Department of Chemistry

Severance Hall 943 College Mall

Wooster, OH 44691

57th Annual Report

2018-2019 Academic Year

& Summer

2019

2

Greetings from the Chair 3 Faculty 4

Faculty Presentations 16 Faculty Publications 17

Faculty Grants and Awards 18

Staff 19 Emeriti 21

Ruth W. Williams Hall of Science Dedication 22

Alumni

Distinguished Alumni Award 23 Alumni Updates 24

Helen Murray Free Endowed Lectures 25

Department Seminars 26

Students Goldwater Scholar 27

Student Profiles 28 Chemistry Club 29

ACS National Meeting 30 Other Meetings 31

Awards & Recognition 33 Seniors

Chemistry Class 34 Recognition of Seniors 35 Post-graduation Plans 36

Independent Study Projects 37 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Class 39

Recognition of Seniors 40 Post-graduation Plans 41

Independent Study Projects 42 Senior Research Symposium 44 Student Summer Activities

On Campus 45 Other Locations 46

Ruth W. Williams Hall dedication: Dick Bromund, Montie Borders, Judy Borders, Charles Ryan (‘86), Cindy Papp (‘86), Roy Haynes, Virginia Pett

https://www.wooster.edu/departments/chemistry/ https://www.wooster.edu/departments/bcmb/

Editor & Photographer: Mary H. Cornelius

Faculty and staff get “elemental” for Halloween, dressing up as an element: Standing: Robert Harris (Al), Kaitlynn Arnholt (Ar), Mary Cornelius (Ag), Brett Baker (Ni), Zack Matesich (He), Paul Edmiston (Ne), Paul Bonvallet (Pb), Kristin Feierabend (Hg, Cd, Os) Kneeling: Sara Martin (Br), Becky Craig (K), Sarah Sobeck (S)

Table of Contents

Note left on whiteboard Alumni Weekend, 2019

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Dear alumni and friends of the Department, It has been a wonderful first year in the newly-completed Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Science and renovated spaces in Severance Hall. During construction the teaching and research in Biology / Biochemistry & Molecular Biology / Chemistry was spread across Ebert Art Center, Scheide Music Center, Morgan Hall, Kauke Hall, Scovel Hall, Taylor Hall, and Wishart Hall. Some might call that a nomadic lifestyle, but we always preferred the term “full-campus celebration of the liberal arts.” From Knowlton Café to the many areas for collaboration, our students took full advantage of the new spaces from the very first day. The new classrooms and meeting areas are constantly abuzz with collaboration between classmates and research groups, and there are plenty of quiet spots for students who prefer individual study. It’s always easy to tell which class has an upcoming exam based upon the content that fills every writable surface in the building during the evenings. (Amino acid side chains? That’s Principles of Biochemistry. Tons of hexagons? Must be Organic Chemistry.) Most would also admit the comfort of knowing that snacks, coffee, and fresh-made smoothies are never far away. In terms of staffing, we congratulate our former inorganic chemist Spring Knapp on her wedding and new position as a research lab manager in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Robert Harris came in as a one-year visitor and taught a heroic six different courses that included Inorganic Chemistry and a new advanced course in Organometallic Chemistry. We wish him well in his move to Wofford College and we are happy to announce the arrival of Lilliana Morris who will start a tenure-track inorganic chemistry position in fall 2019. In 2018-19 we welcomed two alumnae to the Department: Kaitlynn Arnholt (Wilson) ’12 as our organic chemistry laboratory coordinator, and Becky Craig ’13 as a two-year visitor in physical chemistry to cover the consecutive research leaves of Karl Feierabend and Sarah Sobeck. Our new organic chemist, Sara Martin, enjoyed a successful first year in a new tenure-track line that was created thanks to the generosity of Morris Williams. We also were thrilled to hire Jhony Mera as a new electronics and instrument technician who has been working with Tim Siegenthaler to keep our complex and ever-growing instrumentation and building systems in top shape. If you haven’t been to campus lately, it’s worth stopping by for a visit! The alumni that I meet are consistently amazed at how different – and yet fundamentally unchanged – the Department is in our new setting. As always, if you have any updates on your own lives or if you know that you will be attending an upcoming conference, please let us know. In the meantime, please take a moment to read in the following pages about the impressive things that our students, faculty, and staff have accomplished recently. We wish you the very best in the upcoming year and hope that you will continue to stay in touch with your Wooster family.

