Student Presents Research in San Francisco

 

Chemistry major Humberto Chavarria attended the 100th Annual Fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) last week in San Francisco. At this centennial event, Chavarria presented his REU research findings from his summer experience at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 research facility. There he and his teammates characterized the soil composition and properties to see how they had changed in the years since the artificial rainforest biome had been established. It seems that the rocky West is calling Chavarria: first Arizona, and now California. We may very well find him pursing a doctoral degree in geochemistry soon. You can read the abstract of this poster at the AGU website.

If you are interested in a summer REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates), now is the time to start thinking about one if you haven't already. There are opportunities on our own campus and around the country too. For more information about REUs, please review the announcements on the Biology-Chemistry Canvas page or talk to one of your favorite professors.

Professor Gretchen Anderson Passes Away

Professor Gretchen Anderson passed away Monday morning after battling cancer for over a year. While cancer claimed her body, her spirit was never overcome. Dean Phillips frequently mentioned Anderson's "infectious" smile which you can see in these photos of her with fellow faculty, students, alumni, and children from the community. To the end, Anderson was focused on helping others: whether students in her classes who needed help with chemistry or guidance with their academic plan - or fellow faculty who needed teaching advice or help with tenure and promotion. As one student commented: "If you find a professor that is more passionate about what they do, I would be very surprised! Dr. Anderson is absolutely wonderful!"

While she sported many interesting hats this past year, Anderson wore many figurative hats during her life. To fellow faculty she was scientist, administrator, and leader. To students she was professor, mentor, and advisor. To friends she was advocate and counselor. To family she was mother, wife, and sister. To all who know her, she was irreplaceable. We are terribly sad for her passing, but we are extremely grateful for the time we have shared.

Please click here for Gretchen's obituary at Brown Funeral Home.

Professor Gretchen Anderson to Retire

Last week the department celebrated the upcoming retirement of Biochemistry Professor Gretchen Anderson. Past and current faculty and friends gathered for a heartwarming dinner and the revealing of a scholarship established in honor of her extraordinary efforts as professor, scientist, and department chair at IU South Bend. Anderson holds the scholarship plaque which will soon be placed in Northside Hall to display the names of future scholarship winners.

 

Gretchen’s retirement from IU South Bend at the end of the semester is the culmination of a career that started with a degree in Medical Technology from SUNY at Albany and blossomed into a calling to teach Biochemistry and mentor undergraduates in her research laboratory.  After earning her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1987, Gretchen secured a post-doctoral position at The Ohio State University before coming to IU South Bend as the department’s first full-time biochemist in 1992.  She spent summers working in her research lab with undergraduates to study how certain bacteria could be used to detoxify arsenic in the environment.

 

Gretchen was instrumental in the growth and success of the department; curiosity and persistence were the hallmarks of her time at IU South Bend.  She earned all of the teaching awards the campus has to offer for introducing innovative methods in her courses; the crown jewel was the University-wide Herman Frederic Lieber Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence in 2005. Gretchen was equally adept at administration which she proved in her tenure as department chair for nearly two terms.  She was also the primary force behind establishing a biochemistry degree in our department which graduated its first students in 2007. The biochemistry degree has become the more popular choice among our majors.

 

Gretchen made a lasting impact on each and every student who has crossed her path. In the classroom, Gretchen was known for her engaging lecturing style and enthusiasm for all things biochemistry. By incorporating hands-on activities and real-life examples to drive the message home, she made complex ideas easy to understand. Moreover, Gretchen was an excellent mentor to countless students, challenging and inspiring those needing confidence to achieve their best. That her students have excelled as doctors, professors, and leaders in the chemical and biomedical industry is a testament to her heart for mentoring students and commitment to student success. We will miss you immensely!

 

The Gretchen Anderson Pathways Scholarship will be awarded to a chemistry or biochemistry major who shows potential for a successful career in science with consideration given to academic performance, undergraduate research, participation in campus activities, and overcoming hardships. If you are interested in making a donation to the IU Foundation to support this scholarship, please contact Ms. Dina Harris at (574) 520-4131.​

Students Present their Summer Research in Indianapolis

Photo courtesy of Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence (LSMRCE), a project funded by NSF HRD-1826626 (IUPUI) and HRD-1826719 (CSU).

The Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence 2019 Annual Conference was held this year in Indianapolis during October 25-27. Students from IU South Bend researching in the STEM fields of biochemistry, biology, chemistry, computer science, and physics attended this conference to showcase posters describing their summer research - most of which was funded by the LSAMP program coordinated on our campus by analytical chemist Grace Muna.  She and ecologist Deb Marr(also director of our sustainability program) accompanied our hard-working students at the conference. The summer research experience and opportunity to present their work is a valuable experience that will help to elevate our students' resumes for graduate school and industry. Here is a list of the students and their research titles.  You can read abstracts of their work HERE.

Ebenezer Pacifique Barinda (Computer Science, with Hossein Hakimzadeh )
Hybrid Parcel Services (HPS): Application to Improve Courier Services

Grace Berney (Biological Science, with Murli Nair)
Understanding molecular signatures associated with IPS cells and their cell of origin

Humberto Chavarria (Chemistry, at Biosphere 2)
Biosphere 2: The Changes of Soil Composition and Properties in Time in the Rainforest Biome

Angel Garcia-Simental (Physics, with Jerry Hinnefeld)
St. George Detector Simulation

Alexia Glasper (Biochemistry, with Deb Marr)
Effect of Antidepressant Drugs on Aquatic Plants and Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria Isolated from Nectar

Brianna Jones (Chemistry, with Grace Muna)
Phenolic Compounds and Mineral Content Determination in Organic and Conventional Blueberries: A Comparison Stud

Patricia Medrano (Biological Science, with Andy Schnabel)
Pollinator diversity, pollen limitation, and nectar microbial divers

Christopher Mochel (Chemistry, with Grace Muna)
Method Development for Detection of Aminothiols in Biological Samples

Amber Owens (Biological Science, with Deb Marr)
The effect of paroxetine, an SSRI drug, on Gammarus, a freshwater crustacean

Andrew Vila (Biological Science, with Grace Muna)
Optimization of Bismuth Deposition Conditions on Glassy Carbon Electrode for Detecting Lead in Water and Soil Samples

Chemistry Week

This past week our department celebrated National Chemistry Week.  Mole Day was on Wednesday October 23 (10/23) as usual and those who woke up early were able to celebrate at 6:02 AM as well as 6:02 PM.  Professor Rizk’s upper-level biochemistry lecture went outside to illustrate just how large is Avogadro’s number (nearly one trillion trillion) which tells how many units are in one mole of a substance. A tablespoon (14.8 mL) of water is about one mole of water.  This means that there are close to one trillion trillion water molecules held in that tablespoon.  The tablespoon itself (around 300 g) would be about 3 moles of silver - or nearly 3 trillion trillion silver atoms if it were made of pure silver.

On Friday at noon, the newest faculty member of our department gave the second talk in this year’s Dean’s Seminar Series. Professor Clear’s talk was titled Approaches and Application for Synthetic Lipid Receptors and he gave the audience an introduction to the goals and methods of his past and planned research. Although Clear is pressed for time in his first semester with a new teaching load and advising responsibilities, he has already attracted students to his research in his organic chemistry group. In the evening, the faculty and some students officially welcomed Clear to the university with a dinner party at LangLab.

National Chemistry Week ended with hands-on mini-experiments for kids on Saturday at the River Park Branch Public Library. Students from the IUSB Biology and Chemistry Club once again volunteered their valuable time to foster scientific interest in the younger generation. 

 

Is Graduate School Right For You?

Professor and Biochemist, Shahir Rizk, is presenting his annual talk "So you want to go to graduate school, eh?".  Attendance is a must for anyone interested in graduate school - and a good idea for anyone who isn't sure what they want to do when they graduate.  After four (or more) years of supporting yourself through undergraduate school, you may be surprised to learn that graduate schools pay tuition for their PhD students - as well as offer a stipend for living expenses.  The talk is on Tuesday, October 15, at 5:00 in the afternoon in NS 125.

