Faculty Focus - Clark Hartford

Clark Hartford earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry at East Tennessee State University and then eventually moved north and settled in Elkhart working at Miles Laboratory. At night he took chemistry courses at the University of Notre Dame to earn his masters degree. Hartford also took many additional specialty courses in analytical chemistry that helped him gain a promotion to head the Mile's analytical research team. Later in his career he worked in New Jersey as the manager of one of Rhodia's food ingredients analytical research laboratories.

Hartford's expertise in analytical chemistry is a great boon to our department and he has taught upper-level courses three times when our analytical chemistry position was temporarily vacant. When not rescuing our department in this manner, Hartford routinely teaches a couple of freshman laboratory classes each semester. and has been doing so for the past twelve years. We are ever thankful for the skill and expertise of our adjunct faculty.  The industrial experience that most of them have is a great benefit - and Hartford has a lot.

There's more to this man than just chemistry, however, for Hartford is a master of more than one trade. Though Hartford joined our department in 2002, our campus was not new to him, for he had continued his education, this time in business, and obtained an MBA with concentrations in finance and accounting from IU South Bend. With this expertise he assisted his director of research and development with business matters and even worked professionally for several years preparing tax returns.

Thank you, Clark, for your excellent service to our department.  We look forward to many more years of continued work side-by-side.

Quantum chemical calculations just got easier

Quantum mechanical calculations on molecules are routine nowadays and our department has recently upgraded from a few individual licenses of outdated Gaussian and HyperChem software to a three-year site license of Spartan.  This windows-driven student-version software allows for Hartree-Fock, density functional theory, and more advanced calculations to be performed on molecules to determine energy levels and optimum geometry. It also enables the prediction of IR and NMR spectra.  The software was primary acquired for use in the upper-level inorganic chemistry and physical chemistry courses. Nevertheless we anticipate the spectra generating ability will be especially useful in the sophomore organic chemistry course and we would like to introduce students to the software as early as their freshman chemistry course when they are introduced to molecular orbitals.  Professor Feighery will introduce the software this semester in his inorganic chemistry course CHEM-C335.  Limited licenses of the more advanced Spartan'14 are also available on faculty computers and in the chemistry computer lab. The picture depicts the HOMO of phosgene.

O Chemistry, O Chemistry, Your Beakers Bright Delight Us

How do our students relieve stress during final exam week? By getting in the Christmas spirit as only a chemist could!

Instructor John Koellner passes away

On October 19 Instructor John Koellner passed away after 43 years at IU South Bend. Koellner was a valued member of our department and often taught multiple sections of the fall and spring semesters of the freshman chemistry laboratory classes C125 and C126. His passing was quite sudden after resigning from teaching at the start of this semester. Please visit the South Bend Tribune for Koellner's obituary and this blog for a recent profile. We miss you Koellner!

Student club helps local ACS section win award

The Biology-Chemistry Club at IU South Bend has organized and participated in many events over the past several years. In 2011 the club ran a science outreach program during National Chemistry Week (NCW) at the River Park Library aimed at showcasing science to children. Last year they repeated the event (click here for the story) with support from the Saint Joseph Valley Local Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Earlier this month the Saint Joseph Valley Local Section won the Outstanding Community Involvement in NCW award (click here for formal announcement) - one of five national awards. Justifying the award were (1) a presentation for 16 local schools, (2) a two-day "Science Spectacular" event, and (3) our students' outreach at the library. Congratulations to the Saint Joseph Valley Local Section and to the Biology-Chemistry Club for their efforts.

For 2013 National Chemistry Week falls on October 20-26. The theme is "Energy: Now and Forever" and naturally focuses on the application of chemistry to the goal sustainable energy. This year the Biology-Chemistry Club will work with a new student organization to continue their tradition. The River Park event is open to the public from 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM.

Professor Anderson Wins Teaching Award - Again!

In his first newsletter to the campus, new chancellor Terry Allison announced the winners of the 2013 IU Trustee's Teaching Awards, and Professor Gretchen Anderson was one of the recipients. Anderson's list of teaching awards is impressive (see her webpage) and is topped with the Herman Frederic Lieber Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence.

Anderson continually looks for innovation and alternatives in the classroom. Last year she experimented with a flipped classroom approach in her own biochemistry lecture and also arranged for video-conferencing with IU Bloomington so that our physical chemistry students could "sit in" on lectures down state while our own physical chemist was on sabbatical. Each fall her laboratory course in biochemistry deviates from a set of pre-planned experiments and simulates undergraduate research.

This isn't the first time that Anderson has won a Trustee's Teaching Award - and it surely won't be the last. Congratulations and thank you for being more than just a scientist who teaches, but rather a sincere and dedicated educator.

Nobel prize-winner comes to South Bend

Biologist Eric Wieschaus shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with two others "for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development" [NobelPrize.org]. Wieschaus was born in South Bend and we celebrate his return to our city and visit to our campus. Please mark your calendar for this exciting and rare event.  For more information about the speaker and the Bender Scholar in Residence Lecture program please visit the IU South Bend News Room.