Warmest regards,

Paul Bonvallet Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry pbonvallet@wooster.edu

Greetings from the

Chair

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Department Chemistry

Faculty

Front Row:

Zack Matesich, Robert Harris, Paul Bonvallet

Back Row:

Sara Martin, Paul Edmiston, Jennifer Faust, Rebecca Craig, Sarah Sobeck, Kaitlynn Arnholt, James West

On Leave:

Karl Feierabend, Judy Amburgey-Peters, Mark Snider

of

5

FACULTY

Courses TaughtFall Semester

First Year Seminar Organic Chemistry I

Organic Chemistry I Lab

Spring Semester Organic Chemistry II Lab

Introduction to Independent Study

(co-taught w/Jennifer Faust & Rebecca Craig)

Independent Study Samantha Adusumilli

Duncan Crow Leah Scharlott David Thomas

Charles VanDenburgh Eva Stebel (spring)

Departmental Activities

• Chair• NMR Coordinator

(w/Spring Knapp)• Search Committee

Chair• Diversity Advocate

(w/Sarah Sobeck)• Helen Murray Free

Chair

Since 2004

In his third year as Department chair, Paul helped to oversee the opening of Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Science and several remodeled spaces in Severance Hall. The new classrooms complement student collaboration and group work terrifically well! Notably, the Organic Chemistry classroom and laboratory now physically adjoin one another, allowing our teaching team to move more fluidly between laboratory work and writeup/data analysis. Paul also taught a new First-Year Seminar topic “Winning and Losing” that explored the motivation and mindset behind people’s actions in academics, sports, business, politics, and war. It was

rewarding to have THREE former students on the faculty this year: Kaitlynn Arnholt (’12), Becky Craig (’13), and Zack Matesich (’11).

Paul A. Bonvallet

Paul with chemistry seniors David Thomas, Eva Stebel, Leah Scharlott, Duncan Crow, Charlie VanDenburgh

Speaking of former students, John “Luke” Koniarczyk (’14) recently completed a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry. After carefully considering two competing offers from Pfizer and Array BioPharma, Luke ultimately decided to go with Pfizer…only to see Pfizer purchase Array a month later! Paul continues to serve as Chief Reader for the Advanced Placement Chemistry program. In this position, he assists in writing the AP Chemistry exams and oversees the scoring of 160,000 exams in Salt Lake City every summer. He even persuaded Brett Baker, our General Chemistry Laboratory coordinator, to attend this year’s Reading. It is rewarding to interact with so many excellent high school and college chemistry teachers and see the many ways that students answer questions in general chemistry. Paul’s daughter took the AP Chemistry course at Wooster High School this year, and while she didn’t seem to care much about his position, her classmates always insisted on studying at the Bonvallet house this year. In Independent Study, Paul mentored five students of his own and “inherited” one from Paul Edmiston as he started his research leave. Senior Independent Study continues to be one of the best ways for students and faculty alike to deepen their skills and knowledge in a particular area of research. Paul even got to share his experiences during a Faculty Research Lunch on “How to Be an Organic Chemist,”

which as a professional life choice is a lot more fun than it might sound at first. Paul’s research in photochemistry and organic materials continues to be funded through ongoing grants from the National Science foundation. His joint proposal for undergraduate research in the Department of Physics was recently renewed, and he continues to enjoy the new capabilities of our NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectrometer.

Organic

6

Courses Taught

Fall Semester General Chemistry I

(two sections) Physical Chemistry I Lab

Spring Semester General Chemistry II

(two sections) Physical Chemistry II Lab

Introduction to Independent Study (co-taught w/Paul

Bonvallet & Jennifer Faust)

Departmental

Activities

• Social co-Coordinator w/Kaitlynn Arnholt

FACULTY Rebecca L. Craig Physical

Welcome! Becky (’13, CHEM) returned to Wooster as a two-year visiting assistant professor in physical chemistry. She assisted the Depart- ment while Karl Feierabend, her I.S. advisor, was on leave this past year and will continue to do so during Sarah Sobeck’s leave this upcoming year. After graduating from Wooster, Becky attended the University of Michigan and earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry in April 2018. She is thrilled be back at Wooster to have the opportunity to continue to learn from and give back to the Department. The feeling is mutual as Becky was selected as the recipient of the Juliana Wilson Thompson Visiting Endowed Professorship. William Thompson, former trustee, created the endowment to support visiting faculty. The Professorship provides funds to support her research and scholarly work.

Becky taught General Chemistry, Physical Chemistry I and II Labs, and Junior I.S. Being on the other side of the classroom for the first time was a challenging but rewarding learning experience. Becky also learned that many of her students do not share her love of chemistry puns.

During the spring, Becky advised three sophomore researchers - Camille Carr (’22), Alicia McElwee (’22), and Abbi Tarburton (’22, CHEM). Camille, Alicia, and Abbi helped Becky adapt a Raman spectroscopic method she had developed in graduate school to be compatible with FT-IR spectroscopy. This method allows for quantitative measurements of the concentration of an acid and its conjugate base and is fundamental to Becky’s future research studying atmospherically-relevant acid-base equilibrium systems.

Over the summer, Becky advised one research student, Philip Carter (’20, CHEM). Philip spent the summer synthesizing atmospherically-relevant organic compounds, which he will then use to study kinetics of the acid-catalyzed reactions these compounds undergo for his Senior I.S. As part of her summer outreach, Becky served as a Chemistry Instructor for the Youngstown Early Intervention Program (YEIP). Becky, with the help of Philip and Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM), introduced the high school participants to the wonderful world of chemistry through a series of hands-on activities and experiments on topics ranging from polymers to water quality.