 

 

Faculty Present in Bloomington and Indianapolis

 

Pictured above is Grace Muna (center) with two IU Kokomo faculty members while at Bloomington’s symposium on Undergraduate Research and Capstone Experiences on September 20. The focus of the symposium was on the implementation of  Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) and panelists (Muna was one) were given about five minutes each to speak about the state of undergraduate research at their campus. Muna shared about the LSAMP and SMART programs that support our students to do research over the summer. The invited speaker, Sarah E. Brownell, from Arizona State University has done a lot of research on CUREs and she shared on the benefits students get from CUREs and ways to incorporate CUREs in courses. Muna plans to incorporate CUREs during the last three weeks of her course CHEM-C 410 Instrumental Analysis to give the students an opportunity to apply what they have learned during the semester to solve a particular analytical problem.

Just two days prior, Shahir Rizk (below) attended the IU Innovation and Commercialization Conference at IUPUI. Rizk was invited to attend based on his recent work developing a fluorescent biosensor for detecting the herbicide glyphosate. (Perhaps you've seen commercials encouraging viewers to participate in a class-action lawsuit against the company that produces Round-Up [brand name for glyphosate] alleging that the herbicide contributed to cancer.)  Rizk is currently pursing a patent for his group's biosensor.

 

 

Student Returns from Summer Research Experience

Humberto Chavarria is a chemistry major at IU South Bend who was selected to participate in a competitive, paid REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) this past summer funded by the National Science Foundation at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 research facility.  Although he will graduate at the end of this academic year as chemistry major, Chavarria intends to pursue a graduate degree in geology.  The two fields are not unrelated as the determination of the chemical composition of soils and rocks is very important and can tell scientists a great deal about the environment's geological history and future potential. Chavarria describes his research experience in the following paragraph.

"For 10 weeks, I got to spend my time in Oracle and Tucson, Arizona to do research for the University of Arizona at the Biosphere 2 facility along with 12 other students from around the country. Biosphere 2 is an earth science research facility that currently houses 7 biomes, each closed and controlled, including a tropical rainforest, mangrove wetlands, fog desert, and an ocean with a coral reef. My research project was on the soils used in the rainforest biome. The Biosphere could not get real rainforest soils due to the pricing, shipping restrictions, and disposal requirements, so the crew decided to create their own mixture of soil using local desert soil, sand, pumice, peat, and several other organic materials. My partner and I analyzed the soils to determine if they were changing to mimic real rainforest soils. We measured pH levels and electrical conductivity and finished with a cation exchange capacity procedure. We then compared the data to previous data collected to find any trends and then presented our results at the Desert Museum for the public and once again at the UROC convention for the university. My research impacts the Biosphere by giving future researchers necessary information for future projects such as a drought experiment in the rainforest biome. Other current projects that are being worked at Biosphere 2 include possibilities and strategies to revive coral reefs and agrivoltaics, and the technique of utilizing the same plots of land for both solar energy and agriculture, which is currently showing promising results."

The Biology-Chemistry Club Transitions to the New Academic Year

The Biology-Chemistry Club ended the summer with their second community outreach event: "Space Slime" at the LaSalle Public Library on the first of August for an hour in the afternoon. Their first event at River Park branch earlier in the summer was so successful that they engaged children with many of the same activities such as moon painting, a microscope for kids to look at rocks through, as well as letting them make glitter slime.

 

But now the club members are setting their sites on the new academic year and their first event was for the campus with a Semester Kickoff Party on Thursday at the LangLab on High Street, South Bend where pizza served as the catalyst for students and faculty to catch up on what has happened over the summer months. We are excited to see what plans the club has for rest of the year - particularly for National Chemistry Week in October with the theme "Marvelous Metals"!

Alumnus Kasey Clear is our New Organic Chemist

 

Professor Kasey Clear is our new organic chemist starting this fall, but he is no stranger to IU South Bend or teaching organic chemistry. Clear graduated from our campus in 2011 with a B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in Biological Sciences. In 2016, he earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame for his dissertation on synthetic sensors for biomembrane molecular recognition.

