Chemistry Department News

2011 Fifth Annual Chemistry Reunion

Friday, May 6, 2011 | Bethel University Campus

Schedule

5 p.m. Chemistry Student Poster Session | Alumni Lounge

6 p.m. Dinner | Olson Boardroom

6:45 p.m. Welcome and Announcement of Second Annual Summer Research Awards | Olson Boardroom

7 p.m. Presentation by Bob Love | Olson Boardroom

Chemistry student oral presentations were held on Saturday, May 7, from 8 a.m.-1 p.m.Speaker
This year we welcomed our keynote speaker, Robert Love, M.D., a 1978 graduate of Bethel University and 2004 Alumnus of the Year. Love is a professor and vice chairman at Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois, and surgical director of lung transplantation for the center's Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Seminar Spring 2011

Dr. Brent Kobielush, Bethel chemistry '04 alumnus and Manager of Toxicology for General Mills, will present a talk on "Toxicology: What is it?" on Monday, April 18th at 7:00pm.

Dr. Rollin King was awarded the Bethel 2009-2010 Faculty Excellence Award in Scholarship.

Summer Research 2010

Dr. King, Virginia Tech graduate student Taylor Mach (Bethel '09 graduate), and Bethel senior Grant Lindh attended Molecular Quantum Mechanics 2010: An International Conference in Honor of Prof. Henry F. Schaefer III at the University of California, Berkeley on May 24-29. Prof. Schaefer (University of Georgia) was Dr. King's doctoral thesis advisor in the late 90's.

Grant Lindh, Rollin King, and Taylor Mach in San Francisco

The Chemistry department launched its first formalized summer research program during the summer of 2010. Dr. Maddox and student Kaitlyn Ohden, supported by an Edgren Fellowship, worked on developing synthetic routes to the formation of DNA analogues.

Dr. King and student John Cayton worked on the initial stages of development of a future computational quantum chemistry computer program.

Dr. Neibergall and student Paul Davis conducted biochemical research in the area of enzymatic reaction mechanisms.

Elsewhere, Grant Lindh (class of 2011) was awarded a summer research fellowship at Virginia Tech in theoretical chemistry. Matt Fuglestad (class of 2011) was awarded a summer research position at Mayo Medical School in Rochester, MN. Kailey Nelson (class of 2011) was chosen for a research internship at R&D Systems in Minneapolis. Sarah Anderson (class of 2011) was awarded an NSF-funded research experience for undergraduates position in Illinois.

Dr. Waas once again worked with the Singleton group at Texas A&M this summer. His current project involves the [6+4] cycloaddition of tropone with the terpene myrcene. Dr. Waas hopes to complete a mechanistic study on this reaction by finding experimental carbon-13 kinetic isotope effects at natural abundance, and comparing these experimental values to the already-known calculated values for the cycloaddition of tropone with isoprene (a close model system of myrcene).

Spring 2010 Events

Dr. Nagel and Dr. King hosted the 3rd grade class of Liberty Classical Academy for a chemistry activity and field trip day.

Dr. Neiwert, Dr. Waas, and Dr. Nagel attended the American Chemical Society's spring national meeting in San Francisco along with three Bethel students.

The Fourth Annual Chemistry Reunion was held on Friday, April 30, 2010. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Jonathan Vennerstrom. Dr. Vennerstrom is a former Bethel student who is now a distinguished scientist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Pharmacy. His research is focused on antiparasitic drug design and synthesis, particularly for the treatment of malaria. The junior/senior research poster session was attended by approximately 100 students.

ChemClub events

On Oct. 16-17 was the latest semiannual chemistry department camping trip to Wild River State Park.
On Dec. 9 was the first Chemistry movie night.
On Dec. 10 was the Operation Christmas Child volunteering.
On Dec. 11 was the Chemistry Christmas party at Dr. Neibergall's house.
On Dec. 16 was the Feed my Starving Children volunteering.

Summer Research Presentations

On Monday Sept. 14, during a special session of Junior & Senior Seminar, students gave presentations on their summer research experiences.

2009 Graduate News

Graduating biochemistry senior Sunshine Peterson will be attending Palm Beach Atlantic University's Gregory School of Pharmacy in West Palm Beach, FL beginning in the fall of 2009. She will be obtaining her doctorate of pharmacy degree and plans to pursue a career as a hospital pharmacist.

Graduating senior Jessica Minke will be attending the University of Minnesota Medical School (Twin Cities) beginning in the fall of 2009. The U.S. Army, which Jessica joined as an officer on May 24th, is paying for Jessica's medical school expenses.

Graduating senior Taylor Mach has been named a Doctoral Scholar of the Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS). Taylor is among approximately ten new VT graduate students to be chosen for this award, and the first from the VT department of chemistry since the program began in 2007. The ICTAS program provides full graduate tuition and academic fee support, as well as an annual stipend for four years of Ph.D. study, and support for scientific travel. The award announcement is at http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2009&itemno=718. Taylor is beginning Ph.D. studies in theoretical chemistry at VT in the fall of 2009.

