Search. “In making this […]

“I arrived in Zurich, Switzerland on Sunday July 24,2011 to gray skies and a temperature of about 59 degrees Fahrenheit…” – Tara Clark’s Blog Tara is a third year Ph.D student in Professor Harrison’s lab. Prior to becoming a Ph.D. student, Tara worked as a faculty member at the Nashville State Community College and the […]

Chemistry faculty members Dr. Jimmy Mays and Dr. Al Hazari have been inducted into the 2011 class of Fellows of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society. Also honored are Dr. Diane Grob Schmidt and Dr. Phillip F. Britt, members of Chemistry Board of Visitors. All 2011 ACS Fellows are honored for their outstanding […]

Sheng Dai, joint faculty of the Department of Chemsitry and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been named UT-Battelle corporate fellow in recognition of his outstanding contributions to their scientific and technical fields. The addition of Dai to this prestigious group brings the total number of active corporate fellows, the highest designation […]

It’s again the time of year when the army of undergraduates join the workforce or pursue a higher degree at various graduate schools. When being asked about what you would do after graduation, many answered “travel”, “take some time off” or “enjoy myself”. The answer is different for chemistry undergraduate student Katherine Sharp. “I will […]

Dr. John Larese, Professor of the Chemistry Department, was invited to give a talk at a symposium entitled “Surfaces and Nanomaterials for Catalysis through In-situ and Ex-situ Studies” for the Materials Research Society (MRS) 2011 Spring meeting held between April 25 and 29 in San Francisco. During his talk Neutron Spectroscopy and Nanoscience: Opportunities for […]

The Department of Chemistry held 2011 Honors Day Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 28. Dr. Dub Shults, retired Associate Director of ORNL Analytical Sciences Division and member of Chemistry Board of Visitors attended the event as guest speaker. First introduced in 1979, Honors Day Awards Ceremony is held annually to recognize outstanding academics, service and teaching in the Chemistry […]

Dr. Al Hazari (right) was recently invited to present lectures, demonstrations and workshops at the 2nd Kuwaiti CHEMTEA Meeting sponsored by the Kuwait Chemical Society in celebration of the 2011 International Year of Chemistry. The Kuwaiti CHEMTEA Meeting is an annual gathering of about 200 high school chemistry teachers in Kuwait. This year’s meeting was held on April 17-18 in […]

Professor Sepaniak group research manuscript was accepted in Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) and published online today. The paper Nanotransfer printing using plasma etched silicon stamps and mediated by in situ deposited fluoropolymer was a collaboration between Sepaniak group and scientists at Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In […]

The Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS) group is going to host 2011 “Chemistry Mentoring Day” on Wednesday, April 27th, 2011 in Buehler Hall. This year, 28 students from 7 local high schools and their teachers will participate. Students will have the opportunity to take tours of research laboratories, enjoy talks with chemistry […]

Dr. Jeffrey Kovac, Professor in the Department of Chemistry and President of the UT Knoxville Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, has been appointed to the national Committee of Judges for the Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards in Science. One of a committee of five, Kovac will serve from 2011-2013. The committee judges book entries that […]

Professor Janice Musfeldt (center) attended the National User Facility Organization (NUFO)‘s display on April 7 at U.S. House of Representatives Rayburn Office Building in DC. Along with Roy Goodrich (left) from George Washington University and David Graf (right) from National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL), Musfeldt and the team represented NHMFL, one of the NUFO […]

The Chancellor’s Honors Banquet is held each spring to recognize students, faculty, staff and friends of the University of Tennessee for their extraordinary achievements. The 2011 banquet was held April 11th at the University Center. Professor Jeff Kovac, Professor Ben Xue and senior student in Chemistry Katherine Sharp received awards during the banquet. 2011 Excellence […]

Chemistry Graduate Student Tatiana Brinzari (picture left) from Dr. Musfeldt’s group received a poster award during International School & Symposium on Multifunctional Molecule-based Materials (ISMMM) held in Argonne National Laboratory from March 13 to 18, 2011. Brinzari’s winning poster “Magneto-elastic coupling in molecular-based materials: M[N(CN)2]2 (M = Mn, Co) and [Ru2(O2CMe)4]3[Cr(CN)6]” discussed evidence of a […]