Chemistry Seminar - 12/5

Our final chemistry seminar for Fall 2008 will be presented this Friday at 3:30pm in Weyandt 240. Ms. Francisca Owusu Sekyere will present "Structure and Membrane Binding Analysis of Recombinant Mouse Growth Hormone Binding Protein".

Light refreshments will be served.

Undergraduate Research Proposal Poster Session

The students in CHEM 301 will be presenting posters of their research proposals on Wednesday, December 10 from 12:30-2:30 pm in WEY 236. You are cordially invited to view the posters and ask the students questions. Light refreshments will be served.

Department Christmas Party

From Dr. John Woolcock

Chemistry Faculty and Staff,

The Chemistry Department Christmas Party will be held on Friday, December 5, 2008 from 5 to 8 pm at the College Lodge. A sign-up sheet to indicate what food you plan to bring is by the faculty mailboxes. Please RSVP on this sheet by Wednesday, December 3rd. I will be providing the entrée, turkey and ham and also mashed potatoes. Set up at the College Lodge will begin at 4 PM. If you plan to bring small children, please note that Santa is scheduled to appear and distribute pre-Christmas gifts. If you want to have your child/children receive a gift from Santa, you should buy the gift, wrap it and label it clearly so Santa can read it! Bring all gifts to the Chemistry Department Office by 12 PM on December 5th. We have also invited the retired faculty that are in town to come as well so it should be fun.

Cheers,
John

Entry-Level, Full-Time, Tenure-Track Organic Chemist Wanted

The Position: The Department of Chemistry, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, seeks candidates for an entry-level, full-time, tenure-track assistant professor in Organic Chemistry, to begin in August 2009. The position will be filled pending availability of funds. This is an excellent opportunity for a recent Ph.D.

Qualifications: Applicants must have earned a doctoral degree in Organic Chemistry or other appropriate discipline before the date of appointment. Candidates should demonstrate outstanding skills and enthusiasm for teaching and research. Candidates must communicate effectively and perform well during the interview(s), which will include a teaching demonstration and research seminar. All applicants must be work-eligible.

Responsibilities/Duties: The successful candidate will be expected to teach courses in Organic and Introductory Chemistry (generally three to four courses per semester) including undergraduate and graduate (M.S.) lectures and lab; develop an active research program that includes the direction of undergraduate and graduate (M.S.) research; and provide professionally-related service to the department, college, university, and community.

How to Apply: Applicants should submit by mail a cover letter, detailed vitae, unofficial copies of undergraduate and graduate transcripts (official transcripts will be needed prior to hiring), a statement of teaching philosophy, a statement of research plans (clearly indicating needs for equipment, space, and start up funds), and should arrange to have three letters of recommendation mailed to: Chair, Organic Chemistry Search Committee, Chemistry Department, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 975 Oakland Ave., Indiana, PA 15705. To ensure consideration, all application materials must be received by January 15, 2009.

Indiana University is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and is an equal opportunity employer M/F/H/V

F09-015

Chemistry Seminar - 11/21

Join us this week in Weyandt 240 at 3:30pm for our weekly chemistry seminar. This week's presenter will be Mr. Marc Ferrington of IUP, who will speak on "Experimental and Computational Investigation of the Heterogeneous Catalyzed Suzuki Cross-Coupling".

Light refreshments will be served.

Chemistry Seminar - 11/14

This week's seminar speaker will be Mr. Richard Hoff of the IUP Research Institute. His topic, "Extraction Methods and Analysis of Emerging Environmental Contaminants", will be presented at 3:30pm in Weyandt 240.

Light refreshments will be served.

CHEM-105: The Forensic Chemistry of C.S.I.

REGISTERING FOR SPRING 2009?

WHY NOT TAKE A FORENSIC CLASS?

IT’S A GREAT WAY LEARN ABOUT FORENSIC SCIENCE THORUGH CSI
AND
IT COUNTS AS LIBERAL STUDIES NON-LAB SCIENCE COURSE!