Becky Craig (r) with Philip Carter (’20, CHEM)

Becky was accepted to the 15th Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging Senior Scientists (ACCESS XV), for which she attended a multiday workshop at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY and then presented her research at the Gordon Research Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry in Newry, ME.

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Paul L. Edmiston

Since 1997 Analytical

Courses Taught

Fall Semester Analytical Chemistry Lab

Forensic Science General Chemistry I

Spring Semester On Leave

Independent Study

Fall Semester

Russell Boston* Caylee Cunningham*

Christopher Good Gabriela Jocas

Sarah Pitell* Eva Stebel

Hyuga Uchida

*BCMB Majors

Departmental Activities

• Admissions Liaison • Instrument Maintenance

(w/Jennifer Faust) • Awards (w/Karl

Feierabend)

In the fall, Paul taught General Chemistry I, Chemistry 102: Forensic Science, and Analytical Chemistry Lab. During the summer of 2018 he was a participant in an NSF workshop on developing active learning methods for the classroom. The active learning pedology was used in the General Chemistry course. He is looking forward to continuing developing and refining better strategies to teach chemistry. Besides General Chemistry, the Forensic Science was a center point for teaching. The class concluded a mock crime scene as the core for the final exam. Analytical Chemistry Lab once

again involved six weeks of solving a fictitious spy-themed caper followed by the mock trial.

Paul advised an exciting group of IS students in the fall, with projects ranging from protein entrapment to personal care products. In addition, he had a team of four other students working on developing adsorbents for perfluorinated substances (PFAS) from water on a project funded by the Defense Department's Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). Many of these students completed summer research in 2018.

He went on leave in spring 2019 focusing on work on the PFAS water treatment project and developing controlled release technologies using silica materials. All of these technologies are based on the Osorb® platform. His leave will continue through fall 2019 when piloting testing the technology in the field is planned.

He spent much of his free time shuttling his three boys to various sporting events, musical rehearsals, performances, jobs, and parties with friends. It has been enjoyable to be a spectator to many events.

Paul is pictured with his summer research group, (l to r) Heather Hartmann (’21, CHEM), Claire Hefner (’22) David DiGena-Segal (’22, CHEM) Paul and Heather Hartmann (’21,

CHEM) student research assistant, working in the Edmiston lab.

FACULTY

On leave spring 2019 – fall 2019

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Jennifer enjoyed exploring new directions in research, teaching, and outside service during her second year as a faculty member. With building renovations completed, her newly expanded lab space gave research students more room for experiments. The movable desks and extensive board space in the new classrooms made for excellent active learning spaces. She expanded her involvement with the College by joining the STEM Success Initiative Advisory Board to promote inclusion of underrepresented minorities in STEM.

Jennifer continued her research in environmental chemistry, collecting precipitation on the roof of Severance Hall and at Smithville High School to identify and characterize organic molecules present in rain and snow. Her students Brittany Bowman (’19, CHEM), Zach Lyon (’19, CHEM), and Asvin Gireesh (’21, BCMB) expanded the list of target molecules to include brominated flame retardants and organosulfates. Meanwhile, Cody Park (’19, CHEM), Vy Nguyen (’22, CHEM), Vinh To (’22), and Ethan Kahrl (’20, CHEM) kicked off investigations of aging of model lubricant films, and Erika Womack (’19, CHEM) and An Tran (’21, CHEM) made brown carbon. Jennifer learned a bit about toxicology with Chris Good (’19, CHEM) in spring 2019. The Faust Lab is supported by the ACS Petroleum Research Fund, the Department, College startup funds, and the Sophomore Research program.

Jennifer traveled extensively this past year. She co-chaired a session about environmental chemistry education and presented her own work at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) meeting in Sacramento, CA, in November 2018; presented a poster with Kevin Wokosin (’18, CHEM) at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Washington, D.C. in December 2018; traveled to Pittcon with Brittany Bowman, Jenelle Booker (’21, CHEM), and Shayna Vicker (’21, BCMB) in Philadelphia in March 2019; and participated in a grant review panel at the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, VA. Over the summer, she attended one of her favorite conferences—the Atmospheric Chemistry Gordon Research Conference at Sunday River Ski Resort in Maine.

In the classroom, Jennifer enjoyed teaching Environmental Chemistry for the first time in spring 2019. Students borrowedportable particle sensors from the EPA and came up with creative experiments to monitor air quality. (It turns out

Courses Taught

Fall Semester Analytical Chemistry

Analytical Chemistry Lab General Chemistry II

Spring Semester General Chemistry II

Environmental Chemistry Introduction to

Independent Study (co-taught w/Paul

Bonvallet & Becky Craig)

Independent Study

Brittany Bowman Christopher Good (spring)

Zachary Lyon Cody Park

Erika Womack

Departmental Activities

• Chemistry Club Advisor • Helen Murray Free

(w/Paul Bonvallet) • Instrument

Maintenance (w/Paul Edmiston)

• Seminar Coordinator Jennifer with her summer research

group: (l to r) An Tran, Ethan Kahrl, Vinh To, Vy Nguyen

Since 2017

Analytical

Jennifer A. Faust

FACULTY

the fire pit in Lowry doesn’t emit much particulate matter at all! It must be extremely well ventilated.)

