CHEMISTRY AT MINES A NEW SLETTER FOR FRIENDS & SUPPORTERS CHEMISTRY.MINES.EDU | W inter 20 20

CHEMISTRY.MINES.EDU 3

W inter 20 20MINES CHEMISTRY

A Newslet ter for Friends & Supporters of

Colorado School of Mines Chemist ry Department

Colorado School of Mines President :

Dr. Paul Johnson

Department Head:

Dr. Tom Gennet t tgennet t@mines.edu

Mailing / Delivery Address:

150 0 Illinois St reet

Golden, CO

80 40 1

Main Off ice:

Coolbaugh Hall, 20 4

Main Off ice Contact :

30 3.273.3610

chemist ry@mines.edu

Main Off ice Fax Number:

30 3.273.3629

Visit us online at

chemist ry.mines.edu

Facebook.com/ MinesChemist ry

Tw it ter.com/ MinesChemist ry

Find us on social media:

CONTENTS

3 | Let ter f rom the department head

4 | New faces in t he Chemist ry Department

6 | Featured research pro ject s

9 | New degree of fering

12 | Student stories

14 | W here are t hey now

16 | Keep ing t rad it ion alive

19 | Communit y news

Welcome from Dr. Tom Gennet t

Dear f r iends of t he Mines Chemist ry Department ,

As we enter the new decade, we look forward to the posit ive future of Chemist ry at Mines. Are you aware that p lanning has already begun for the Mines sesquicentennial celebrat ion (150 years) in 20 24? The Mines@150 mission, vision and st rategic future all look at how to maintain excellence in educat ion and research as we navigate the dynamic and d isrupt ive changes in the world around us. The Department of Chemist ry w ill cont inue to be an innovat ive force w ithin Mines as we move forward.

In undergraduate educat ion, Mines recent freshmen enrollment has increased approximately 35 percent in the past three years. It is amazing that this year alone, we have had more than 2,40 0 Mines undergraduates come through just our teaching laboratories. Our new biochemist ry program has also benefited, as chemist ry major numbers cont inue to increase w ith undergraduate research p laying a key role in

From the Department Head

student educat ion. We were recent ly ranked by chemist ry-schools.com as the # 1 undergraduate chemist ry program in Colorado.

Speaking of research, recent ly Drs. Posew itz, Shafer, Pylypenko, McGuirk, Sellinger, Jensen and W illiams all received major funding. In total, the number broke the $6 million mark. This comes as the department cont inues to improve our graduate program standing, moving from a ranking of 146 to 96 in U.S. News and World Report rankings.

As I have said before, I am cont inually amazed at what the Mines Chemist ry Department students, facult y and staff have achieved and w ill cont inue to achieve. Thank you all? present , past and future students? you are t ruly what makes the future of this department very bright .

Dr. Tom Gennet t ( tgennet t@mines.edu)

Faculty and Staff Updates Faculty and Staff Updates

Richard C. HolzProvost and ProfessorPhD, Pennsylvania State Universit y

Prior to joining the Colorado School of Mines as Provost , Dr. Holz was a chemist ry facult y member for six years at Marquet te Universit y and served as the Dean of the Hellen Way Kling ler College of Arts and Sciences. Preceding his move to Marquet te, Dr. Holz served as the Associate Dean for Resources and Planning in the College of Arts and Sciences (20 11-20 13) and as the Chair of the Chemist ry and Biochemist ry Department (20 0 6-20 11) at Loyola Universit y Chicago. He was also an American Council on Educat ion Fellow (Class if 20 10 -20 11).

Dr. Holz has a B.S. degree from Bemidji State Universit y, an M.S. degree from the Universit y of Minnesota-Duluth and a Ph.D. degree from

Mines welcomes new provost , p rofessor in chemist ry

The Pennsylvania State Universit y, all in Chemist ry. He was an NIH postdoctoral research fellow at the Universit y of Minnesota from 1989-1992 and a facult y member at Utah State Universit y from 1992-20 0 6.

Dr. Holz is a b ioinorganic chemist and is interested in st ructure/ funct ion studies of metalloenzymes. He has published more than 10 0 research art icles and his research program is current ly funded by the Nat ional Science Foundat ion.

Dr. Holz is married (Anna) to a Chemical Engineer who sw itched professions by acquiring an MS in nursing and has two beaut iful daughters aged 15 (Emilia) and 14 (Marika).

