June 2004
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June 2004 |
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| DEPARTMENT NEWS | HONORS & AWARDS | TALKS | PUBLICATIONS | ANNOUNCEMENTS |
Promotion and Tenure
Congratulations to Dr. Kermit Murray and Dr. Graca Vicente who have been granted tenure, and to Dr. David Spivak who has been promoted and granted tenure.
Welcome to BASC and STEM REU Students
The Chemistry, Biochemistry and Chemical Engineering and STEM Environmental REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) programs will soon be underway for Summer 2004. Both NSF-sponsored programs bring students – mostly college juniors and seniors – from institutions all over the US to LSU. The REU participants will spend nine weeks at LSU, working closely with their faculty advisors and grad student mentors.
The Chemistry, Biochemistry and Chemical Engineering REU program (Dr. Steve Watkins, PI) welcomes 14 students to LSU this summer. Another 14 students will participate in the STEM Environmental REU program (Dr. Frank Cartledge, PI).
On July 29, a summer undergraduate research poster session will be held in the LSU Union, at which our REUs will present posters detailing their summer research. All are invited to attend!
Dr. James Robinson has been invited by a member of the Russian Academy of Science to become a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Spectroscopy. He has authority to accept or reject articles submitted to him. Your articles in this field would be welcomed and processed on a timely fashion. Please email articles to Dr. Robinson at: jrobi24@lsu.edu.
Dr. Julia Chan received a NSF-Japan Grant for her PhD student Robin Macaluso to spend 6 weeks in Japan working with collaborators at Solid State Physics Lab, Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University (http://www.ss.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp/). Research activities are directed to the experimental investigation of Superconductivity and Magnetism.
Dr. Erwin Poliakoff received a grant entitled “Photoelectron-vibrational coupling in nonlinear molecules” from the Department of Energy (Basic Energy Sciences). It is a 3-year award, and the amount is $465,000.
Dr. Erwin Poliakoff, Chair, Review Committee, Advanced Light Source Division review, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, November 12-13, 2003
Dr. Erwin Poliakoff, Inducted as a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics.
Robin Macaluso is the recipient of the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) Ludo Frevel Crystallography Scholarship for 2004 and has also won a National Sigma Xi- Grant-In-Aid Graduate Award
A team of professors from the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical engineering has received a $1,300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to perform research in the area of nanoscale science. Professors Dr. Barry Dellinger, Dr. Erwin Poliakoff, Dr. Robin McCarley, Dr. Randall Hall and Dr. Judy Wornat (Chemical Engineering) have been awarded a prestigious NSF grant from the highly competive Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) program. Their proposal, "Combustion-Generated Nanoparticles:The Role of Transition Metals in Nanoparticle and Pollutant Formation," will focus on how nanoparticles are produced in combustion processes, and the chemical reactions that they promote in the environment. The NIRT program supports fundamental research and promotes synergistic science and engineering research in the emerging area of nanoscale science and technology. It is also one of the most sought after sources of peer-reviewed federal funding for fundamental scientific research. In addition to the fundamental scientific significance of this research, this team will also provide results of societal importance. It is estimated that more than 650,000 people die prematurely in the US each year due to exposure to airborne fine particles. Such microscopic particles can initiate cardiopulmonary disease and cancer. The research team will be the first to focus on the complex composition and reactivity of combustion-generated nanoparticles. These scientists bring different areas of expertise, including combustion reaction kinetics, nanoparticle synthesis, structural and electronic characterization tools, molecular growth engineering, and theoretical modeling capabilities. Such breadth is required for this interdisciplinary program, and in this instance, helped this group to obtain this large award.
Click here for the complete article
Brian Hales
Kansas State University , Manhattan, Kansas, May 5, 2004 "Role of the metal clusters in nitrogenase."
Julia Chan
University of California, Department of Chemistry, San Diego, April 30, 2004
University of Southern California, Department of Chemistry, April 29, 2004
University of California, Department of Chemistry, Los Angeles, April 28, 2004
Texas Christian University, Department of Chemistry, Fort Worth, TX, March 23, 2004
University of California, Department of Chemistry, Davis, CA, March 11, 2004
University of California, Department of Chemistry, Riverside, CA, March 10, 2004
Rice University, Department of Chemistry, Houston, TX, February 3, 2004
University of Houston, Department of Chemistry, Houston, TX, February 2, 2004
Roger A Laine
InterLec 21, International Lectin Meeting, Shonan Village, Hayama-machi Kanagawa, Japan, May 2004 "Mutation of Active Site Residues in the Chitin-Binding Domain ChBDChiA1 from Chitinase A1 of Bacillus circulans Alters Substrate Specificity:"
Papers presented
•Session Chair: Sapporo Symposium on Sphingolipids, Sapporo, Japan, July, 2004.
•Session Chair: Gordon Conference on Sphingolipids and Glycolipids, Hakone, Japan, July 2004.