This spring marked Jennifer’s first experience with Junior I.S. She is happy to talk about graph formatting and font choice any time.

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Robert J. Harris Inorganic

Welcome!

Courses Taught

Fall Semester General Chemistry I Organic Chemistry I

Organometallic Chemistry

Spring Semester Organic Chemistry II Inorganic Chemistry

Inorganic Chemistry Lab (two sections)

Robert Harris joined the Department of Chemistry as a visiting professor to replace Spring Knapp, Assistant Professor, who left Wooster to move closer to her boyfriend. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Wofford College and his Ph.D. from Duke University. He had an HHMI funded postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University with a dual commitment to reform undergraduate curriculum and to conduct research. Part of his work included developing a new four-year curriculum for chemistry majors that was implemented in 2017.

As a researcher, Robert has been studying transition metal catalyzed transformations, mechanisms of gold(I) catalyzed hydrofunctionalizations of allenes and the structure and reactivity of gold(I) carbenes and has worked on the zinc catalyzed oxidation of sulfides. Most recently he has been focused on the elucidation of the mechanism of rhodium catalyzed allylic C-H amination. His current goal is to develop a catalyzed hydroamination of alkenes.

Robert was given the task of teaching a first-time Organometallic Chemistry course at Wooster fall semester. He also taught General Chemistry I and Organic Chemistry I. In the spring, Robert taught the Inorganic Chemistry class. He advised two Sophomore Research students spring semester, Sarah Mullen (’22, CHEM) and Vinh To (’22).

FACULTY

New Department members: Becky Craig (‘13), Kaitlynn Arnholt (’12) and Robert

Robert brought fun energy to the Department. His love for Duke basketball, hot sauce, and playing ultimate frisbee was much appreciated by his colleagues. Following his one-year visiting position with Wooster, Robert will return to Wofford College to teach Chemistry.

Kaitlynn Arnholt, Becky Craig, Kristin Feierabend, and Robert at the Senior Symposium

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Welcome!

Courses Taught

Fall Semester General Chemistry II Organic Chemistry I

Spring Semester General Chemistry II Organic Chemistry II

Introduction to Independent Study (BCMB, co-taught

with BCMB faculty)

Independent Study

Ian Mundy Noelle Sadallah*

Rada Zunich Russell Boston (Spring)*

*BCMB majors

Departmental Activities

• Library Liaison • Summer Research

Coordinator

Sara joined the Department in fall 2018 as a tenure-track assistant professor in organic chemistry. She earned her Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2014 from the University of Delaware and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in chemical biology at Harvard Medical School.

During her first year at Wooster, Sara advised two Chemistry I.S. seniors, Ian Mundy and Rada Zunich. Their research focused on using virtual screening to identify potential inhibitors of MurG, an enzyme that is important in synthesis of the bacterial cell wall. In the spring of 2019, sophomore researcher Coco Liu (’22, BCMB) joined the lab to contribute to this work. Sara also advised one BCMB I.S. student, Noelle Sadallah, who investigated if the bacterial enzyme NagZ could convert a readily isolated component of the bacterial cell wall, Lipid II, into its precursor, Lipid I. Lipid I is the substrate for MurG and is hard to obtain in useful quantities through other methods. In the spring of 2019, Sara advised Russell Boston, BCMB senior, toward the completion of his I.S. thesis while Paul Edmiston was on leave.

In the summer of 2019, Sara and Benjamin Leslie, visiting assistant professor of biology, were able to hire a team of chemistry and biochemistry researchers thanks to the Sherman-Fairchild program. This team is developing inhibitors and an activity assay for a class of enzymes, the gingipains, whose activity may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. Noelle Sadallah served as a mentor for the group and worked with Lydia Bruno (’21, BIOL) to express and purify a number of the proteins in this family, while Coco Liu carried out virtual screening studies to identify potential inhibitors of these enzymes. Regan Szalay (’20, CHEM), a Whitmore-Williams Scholar, also joined the lab. She is using chemical synthesis to make candidate inhibitors of MurG that were identified by Ian and Rada. In June 2019, Regan and Sara presented their research at the 46th National Organic Chemistry Symposium in Bloomington, Indiana. Regan will continue this research as her I.S. project in the coming academic year.

Finally, Sara is especially interested in helping her students find majors and career paths that are right for them. To this end, she began a

Sara with her research group. Standing: Russell Boston (’19, BCMB), Coco Liu (’22, BCMB), Ian Mundy (’19, CHEM). Seated: Noelle Sadallah (’19, BCMB), Rada Zunich (’19, CHEM)

Organic

Sara E. S. Martin

FACULTY

Phone a STEM Professional assignment in her General and Organic Chemistry I classes which gave students the opportunity to conduct a short informational interview with a STEM professional. She is looking for more STEM professionals from all fields to participate in this assignment in future semesters. If you are interested in more information or in participating, please don’t hesitate to contact her.

