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. […]

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.” […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

William Bull, also known as Bill Bull, chemistry professor emeritus and former associate head of department at UT, passed away Tuesday, December 27, 2016. The service took place at 10 a.m. December 31 at Second Presbyterian Church. The following obituary was published on the Knoxville News Sentinel website. William Bull 1933 – 2016 Knoxville, TN William […]

In 2016, the National Institutes of Health increased support for projects in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Tessa Calhoun, assistant professor, received funding for her project “Imaging Amphotericin B’s Mechanism of Action with Transient Absorption Microscopy.” David Jenkins, associate professor, is the PI of awarded project “Catalytic C2+N1 Aziridination from Organic […]

Each year, faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences are recognized for their contributions to the college, the university, and the impact of their teaching and research at the annual faculty awards dinner. One member of the Department of Chemistry received an award at this year’s event, which took place Thursday, December 1, 2016. […]

Chemistry professor Sheng Dai led a group of scientists at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and 525 Solutions developed U-Grabber, an adsorbent material designed to extract uranium and other metals from water inexpensively and efficiently. The project received 2016 R&D 100 Award, known as the “Oscars of Invention”, honoring innovative breakthroughs in materials science, biomedicine, […]

Chemistry alumnus Andi Barbour (first from right), member of the Brookhaven Lab research team, found static “stripes” of electrical charge in copper-oxide superconductor. The team published their research results on October 11 in Physical Review Letters. Barbour obtained his PhD degree in chemistry in 2009 studying with Professor John Larese. Read the full article on Brookhaven National Lab website.

KNOXVILLE—Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have identified a set of bacterial genes that may help them find ways to lessen the severity of the disease malaria. Their findings could also aid the research of fellow scientists working in malaria-stricken regions around the world. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. […]

The past summer was not ordinary for chemistry graduate student Roberto Federico-Perez, a member of Xue’s Research Group at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He participated in a week-long Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy Summer School that took place at the Colorado School of Mines campus in Golden, Colorado from June 21 to 28. During the Summer School, Federico-Perez was […]

Al Hazari, a retired director of labs and lecturer in chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, chaired the theme team for the 2016 National Chemistry Week (NCW). Sponsored by the American Chemical Society, the 2016 NCW is scheduled to take place October 16-22 with the theme, “Solving Mysteries Through Chemistry,” focusing on the chemistry of forensics and more. William (Bill) Bass, the world-renowned […]

Wilbur (Dub) Shults, member of the Chemistry Board of Visitors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was inducted into the 2016 Class of  Fellows of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The announcement was made in the July 18, 2016 issue of Chemical & Engineering News. The new fellows were honored at the August ACS meeting in Philadelphia. Shults was named an […]

Chemistry Alumnus Reggie Hudson was elected the Chair of the Astrochemistry Subdivision of the American Chemical Society, the largest scientific society in the world with more than 157,000 members globally. Hudson obtained his Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1978 studying with Ffrancon Williams, now Professor Emeritus of Chemistry. After leaving UT, […]

Janice Musfeldt, Ziegler Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in collaboration with David Vanderbilt, Sang-Wook Cheong, Kristjan Haule, and Valery Kiryukhin from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, recently won a $1.6 million Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) Award from National Science Foundation for their project titled […]

Preeti Chandrachud, a fifth-year graduate student had her third paper published in the journal Organometallics in June 2016. The editorial board selected this article as a top manuscript and designated it for a cover selection. Since she is an amateur painter, Chandrachud also got the opportunity to design the cover art for the issue. “I think it […]

Melissa Nicole Bailey and Kaitlyn Angela McDonald, graduate students in Schweitzer Group, received diplomas for completion of the requirements in the Program for the Radiochemistry Graduate Certificate. They are only the second and third students awarded such diplomas. George K. Schweitzer and his research group have received a three-year renewal of their grant from Siemens for […]

Sharon Marshall, business manager for the Department of Chemistry has retired on July 31, 2016, after 28 years of service to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Marshall is a Knoxville local, growing up in Fountain City with her parents and two older sisters. She graduated from Central High School in 1976 and obtained her Bachelor’s degree […]

Jeff Kovac, professor of chemistry, was invited by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) to speak in SCNAT Ethics Lecture Tour, a series of lectures that will take place in the chemistry departments of Swiss Universities that will cover the broad topic of ethics in science endeavor. Kovac was invited to be the first speaker on their inaugural Lectureship. […]

Ziegler Professor of Chemistry Janice Musfeldt at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, co-chaired Gordon Research Conference of Two Dimensional Electronics Beyond Graphene held in Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA from June 5 to 10. The conference was held to address “the fundamental properties and potential uses of ultrathin layered systems with a fundamental band gap including transition metal dichalcogenides, group V systems […]

Bethany Aden, a fourth year polymer chemistry graduate student in Kilbey’s group, was selected as one of the four winners of this year’s Eastman Chemical Company Fellowship, a fellowship established in 2011 to assist students in their research and help Eastman identify top performers in their early stages of graduate careers. Aden will receive a total […]

Xinyi Lu, a chemistry graduate student at The University of Tennessee Knoxville, recently received the Graduate Fellowship Award at the East Tennessee Section of the American Chemical Society 2016 Awards Banquet. Lu is also one of the winners at 2015 Board of Visitors Poster Competition and gave a seminar talk titled “Improving Carbon Nanotube Fibers through Crosslinking” on April 21, 2016 […]

Several students, alumni and faculty members in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville were recognized at the 2016 East Tennessee Section of the American Chemical Society (ETS-ACS) Awards Banquet on May 5 hosted at Calhoun’s on the River Restaurant. George Kabalka, Professor of Chemistry, was invited to give a talk titled, “Boron: Basic Science to […]

The Department of Chemistry at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville hosted a UT/VT Polymer Workshop on April 18th and 19th. The workshop was attended by more than 70 faculty, students and researchers from UT, Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Lab and other institutions in the surrounding area. “The goal of the workshop is to develop collaborations, enhance interactions, […]

Department of Chemistry held 2016 Honors Day on Thursday, April 28th .  More than 50 students, faculty and staff were recognized for their academic achievements and outstanding services. Dr. Diane Schmidt, alumna and a member of the Department’s Board of Visitors was invited to speak about her career as a chemist for more than 30 years […]