C. Michael McGuirkAssistant ProfessorPhD, Northwestern Universit y

Mike completed his Ph.D. studies in chemist ry under Prof. Chad Mirkin at Northwestern Universit y, where he focused on the design and synthesis of st imuli-responsive coord inat ion complexes for regulated catalysis. Mike then joined Prof. Jeffrey Long?s group at UC-Berkeley as a Philomathia post -doctoral fellow. In the Long Group, Mike's work was focused on the design, d iscovery and characterizat ion of non-classic gas adsorpt ion in synthet ic porous materials. A t Mines, the McGuirk group w ill pursue fundamental and applied interd iscip linary research at the interface of synthet ic chemist ry and materials science. In this vein, the group was recent ly awarded w ith a cooperat ive agreement by the DOE to pursue st imulus-responsive porous materials for eff icient hydrogen storage and t ransport .

New Faces in t he chemist ry communit yChrist ine Morrison Assistant ProfessorPhD, California Inst it ute of Technology

Christ ine grew up near Det roit , Michigan. She began academic research as a high school student research assistant at Oakland Universit y. She received her B.S. in Chemist ry from the Universit y of Michigan, after which she spent a year in Germany as a Fulbright scholar at the Karlsruhe Inst itute of Technology. She then moved to California to earn her Ph.D. in Chemist ry from the California Inst itute of Technology w ith a Nat ional Science Foundat ion Graduate Research Fellowship. A fter complet ion of her Ph.D., she was a postdoctoral fellow at Universit y of California, San Diego w ith fellowships from the Universit y of California President?s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and the Nat ional Inst itutes of Health. She started as an assistant professor at Mines in July 20 19. Her new research lab at Mines uses inorganic chemist ry to tackle issues in human health and energy.

?I am ext remely honored to join

such an accomplished facult y at a

world-class universit y,? Holz said.

?Mines has such a bright future and

I can?t wait to begin working w ith

facult y, students and alumni to

bring the universit y?s st rategic p lan

to fruit ion and raise the profile of

Mines to the next level.?

- Provost Richard Holz

CHEMISTRY.MINES.EDU 54 COLORADOSCHOOLOFMINES

C. Michael McGuirk Christ ine Morrison Read more on minesnewsroom.com

The US Department of Energy has Energy Material Network (EMNs) init iat ives which bring together leaders from the nat ional labs, indust ry, and academia to focus on specif ic classes of the nat ion?s most pressing energy challenges. One of them, The Hydrogen Materials? Advanced Research Consort ium (HyMARC), is co-d irected by our own Department Head, Dr. Tom Gennet t . HyMARC is composed of scient ists from f ive nat ional laboratories, and addresses the scient if ic barriers to the advancement hydrogen storage and carrier materials.

The mission of this $35+ million program is to provide foundat ional understanding, synthet ic protocols, new characterizat ion tools, validated computat ional models and technoeconomic

analyses to fast -t rack the d iscovery of materials that w ill meet indust ry requirements for on-board vehicular hydrogen storage or that can be used as carriers to t ransport hydrogen from product ion to cit y-gate or indust rial sites. In the future, whether you are driving your fuel cell vehicle, having hydrogen delivered to your fuel cell powered home, or passing by a hydrogen-gas ref ill stat ion, remember Mines was an int ricate partner in advancing the technology that had changed the world!

Designing synthet ic coral

Featured Research Projects

Our laboratory is focused on studying the abilit y of photosynthet ic salt -water organisms to t ransform the energy from sunlight into b iomass from carbon d ioxide that can be used for b iofuels, feeds and high-value products. The abilit y to at tain b ioproducts from seawater w ithout st ressing lim ited freshwater resources signif icant ly enhances sustainabilit y met rics.

We recent ly isolated a microalga (Picochlorum celeri) from the Gulf of Mexico that

Sustainab il it y t hrough seawater b ioproduct shas among the fastest grow th rates reported for a photosynthet ic organism. Our recent publicat ion on this organism has generated substant ial internat ional interest . Our research group and others are now developing genet ic tools to further improve performance and to study the basic science underlying the abilit y of this organism to grow so rapid ly. Of part icular interest are unique enzymes that enable the rapid oxidat ion of water, t ransfer of elect rons and reduct ion of carbon d ioxide. We are also working w ith mult ip le partners to assess the outdoor grow th product ivit ies of this alga at large scale at several testbed sites.