Graduating Chemistry major Kate O'Brien has been chosen to receive a $2,000 scholarship from the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC), in addition to an annual stipend and tuition waiver. This scholarship is awarded to a student based on academic record and research achievements. Kate will be pursuing a doctorate in toxicology at KUMC in the fall of 2009.

2009 Chemistry Family Reunion

The Bethel Chemistry department sponsored the Third Annual Chemistry Family Reunion on Saturday, May 9, 2009. The focus of the event was the retirement of Dr. Paul Tavernier after 36 years of service to Bethel. We are soliciting letters from friends and alumni to compile in a book for Paul, and these may be sent by email to Pam Tanem or through the mail to Pam at P.O. 2366, Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, MN 55112. We would also love to have copies of photos of Paul, so please share any that you have, again via email or regular mail.

The morning and early afternoon events of the schedule were held in the incredible, newly-opened Brushaber Commons. The late afternoon and evening events were at the house of Paul Tavernier, a familiar sight to many of us.

Schedule of Events

10:30 a.m.	Tour of Brushaber Commons
11 a.m.	Brunch and Program, Olson Boardroom, Brushaber Commons
1:30 p.m.	Junior and Senior Student Poster Session, Alumni Lounge, Brushaber Commons
2:30 p.m.	Tour of Chemistry Department
4:30 p.m.	Punch Reception at the Home of Dr. Paul Tavernier
5:30 p.m.	Dinner Honoring Dr. Tavernier

“Who Am I and Where Am I Going? Moving beyond the Paycheck and Business Cards”, Brian Leafblad, Quality Coordinator, Ecolab, Inc.

Seminar: Mon., Feb. 23, 2009 in room AC300.
Pizza at 5:30 (for chemistry and biochemistry students and faculty)
Talk at 6:00 (all are welcome)

Department faculty and students made the following presentations at the 233rd ACS National Meeting in Chicago, March 25-29, 2007.

1. CHED 425 - Do student and faculty learning styles differ in the chemistry classroom? Hanna L. Kolzow and Ashley B. Mahoney, Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Chemical Education, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Monday March 26, HRRC, Poster.

2. INOR 326 - Relative energies of alpha and beta isomers of Keggin dodecatungstogallates Karthik Sundaram (Emory University), Wade A. Neiwert, Ira A. Weinstock (City College of the City University of New York), C. L. Hill (Emory University), Inorganic Chemistry in Water 7:00 PM-10:00 PM, Sunday, March 25, HRRC, Poster; Sci-Mix 8:00 PM-10:00 PM, Monday March 26, HRRC, Sci-Mix.

3. ORGN 83 - Diels-Alder reaction involving an unusual dienophile: Computational and mechanistic study Jack R. Waas and Daniel A. Singleton (Texas A&M), Process R&D, Physical Organic Chemistry, Heterocycles, Aromatics, Metal-Mediated Reactions, 8:00 PM-10:00 PM, Sunday March 25, HRRC, Poster.

4. CHED 806 - Preparation of new materials through the inclusion of polyoxometalate anions within a copolymer matrix Marcus A Kramer, Megan L Nagel, and Wade A. Neiwert, Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Polymer Chemistry, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Monday March 26, HRRC, Poster.

5. POLY 330 - Intermediacy of radicals in rearrangement and decomposition of metal-alkyl species: Relevance to metal-mediated polymerization of polar vinyl monomers
Megan L Nagel and Ayusman Sen (Penn State), General Papers and Segmented Block Copolymers, 6:00 PM-8:00 PM, Tuesday March 27 HRRC, Poster.

6. CHED 1230 - Polyoxometalates as nanoscale building blocks for the design and preparation of new materials Owen M. Boldt and Wade A. Neiwert, Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Inorganic Chemistry, 2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday March 26, HRRC, Poster.

9. PHYS 359 - Accuracy in theoretical excited-state dipole moments Rollin A. King, General Posters, 7:30 PM-10:00 PM, Wednesday March 28, HRRC, Poster.

10. CHED 261 - Does small group work change students' attitudes and confidence?
Ashley B. Mahoney, Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), 8:30 AM-11:35 AM, Monday March 26, McCormick Place North -- Room N231, Level 2, Oral.

11. CHED 573 - Experimental and computational investigations into an electrophilic aromatic addition reaction Michael R Huehn and Jack R. Waas, Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Organic Chemistry, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Monday March 26, HRRC, Poster.

12. CHED 1408 - Hydrogen bonding to Coumarin-102 in ground and electronically excited states Kerri J. Grove and Rollin A. King, Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Physical Chemistry, 2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday March 26, HRRC, Poster.

13. CHED 1066 - A mutation in vesicle-associated membrane protein 1 causes prewean lethality in the mouse lethal wasting mutant J. K. Schwendinger, A. J. Sachs (Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center), N. B. Haider (Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center), and A. M. Nystuen (Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center), Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Biochemistry, 2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday March 26, HRRC, Poster.

HRRC = Hyatt Regency – Riverside Center