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Zack accompanied four students to the American Chemistry Society

National Meeting in Orlando, FL, March 31 –

April 4. Students pictured: (l to r) Anna Schroeder (’21, CHEM), Juliette Shea (’19, CHEM),

Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM), Kyndalanne

Pike (’20, CHEM/MATH)

In Zack's second year at Wooster as a visiting professor he had the opportunity to serve as an IS advisor to two students, Juliette Shea and Colin Ford. It was quite the experience of being on the other side of the Independent Study process

and he very much enjoyed it.

During the academic year, Zack taught General Chemistry lecture and Organic Chemistry lecture in the fall. In the spring, in addition to teaching a General Chemistry II Lab,

he taught an Advanced Organic Chemistry course that he was able to self-design. This was a busy process, but it allowed him to really dive in deep to the interconnected topics of organic chemistry with those adventurous students who decided to take the course.

Zack continued his advising of Anna Schroeder ('21, CHEM) through the Sophomore Research program. Their goal was to continue their work from the summer on translating an alcohol dehydration lab from the organic chemistry laboratory course into flow chemistry in an attempt to increase the relative product ratios. As the spring semester started, Anna was joined by Anna Hartig ('20, CHEM). They both helped prepare some materials for the senior I.S. students and then continued the work of Juliette after I.S. Monday.

Zack attended the 257th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Orlando, FL, where he presented a poster on the work being completed by those in his research group. Zack was joined at the conference by Anna S. and Juliette who presented their own posters on their Sophomore and Senior I.S. research projects respectively.

Since 2017

Courses Taught

Fall Semester General Chemistry I

(two sections) Organic Chemistry I

Spring Semester Organic Chemistry II Advanced Organic

Chemistry

Independent Study

Colin Ford Juliette Shea

Departmental Activities

Professional Development Coordinator

Zachery D. Matesich !

FACULTY

Zack with Juliette Shea

Organic

12

Since 2006

Courses Taught

Fall Semester

First Year Seminar Physical Chemistry I

Physical Chemistry I Lab

Spring Semester General Chemistry II Physical Chemistry II

Physical Chemistry II Lab

Independent Study

Elliott Detrich Yukun (Ada) Jin

Gabriela Jocas (spring) Rose Taylor

(CHEM/MATH) Hyuga Uchida (spring)

Departmental Activities

• Assessment Coordinator • Seminar Coordinator • Diversity Advocate

(w/Paul Bonvallet) • Senior I.S. Seminar

Coordinator • Lead contact for

technology/computers and spectroscopy instruments

Sarah Sobeck’s research group continues to study the photode-gradation of UV-absorbers and colorants. The former project focuses upon the stability of specific classes of organic UV-absorbers, commonly used in personal care products, and the impact of the solvent environment on their photophysical properties. They also are carrying out related studies of the impact of the environment on the stability of organic dyes and pigments. They have focused largely on red colorants with applications to both art and food chemistry. She had four sophomore students working in her lab during the academic year supported through Sophomore Research. Three are sophomore chemistry majors, An Tran, Lilly Woerner, and Daniel Zhou, and one is a chemistry minor majoring in music, Sydney Barger.

Sarah supervised three I.S. students throughout the academic year and for spring semester advised two of Paul Edmiston’s advisees as his research leave began January 2019. Elliott Detrich continued work on assessing the impact of pH on the degradation of carminic acid, a common dye used in art and food products. Yukun (Ada) Jin carried out a comparative study of two red pigments, related to carminic acid, that have small structural modification but strong differences in their long-term stability. Rose Taylor (MATH & CHEM) analyzed the photodegradation and formulated a kinetic model for the breakdown for a family of UV-absorbers used in personal care products (anthranilic acids). Paul’s advisee Hyuga Uchida analyzed the economic viability of using SOMS in the petroleum industry and formulated a business model in the analysis. Gabriela Jocas worked to model the absorption and desorption of contaminants from environmental samplers that use SOMS.

Sarah continued her many outreach activities with Expanding Your Horizons, and the Dr. Melissa Schulz Memorial Run/Walk. She received a mini-grant from the National American Chemical Society for her work with the Wooster Science Café. The Café sponsors local scientists to speak to the local community on topics of public interest. Sarah continued her service as Wooster’s Alliance Liaison for the GLCA Global Crossroads Grant, secretary for the College’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter, member of the faculty leaves committee, campus representative for the Graduate Fellowship committee for the Goldwater Scholarship. She also served on the provost search committee.

This summer Sarah is initiating her sabbatical for the 2019-20 academic year. She will spend a portion of the leave working in the Conservation Science lab at the Indianapolis Museum at Newfields.