Microalgal metabolic pathways that can be leveraged for biofuel production. ER, endoplasmic reticulum.

12 COLORADOSCHOOLOFMINES

ProfessorMat t hew Posew it z

Collaborat ion to commercialize hydrogen fuel cells and elect ro lyzers

Corals are important natural resources that are key to the ocean's vast b iodiversit y and provide economic, cultural, and scient if ic benefit s. As a result of human act ivit ies, locally and g lobally, coral reefs are declining rapid ly. The complexit y of corals makes conserving and restoring reefs very challenging. Corals are made up of thousands of d if ferent organisms, including the animal host and the algae, bacteria, viruses, and fungi that coexist as a so-called holobiont . Thus, corals are more like cit ies than ind ividual animals, as they provide factories, housing, restaurants, nurseries, and more for an ent ire ecosystem.

Dr. Judith Klein-Seetharaman is leading a two-year NSF project that 's bring ing together experts in coral b iology, computer science, systems b iology, nanotoxicology and st ructural engineering to harness the data revolut ion in b iology w ith machine learning to study how corals grow and funct ion, when viewed as if t hey were manufacturing sites in the ocean. Through there remarkable abilit ies, corals can 'print ' resources for themselves and hundreds of thousands of other species, just like a 3D printer. The goal of this project is to understand these processes well enough to cont rol them in the lab.

CHEMISTRY.MINES.EDU 7

Many believe that hydrogen fuel cells and elect rolyzers could be the key to creat ing sustainable energy in the future. Elect rolyzers can ut ilize renewable energy to produce hydrogen for subsequent use in either manufacturing processes, or to run a fuel cell, generat ing elect ricit y on demand. Despite signif icant investments in these promising technologies, cost and durabilit y are st ill problemat ic, due to their reliance on expensive catalysts and the low manufacturing volumes of elect rolyzers and fuel cells components.

Svit lana Pylypenko (Mines) and Jasna Jankovic (UConn) are teaming w ith indust ry partners Pajarito Powder and Forge Nano, the U.S Department of Energy?s Nat ional Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Fraunhofer Inst itute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany to accelerate the development of high-volume fabricat ion of components to facilit ate the development of sustainable and zero-emission energy generat ion technologies. The team w ill

compare the impact of various processes for scale-up of elect rolyzer and fuel cell elect rodes on elect rode morphology and performance, based on innovat ive and state-of-the-art catalysts. W ith the Partnership for Innovat ions grant from the Nat ional Science Foundat ion, team w ill provide a common plat form for advanced and sophist icated characterizat ion for the developed products and establish process-propert ies-performance correlat ions. This w ill make it possib le for other indust rial partners to develop the tools and replicate this process, which w ill further increase commercializat ion of this technology. Due to the collaborat ive nature of this project , students w ill have extensive technical, leadership, organizat ional, communicat ion, and ent repreneurial t raining. This w ill help to prepare the students as future leaders in the clean energy sector. Internat ional workshops on advanced manufacturing and characterizat ion of fuel cells and elect rolyzers w ill help to expand interact ions w ith partners and form larger networks.

Did you know?

section name

As of fall 20 19, the Mines Chemist ry Department is expanding it s degree offerings and has developed a bachelor of science in b iochemist ry that is open for enrollment .

This program cont inues the t radit ion of rigor that Mines is known for and offers f lexib ilit y for students interested in studying the interface between chemist ry and b iology. Integrat ion of current top ics, along w ith challenging historical d iscoveries w ith a modern laboratory, is hallmark of this new biochemist ry program. This program w ill be aimed toward students interested in cont inued educat ion in graduate school, medical school, b iomaterials and forensic sciences, to name a few. Current ly, the f irst cohort of b iochemist ry students is working their way through the degree. A long w ith this new degree, there are a number of new advanced courses and laboratories for students to choose from.

