Hopkins Researcher to Share Chemistry Expertise

CHESTERTOWN, MD—J.D. Tovar, professor in the Chemistry Department at Johns Hopkins University, will speak on “Controlling energy migration through ‘plastic’ organic electronic materials” at Washington College on Monday, October 22 at 4:30 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall, Toll Science Center. 

The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Washington College Chemistry Department as part of National Chemistry Week.

Tovar joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in 2005. His current research focuses on charge transport through synthetically complex organic materials, with interests in small molecule, polymeric and bioelectronic supramolecular systems.

He completed his undergraduate training in chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he performed research with Julius Glater and Menachem Elimelech in Civil Engineering and later with Yves Rubin in Chemistry.  He then moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pursue a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry. There, he  worked for Timothy M. Swager and developed his thesis on the development of new synthetic methods to construct large thiophene-based polycyclic aromatics.

Before joining Hopkins, he was a Baxter Postdoctoral Fellow in the labs of Samuel I. Stupp and Mark C. Hersam at Northwestern University, where he researched self-assembling biomaterials with useful electrical properties.

Click here for more on Dr. Tovar’s research. 

DuPont Executive’s Talk on Innovation Launches WC’s Celebration of Chemistry

CHESTERTOWN—A senior executive at chemical giant DuPont will deliver the J. C. Jones Seminar in American Business on Friday, February 18 as Washington College opens its year-long celebration of the 2011 International Year of Chemistry. Thomas M. Connelly, Jr., Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company, will lecture on “Hard Facts and Soft Skills for the Innovator of Tomorrow,” beginning at 5 p.m. in the Decker Theatre of Daniel Z. Gibson Center for the Arts on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue.

Dr. Connelly graduated with highest honors from Princeton University with degrees in chemical engineering and economics. As a Winston Churchill Scholar, he received his doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Cambridge.

At DuPont, Connelly has responsibility for Applied BioSciences, Nutrition & Health, Performance Polymers, Packaging & Industrial Polymers businesses, and Science & Technology. He also oversees the company’s business in geographic regions outside the United States and serves in advisory roles to the U.S. Government and the Republic of Singapore.

The International Year of Chemistry (IYC-2011) was proclaimed by the United Nations to increase public appreciation of chemistry and chemical engineering in meeting the world’s needs; to encourage interest in chemistry and chemical engineering among young people; to generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry and chemical engineering; and to celebrate the achievements of Marie Curie and the contributions of women to chemistry and chemical engineering. Washington College IYC-2011 events will focus on the interactions, integration, and involvement of chemistry with business, medicine, energy needs, and the environment. It will conclude with a special ceremony on November 3, 2011 at which 1995 Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Mario Molina will receive an honorary doctor of science degree and deliver an address on “The Science and Policy of Climate Change.”

The J. C. Jones Seminar in American Business was established in honor of the late James C. Jones, Jr., a Baltimore businessman and 1947 graduate of Washington College who remained active in alumni affairs and served on the Board of Visitors and Governors of the College.

Admission to the February 18 Jones Seminar, cosponsored by the Departments of Business Management and Chemistry and SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the Underwood Gallery.

WC Professor Frank Creegan To Help Lead $1.5 Million NSF-Funded National Chemistry Education Project

Chestertown, MD, May 6, 2003 — The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $1.5 million to a team of chemists from Washington College, Franklin and Marshall College, Stony Brook University, Catholic University, and Sandia National Laboratories to introduce, promote, and disseminate nationwide an innovative method of teaching chemistry. Dr. Frank Creegan, W. Alton Jones Professor of Chemistry at Washington College, will serve as co-investigator in the four-year project. The method, “Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning” (POGIL), supplants the traditional lecture format with an environment in which students are actively engaged in mastering a discipline and in developing essential skills by working in self-managed teams on guided inquiry activities.
In recommending the award, the NSF review panel stated, “This project provides the very real possibility of jump-starting chemical education in the 21st century. ” Panelists went on to describe the project as, “a tremendous contribution to chemical education.”
“Washington College's chemistry faculty is student-oriented with an emphasis on undergraduate collaborative research,” said Dr. John S. Toll, President of Washington College, on learning of the award. “The POGIL methods for chemistry education that Dr. Creegan will investigate with his colleagues will not only offer us ways to expand chemistry education on our campus but will help improve science education across the nation.”
Grounded in current understanding of how students learn, POGIL focuses on developing important process skills in the areas of information processing, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, communication, management, and assessment. Materials that facilitate the POGIL pedagogy have been developed, tested and are fully described at www.pogil.org.
The POGIL project would utilize a series of workshops, consultancies, on-site visits and video and web-based information to disseminate information about the POGIL approach for teaching undergraduate chemistry. Faculty will be provided with opportunities to participate in and develop effective student-centered learning approaches.
The goals of the project include the adoption of the POGIL approach by faculty at various institutions who will continue to innovate using student-centered teaching strategies; the creation of a network of experts to support this effort; the creation of a model for dissemination of innovative educational practices; and increased awareness of new learning and teaching practices.
Creegan holds a B. S. in chemistry from Merrimack College and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Fordham University. He is one of the charter members of MADCP, the Middle Atlantic Discovery Chemistry Project, and has developed numerous guided inquiry (discovery-based) experiments in organic chemistry, which now form the core of a yearlong course for science majors, as well as guided inquiry worksheets for a lectureless course in organic chemistry. Since 1993 he has presented in excess of two-dozen papers and posters at national and regional meetings on classroom and laboratory activities that use the POGIL approach to learning. In 1998-2001, with support from the NSF-funded New Traditions Project centered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the NSF-funded PSMETE fellowship program, Creegan helped mentor Dr. Andrei Straumanis in the development of set of POGIL worksheets that were converted into a book published in January 2003 by Houghton-Mifflin. Creegan is currently engaged in the development of a CD-based, modular laboratory manual for organic chemistry that follows the guided inquiry and learning cycle paradigms. The other co-investigators on the project are Rick Moog and James Spencer of Franklin and Marshall College, David Hanson of Stony Brook University, and Andrei Straumanis of Sandia National Laboratories. Diane Bunce of the Catholic University of America will conduct the project evaluation.
The NSF is an independent federal agency established by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 to promote and advance scientific progress in the United States. Since its inception, the NSF has occupied a unique place among federal agencies, with responsibility for the overall health of science across all disciplines.