 

Clear then secured a teaching position as an assistant professor at Murray State University in Kentucky from 2016-2019. He primarily taught the standard two-semester organic chemistry sequence and a one-semester organic chemistry overview course, but he also taught a graduate-level organic chemistry course and introductory chemistry during this time. Clear also mentored ten undergraduate researchers in organic synthesis and anion recognition projects. Many of these students have presented their research at regional and national chemistry meetings, and several students have since moved on to chemistry and biochemistry Ph.D. programs, professional schools, and jobs in the chemical workforce. Clear's research program is in the area of supramolecular and bioorganic chemistry. In this, he designs and synthesizes organic molecules that bind to and act as sensors for biological molecules, particularly lipids. He will continue research on a sensor for a signaling lipid and begin work on a new synthetic receptor for the allergenic components in poison ivy and poison oak plants.

Outside of his academic pursuits, Clear enjoys time outdoors appreciating nature and all manner of creative endeavors including cooking, knitting, quilting, sewing, playing bass guitar and keyboard, and singing with his family's local music group, the Clear Family Singers. Sometimes these creative activities creep into his teaching when he decides to rewrite song lyrics (e.g. Bromine in the Jar, There Are Many Ways to React Alkenes) and poetry (e.g. Mercaptan, Mercaptan!) to illustrate chemistry concepts.

 

Clear loved his time as a student at IU South Bend and has many wonderful memories. He especially enjoyed working as supplemental instruction leader, tutor, and science team leader in the Academic Center for Excellence. But one of his favorite memories was Dr. Anderson's words of warning regarding potential future research subjects: namely, avoid studying lipids or anything anaerobic! He inadvertently forgot the first piece of advice before it was too late, but fortunately he has come to really enjoy studying lipids. 

 

Kasey is very excited to be back in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and a part of the IU South Bend community!

Summer Research in the Rizk Lab

Biochemist Shahir Rizk has had a very busy summer. He is pictured above presenting his work on Reversible Self-Assembly of Bio-Responsive Nanostructures at the 2019 Cottrell Scholar Conference in Tucson, Arizona in early July. Rizk was announced as a Cottrell Scholar earlier this year in Science Magazine and IU produced a nice video segment on his research and goals. More recently, Rizk returned from the National Environmental Monitoring Conference in Jaksonville, Florida in early August where he presented work on Engineering a Biosensor for the Herbicide Glyphosate. One of our adjunct professors, Earl Hansen, and his wife, organize this conference each year. They are pictured with Rizk below.

In between his busy conference schedule, Rizk has been mentoring three student researchers in his laboratory: chemistry major Ashley Catanzarite, biochemistry major Audrey Doue, and biology major Joel Green. Catanzarite won this year's Carolyn & Lawrence Garber Summer Research Fellowship.  Doue won the Zeider Excellence in Biochemistry Scholarship and also was funded by a SMART grant for her research experience.

Recently, Chancellor Elrod paid the Rizk lab a visit and met with the students. A geneticist herself, Chancellor Elrod (right) had a chance to learn about the research on protein engineering in the Rizk lab from students Ashley Catanzarite (second from left) and Joel Green (left). 

 

Alumna Success Story

Congratulations to Alexandra Hochstetler (left) who was recently accepted to the IU Medical School  along with her sister (right).  Alexandra is an award-winning graduate of our department. She earned her B.S. degree in biochemistry in 2017. Hochstetler describes her postgraduate experience below. We are so proud of you, Alexandra, and hope that you and your sister both have a wonderful experience in medical school.

"Between my bachelors degree and medical school, I continued working as a research technician in the Schwarz lab at Harper Cancer Research Institute following my experience the previous summer as RC MedReview Fellowship recipient. I later made the decision to move to Indianapolis and began working at Eli Lilly as a contractor while studying for the MCAT. The science labs and lectures at IU South Bend (specifically biochemistry and molecular biology) as well as the summer research experiences offered at IU South Bend, provided me with invaluable hands-on experience, which gave me an edge over the other applicants in order to secure my position at Lilly. As I continued studying for the MCAT, I never felt like any of the information was foreign or that I needed to relearn subjects because the science courses offered at IUSB were directly applicable to the information on the MCAT. My younger sister and I applied to medical school together and were both accepted! This summer before school started, I took Dr. Anderson’s advice and took a Victory Vacation to celebrate! As I reflect during my first week of medical school about my journey to this point, I definitely could not have done it without my professors and mentors from IU South Bend! They were always supportive of my crazy ideas, answered millions of questions, and helped guide me to where I am now."