Mines of fers new b iochemist ry degree program

For more informat ion, v isit

chemist ry.mines.edu. or call 30 3-273-3610

CHEMISTRY.MINES.EDU 9

Degree t racks

faculty news

Bachelor of Science, Biochemist ry

Degree app licat ions

- New chemical products from natural products through genet ic engineering

- Detect ing drugs and metabolic products of pharmaceut icals

- New technologies in point -of-care analyt ics

- Biochemical processes and b iological environments that affect pet roleum and mining act ivit ies

Professor Jenifer Shafer has been recent ly elected to the American Chemical Society?s (ACS) Commit tee on Science. The ACS Commit tee on Science aims to engage the g lobal chemist ry enterprise to build a bet ter tomorrow by ident ifying new front iers of chemist ry, examining the scient if ic basis of, and formulate public policies related to, the chemical sciences, and recognizing outstanding chemical scient ists. She was elig ib le for elect ion courtesy of her recent ly completed post as Division Chair of the ACS Division of Nuclear Chemist ry & Technology and is hoping to part icipate in the Scient if ic Policy subcommit tee.

In addit ion, Shafer has a very act ive research group including 11 students and a Research Assistant Professor. Amongst many projects, she is a part of a recent ly funded NSF Center for Sustainable Separat ions of Metals. This Center w ill consider t ransformat ive technologies to develop closed cycle management of crit ical materials. The Center is led by Eric Schelter at Universit y of Pennsylvania and includes team members Jessica Anna and Joseph Subotnik (also from U. Penn), Suzanne Bart of Purdue Universit y, George Schatz and J. Fraser Stoddart of Northwestern Universit y, and Jonathan Sessler of the Universit y of Texas at Aust in.

Shafer elected to ACS Commit tee on Science

Knauss named new associate dean

During the 20 18-20 19 academic year he also served as the Interim Department Head of the Elect rical Engineering Department while they searched for a permanent Department Head. Knauss was previously the department head of chemist ry from 20 0 6 to 20 12 and the facult y senate president during the 20 14-20 15 term. As the associate dean, he manages the port folio of departments that primarily do research in the energy and materials areas.

Associate Professor Jenifer Shafer

8 COLORADOSCHOOLOFMINES

Dan Knauss is serving a t hree-year appointment as t he Associate Dean of Energy and Materials Programs

The Rocky Mountain Camp for Dyslexic youth

serves 40 students every summer drawn

from across the count ry, ages 7-13, all who

have been d iagnosed w ith the learning

d isabilit y of dyslexia. Mines facult y and

students from Chemist ry, Materials Science,

and Chemical Engineering come together to

offer a STEM immersive experience each

summer. Specif ically, we develop and

implement inst ruct ional hands-on modules,

based on STEM concepts. We have learned

through part icipat ing that the modules need

to be engaging, hands-on, and provide an

immediate feedback loop. Students like camp

so much, that ~50 % of the students at tend

mult ip le years.

This out reach doesn?t stop w ith the summer

camp though. Once the modules have been

refined, based on what is learned during the

summer implementat ion, a Mines graduate

student w ill provide assistance to a Vert ical

Skills Academy science teacher as they

implement these modules in the classroom.

Vert ical Skills Academy is a specialized

dyslexia school w ith students in grades 1-8 in

Evergreen, Colorado. Since the students who

at tend the camp do not have a dyslexic

school opt ion in their community, the two

out reach act ivit ies serve d if ferent student

populat ions. The Rocky Mountain Camp for

Dyslexic youth offers opportunit y to

implement specif ic modules, while Vert ical

Skills Academy offers the potent ial to further

ref ine and expand these modules and test

their impact during the academic year.

This effort is very important in bring ing

students who otherw ise may have st ruggled

w ith school due to dyslexia an opportunit y to

show their interest and passion for STEM.

Accord ing to the Internat ional Dyslexia

Associat ion approximately 10 percent of U.S.

school-age children and 40 million American

adult s (only about 2 million of the adult s

know it ) have dyslexia. A lthough these

students st ruggle to read, many d isp lay an

intense interest in (STEM). In fact , while

dyslexia may be d isadvantageous for

professions that require repet it ion, many of

those d iagnosed feel there are advantages

w ith regards to their percept ion, visualizat ion

and creat ivit y.

Examples of scient ists that have overcome

dyslexia and made major impact include:

Thomas Edison, Michael Faraday, A lexander

Graham Bell, A lbert Einstein, Nicola Tesla,

Steven Hawking and Louis Pasteur among

many, many others.

Chemist ry department out reach to dyslexic youth

outreach

Potatoes f rom a d if ferent perspect ive

10 COLORADOSCHOOLOFMINES

At the Rocky Mountain Camp for Dyslexic youth, students are engaged in variety of experiments created by Mines facult y and students. One is looking at potato catalase, which is an enzyme found in potatoes that catalyt ically decomposes hydrogen peroxide to produce visib le oxygen bubbles making it an inexpensive, safe and effect ive hands on tool for learning about enzymes.