Symposium To Honor Washington College Chemist

Chestertown, MD, April 1, 2003 — The Washington College Chapter of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, and the Women in Science Program present "COPPER IN THE BODY: YOU GOTTA HAVE IT - BUT NOT TOO MUCH", a symposium in celebration of the recent publication of Washington College Professor Rosette Roat-Malone's new text, Bioinorganic Chemistry: A Short Course. The symposium will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8, in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Panelists for the event include Professor Valeria Culotta, Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University; Professor Amy Rosenzweig, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology at Northwestern University; and Professor Rosette Roat-Malone. Alice Hogan, Director of the ADVANCE Program of the National Science Foundation will serve as moderator. ADVANCE is a federal program designed is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

Professor Rosenzweig's research is concerned with determining the three dimensional structures of proteins involved in delivering copper to distinct cellular locations and particular proteins. These proteins, called copper chaperones, are linked to human diseases, including Menkes syndrome, Wilson disease, and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS), and are potential targets for new therapeutics. Professor Culotta's work focuses on the role of metal ions in biology and in disease. Researchers in her group have cloned and characterized a number of yeast genes involved in metal trafficking and virtually all of these have human homologues. They have helped to establish a novel paradigm of copper trafficking in eukaryotic cells that involves the combined action of metal transporters and soluble copper carrier proteins. Their discovery of the CCS copper chaperone for the superoxide dismutase enzyme (SOD1) has facilitated studies addressing the mechanism by which mutations in human SOD1 lead to the fatal motor neuron disease, ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrigs disease.

Founded in 1886, Sigma Xi is a non-profit membership society of nearly 75,000 scientists and engineers who were elected to the Society because of their research achievements or potential. Sigma Xi has more than 500 chapters at universities and colleges, government laboratories and industry research centers.

Sigma Xi Honors Washington College Chapter For Excellence In Science Programming

Chestertown, MD, December 3, 2002 — Washington College's chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, has received both a Chapter of Excellence Award and a Chapter Program Award from the national offices of Sigma Xi, based in Research Triangle, NC. The awards were presented during the second Assembly of Delegates at Sigma Xi's Annual Meeting, November 16, 2002, in Galveston, TX. Alumna Kouri Coleman Miller '96, a physics major now working with NASA's Space Shuttle, accepted the awards on behalf of the College at the November ceremony.
Chapter of Excellence Awards are awarded to chapters for overall outstanding educational programming—such as symposia, speaker series and other public events—during the past fiscal year. Washington College was honored for two science outreach programs developed by its Psychology and Chemistry Departments respectively to serve area secondary and high school students: “Neuroscience in Schools” and “Why Chemistry is Fun.”
Program Awards are awarded to chapters that have organized or hosted a single, outstanding program during the past year. The College's Sigma Xi chapter was honored for its symposium “Barriers to and Opportunities for Women in Science,” whose keynote speaker was Dr. Rita Colwell, Director of the National Science Foundation, and the coordinated “Women in Science” lecture series that featured prestigious women scientists across diverse fields.
Founded in 1886, Sigma Xi is a non-profit membership society of more than 80,000 scientists and engineers elected to the Society because of their research achievements or potential. In addition to publishing the journal American Scientist, Sigma Xi awards annual grants to promising young researchers, holds forums on critical issues at the intersection of science and society, and sponsors a variety of programs supporting science and engineering, science education, science policy, and the public understanding of science.
The Washington College Sigma Xi chapter was officially installed in April 2001. The affiliation allows faculty and students to advance scientific education and research through grants; to fund faculty and student projects, travel awards and conferences; and to sponsor visiting scientists and collaborative research.

