chemistry - gordon college · fuels and is involved with gordon’s biodiesel project. the moringa...

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1 Gone but not forgotten! worked with Ron over the years are very happy for him and his family as he embarks on this new endeavor but we are equally aware of our loss of day today interaction with a great colleague and friend. Ron completed 17 years on the faculty at Gordon. When you add his four years as a student, Ron has left a mark extending for more than two decades on our campus. To know Ron is to be encouraged. He has encouraged overwhelmed students. He has encouraged his peers, giving freedom to pursue new avenues of research and teaching in our department. He has encouraged administrators by his encyclopedic knowledge of the college and its policies. We are grateful for all his faithful service to the department, the students and the college. This past spring, students recognized Ron by having a surprise “Dr. Kay Appreciation Day.” The Natural Science division took Ron and his wife, Sheri, out for a lunch where they spent time with past and present members of the division who reminisced about their years together. Some of you joined us for our annual endofyear party where we once more celebrated Ron and Sheri and their impact on our lives. Ron will be missed by us at Gordon and we know that he would love to continue to hear from you. You can contact him at the email address [email protected]. Drop him a line to say hello—and, who knows? —He may end up editing one of your articles one day! Greetings from the Chair I’m pleased to greet you in this newsletter as one of my first “official” duties now that I have become the chair of the Chemistry Department. I’ve been blessed to have completed 22 years on the faculty here at Gordon College under the leadership of two department chairs who were true servant leaders: Jack Haas and Ron Kay. I step into this new role very aware of the legacy that they have forged for our department as we continue to move into an exciting future. There is much to celebrate as we begin this new academic year. We are delighted to announce that Emily Jarvis will be joining our faculty in the fall. She comes to us from NIST by way of Pepperdine and UCLA. There’s more about Emily and her interests in the “Faculty Update”. Green Chemistry continues to be a driving force in our department. This practice of chemistry that is designed to be inherently safer for human health and the environment has brought a strong sense of purpose and focus to our department. We continue to be grateful for the enthusiasm of our students in this area. For example, it was a student—Laura Hamel—who first got the department interested in green chemistry back in 2002. Today, our students are reaching out to others, bringing lessons about green chemistry into high schools and other public places, such as Boston’s Museum of Science. Numerous green chemistry research projects have been completed and reported at ACS national meetings. If this isn’t enough, we daily watch the construction of the Ken Olsen Science Center. In June we had the first chance to walk around the inside of the building’s shell. If it’s been awhile since you’ve been to campus, you’re going to want to come back to visit us in our new spot. The old Emery Lab will be long remembered, but gladly left behind! Please keep in touch. We’ll try to do a better job of letting you know what we’re up to! Blessings, Save the Date! There is a chemistry alumni reunion just in time for homecoming weekend. Come early for a gathering on the evening of Thursday, October 4, 2007. We hope to see you as we celebrate the new Ken Olsen Science Center! CHEMISTRY 255 Grapevine Road t Wenham MA t 019841899 e: [email protected] GORDON COLLEGE | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY Ron, Irv, Emily and Dwight As we announced last winter, Ron Kay left Gordon College this summer to accept a position with the American Chemical Society in Columbus, OH as a technical editor of ACS journals. Ron is pleased to have the chance to enjoy reading about science and to use his skills as an editor. Those of us who have known and

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Page 1: CHEMISTRY - Gordon College · fuels and is involved with Gordon’s biodiesel project. The Moringa tree and its medicinal purposes is another interest which came out of trips to the

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Gone but not forgotten!

worked with Ron over the years are very happy for him and his family as he embarks on this new endeavor but we are equally aware of our loss of day­ to­day interaction with a great colleague and friend.

Ron completed 17 years on the faculty at Gordon. When you add his four years as a student, Ron has left a mark extending for more than two decades on our campus. To know Ron is to be encouraged. He has encouraged overwhelmed students. He has encouraged his peers, giving freedom to pursue new avenues of research and teaching in our department. He has encouraged administrators by his encyclopedic knowledge of the college and its policies. We are grateful for all his faithful service to the department, the students and the college. This past spring, students recognized Ron by having a surprise “Dr. Kay Appreciation Day.” The Natural Science division took Ron and his wife, Sheri, out for a lunch where they spent time with past and present members of the division who reminisced about their years together. Some of you joined us for our annual end­of­year party where we once more celebrated Ron and Sheri and their impact on our lives.