FACULTY Sarah J. Sobeck

Physical

13

Since 2008

Cate Fenster, Steve Fenster, Lyn Loveless, and James West in Tucson, AZ

Courses Taught

Fall Semester Gateway to Molecular and

Cellular Biology

Principles of Biochemistry

Spring Semester Gateway to Molecular and

Cellular Biology

Chemical Biology Introduction to

Independent Study - BCMB

Independent Study

Patrick Carmel – NEUR-BCMB

Nikhil Dole – BCMB Anna Gibbs – BCMB

Justin Kearney – BIOL Sarah Pitell – BCMB

(spring)

Departmental Activities

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Chair

In the 2018-19 academic year, James taught Principles of Biochemistry, Techniques in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology,

Gateway to Molecular & Cellular Biology, and Chemical Biology. He also mentored five IS students and seven research assistants

throughout the year and summer, and he served as chair of the BCMB program. James published a research paper titled “Conserved Aromatic Residues at the Dimer-Dimer Interface in

Yeast Peroxiredoxin Tsa1 Facilitate Decamer Formation and Biological Function” in Chemical Research in Toxicology and a review article titled “Piecing Together How Peroxiredoxins Maintain Genomic Stability” in Antioxidants, both with student coauthors. James gave an external seminar in the School of Biology at Illinois State University in the fall of 2018 and presented work from his laboratory at the 2019 Gordon Research Conference on Stress Proteins in Growth, Development, & Disease and the Biochemical Society’s Conference on Redox Signaling in Physiology, Aging, and Disease. Two students went with James to the 2019 Midwest Stress Response & Molecular Chaperone Meeting, presenting posters on their work.

James traveled to Tucson, AZ, over winter break to visit with former Biology faculty members Lyn Loveless, Cate Fenster, and Steve Fenster. This past summer, he toured in Italy and the UK before and after international conferences.

While in town, he enjoys tending his chili pepper patch and going on long walks with his very energetic golden retriever, Wallace.

James D. West Biochemistry & Molecular

FACULTY

Wallace

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Biology

14

Karl spent 2018-19 working on two different physical-chemistry research questions. He began a collaboration with Professor Carlos Crespo-Hernandez at Case Western Reserve University to study the mechanism by which base pairs of DNA can be ionized with ultraviolet (UV) light. This research area is important for understanding how sunlight can damage organisms’ DNA, as well as how DNA evolved in prebiotic conditions, when ultraviolet radiation was significantly more plentiful and potent on Earth. Working in the Crespo group, Karl used a state-of-the-art laser spectrometer that can provide femtosecond (10-12 seconds) time resolution of absorption of a sample following a UV excitation laser pulse. Specifically, Karl studied the amount of energy required to ionize the nucleotide guanosine, which is known to be the easiest of the four common DNA bases to lose an electron. He also studied how the products of the ionization reaction go on to do further acid-base chemistry in solution. Karl expects his work to be published in collaboration with members of the Crespo group later this year.

Karl also worked on completing a project at Wooster that involves hydrogen bonding of one molecule to pi-electrons on another. This class of hydrogen bond is not well-studied, in part because it is very weak, but it plays an important role in the secondary structure of proteins and in host-guest molecular interactions. Karl used a combination of vibrational overtone spectroscopy and computational chemistry to investigate the phenol-benzene system (a model for more complex biological interactions) in a variety of different solvents. Interestingly, the solvent environment can play a significant role in the thermodynamics of the hydrogen bond formation, which has important ramifications for how these types of bonds work in hydrophilic or hydrophobic environments. Karl looks forward to submitting this work for publication soon.

Mark was awarded a one-year leave in which he conducted his research in the new laboratories of the Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Sciences. He was awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation in the summer of 2018 to support his collaborative research program in the enzymology of nicotinic acid degradation, a model system for better understanding the mechanisms bacteria employ to remediate environmental contamination. Two of the main foci of that grant – to determine the kinetic mechanism of a critical flavin monooxygenase using stopped-flow spectrophotometry and to determine the genes involved in nicotinic acid degradation by a soil bacterium (Bacillus niacini) – were also the foci of his research leave. Mark delivered two presentations on his leave work. Mark also published a major paper that featured his leave work along with the I.S. theses and sophomore research work of 5 students on the mechanism of 6-hydroxynicotinate 3-monooxygenase (NicC) in the journal, Biochemistry.

Supported by a Henry Luce III Award, Mark traveled to Brno, Czech Republic, to participate in the KinTek New Enzymology Kinetics Workshop where he learned computer modeling to fit complex kinetic data by simulation. He is currently putting that new knowledge to use in completing a paper on the kinetic mechanism of NicC which he intends to submit for publication within the next few weeks. In addition, Mark’s research collaboration with Dean Fraga (Biology) resulted in another published paper on the evolution of bacterial phosphagen kinases and has developed into new avenues involving transcriptomics to identify novel genes involved in nicotinate degradation – a project on which they co-advised several students this summer.

Karl Feierabend Since 2009

Mark Snider Since 2001

FACULTY On Leave

15

Introducing

Lilliana Morris will join the Department as a tenure-track assistant professor with a focus in inorganic chemistry in fall 2019. Lilliana received her B.A. from Williams College where she majored in chemistry and mathematics. She recently earned her Ph.D. from Cornell University. One of her professional goals is to make science accessible to all. She has been working toward teaching in various capacities since 2013. Since 2016 she has served as the conference chair for Cornell’s Expanding Your Horizons program. Her research focuses on the development of modular multimetallic catalysts for more efficient synthesis and the development of plant-based absorbant polymers.

