Departmental News Archive

Graduate student Veselin Ruychev has been recognized by the Auburn Local Section of the American Chemical Society for his service in “Connecting Chemistry and the Community.” He is advised by Prof. Michael Squillacote.

The College of Sciences and Mathematics will host the sixth annual Dead Day Symposium on Wednesday, April 30, in the Sciences Center auditorium. This year's topic is "Frontiers in Functional Polymers" and is a tribute to Professor Dave Worley and his far-reaching influence through research, teaching and practical application in the field of functional polymers. The one-day symposium will include talks such as "Patterning of Electronic and Optical Organic Materials," "Halamine Chemistry: Polymeric Cyclic to Polymeric Acyclic Structures" and "Taking a Functional Polymer from the Benchtop to the Consumer Marketplace: A Commercialization Odyssey." The symposium will bring together leading scientists from around the United States and seeks to emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of sciences and mathematics. Registration for the symposium is open to anyone interested in the field of functional polymers. For more information, including registration forms and a complete list of speakers, visit www.auburn.edu/cosam/symposium.

The 2008 G.M. Kosolapoff Award and Lecture will be presented by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry on Monday, April 28, at 8 p.m. in the Sciences Center auditorium. The recipient is Barry Trost of Stanford University who will present "Chemistry and Biology - Merging Sciences." An additional lecture will be given at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in 134 Chemistry Building and is titled "Cycloadditions via TMM-Pd Intermediates: New Strategies for Total Synthesis and Asymmetric Induction."

Professor Susanne Striegler received a five-year National Science Foundation Career Award for her work on macromolecular glycosidase mimics. The results of this study will provide the foundation for novel macromolecular catalysts as an alternative to conventional syntheses and enzymatic approaches, and open new directions towards the synthesis of glycoconjugates with prospective pharmacological effects.

The American Chemical Society's Molecule of the Week for March, 31 to April 6, 2008, tetraborane, has brought enhanced recognition to an article published recently by Professor Michael McKee and his recently graduated doctoral student, Sayin Hasan.

Assistant Professor Anne Gorden and graduate student Xianghong Wu's recent work, "An Efficient Method for Solution-Phase Parallel Synthesis of 2-Quinoxalinol Salen Schiff-Base Ligands" in the Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry, is being featured on the American Chemical Society's Publications website [http://atd44.acs.org/journals/jcchff/promo/most/most_cited/2007.html] as one of the Most-Cited Articles published in 2007 and cited through the period ending December 31, 2007. Most-Cited Articles listed are based on data from Thomson Web of Science(r).

Congratulations to Carma Cook, one of three winners of this year's COSAM Graduate Student Research Awards. She is advised by Prof. Douglas Goodwin. Congratulations also to Harris Carmichael, one of five recipients of the Dean's Research Fellowship Awards. He is advised by Prof. German Mills.

Dr. Christopher Easley, a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University, will join the faculty as Assistant Professor in August, 2008. Dr. Easley received his Ph.D. degree at the University of Virginia and his B.S. degree at Mississippi State University. His interests in analytical chemistry include microfluidics, fluorescence microscopy, electrophoresis and the application of these techniques to the molecular biology of intercellular communication.

Kathryn Milly West will receive the 2008 Southeast Regional Member Award of the American Society for Clinical Pathology at a ceremony in San Francisco on February 28. This award recognizes exceptional ASCP members who have promoted and enhanced the field of laboratory medicine and who have rendered distinguished service in the Southeast. Ms. West is the Department's principal instructor and advisor in its Laboratory Technology and Medical Technology baccalaureate programs and also is the Department's Outreach Coordinator.

Assistant Professor Orlando Acevedo has won one of four 2008 Hewlett-Packard Outstanding Junior Faculty Awards. Winners are selected by the American Chemical Society's Computational Division. Dr. Acevedo will receive his award at the ACS's national meeting in New Orleans in April, 2008.

Household and medical applications of Professor Dave Worley's research in antimicrobial polymers are featured in the September 10, 2007 issue of Chemistry and Industry.

Assistant Professor Anne Gorden's recent article "Uranyl stabilized Schiff base complex" in Chemical Communications has been highlighted on the website of Chemical Science, the Royal Society of Chemistry's news magazine.