Ron will be missed by us at Gordon and we know that he would love to continue to hear from you. You can contact him at the email address [email protected]. Drop him a line to say hello—and, who knows? —He may end up editing one of your articles one day!

Greetings from the Chair I’m pleased to greet you in this newsletter as one of my first “official” duties now that I have become the chair of the Chemistry Department. I’ve been blessed to have completed 22 years on the faculty here at Gordon College under the leadership of

two department chairs who were true servant leaders: Jack Haas and Ron Kay. I step into this new role very aware of the legacy that they have forged for our department as we continue to move into an exciting future.

There is much to celebrate as we begin this new academic year. We are delighted to announce that Emily Jarvis will be joining our faculty in the fall. She comes to us from NIST by way of Pepperdine and UCLA. There’s more about Emily and her interests in the “Faculty Update”. Green Chemistry continues to be a driving force in our department. This practice of chemistry that is designed to be inherently safer for human health and the environment has brought a strong sense of purpose and focus to our department. We continue to be grateful for the enthusiasm of our students in this area. For example, it was a student—Laura Hamel—who first got the department interested in green chemistry back in 2002. Today, our students are reaching out to others, bringing lessons about green chemistry into high schools and other public places, such as Boston’s Museum of Science. Numerous green chemistry research projects have been completed and reported at ACS national meetings.

If this isn’t enough, we daily watch the construction of the Ken Olsen Science Center. In June we had the first chance to walk around the inside of the building’s shell. If it’s been awhile since you’ve been to campus, you’re going to want to come back to visit us in our new spot. The old Emery Lab will be long remembered, but gladly left behind!

Please keep in touch. We’ll try to do a better job of letting you know what we’re up to!

Blessings,

Save the Date! There is a chemistry alumni reunion just in time for homecoming weekend. Come early for a gathering on the evening of Thursday, October 4, 2007. We hope to see you as we celebrate the new Ken Olsen Science Center!

CHEMISTRY 255 Grapevine Road t Wenham MA t 01984­1899

e: [email protected]

GORDON COLLEGE | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

Ron, Irv, Emily and Dwight

As we announced last winter, Ron Kay left Gordon College this summer to accept a position with the American Chemical Society in Columbus, OH as a technical editor of ACS journals. Ron is pleased to have the chance to enjoy reading about science and to use his skills as an editor. Those of us who have known and

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Dwight Tshudy Dwight, who joined the faculty three years ago, obtained a Ph.D. degree in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He also obtained a B.A. degree from Gordon College. Before coming to Gordon in the fall of 2004, he spent 14 years working at Xerox Corporation in Webster NY, as an analytical chemist in their main Analytical Services organization. He developed separation science techniques to support research, development, manufacturing, and safety organizations world wide. He has obtained two patents, with a third in the works and has been an author and presenter on many internal Xerox projects. He is a member of a local chromatography discussion group called Massep.org. At Gordon, he teaches analytical chemistry, general chemistry and a new forensic science course for non­science majors. He also participates in the Marine Biology Institute at Gordon. His research efforts are focused around using analytical instrumentation of chromatography and mass spectrometry. His interests include alternative fuels and is involved with Gordon’s biodiesel project. The Moringa tree and its medicinal purposes is another interest which came out of trips to the ECHO farm.

Irv Levy During the past five years, Irv has been increasingly involved in green chemistry education. Since spring 2004, Irv’s students have engaged in Green Organic Literacy forum (GOLum) projects that have brought lessons about green chemistry to many audiences outside our department. Our GOLum projects caused Gordon College to become one of the first “ambassador sites” for green chemistry in the United States. This program, spearheaded by the University of Oregon, began with a handful of people and has now become more formalized as the Green Chemistry Education Network, of which Irv is a founding member. Irv has been engaged in a number of different research projects in the green chemistry arena. Currently, his major interests are in the development of greener organic laboratory experiments and in methods to incorporate ecotoxicology into the chemistry curriculum. Irv continues to be active with the American Chemical Society, organizing symposia at national meetings and, recently, as a member of the Program Committee for the Division of Chemical Education. Irv and his wife, Kathy, have enjoyed hosting many student get­togethers in years past and look forward to more of the same in the future.