Students generally start forming hypotheses very quickly about how it works by comparing d if ferent sizes of p ieces (surface area effects) , cooking the potato (decomposing the enzyme and not being able to regenerate), freezing p ieces of the potato (doesn?t work frozen but act ivit y restored as it warms), etc. The students f igure various aspects of this over 30 -40 minutes w ith varying levels of scient if ic insights.

One part icular g irl, Serene (we checked and she had not done this or heard about it before) had done all of this in about 10 minutes. W hen asked what she had found, she provided not only a detailed explanat ion of how the enzyme works but also why a potato would need to have the enzyme in the f irst

p lace and t ied it back in w ith how peroxide works to d isinfect a cut on human skin (not ing that the skin doesn?t produce bubbles but the cut / infect ion does). Absolutely amazed w ith her depth of insight and abilit y to connect numerous observat ions. we later d iscussed this w ith one of the lead counselors who told us that this part icular student suffered so severely from dyslexia that she had just begun to read sentences that summer at the age of 11-years-old and was unable recite the days of the week or months of the year in order after weeks of working on both.

Upon d iscussing further, she was from Washington and her grandmother had rented a motorhome and moved to Colorado for the summer so Serene could at tend the Rocky Mountain Camp. W hile d iscussing the g irl?s numerous ?aha? moments in science, her grandmother commented that science was her favorite part of the day and they talked excited ly about the STEM act ivit ies they were going to do throughout the year.

CHEMISTRY.MINES.EDU 11

For more info, read ?The Dyslexic Advantage? by Eide and Eide Rocky Mountain Camp:

or v isit rockymountaincamp.org

OUTREACH

Summer campers look to Mines chemist ry st udent s for real-world science insp irat ion

Student Stories

Michael Dzara, Materials Science ( lef t ) was one of t hree student s to receive t he Graduate Research Award at t he 66th Internat ional Meet ing of t he American Vacuum Societ y in Columbus, Ohio.

This award recognizes excellence in graduate studies focused on vacuum science and technology and related f ields. A t the d ivision level, Dzara was also recognized as a recip ient of the Applied Surface Science Division Student Award. He won these awards based on his thesis work ent it led "Characterizat ion of surface and interface propert ies of polymer elect rolyte membrane fuel cell catalysts w ith X-ray photoelect ron spect roscopy".

The Mines American Vacuum Societ y (AVS) student chapter had a successful year. In addit ion to the normal act ivit ies that make Mines AVS one of the most act ive student chapters in the society, Chapter President Sarah Zaccarine and member Natalie Seit zman co-organized the f irst student -organized focus topic at the recent AVS Internat ional Symposium & Exhib it . The focus topic t it led Energy Transition Leaders invited scient ists at the forefront of d if ferent aspects of shift ing g lobal energy consumpt ion from non-renewable to renewable sources.

Sarah and Natalie were a dynamic duo at last year?s AVS Internat ional Symposium where the T-shirt design they submit ted won a contest and was sold at this year?s event . The punny saying ?W hen things get rough, we?ll let you vent ,? was inspired by an agenda item at Mines AVS meet ings called ?vent ing? that gave student chapter members an opportunit y to d iscuss lab st ruggles, especially focusing on unfortunate situat ions involving vacuum systems.

Student Stories

CAS names it s 20 19 Future Leaders: Tracy Schloemer, Colorado School of MinesThe program, organized by CAS, which is a d ivision of the American Chemical Society, aims to expand the professional networks of up-and-coming PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from around the world who are shaping the future of scient if ic informat ion and innovat ion.

Awardees w ill collaborate on new init iat ives to support the scient if ic community, exchange ideas about the role of informat ion w ithin the research process and hear from indust ry and academic leaders about the role of science in the g lobal economy, academia, and the media. Part icipants w ill also at tend the ACS nat ional meet ing in San Diego in August .

Schloemer was part of the Sellinger group unt il her recent graduat ion.

Sarah Zaccarine, App lied Chemist ry

CHEMISTRY.MINES.EDU 1312 COLORADOSCHOOLOFMINES

Natalie Seit zman, Materials Science

20 19 Innovat ions in Nuclear Technology R&D Award W inners

A llison Lim, a PhD student in materials science in the Sellinger group, has been awarded a f irst p lace prize in the open compet it ion in the category of Material Protect ion, Cont rol and Accountancy. Her award-w inning research paper, ?Plast ic Scint illators w ith Eff icient Light Output and Pulse Shape Discriminat ion Produced via Photoinit iated Polymerizat ion,? was published in the Journal of Applied Polymer Science in December 20 18.

