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Department
News
Spring
2008
Dr. Janet E. Del
Bene, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, was awarded the 2008 Morley Medal
presented by the Cleveland Section of the American Chemical
Society. Dr. Del Bene will be honored with the medal, a monetary
prize, and a special lectureship, the Edward W. Morley Lecture, on May
21, 2008 in Cleveland, OH. This annual award was established in
1966, and its list of recipients includes two Nobel Laureates.
The Morley Medal is given annually to a chemist for outstanding
contributions to chemistry made while residing in an area within a
250-mile radius of Cleveland. Dr. Del Bene is the first woman to
receive this award, and is also the only person to be recognized for
research done at an institution with a primary mission of undergraduate
education.
Dr. Del Bene is a theoretical chemist who is internationally recognized
as an expert in the field of hydrogen bonding. Her research has
addressed questions concerning the structures and stabilities of
hydrogen-bonded complexes, the methodological dependence of their
computed properties, and their infrared vibrational spectra with
emphasis on the anharmonicity of the proton-stretching vibration
particularly in complexes with proton-shared hydrogen bonds. Most
recently, her work has focused on the signs and magnitudes of NMR one-
and two-bond spin-spin coupling constants across hydrogen bonds, and
how these may be used to extract structural information and determine
hydrogen bond type. Dr. Del Bene is the author or co-author of
more than 200 scientific papers and chapters in books, and has been an
invited speaker at national and international meetings. She has
been a Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney, Australia, the
University of Madrid, and the University of Florida. Dr. Del Bene
is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science. In 2002, she received the triennial Iota Sigma Pi
Honorary Lifetime Member Award, the highest award given by this
organization, in recognition of her accomplishments in research.
Winter
2008
Sherri
Lovelace-Cameron, associate professor chemistry, teamed up along with
three regional high school teachers William Synder, Steve DiMuzio, and
Les McSparrin to receive a $42,466 grant from the Ohio Board of Regents
Improving Teacher Quality program for the project "Strategies for
Success with Standards-Based Learning in Science." The project
will provide summer 2008 professional development for teachers.
Fall
2007
BioMolecular
Chemistry Position Announcement:
The YSU Department of
Chemistry seeks applicants for a tenure track faculty position at the
assistant professor level. Candidates are expected to establish a
vigorous externally funded research program involving undergraduate and
graduate (M.S.) students. Their research specialization will complement
current faculty interests in the Chemistry & Biological Sciences
Departments and will lie near the interface of bioorganic chemistry,
biochemistry, and physical/structural methods.
Announcements in C&E News
and Science
Allen D. Hunter was awarded $ 911,050 from the Department of Defense
via an
Army Research Grant to to establish an “Cyber-Enabled
Industrial Innovation Center, (CyberLabNet Project)” at Youngstown
State University.
Summer
2007
The YSU Department of
Chemistry has again one of the 25 largest Master's Programs in the
Nation. In the 2007 ACS compilation of graduates from academic
departments with ACS accredited chemistry programs YSU is ranked 25th,
tied with such prestigious schools as Purdue or Texas A&M
University (Chemical & Engineering News 2007, August 20th, 60-73).
Dr. Nina V. Stourman has joined us as
Assistant Professor for Biochemistry.
The
YSU department of chemistry received an anonymous $48,000 gift in
July 2007.Though
there is flexibility on how to use the gift, the donor did
make a few stipulations: the gift must be spent on something new,
perpetual and that has an immediate impact on students. The departments 15 full–time faculty
and four full–time staff members were asked to submit proposals on how
the donation should be used.
Spring
2007
The new XRF has arrived. On May 14th
our new X-ray fluoresence spectrometer was installed. This Bruker AXS
S2Ranger instrument will be used for the detection and quantification
of elements heavier than sodium in samples as divers as chuncks of
metals, loose or pressed powders, oil-suspensions, aqueous solutions,
and many others in both research and teaching.
Winter
2007
New NMR
Spectrometer awarded: Peter Norris and Allen Hunter,
YSU Department of Chemistry, were awarded $475,000 from the National
Science Foundation for the purchase of a new remotely accessible 400
MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer (CRIF:MU: CAMRA-YSU -
Cyber-Accessible Magnetic Resonance at YSU - Purchase of a 400 MHz NMR
Spectrometer). Co-applicants in this multi-instituitions award
were Dave
Baker
(Delta College), Paul
Szalay (Muskingum College), and Tom
Higgins (Harold Washington College). The new NMR is scheduled to be
installed Fall 2007.