CHEM 105: The Forensic Chemistry of CSI
(3c-0l-3cr)
Prerequisites: none
TR 2-3:15 PM, Weyandt 208
Instructor: Dr. John Woolcock

The course is designed for students who would like learn about forensic chemistry and the basic science needed to understand it. Topics will include the forensic chemistry of drugs, arson, poisons, hair, fibers, glass, fingerprints and the methods used in forensic evidence collection, processing and crime scene reconstruction. Also included in this course is how forensic science is portrayed on TV, in novels, movies and computer games.

Biochem Major Participates in CalTech Grad School Preview

This year, the California Institute of Technology held a Graduate School Preview Program from October 29-31. Biochemistry major and senior Ms. Olivia McGovern was nominated by Dr. Jonathan Southard for consideration, and CalTech invited Ms. McGovern to attend.

During this program, Olivia was able to meet students and faculty from six different labs in the areas of biology, biochemistry, and biophysics, where she learned that research faculty have a wide array of interests including: conscious decision making, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Huntington's, molecular modeling, biomedical research with viruses and cancer, and cancer treatment via nanoparticle technology.

Not only were there a wide variety of research opportunities, but many in the program were surprised to find that research at CalTech almost always reached across disciplinary lines to encompass many fields. No lab seemed to contain students from only one area. Labs contained chemists, biochemists, physicists, engineers, and computer science students all working together on different aspects of the same or similar problem. Olivia was able to visit the wind tunnel lab where plane and car companies bring model cars and planes to test their aerodynamics. She also visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sponsored by NASA, where she learned that students can help design new rovers, like ATHLETE, for space exploration on the moon and Mars.

"Everyone at CalTech was extremely personable," said Olivia, "making everything in the program very enjoyable." She recommends this program to anyone who is interested in CalTech for graduate school saying: "CalTech is a great place to be. There is a wide variety of exciting new research available to its students, and the small student-to-faculty ratio adds to the research experience rather than limiting it. It allows valuable relationships to form and gives a collaborative experience to apply to future research. You should definitely apply to this program since it was a great experience, and the trip was totally free; flight, hotel, and food. I will definitely be applying to CalTech."

Chemistry Seminar - 11/7

This week we welcome Dr. Nathaniel Rosi from the University of Pittsburgh as our seminar speaker. Dr. Rosi will meet with students and faculty during the day before giving his talk: "Design and Fabrication of New Materials Using Assortments of Biomolecular, Metal-Cluster, and Nanoparticle Building Blocks".

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

For more information on Dr. Rosi's research, see his website.

Alpha Chi Sigma Holds Chemistry Week Activities

From Ms. Olivia McGovern of Alpha Chi Sigma:

During National Chemistry Week, the Gamma Tau Chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma at IUP held an outreach activity in the Oak Grove. This year, 12 members gathered to celebrate National Chemistry Week by taking a split interpretation of the theme "Having A Ball With Chemistry", showing both how chemistry is related to sports and fun.

To relate to sports, the members of Alpha Chi Sigma built steroid molecules and explained to visitors what a steroid is and a little bit about its effects. Then the visitors were encouraged to build steroid molecules or any other molecules the could think of with marshmallows. Plent of fun was had with that activity, but more was to come with the addition of liquid nitrogen to the table! By smashing frozen roses, eating frozen marshmallows, and pounding nails into boards using a frozen banana they showed how liquid nitrogen changes the properties of roses to make them brittle, marshmallows to make them a cold crunchy treat, and bananas to make them extremely hard.

A pumpkin was also carved in the spirit of Halloween with a Wyvern. The pumpkin was filled with liquid nitrogen to create the effect that the dragon-like creature was blowing icy fire in the cold weather (see picture). The finale of the day followed the tradition of creating a Diet Coke explosion by adding Mentos to Diet Coke, causing the it to erupt from the bottle. Overall, the event was a great success attracting the attention of many passersby and hooking them in to try an experiment. They look forward to the opportunity to do this again next year.