LSAMP Summer Research Poster Session

At the beginning of the Summer, a group of faculty took on a larger group of students to mentor them in summer research projects funded by the LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation) arm of the National Science Foundation. Today those students (and others) presented their work in a morning poster session (that's just one of them pictured) after eight weeks of experimental design, trouble-shooting, data collection, and analysis.  Congratulations to all of these students for their hard work.  We hope that they will be inspired to continue researching during their undergraduate career and perhaps even pursue a career of research in the near future.

Ebenezer Barinda - Computer Science major
HPS: A Web Application that Uses GPS Tracking to Improve Parcel Delivery Services (Hossein Hakimzadeh's lab) 

Grace Berney - Biochemistry major
Molecular signatures that distinguish IPS cells from their cells of origin (Murli Nair's lab)
 

Angel Garcia-Simental  - Physics major
St. George Detector Simulation (Jerry Hinnefeld's lab)
 

Alexis Glasper - Biology major
Effects of Antidepressant Drugs on Aquatic Plants and Levels of Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria Isolated from Nectar (Deb Marr's lab)

Brianna Jones - Chemistry major
Phenolic Compounds and Mineral Content Determination in Organic and Conventional Blueberries: A Comparison Study (Grace Muna's lab)
 

Patricia Medrano - Biology major
Pollination Ecology of Iris virginica and Penstemon digitalis: Pollinator Diversity, Pollen Limitation, and Nectar Microbial Diversity (Andy Schnabel's lab)

Chris Mochel - Chemistry major
Method Development for Detection of Aminothiols in Biological samples (Grace Muna's lab)

 

Amber Owens - Biology major
The Effect of Paroxetine, an SSRI drug, on Gammarus, a freshwater crustacean  (Deb Marr's lab)

 

Andrew Vila - Biology major
Optimization of Bismuth Deposition Conditions on Glassy Carbon electrode for Detecting lead in Water and Soil (Grace Muna's lab) 

 

Summer Research with Muna

Associate Professor Grace Muna (second from the left) has three students working in her laboratory this summer on different projects.   Brianna Jones (far left) and Andrew Vila (far right) will both be juniors next year. Jones is a chemistry major and plans to go to pharmacy school when she graduates. Vila is a biology major and is considering to pursue an MD-PhD degree. Chris Mochel (second from the right) is a rising senior in chemistry who plans to attend graduate school. Jones, Mochel, and Vila have been working hard all summer and are currently preparing posters to present the results of their fruitful labor for all to see on the walls of the chemistry hall (and possibly a conference next semester). The students describe their individual research projects as follows:

Brianna Jones (funded by an LSAMP grant)

My research project is aimed at developing analytical methods that will be used to analyze the nutritional value of conventional and organic blueberries and compare them. To do this end, I have been working on developing a calorimetric method to determine phenolic compounds in the blueberries, as well as a microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy method to determine mineral content in the blueberries. The question we are trying to answer is whether there is any difference in nutritional values between conventional and organic blueberries. The developed analytical methods are being used to analyze and compare organic and conventional blueberries for their phenolic and mineral content.

Christopher Mochel (funded by a SMART grant)
The goal of my research, “Detecting Aminothiols in Biological Samples”, is to develop methods that can measure the concentrations of cysteine, homocysteine, and glutathione.  These aminothiols are important biomarkers found in the human body and having too much or too little of any or all of these aminothiols can indicate vulnerability to a wide range of diseases.  We are working on developing a colorimetric method to measure total aminothiols in urine by utilizing the ability of aminothiols to reduce iron(III) to iron(II) which complexes with o-phenathroline to form a colored complex. To selectively measure aminothiols in urine and plasma we are developing a method that combines HPLC with electrochemical methods using glassy carbon electrodes modified with gold nanoparticles.

Andrew Vila (funded by an LSAMP grant)
We are currently working on a project to compare different methods of depositing bismuth nanoparticle films on glassy carbon electrodes to be used to detect lead in water and soil. Although the government guidelines allow up to 15 ppb in public water supply, we have been working to detect the lowest concentration possible in order to avoid any lead contamination. The methods that are being used to deposit bismuth naoparticles on glassy carbon electrodes are cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. These techniques will be tested for their performance in lead detection. The analytical methods will be compared in terms of sensitivity, linear dynamic range and limit of detection to conclude which is the best method to determine lead in water and soil samples.

