Friday, September 28, 2012

Internships at Underwriters Laboratories

Paid internships are available at UL's drinking water analytical laboratory. Sophomore, junior, and senior chemistry and biology students are encouraged to apply.  Real world experience in an industrial setting is something that you cannot get from lectures, laboratory classes, or even academic research.  The laboratory is just about a mile northwest of IU South Bend.
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An internship looks very impressive on a resume and will give you insight into what type of career you might pursue (or avoid) when you graduate.  Such an experience might even help you decide whether to pursue an advanced degree or go straight into the workforce.  An internship sometimes leads to a job at the company after graduation. Several of our chemistry students have joined Underwriter's Laboratories after graduation and are enjoying their work.  Click here to find more information or to apply.  Note: the summary heading in the job description states "Full Time", but if you read further the position is obviously a part-time internship.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Promoted to Glory

Professor Darrell H. Beach passed away and was "promoted to glory" on September 18. Beach received his masters degree from Harvard University and his doctorate from Laurence University, both in education.  He taught chemistry at the Culver Military Academy for 35 years where he held the Eppley Chair of Chemistry for 23 years. After retiring from the Academy in 2000, Beach joined IU South Bend as an adjunct professor to teach freshman chemistry labs for nine years.  
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Beach published many chemistry articles including five in the Journal of Chemical Education and four in School Science and Mathematics.  He was also proclaimed as one of the top 40 contributors to Chem13 News on its 40th anniversary; you can try his 1997 quantum crossword puzzle if you like.  Beach was respected and appreciated by students and faculty alike. Perhaps the best tribute we can give him is that left by students at the country-wide teacher evaluation site known as ratemyprofessors.com:

Dr. Beach makes chemistry extremely enjoyable!  I never knew I could have fun in a subject I was not sure I would like to begin with! However he changed my mind and made it possible for me to succeed in my future undertakings! Thank you dearly Dr. Beach!!!

Dr. Beach is the most awesome professor I've ever had.  He wears the cutest little bowties, ya just want to hug him.  Plus, he's really understandable.  He works with the student if they have a problem.  Two huge thumbs up!!!!

The BEST!  Loved his lab.  Had so much fun and learned at the same time. So awesome! Take him if you get the chance! ... 

dr beach is the coolest, most hilarious prof. i've ever had.  he knows chemistry like the back of his hand.  the man cracked me up with his jokes in lab.  i even started a styrofoam cup on fire and he was really cool with it. notorious YOU ARE THE MAN

Professor Beach was a man full of character and charisma, in addition to experience and knowledge.  It was a pleasure to have him teach in our department. For more information regarding his life, please see the South Bend Tribune for his obituary.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Undergraduate Team Publishes Again


In the summer of 2011, mathematics major Doan Le and chemistry majors Tyler Krause and Abdullah Almayouf worked on two projects with Professor Matt Marmorino.  Results from the first project, an unusual application of the Temple lower bound to the ground-state energy, were published earlier this year.


The second project sought to bound properties other than the energy, such as moments of position which are used to determine the size and dipole moment of atoms and molecules.  The results of this second project have just been published in the October issue of the Journal of Mathematical Chemistry - click here for the abstract.  Congratulations to Doan, Tyler, and Abdullah!