Professor Emeritus Thomas Webb was honored for 32 years of service to Auburn University at a ceremony at the Alumni Center on September 12, 2007. (Pictures)

Travis Bray, Graduate Student in the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department has been awarded a Harry Merriweather Fellowship for 2007. Only four such awards are made to Auburn Graduate students per annum.

Dr. Christian Goldsmith, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has joined the faculty. Dr. Goldsmith's interests include organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry. Dr. Goldsmith obtained his Ph.D. degree at Stanford University and his B.S. degree at Harvard University.

Two new Instructors, Dr. John Gorden and Dr. Joshua Ring, will contribute to the Department's first-year chemistry courses.

The Office of International Education will recognize Tsung-hsueh (Joseph) Wu as this year's Outstanding International Graduate Student at its banquet on April 18.

Prof. Anne Gorden has received the Powe Junior Faculty Award sponsored by Oak Ridge Affiliated Universities.

Prof. Thomas Webb is the 2006-2007 Honors College Professor of the Year and will receive this award at the Honors College's convocation on April 23.

Prof. Douglas Goodwin has been awarded a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation for his proposal entitled "Indispensable Roles of an 'Inactive' Domain in Catalase-peroxidase Structure and Catalysis: Applications for Enzyme Engineering".

This year’s G. M. Kosolapoff award, sponsored by the Auburn section of the American Chemical Society, will be presented to Robert H. Grubbs, Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. Robert Grubbs is an organic chemist whose work on catalysis has led to a wide variety of applications in medicine and industry; he won the 2005 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

While at Auburn, Professor Grubbs will present two talks. The first in the evening on April 3 will be to the general public and is titled “Applications of Olefin Metathesis Catalysts: Fundamental Research to Commercial Products.” The second in the afternoon on April 4 will be more technical and is titled “The synthesis of large and small molecules using olefin metathesis catalysts“.

AU professor's research leads to safer drinking water in India -- An AU chemistry professor's research is leading to safer drinking water in India through advanced, longer-lasting water filters. Dave Worley's N-halamine technology is the basis for the in-home filters that HaloSource Inc. and India's Eureka Forbes company introduced March 1 in Bombay. The filters contain polystyrene beads that hold oxidative chlorine or bromine atoms for long periods of time and that can be easily refurbished. Worley, an Auburn faculty member for 33 years, has received 30 patents in the course of discovering this process and he won the university's Creative Research and Scholarship Award last fall. For more information and to read the news release, visit the AU Newsmakers Web site at www.ocm.auburn.edu/newsmakers/water_filter.

President Richardson has approved two promotions for faculty members in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry that will be effective in the Fall Semester of 2007. Associate Professor Thomas Albrecht-Schmitt was approved for promotion to Professor and Assistant Professor Holly Ellis was approved for promotion to Associate Professor. Congratulations to Professors Albrecht-Schmitt and Ellis.

The new Colloquium Schedule for Spring 2007 is online.

-- The remarkable life and career of the African-American chemist Percy Julian (1899-1975), a native of Montgomery, Alabama, will be the subject of a video presentation in Room 134 of the Chemistry Building on Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at 7 pm. Dr. Julian's scientific achievements and service to humanity are an inspiration to the students and faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
 

-- The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry congratulates Professor S. D. Worley and Professor Michael McKee, who were recognized on September 7, 2006 at the Faculty Awards for Excellence ceremony. Vice President for Research Mike Moriarty presented Dr. Worley the Creative Research and Scholarship Award, Auburn's highest research honor. Dr. McKee has been awarded a five-year Alumni Professorship in recognition of outstanding research, publication and teaching.
 

-- Special Chemistry and Biochemistry Seminar by Prof. Roald Hoffmann of Cornell University at 12:45 pm on Tuesday, October 24 in SCC 115: "The Chemical Imagination at Work in Very Tight Places". Prof. Hoffmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1981 with Prof. Kenichi Fukui of Kyoto University, Japan. He also will deliver a Franklin-Littleton Lecture at 4pm in the COSAM Science Auditorium entitled "One Culture".