Summer Research with McMillen

Professor Doug McMillen used to be our full-time organic chemist, but over the years he has risen through the administration and now holds the title of Vice Chancellor. This spring was his last semester teaching organic chemistry for us - which he did graciously on top of his other duties to fill an unexpected vacancy. But chemistry will always be one of his passions and his dedication to chemistry and our students is clearly illustrated this summer as he mentors biochemistry major Brody Deming on a research project.  Deming is a junior in our department and is considering going to medical school after graduation.  He has nicely summarized their project for us:

Dr. McMillen and I are working on researching a greener way to oxidize alcohols to carbonyls. A lot of the reagents used in today’s chemistry can be harsh to humans and the environment. Examples of these reagents are potassium dichromate and pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC). Potassium dichromate and PCC are listed as carcinogenic and are very toxic to aquatic life. It is important to find greener reagents to minimize risk for the chemist and help the environment. In the past, McMillen has researched with N-iodosuccinimide with good results. It was found that the iodine in N-iodosuccinimide could be activated using a strong base. This poses a problem though because N-iodosuccinimide is expensive. We decided that this summer we would work on trying to find a way to activate I2 instead of N-iodosuccinimide since it would be cheaper. Thus far, the results are promising but we are trying to find a way to maximize yield.

Is There Ice Cream in Space?

The Biology Chemistry Club held an outreach event at the River Park Public Library yesterday evening to help launch the library's summer reading challenge. They made ice cream, talked about space, and let kids look at plants and rocks under the microscope. This was a huge success with more than 50 children participating. Each child took home their own painting of the moon. We are very proud that our students repeatedly volunteer to foster scientific interest in the next generation of students.

Awards and Graduates 2019

Professor (and Assistant Dean) Bill Feighery celebtrates with graduates Christian Moreno (BS Chemistry), Conor McGee (BS Chemistry), and Sandy Ho (BS Biochemistry) during this year's graduation ceremony. A few of our graduates are taking a year off before pursuing further education, but a couple are heading directly to graduate school and others are moving into industry. As always, our students excel in their coursework, research, and extracurricular activities and the department was able to hand out several awards at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Honors Convocation several days before.  Congratulations to all of our graduates and award winners!

Freshman Chemistry Achievement Award
  Molly Fox
ACS Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Award
  Christopher Mochel
Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry
  Anna McBeth
Student Excellence Award in Biochemistry
  Sandy Ho
Student Excellence Award in Chemistry
  Conor McGee
Joseph H. Ross Seminar Award
   Maggie Fink
Zeider Excellence in Biochemistry Scholarship
   Audrey Doue
Carolyn & Lawrence Garber Summer Research Fellowship
   Ashley Catanzarite

IU South Bend hosts local Chemistry Olympiad

France is going crazy with chemistry this year. They are celebrating 100 years of IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) by hosting two international chemistry meetings. They have also declared nationwide that the academic year from 2018 to 2019 is the "year of chemistry" for university students down to primary school students in accord with UNESCO declaring 2019 to be the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. So what does this have to do with IU South Bend? It turns out that France is also hosting the International Chemistry Olympiad, which is where winners from the US National Chemistry Olympiad compete as a team against other nations. But to get to the national competition, local competitions first occur throughout the country. 

IU South Bend and Saint Mary's College alternate hosting the local competition for the Chemistry Olympiad; this year was our turn. Laboratory supervisor Connie Fox and assistant Brenda Beatty were contacted ahead of time to order chemicals, prepare solutions, and set up instruments for today's competition.  The high school students spent the morning taking a written test and then after a break for lunch put all of their problem solving skills to work in the laboratory for chemical synthesis and analysis. 

Free ACS Membership for BS Chemistry Graduates

Our department offers three degrees: BS Chemistry, BS Biochemistry, and BA Chemistry. The Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry is certified by the American Chemical Society (ACS) which holds national and regional meetings, supports student chapters at colleges and universities, publishes the weekly magazine Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN), records and provides chemical information through its Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), and supplies a fountain of resources for chemists in school and in industry. This year, the ACS is offering a free three-year membership to our graduates of the BS Chemistry degree. Congratulations to all our graduates!