Lilliana Morris

Laboratory Coordinators

Brett Baker, General Chemistry II Laboratory Coordinator and Adjunct Instructor, teaches most sections of the General Chemistry II Lab, develops the curriculum and prepares materials for the course. During the course of an academic year more than 150 students pass through the General Chemistry II Lab. Brett enjoys teaching introductory chemistry lab because it provides opportunities to work with people that have interests in all areas of science.

Brett took on the Departmental Awards duties supporting the faculty in the allocation of over 20 awards. He also became an Advanced Placement Chemistry Reader, joining Paul Bonvallet in Salt Lake City this past June to assist in the grading of over 160,000 exams.

Brett enjoys the outdoors, fishing, beekeeping, and theater. He lives in Doylestown with his wife Lara.

General Chemistry II Lab Fall – Two sections

Spring – Five sections

Organic Chemistry I Lab Fall - Five sections

Organic Chemistry II Lab Spring - Four sections

Kaitlynn Arnholt (’12, CHEM), Organic Chemistry Laboratory Instructor joined the Department this fall after the faculty received approval at the end of last academic year to experiment with adding a position similar to the General Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator to teach the Organic Chemistry Labs. Kaitlynn is uniquely qualified for this role. After graduating from Wooster, Kaitlynn attended the University of Michigan earning a Master of Science in Chemistry and a Master of Art in Educational Studies with Secondary Chemistry and Mathematics Certification. She taught high school mathematics for several years in Michigan. Originally from Wooster, Kaitlynn was excited to have the opportunity to move back to Wooster with her husband and two sons to be closer to family. Kaitlynn also served as co-chair of the Department’s social committee. At the end of spring semester, the experiment was determined to be a huge success and the Department was given approval to have Kaitlynn continue in this role.

Assistant Professor

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Paul Bonvallet Bonvallet, P.A. “How to Be an Organic Chemist.” Faculty Research Luncheon, The College of Wooster.

Bonvallet, P.A. “Results of the 2019 AP Chemistry Exam” AP Annual Conference (Orlando, FL); and Chem ED Conference (Naperville, IL); AACT Webinar (Sept 2019)

Rebecca Craig Craig, R.L. “Aerosol Acidity: Direct Measurement from Spectroscopic and pH Indicator Paper Methods” ACCESS XV, Brookhaven National Lab, Upton, NY, Jul 2019.

Craig, R.L “Aerosol Acidity: Measuring Particle pH and Investigating its Relationship with Ion Behavior.” Gordon Research Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry, Newry, ME, Aug 2019.

Paul Edmiston Edmiston, P.L. “Removal of Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) from Water Using Tailored and Highly Porous Organosilica Adsorbents.” Invited research presentation at University of Illinois, Sustainable Technology Center, Champaign, IL, Mar 2019.

Edmiston, P.L. "Passive Sampler for Water and Sediment: Measuring Bioavailable Organics and Metal Ions with a Single Rapid Equilibrium-Based Device" SERDP & ESTCP Symposium, Washington, D.C., Nov 2018.

Edmiston, P.L. "Evaluation of Adsorbents for Solid-Phase Extraction of Short Chain Perfluorinated Alkyl Acids." PITTCON Philadelphia, PA, Mar 2019.

Jennifer Faust Faust, J.; Welch, A.*; Miller, K.*; Wokosin, K.*; Booker, J.*; Bowman, B.*; Gireesh, A.*; Breneman, W. “Translating Environmental Chemistry Research from the Undergraduate Lab to the High School Classroom: Operation Precipitation Collaboration.” Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America Meeting. Sacrameto CA, Nov 2018.

Presentations

Faculty Faust, J. A.; Wokosin, K.*; Vicker, S.*, Womack, E.*, Tran, A.* “Real-Time Brown Carbon Formation from Multiphase Reactions of Amines and Carbonyls." Gordon Research Conference: Atmospheric Chemistry, Newry ME, July 2019.

Park, C. J.*; Vicker, S. L.*; Nguyen, V. K.*; Faust, J. A. “A Simple Setup to Monitor Multiphase Reactions in Real Time: Applications of Attenuated Total Reflection Infrared Spectroscopy.” PITTCON, Philadelphia, PA, Mar 2019.

Wokosin, K. A.*; Vicker, S.*; Womack, E.*; Faust, J. A. “Monitoring Brown Carbon Formation in Real Time from Multiphase Reactions of Amines and Carbonyls.” American Geophysical Union Meeting, Washington, DC., Dec 2018.

Sara Martin Szalay, R.N.*; Mundy, I.D.*; Zunich, R.*; Liu, C.*; and Martin, S.E.S. “Toward Identifying Inhibitors of a Glycosyltransferase that is Important for Bacterial Cell Wall Biosynthesis,” 46th National Organic Chemistry Symposium, Bloomington, IN, June 2019.

