Baker to Present at National Science Teachers Association Conference

Chemistry Education major Ms. Tracey Baker will be presenting her CHEM 499 research paper on "Overhauling the General Chemistry Thermochemistry Labs" at the National Science Teachers Association Conference in New Orleans March 18-21, 2009.

Her trip is partially funded by the Undergraduate Student Travel Fund for Conference Presentations from the IUP School of Graduate Studies and Research.

Stoltz Receives Elias J. Corey Award

Dr. Brian Stoltz (B.S. '93), the Ethel Wilson Bowles & Robert Bowles Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology, has been awarded the Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator.

The Stoltz Group at Caltech is a major source of new strategies for synthesizing complex organic molecules with interesting and useful biological activities. The studies in Brian's group have focused on three conceptual areas:

1. advancing palladium-catalyzd oxidation reactions which don't involve heteroatom transfer
2. developing asymmetric alkylation and protonation technologies to synthesize quaternary & tertiary stereocenters
3. inventing tandem reaction processes

Dr. Stoltz started his career in the Department of Chemistry at IUP under the direction of Dr. John Wood. He received his PhD in organic chemistry at Yale in 1997 and became a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard from 1998-2000 in the group of E.J. Corey (1990 Nobel Laureate, Chemistry). He then moved to Caltech, where he won numerous awards including the ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Dr. Stoltz was also presented with a 2006 IUP Alumni Ambassador Award in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Scholarship for Junior & Senior Women

Information on the Priscilla Carney Jones Scholarship is now available from the ACS.

Student Outreach at Blairsville Elementary

On Wednesday, February 18th, members of both the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society and Alpha Chi Sigma, the professional chemistry fraternity, visited Blairsville Elementary for its second annual science fair.

The IUP ACS and AXΣ demonstration table complemented the projects of the Blairsville students, showing students and parents alike the properties of liquid nitrogen and oobleck (a curious mixture of corn starch and water).

Members of the local community were wowed by a demonstration of a banana hammer, in which a liquid nitrogen-frozen banana was used to pound a nail into a board. Children particularly enjoyed the non-Newtonian properties of the oobleck, which acts as a viscous liquid or a solid depending upon the force applied on it. This event was a great success in community outreach, and the groups look forward to participating next year!

Chemistry Seminar - 2/20

On Friday, February 20, the Chemistry Department welcomes Dr. Matthew Luderer of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.

After visiting with faculty and students, Dr. Luderer will present the seminar "Asymmetric Cyclizations Controlled by a Stereogenic Lithium and Oxidations Using Oxoammonium Salts in Aqueous Media".

Please join us in Weyandt 240 at 3:30pm. Light refreshments will be served.

Chemistry Seminar - 2/6

On Friday, Feb. 6, the department will host Dr. Lillian Chong from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Chong will meet with faculty and students throughout the day and finish with a seminar titled "Atomistic Simulations of Natively Unfolded Proteins".

For more information on Dr. Chong's research, click here.

Please join us in Weyandt 240 at 3:30pm. Light refreshments will be served.