Award Winning Nuclear Chemist To Address Imaging Drug Addiction In The Human Brain

Chestertown, MD, April 19, 2002 — The Washington College Chapter of Sigma Xi and the Department of Chemistry, as part of the Women in Science Lecture Series, present, "IMAGING DRUG ADDICTION IN THE HUMAN BRAIN," a talk by Joanna S. Fowler, Ph.D., recipient of the 2002 Glenn T. Seaborg Award in Nuclear Chemistry, and Senior Chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The lecture will be held on Tuesday April 23, 2002, at 7:30 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall of Dunning Hall. The public is invited to attend.

Dr. Fowler has been a pioneer in the development of organic compounds labeled with radioactive isotopes and their use in medicine. Her work in the synthesis of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has led to the rapid growth of positron emission tomography (PET) as a diagnostic tool for brain mapping. Her work with C-11 labeled cocaine led to the first assessment of the mechanistic action of cocaine in the human brain. In addition, her brain mapping studies have provided new insight into the behavioral and epidemiological effects of smoking.

Dr. Fowler received a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1964 from the University of South Florida, Tampa, and a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1967 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her long and distinguished career at BNL followed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of East Anglia. Dr. Fowler's many awards include the 1998 Francis P. Garvin-John L. Olin Medal of the American Chemical Society, established in 1936 to honor distinguished service to chemistry by U.S. women chemists; the 1997 Paul Aebersold Award of the Society of Nuclear Medicine; the1999 E. O. Lawrence Award of the Department of Energy.

Chemistry Meets Art during National Chemistry Week

Chestertown, MD, November 6, 2001 — Washington College's Department of Chemistry, as part of its National Chemistry Week celebration, presents "Chemistry Meets Art: The Case of the Early Christian Sculptures at Cleveland," a lecture by Donald McColl, chair of the Department of Art. The talk will be held Thursday, November 8, 2001, at 7:30 p.m., in Goldstein Hall, Room 100, Wingate Lecture Hall. Refreshments will be served at 7 p.m. Please note, this talk has been rescheduled from November 7.

McColl traveled to Turkey in 1988 to conduct archaeological work on the question of the origins and authenticity of several early Christian sculptures from the 3rd century held in the Cleveland Museum's collection. Known as "The Jonah Marbles," this sculptural ensemble astonished the art world when it was introduced to the public in 1965, not only for its superb quality and condition, but also for its very survival. These controversial sculptures conformed to a language of symbols developed by early Christians, but appeared Roman in execution--unlike most Christian art from that era.

In order to authenticate this amazing discovery, McColl convinced the Cleveland Museum to carry out stable signature isotopic marble analyses, a chemical process that showed that the Roman Imperial quarries at Docimium in Ancient Phrygia (now Central Turkey) were the source for the marble from which the sculptures were carved. His talk will reveal how the humanities and sciences can work together to find answers to questions of great cultural significance.

"This cross-disciplinary approach is an important lesson for our students," said McColl. "Scientific knowledge and methods can greatly enhance our understanding of art history."

Washington College Awarded Clare Boothe Luce Professorship

Chestertown, MD, May 24—Washington College has been granted a Clare Boothe Luce Professorship in Chemistry by The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. of New York. Leslie A. Sherman, an analytical and environmental chemist, will be the first Clare Boothe Luce Professor in the College's history. The CBL Professorship was granted by the Clare Boothe Luce Program Selection Committee and funded through The Henry Luce Foundation.

The Luce grant is designed specifically to enhance the academic careers of women in science, engineering and mathematics. Active in journalism, the theatre and governmental service, the late Clare Boothe Luce created the program to advance her keen interest in helping women achieve their potential. Under the terms of her will, Mrs. Luce established a legacy that benefits women with talent and ambition in areas where they are still largely underrepresented—science and engineering.

"Since women were first admitted to Washington College in 1891, they have challenged cultural attitudes toward women in education, in sports and in professions. We are proud of our record in encouraging women to pursue the baccalaureate as well as careers in the sciences," John S. Toll, President of Washington College said. "The endorsement of our efforts from this prestigious source will enable us to make even greater strides in advancing the causes championed by Clare Boothe Luce." Washington College is a private liberal arts and sciences college located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it was the first college created in the new nation.

Sherman, a graduate of Carleton College, holds a M.S.C.E. degree in water chemistry from the University of Minnesota, Department of Civil Engineering, and a Ph.D. in soil chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to her teaching and research positions, she has been a program analyst with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a marine science policy fellow for NOAA's National Sea Grant Program. She served with the Peace Corps for two years as a science teacher in Cameroon, West Africa. Most recently, she taught environmental studies, water resources and environmental chemistry.

Sherman will add a strong science component to the College's recently established interdisciplinary major in environmental studies, Frank Creegan, chairman of the Chemistry Department said. In direct response to expressions of interest by students, Sherman will also offer upper level courses in analytical chemistry emphasizing limnology, the scientific study of bodies of freshwater, and marine science. In addition to courses in chemistry, Sherman will develop a freshman seminar focused on women in science.

The Luce grant of $403,548 will support the expenses of the professorship for five years. The College will also provide funding for two student research assistants each summer, as well as one teaching assistant and one student assistant during the academic year.