Erin Bertelsen, a PhD student in applied chemist ry in the Shafer group, has been awarded a f irst p lace prize in the open compet it ion in the category of Nuclear Science and Engineering. Her award-w inning research paper, ?Microcolumn Lanthanide Separat ion Using Bis-(2-ethylhexyl) Phosphoric Acid Funct ionalized Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Materials,? was published in the Journal of Chromatography in June 20 19.

In order to be successful and retain it s leadership role in nuclear technologies, the United States must foster creat ivit y and breakthrough achievements to develop tomorrow?s nuclear technologies. The Department of Energy has long recognized that universit y students are an important source of breakthrough solut ions and a key component in meet ing it s long-term goals. The Innovat ions in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards program was developed for this purpose.

This awards program is designed to: 1) award graduate and undergraduate students for innovat ive nuclear-technology-relevant research publicat ions, 2) demonst rate the Department of Energy?s commitment to higher educat ion in nuclear-technology-relevant d iscip lines, and 3) support communicat ions among universit y students and Department of Energy representat ives. The program awarded 25 prizes in 20 19 for student publicat ions relevant to innovat ive nuclear technology. In addit ion to cash awards, award-w inning students w ill have a variety of other opportunit ies.

Allison Lim, Materials Science

Erin Bertelsen, App lied Chemist ry

Tracy Schloemer, App lied Chemist ry

Where Are They Now?

Catching up w it h Dr. Lin at Virg inia TechDr. Feng Lin, current ly an assistant professor of chemist ry at Virg inia Tech, graduated from the Mines Department of Chemist ry in 20 12.

He was advised by Professor Ryan Richards and worked on a collaborat ive

smart w indows project at Nat ional Renewable Energy Laboratory. He took the facult y posit ion at Virg inia Tech in Fall 20 16 after his postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley Nat ional Laboratory and an

indust ry job in the Silicon Valley.

Dr. Lin's research group develops new experimental methodologies and establish novel design princip les to enhance the elect rochemical, catalyt ic and opt ical propert ies of ion intercalat ing solids for energy storage, chemical conversion and elect rochromics. Feng?s academic career was nucleated at Mines, where he was exposed to the mult id iscip linary research environment between Mines and NREL.

Feng resides in Christ iansburg, Virg inia w ith his w ife, Dr. Chixia Tian, who also graduated from Mines' Chemist ry Department and is a facult y member at the Nanoscience Program at Virg inia Tech. Their days in Colorado taught them everything about mountains and snow. Their daughter Leyi Lyrica Lin was born in September 20 19.

Before Mines, I remember applying for the E-Days scholarship, a full ride to Mines based on an essay about the wonderful p laces a Mines degree w ill t ake you once you f inish. I described a fantast ical future where my ?mult id iscip linary Mines degree? made me the ideal candidate for a manned mission to Mars. Of course, I wasn?t awarded the scholarship, but I st ill got that mult id iscip linary Mines degree and thankfully learned to be a lit t le less full of myself. Now, I may not be on my way to Mars, but coincidentally, my essay wasn?t as far from the t ruth as one may think. A fter start ing grad school in chemist ry at Stanford Universit y, I joined the Waymouth lab and w ith it became part of a NASA-funded project called CUBES (Center for Ut ilizat ion of Biological Engineering in space) which is tasked w ith producing a closed-loop ecosystem for the coming Mars mission.

My project focuses on manufacturing tools and other components for when the ast ronauts need something that they forgot to pack. I work w ith polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and other copolymer polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) that are produced as energy storage compounds for

Vince Pane: manufacturing tools for ast ronaut s t hrough an interd iscip linary scope

bacteria known as methanot rophs when they eat methane and carbon d ioxide. These materials are ideally suited for closed-loop resource ut ilizat ion because a tool can be fed right back to the bacteria to produce virg in polymer. My work is the intersect ion of many d iscip lines as I must f igure out a method for processing the bacteria+polymer into a usable feedstock, 3D print the result ing material and use polymer synthesis to inform the b iologists of the best copolymers for 3D print ing.