Emily Jarvis Emily (Asche) Jarvis is the newest member of the faculty. She graduated from Pepperdine University with a B.S. in chemistry and earned her M.S. and Ph.D. from UCLA in physical chemistry. Her graduate research advisor was Professor Emily Carter who is now at Princeton in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics. After graduating from UCLA, Emily served as a Congressional Science Fellow sponsored by the American Chemical Society through the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In this capacity, she helped prepare senators for hearings and speeches, draft legislation, and met with constituents on policy issues with a significant scientific component ranging from antimicrobial resistance and sustainable development to the Columbia shuttle accident. The following year, Emily served as a visiting professor of chemistry at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH. Most recently, she has been a National Research Council postdoctoral research scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg Maryland in the Computational Chemistry Group and the Electron Physics Group.

Faculty Update

GORDON COLLEGE CHEMISTRY | www.gordon.edu

Where are they now? Alumni Update

Ryan Lawrence, ‘03 became interested in bioethics while a pre­med student at Gordon. He pursued this interest by studying ethics and theology in the Gordon­at­Oxford program, and went on to complete a M.Div. from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. He is now a medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Elizabeth (Pino) Kratz, ’01 received a commission in the United States Navy after graduation. As an instructor at the Navy's Nuclear Power School, she taught thermodynamics, chemistry, materials, and radiological principles. Lt. Kratz is pursuing a Master's of Science degree in Human Systems Integration at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.

CHEMISTRY

Michele (Kirby) McKinney, ‘01 earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, and has stayed on working as a postdoctoral researcher. Her research is focused on the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and the role it plays in chemical signaling pathways involved in pain and inflammation by studying FAAH and its lipophilic substrates using biochemical assays, inhibitor studies, and mouse models Adam Chevalier, ‘99 began working right after graduation as an organic chemist at Johnson­Matthey Pharma Services (formerly Pharm­Eco) and has remained there ever since. He has risen to the position of senior chemist/senior production coordinator, overseeing the scale­up and production of new organic synthesis projects in the pharmaceutical industry. Alynne MacLean, ’86 earned a Ph.D. in bioanalytical chemistry from the University of Kentucky, After several years developing enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, Dr. MacLean left her job and founded Science with a Mission, Inc. (SMI) where she serves as President. SMI (www.sciencewithamission.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing diagnostics for use in the poorest regions of the Developing World. SMI has immunoassays for malaria, typhoid, HIV and TB among others.

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ACS Meeting in Boston this August Gordon will be at the 234 th ACS National meeting which will be held in Boston on August 19 to 23, 2007.

Irv Levy is a co­chair of a symposium with John Warner “Community Outreach and Service Learning through Green Chemistry.”

Irv and Dwight with students have three oral presentations: • “Green chemistry curriculum development to empower outreach to middle­ and high­school students and teachers,” by A. Langlais, I. Levy, and A. Wagers. • “’Cleaning up’ chemistry: Soap making workshop demonstrating the principles of green chemistry,” by J. Kivaa and I. Levy.

• “CSI Wenham: Outreach to the community using forensic science,” by D. Tshudy.

Irv and Dwight with student authors have two poster presentations: • “Comparative ecotoxicity of petroleum diesel, biodiesel from waste fryer oil and biodiesel from unused fryer oil,” by L. Hasiuk, I. Levy, S. Massanari, M. Weaver, and E. Wetter. • “Introducing ecotoxicity to the chemistry laboratory curriculum: Studying green chemistry principles by measuring ecotoxicity using Escherichi coli,” by D. Tshudy and A. Luhrs.

Green Chemistry Our department emphasizes green chemistry ­­ a commitment to practice chemistry in a manner that is intentionally safer for human health and the environment. This way of thinking about and doing chemistry resonates with our calling as Christians to serve as good stewards of God's creation! As a founding member of the Green Chemistry Education Network, we are working at the forefront of the movement to make chemistry green by engaging in education and outreach activities that bring the principles of green chemistry to students, faculty and the general public in New England and beyond. At Gordon College we learn more about green chemistry through our efforts to make the practice of chemistry "benign by design".

ECHO Farm work team

Promoting a green chemistry idea

ECHO Irv and Dwight ran the annual spring break trip to ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) farms in North Fort Myers Florida in 2005 (www.echonet.org). Ten students (along with Levy and Tshudy) hopped into a van and drove to Florida and spent a week helping out on the farm. They assisted in thatching roofs, weeding hundreds of trees and bushes (watch our for the fire ants!), cutting back bamboo, dividing plants, and sorting seeds. It was the 7th time that Irv has gone since this trip was instituted back in early 1990’s with Tom Dent. Irv will be leading next trip for Spring Break 2008.