Erwin Poliakoff
Third Gordon Research Conference on Photoions, Photoionization and Photodetachment, September 21-26, 2003, Queen's College, Oxford, England "Observation of the symmetry-forbidden 5su® ksu CS2 transition: A vibrationally driven photoionization resonance"
Investigation of the chemical differences between native and bypass coronary artery plaques from the same heart using cross polarization magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (CP/MAS-NMR), S. Thiam, R. Cook, R. E. Tracy, D. Treleaven, J.W. Robinson, and I.M. Warner, Journal of Applied Spectroscopy, 2004, 71(N1) 79-85.
Elemental Analysis of Soft Plaque and Calcified Plaque Deposits From Human Coronary Arteries and Aorta Comparisons of Minerals in Various Types of Plaque From Heart Patients J. I. Murungi, S. Thiam, R.E. Tracy, J. W. Robinson, and I.M. Warner, Journal of Environmental Science and Health, 2004, A39, No. 6, 1487-1496.
Determination of Elements in Native and Bypass Human Coronary Artery Plaque Deposits From the Same Heart Using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry S. Thiam, R. E. Tracy, J. W. Robinson, and I. M. Warner, Journal of Environmental Science and Health, 2004, A39, No. 6, 1497-1503.
Macaluso, R. T.; Wells, D. M.; Sykora, R. E.; Albrecht-Schmitt, T. E.; Mar, A.; Nakatsuji, S.; Lee, H.; Fisk, Z.; Chan, J. Y., "Structure and electrical resistivity of CeNiSb3", J. Solid State Chem. 2004, 177, 293–298.
Macaluso, R. T.; Fisk, Z.; Moreno, N. O.; Thompson, J. D.; Chan, J. Y., "Structure and Magnetism of Ce5Pb3O", Chem. Mater. In Press, 2004.
D. M. Wood, P. Hochmann, L. Klasinc and S. P. McGlynn, "Vibronic Intesities in Diatomic Molecules", Int’l J. Quant. Chem., Vol. 98, No. 1, 2004
Sanaa A. Ibrahim, Gregg Henderson, Betty C. R. Zhu, Huixin Fei, and Roger A. Laine, 2004, "Toxicity and Behavioral Effects of Nootkatone, 1,10-Dihydronootkatone, and Tetrahydronootkatone to the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae).", J. Econ. Entomol. 97, 102-111,
Hardt, Markus and Roger A Laine, 2004, Mutation of Active Site Residues in the Chitin-Binding Domain ChBDChiA1 from Chitinase A1 of Bacillus circulans Alters Substrate Specificity: Use of a Green Fluorescent Protein Binding Assay (Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, in press)
Ibrahim, S. A., G. Henderson, H. Fei and R.A. Laine. (2004). Toxic and repellent effects of 2’acetonaphthone on Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Sociobiology (in press).
Ibrahim, S. A., G. Henderson and R. A. Laine. (2004). Tunneling and feeding behaviours of Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in response to 2’acetonaphthone". Pest Manage. Sci., (in press).
Mao, L., G. Henderson and R.A. Laine. (2004). Germination of various weed species in response to vetiver oil and nootkatone. Weed Technology (in press).
G.J. Rathbone, E.D. Poliakoff, J.D. Bozek, R.R. Lucchese, P. Lin, Mode-specific photoelectron scattering effects on CO2+(C2Sg+) vibrations, J. Chem. Phys. 120, 612 (2004)
G.J. Rathbone, R.M. Rao, E. D. Poliakoff, K. Wang, V. Mckoy, Vibrational branching ratios in photoionization of CO and N2, J. Chem. Phys. 120, 778 (2004)
G.J. Rathbone, E.D. Poliakoff, John D. Bozek, R.R. Lucchese, Observation of the symmetry-forbidden 5su® ksu CS2 transition: A vibrationally driven photoionization resonance, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 1430021-1430024 (2004).
ALUMNI NEWS
Dr. Andy Armstrong, (1966 Ph.D., Louisiana State University, Advisor-Sean P. McGlynn) a one time Professor of Chemistry at the University of Texas, Arlington and now Owner/Operator of a $50 million forensics business, also in Arlington, has been awarded the ACS award of the Texas ACS Section.
Dr. J. Wayne Rabalais (1970 Ph.D., Louisiana State University, Advisor-Sean P. McGlynn) has just published a book entitled "Principles and Applications of Ion Scattering Spectrometry, Wiley-Interscience, New York,2003. Dr. Rabalais, at present, is the Cullen Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the University of Houston
HOLIDAY SCHEDULE
The LSU holiday is posted on the HRM website. You can download the pdf version of the schedule by clicking here.
A summary of the schedule appears below:
Independence Day – July 5 (M)
Labor Day – September 6 (M)
Thanksgiving – November 25 (Th), 26 (F)
Christmas and New Year’s – December 23 (Th), 24 (F), 27 (M), 28 (T), 29 (W), 30 (Th), and December 31 (F)
Martin Luther King Day – January 17 (M)
Mardi Gras – February 8 (T)
Easter – March 25 (F)
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