Spring Semester Research Presentations

[Top Left] Chemistry major Abigail Praklet has been working with analytical chemist Dr. Muna for several years and will graduate this semester. On April 11, she presented her final research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) on the campus of Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. Her project was the development of a Sensitive Stripping Voltammetric Method for Detecting Lead in Water and Soil. Praklet’s research was funded by a SMART Summer Research Grant and IUSB work study funds.

[Top Right] Pierre Emmanuel N’Guetta gave an oral presentation as a member at the 134th Indiana Academy of Science Annual Meeting on March 30 in downtown Indianapolis. Although he is a biology major, N’Guetta’s research Engineering a Biosensor for the Herbicide Glyphosate was conducted over several semesters in Dr. Rizk’s biochemistry laboratory. N’Guetta remarks that giving presentations helped develop “confidence in myself as a scientist and I was also able to showcase the great education I received here at IU South Bend. Research is definitely my passion and IUSB really allowed me to discover it.” 

[Bottom Left] Hunter Richman, another chemistry major, presented a poster at Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in Washington, D.C. in late February. His poster Understanding the Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Post-synthetic Ligand Exchange in Cu(II) Metal-organic Cages described the research he conducted last summer at the University of Delaware. Richman enjoyed this opportunity to present his worked and he learned a lot from attending other poster sessions and several lectures from scientists and inventors.

[Bottom Right] Finally there was a team poster presentation last Friday at our annual Undergraduate Research Conference from the students of the fall 2019 CHEM-C 486 Biological Chemistry Laboratory class: Expression and Purification of Adenosine Deaminase and Mutants Associated with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency. The work was done over the course of the semester by Ahmad Alsahfi, Sayvon Esper, Winnie Ihano, Anna McBeth (pictured left), Hunter Richman, and Caitlin Schulz (pictured right),

New IR and UV-Visible Spectrometers

This spring the department introduced two new spectrometers to our student laboratories. The Jasco FT/IR-4700 is a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer that can probe the vibrational modes of samples. It comes with a single reflection ATR attachment for easy study of liquids. We also have two gas cells that are compatible with the instrument. IR spectrometers are used extensively in the sophomore organic chemistry courses but they see use in other advanced courses as well. We also added a third UV-visible diode array spectrometer (Cary 8454) from Agilent Technologies and upgraded both the software and operating systems for our other two diode array spectrometers. These instruments are heavily used in the junior/senior biochemistry laboratory course and also in our two biochemistry research labs.

Associate Faculty Recognized for Service and Promotion

This afternoon three of our instructors were honored at the annual Associate Faculty Reception. Both David Alonso (not pictured) and Michael Nolt (third from the left) were recognized for ten years of teaching at IU South Bend. Alonso is a regular instructor for our sophomore organic chemistry laboratories and Nolt enjoys teaching our freshman "Natural World" chemistry course which fulfills a campus-wide general education requirement. Merilee Britt (second from the left) was recently awarded Merit Status for her outstanding service.  Britt has been teaching the introductory freshman course for science and health science majors who have not had chemistry in high school. We are very proud of and grateful to all of our associate faculty. They provide excellent instruction and have a sincere desire to engage with and help our students.

Graduate School Panel

You may be working part-time to pay your way through school right now at IU South Bend, but did you know that most students GET PAID to attend graduate school? The IU South Bend Biology-Chemistry Club is sponsoring a panel discussion Tuesday night that will include professors Shahir Rizk (biochemistry) and Henry Scott (physics) along with a couple of graduate students. Come to learn about what graduate school can do for you, what it is like, and how you can prepare yourself to be an attractive candidate. All students are welcome, but if you are a sophomore or junior, then this even is definitely for you!

The Biology-Chemistry Club Welcomes Spring!

On March 23, the IU South Bend Biology-Chemistry Club returned to River Park Public Library (just east of the campus) to celebrate the "Spring Solstice" with local children. True to the theme of spring, our students helped children plant seeds, look at the fine structure of flowers under the microscope, and learn how plants use light to make carbohydrates. The club has had a strong community presence for several years. If you are interested in participating in any of their outreach programs - or just want to get involved in science-type activities - please let any of your professors know so they can put you in contact with the right people.