In my free t ime, I am working w ith inmates at San Quent in State Penitent iary on collaborat ive artworks. I am current ly working w ith Bruce Fow ler (a long-t ime sculptor and painter) . We p lan our art through let ters and prison visit s and really made a connect ion w ith his long lost and my new found love of the ocean. In the p ictured sculpture, I created the wave from plast ic collected on the beach, while Fow ler used f loor wax, paint and other prison-availab le materials for the surfer.

Vince Pane completed his B.S. Chemist ry, May 20 16 and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, May 20 17.

Feng Lin?s research team at Virg inia Tech

CHEMISTRY.MINES.EDU 1514 COLORADOSCHOOLOFMINES

Keeping t rad it ion alive w it h Thanksg iv ing : Chemist ry and Civil & Environmental Eng ineering come together

On November 22, 20 19, the Mines Chemist ry and Civil and Environmental Engineering Departments once again celebrated friendship and camaraderie w ith a t radit ional Thanksgiving meal, a t radit ion that has been going on for decades.

Professor Ranville remembers at tending this meal when he was in graduate school at Mines about 150 years ago. This year, at tendees enjoyed turkey

prepared in a variety of ways including smoked, deep fried and baked to a marvelous golden brown in the oven by a number of facult y and students.

We thank the Chemist ry and Civil and Environmental Engineering Departments for sponsoring this important act ivit y, along w ith the graduate student government for covering some expenses so graduate students d id not have to pay for the meal. We are already wait ing for our next celebrat ion!

Look how the meal has changed since t he mid 1980 s in t he p ict ure on t he lef t to how it is today.

16 COLORADOSCHOOLOFMINES

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Seminar for nanoporous materials provided me w ith an opportunit y to interact w ith other graduate students, postdocs, and experts in the f ield of nanoporous materials in a small, int imate set t ing.

This conference was an excellent way for me to have extended conversat ions about my research, or other research that is closely related to my own. I returned from the conference w ith a bet ter understanding of my science, many new ideas, and a renewed energy and excitement about the work I am doing.

Student networking opportunit ies made possib le by chemist ry donors

Rachel Mow, Materials SciencePresent ing at t he GRC

THANK YOU TO OUR DONORSThe Mines Chemist ry Department is grateful for it s donors and the opportunit ies their donat ions bring to it s students. We'd like to recognize and appreciate the follow ing donors and friends for their cont ribut ions over the past academic year ( fall 20 19 to spring 20 20 ):

John P. AnstedJon L. Bennet tA lison R. BieryJohn C. Briggs & Jeff Feif ferMichael J. DammannStephen R. DanielAnya M. GillRonald W. Klusman

Jon S. NelsenRoger L. OlsenCarly I. PaigeRosemary Radar & Ted HustonMegan & Amy RoseFred ierick C. RuffJohn Speilvogel & Luaren A . Leavit tVincent E. Woods

Community News

Instant Family of Four

Dr. McGuirk and his w ife, Lindsey, welcomed the arrival of their f irst children, fraternal tw ins Jack and Malia in August 20 19. Malia enjoys exploring the W ild West and chasing adventure on her t rusty steed Bullseye, while Jack is busy f ight ing intergalact ic crime as a member of the Space Rangers.

An Arrival in t he New Year

Dr. Shafer and her w ife, W hitney, welcomed their daughter Kennedy Jules at the very beginning of the decade. The family is doing well ( though the family dogs are st ill f iguring out what is making so much noise)!

Kendyll Haw kins**Biochemistry track

Congratulations, graduates!

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, CHEMISTRY

Andrew FletcherNuclear Engineering

MASTER OF SCIENCE

Lukas DahlinPhD, Applied Chemist ryThesis Advisor: Mat thew Posew itz

Logan RandPhD, Geochemist ryThesis Advisor: James Ranville

Tracy Schloemer PhD, Applied Chemist ryThesis Advisor: A lan Sellinger

W illiam C. SmithPhD, Applied Chemist ryThesis Advisor: Kim R. W illiams

Daniel Van HoomissenPhD, Applied Chemist ryThesis Advisor: Shubham Vyas

Yangzhi ZhaoPhD, Materials ScienceThesis Advisor: Yongan Yang

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

(Lef t ) Logan Rand, Tracy Schloemer, W ill iam C. Smith, Daniel Van Hoomissen, Yangzhi Zhao, Lukas Dahlin

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