Drs' Sherri Lovelace-Cameron,
Department of Chemistry, and Jill Gifford, Biological Sciences,
received an award of $77,470 from the Ohio Board of Regents Improving
Teacher Quality program for their proposal “Using
Inquiry to Teach Physical and Life Science for Ohio Educators.” The grant will fund
the professional development of Ohio teachers through two graduate
courses. The first course will target teachers (grades 3-9) with
regard to teaching the fundamentals of physical science through inquiry
learning, using differentiated instruction. The second
course will review key concepts in the major themes in life science and
will develop inquiry-based instruction appropriate for grades 6-12th
classrooms. Tuition and classroom materials for teachers is provided by
the grant.
Fall
2006
Dr.
Josef B. Simeonsson has joined us as
Associate Professor for Analytical Chemistry.
He will conduct research in the fields of Atomic and Molecular
Spectrometry Methods, Trace and Ultratrace Analysis, Analytical Laser
Spectroscopy Methods-Fluorescence, Ionization and Raman, Environmental
Analysis and Clinical Analysis, Biogeochemical cycling of trace
species, environmental remediation, Biological trace element research,
Flame and plasma diagnostics, and plasma spectroscopy.
The National Science Foundation awarded the City Colleges of Chicago $2,700,000 ($100,000
to YSU) for “Exploring New Models for Authentic
Undergraduate Research with Two-Year College Students.”
Summer
2006
Sherri Lovelace-Cameron and Greg W. Sturrus
(YSU Department of Physics) were awared $71,788 from NSF for “Using
Inquiry to Teaching Physical Science for Ohio Educators.” The
grant
will fund the professional development of Ohio teachers focused on
teaching the fundamentals of physical science through inquiry.
Teachers receive tuition for a graduate content and methods course in
which they conduct a series of investigations to enhance their own
understanding of physical science topics, are encouraged to apply
research-tested methods to improve student learning, and practice
Alternative assessments. Funding is provided to encourage
teachers in
the course to provide professional development to area teachers.
Dr. Jeffrey Smiley,
Professor of Biochemistry, will be joining The American Chemical Society Petroleum
Research Fund for a professional leaven
in academic years 2006 and 2007. He will be Program Officer for PRF
Grant Proposals within Committees 1 and 4, covering enzyme chemistry,
organic chemistry, "green chemistry," and other subjects (see
www.acsprf.org).
Spring
2006
2005 Enology Paper
of the Year: The publication “Validation of a
Solid-Phase Microextraction
Method for Headspace Analysis of Wine Aroma Components” by Karen
Howard, James
Mike and Roland Riesen was
selected as best enology paper published in 2005 by
the American Society for Enology and Viticulture. The project was Karen
Howard’s Master Thesis. After successful completion in 2004, she
accepted one
of only 12 awarded NSF Scholarships to enter the PhD program at SUNY
Syracuse.
The award for the best paper will be presented at the ASEV Annual
Meeting in Sacramento
on June 27.
Mr Raymond E. Hoff,
Instrument Service Specialist at the Department of Chemistry, will be,
for the second time after 2003, one of the Youngstown State University DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARDS RECIPIENTS of 2006. The awards will
be presented at the 25th Annual Awards Dinner to be Held Friday, May 5,
2006 at 5:45 p.m. in Kilcawley Center Ohio Room.
Winter
2006
Peter Norris
received a $ 50,000 ACS Petroleum Research Fund Type B: “Stereospecific
Intramolecular Carbenoid Insertions on Furanose
Platforms as a route to Branched-Chain Sugars, C-Glycosides and Fused
Heterocycles”
Allen Hunter received
$ 55,000 for YSU from the National Science Foundation Chemistry
Division: "Undergraduate Research Centers Program Ohio Consortium for
Undergraduate Research: Research Experiences to Enhance Learning (REEL)"
Fall
2005
Dr. Brian Leskiw has joined us as an
Assistant Professor. Professor Leskiw is a Physical chemist with
research interests in mass spectrometry.
Sherri
Lovelace-Cameron, together with R. Zitto, YSU Physics Department, reiceived $ 54,108 from the Ohio Board of Regents
for the grant “Inquiry Minds –Teaching Physical Science by Inquiry.”
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