Medical School Seminars

Next week the Biology-Chemistry Club is sponsoring two talks.  The first will be given by Dr. Kevin Schmidt, an optometrist and Associate Director of Recruitment at the IU School of Optometry.  The second will be given by Dr. Peter Paximadis, a radiation oncologist from the Lakeland Care Network. He will discuss what it takes to enter the medical field and be successful there - and may even discuss a few example medical cases. The seminars are scheduled for Tuesday, March 19, in Northside Hall 125 (4:00 for optometry / 6:00 for oncology). Everyone is welcome. Click HERE for a link to Dr. Paximadis's video introduction.

Academic Centers for Excellence STEM Fair

This Friday the Academic Centers for Excellence hosted a STEM fair from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm at the fourth floor of the Schurz Library. An assortment of pizza, brownies, cookies, and drinks created a relaxed atmosphere that allowed faculty and tutors to easily talk to students about their classes, study strategies, majors, research, internships, graduate school preparation, and career options. STEM is an acronym for "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics" which is well represented with the biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, informatics, physics, and mathematics majors offered within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Three students won backpacks full of school supplies from a random drawing and both students and professors participated in an origami training session toward the end of the event. The fourth floor of the library usually isn't this "fun", but it is very resourceful throughout the week with tutors for many classes. In addition to tutoring, ACE offers other services to students. Please visit their website for more information. Thanks to Savannah McCaslin for the pictures!

Medical School Open House

Next Friday (March 8) the South Bend Campus of the IU School of Medicine is sponsoring an open house in conjunction with the IU South Bend Pre-Health Professions and Biology-Chemistry Clubs. You'll hear from the Director of Medical Education, meet current medical students, take a tour of the facility, and more!  The event will be held at the Raclin-Carmichael Hall Auditorium (1234 N Notre Dame Ave.).  Please RSVP through THIS LINK or the QR code below.

 

Professor Shahir Rizk is named a 2019 Cottrell Scholar

Congratulations are in order to Professor Shahir Rizk! It was recently announced that he received the Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The award is given to outstanding, early career scientists who are “recognized by their scientific communities for the quality and innovation of their research programs and their academic leadership skills”. This award recognizes pre-tenure chemistry, physics or astronomy professors who support an innovative research program while addressing educational needs in their institutes. Rizk’s proposal included both a research and teaching component. For his research, he proposed the development of nanostructures that can assemble in response to a biological signal, while the teaching component featured his approaches to promote science communication and introduce science majors to careers in science. 

Rizk is one of two dozen researchers from across the country who received this year’s award. He is the first faculty member from IU South Bend to be selected as a Cottrell Scholar and is one of eight IU faculty to have received the award since its inception in 1994. The award will support Rizk’s research in engineering protein-based nanostructures and will help him further develop his teaching approaches to introduce students to current issues in science policy and to build connections within the community by communicating science to a diverse audience. 

Almuna Returns to Address Graduating Students

Our graduating chemistry and biochemistry seniors will soon be submitting reports and giving presentations over recent scientific research of their choice. To help prepare them with the presentation experience and to offer perspective about life after graduation, Professor Rizk invited alumna Hannah MacLeod to talk to them today. MacLeod is a 2017 biochemistry IU South Bend graduate and 2016 winner of the George V. Nazaroff Scholarship. She spoke to our senior seminar class about her job at Lebermuth where she started out as a quality control analyst but is now a regulatory specialist. MacLeod discussed her transition from schooling to work, how she got her job, what she does on the job, and even gave tips on writing a resume and cover letter for a job application.

Publication in the Journal of Chemical Education

Theoretical chemist Matt Marmorino published a letter in the Journal of Chemical Education this month concerning the tendency of a pair of electrons to get close or stay distant from each other. This short note concerns merely the angular correlation of an electron pair for the singlet (spin paired) and triplet (same spin) states of an atom like carbon with two electrons in its p-subshell. Although behavior was covered in a previous article in the journal, Marmorino expanded the analysis in order to provide a slightly more general and simpler description of the electron behavior. You can view the article HERE from our university subscription. Marmorino was very excited to work on this short project because he was able to generate some interesting pictures - which is not something he typically does in his routine computational attack of eigenvalue problems.