Do you know where they are? Have you been in contact with the following people? If so, ask them to send an email to Irv Levy ([email protected]) letting him know where they are. Looking for: Joel Bacon, Maria Diaz, Ross Fowler, Rachelle Fuchs, Deb Graham, Jianhong Gu, Matt List, Dave Sadlo,, Kerwyn Thomas, Joe Witherspoon, and Li Zeng. Forensic Chemistry

With the popular interest in all things criminal, Dwight has started offering a course in forensic science specifically designed for non­science majors. This course of 16 students was first offered in the Spring of 2006. Since it is a chemistry course, students are involved in laboratory experiments related to forensic science. Lab experiences include things like fingerprinting, chromatography mass spectrometry, and infrared spectroscopy. A number of outside speakers are brought to campus to interact with the class. An assistant district attorney for Essex County and a retired Massachusetts State Police have come to talk to the class.

Graduation 2007 We graduated 4 majors and 12 minors this past graduation!

Ron with Erica and her father

CHEMISTRY

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Ken Olsen Science Center In case you have not heard, Gordon will be getting new science facilities through the construction of the Ken Olsen Science Center (KOSC). Wood Hall was removed and the new science building is going up right on the quad. It will house the departments of, chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, computer science, kinesiology, and psychology. The chemistry department will be getting new laboratory space for teaching and also dedicated research space for students and faculty. This is an exciting time for the college and the department is getting prepared for the big move which is planned for 2008. Check out the www.gordon.edu site for more information.

CHEMISTRY

Scholarly Work • Levy, I; Kay, R. "Ma Pearl's Soap: Soapmaking as a Green Chemistry Laboratory Experience" published in the Summer 2007 edition of the NEACT Journal. (www.neact.org)

• Levy, Irvin J. “Visualizing waste: Green chemistry lecture demonstration of e­factor.” Poster presentation at the 233rd ACS National Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 2007.

• Veregin, R. P.; McDougall, M. N.; Strohm, E.; Tshudy, D. J.; Pickering, T. R. “Particle External Surface Additive Compositions.” U. S. patent application number 20060222986, October 2006.

• Kay, Ronald D.; Levy, Irvin J. “Propagation of the principles of green chemistry via memetic catalysis: student­motivated endeavors advancing green organic literacy.” Invited oral presentation at the 232 nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 2006.

• Haack, Julie; Levy, Irvin. “GEMs for chemists: a community­based approach to develop greener education materials.” Spring 2006 CONFCHEM on Web­Based Applications for Chemical Education. http://www.chem. vt.edu/confchem/2006/b/gems/.

• Kay, Ronald D. “Is an exact differential really independent of the path?” Poster presentation at the 230 th ACS National Meeting, Washington, D. C., August 2005.

• Levy, Irvin J. MediaLab modules for Chapters 7 and 12 of Chemistry for Changing Times, Prentice­Hall.

• Haack, Julie A.; Hutchison, James E.; Kirchhoff, Mary M.; Levy, Irvin J. “Going Green: Lecture Assignments and Lab Experiences for the College Curriculum.” Journal of Chemical Education 2005 82 974.

• Tshudy, Dwight J. “Biodiesel: From French Fries to Rabbits.” Presentation at the Northeast Regional Chromatography Discussion Group, Rochester, NY, November 2005.

Student Research Symposium Each year the Kinesiology (Movement Science) department hosts a poster session on student research. The chemistry department has made significant contributions to this event in the last couple of year with over 8 posters each year. Student research projects under direction of the faculty are represented with many of these in collaboration with the biology department. The organic chemistry students under the leadership of Irv are involved in GOLum and other research projects are consistent participants in the symposium. The analytical chemistry class, under the supervision of Dwight, work on instrumental analysis projects throughout the semester by developing an analyses involving some sort of instrumentation. The conclusion of the semester is the creation of a poster for the symposium.

Signed steel I­beam for KOSC

2007 Posters

Esselen Lecture at Harvard The department has continued its annual trek to Harvard in April to hear the Gustavus J. Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest lecture. This award is given each year by the Northeast Section of the American Chemical Society. The 2007 award was given to Michael A. Marletta, Chair and Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkley. He spoke on "Nitric Oxide in Biology: From Discovery to Therapeutics."

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Rainy day in Cambridge, MA

(gc) 2 Gordon College Green Chemistry