Zachery Matesich Shea, J. A.*; Schroeder, A*.; Matesich, Z. D. “Applications of Flow Chemistry in Undergraduate Research.” 257th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr 2019.

Mark Snider Snider, M.J., Perkins, S.W.*, Campbell, R.G.*, and Rajakovich, L. “Critical Role for Substrate Ionization in the Mechanism of 6-hydroxynicotate 3-monooxygenase.” Gordon Research Conference on Enzymes, Coenzymes and Metabolic Pathways, Waterville Valley, NH, July 2019.

Perkins, S.W.*, Snider, M.J., “Mechanism of 6-hydroxynicotinate 3-monooxygenase (NicC), a Flavin-Dependent Decarboxylative Hydroxylase Involved in Aerobic Nicotinic Acid Catabolism.” 26th Enzyme Mechanisms Conference. New Orleans, LA (Jan 2019).

Sarah Sobeck Taylor, R.*, Zhou, J.*, Rossiter, H.*, Schmidtke Sobeck, S J. “Photophysical Properties and UV-induced Degradation of Anthranilic Acids Derivatives.” Inter-American Photochemistry Society Winter Conference, Jan 2019.

__________________________ *denotes undergraduate student

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Rebecca Craig Olson, N. E.; Lei, Z.; Craig, R. L.; Zhang, Y.; Chen, Y.; Lambe, A. T.; Zhang, Z.; Gold, A.; Surratt, J. D.; Ault, A. P., Reactive Uptake of Isoprene Epoxydiols Increases the Viscosity of the Core of Phase-Separated Aerosol Particles. ACS Earth Space Chem. 2019. DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.9b00138.

Riemer, N.; Ault, A. P.; West, M.; Craig, R. L.; Curtis, J. H., Aerosol Mixing State: Measurements, Modeling, and Impacts. Rev. Geophys. 2019. DOI: 10.1029/2018RG000615.

Craig, R. L.; Peterson, P. K.; Nandy, L.; Lei, Z.; Hossain, M. H*.; Camarena, S*.; Dodson, R. A.; Cook, R. D.; Dutcher, C. S.; Ault, A. P., Direct measurement of aerosol pH: Size-resolved measurements of submicron and supermicron aqueous particles. Anal. Chem. 2018. DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b00586.

Craig, R. L.; Ault, A. P., Aerosol Acidity: Direct Measurements from Spectroscopic Methods. ACS eBook Multiphase Environmental Chemistry in the Atmosphere. 2018. DOI: 10.1021/bk-2018-1299.ch009.

Paul Edmiston

Stebel, E.K.*; Pike, K.A.*; Nguyen, H.*; Hartmann, H.A.*; Klonowski, M.J.*; Lawrence, M.G.*; Collins, R.M.*; Hefner, C.E.* Edmiston, P.L. Absorption of Short-Chain to Long-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Substances Using Swellable Organically Modified Silica." Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. (2019).

Molé, R.A.*; Good, C.J.*; Stebel, E.K.*; Higgins, J.F.*; Pitell S.A.*; Welch A.R.*; Minarik, T.A.; Schoenfuss, H.L.; Edmiston, P.L. Correlating effluent concentrations and bench-scale experiments to assess the transformation of endocrine active compounds in wastewater by UV or chlorination disinfection. Chemosphere, 226, 565-575 (2019).

Edmiston, P.L., A Story Behind the Science: The Legacy of Melissa Schultz. Chemosphere. (2019).

Publications Celik, G., Ailawar, S. A., Gunduz, S., Edmiston, P. L., Ozkan, U. S. Formation of Carbonaceous Deposits on Pd-based Hydrodechlorination Catalysts: Vibrational spectroscopy investigations over Pd/Al2O3 and Pd/SOMS. Catal. 323, 129-140 (2019).

Celik, G.; Ailawar, S.; Sohn, H.; Tang, Y.; Tao, F.; Miller, J.T.; Edmiston, P.L.; Ozkan, U.S. Swellable Organically-modified Silica (SOMS) as a Catalyst Scaffold for Catalytic Treatment of Water Contaminated with Trichloroethylene. ACS Catal. 8, 6796-6809 (2018).

Jennifer Faust Faust, J. A.; Abbatt, J. P. D. Organic Surfactants Protect Dissolved Aerosol Components against Heterogeneous Oxidation, J. Phys. Chem. A 2019, 123, 2114-2124.

Schwartz-Narbonne, H.; Wang, C.; Zhou, S.; Abbatt, J. P. D.; Faust, J.A. Heterogeneous Chlorination of Squalene and Oleic Acid, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2019, 53 (3), 1217-1224. Featured on cover. ACS Editors’ Choice. 10.1021/acs.est.8b04248.

Sara Martin

Itkonen, H.M.; Urbanucci, A.; Martin. S.E.S.; Khan, A.; Mathelier, A.; Thiede, B.; Walker, S.; Mills, I.G., “High OGT Activity is Essential for MYC-driven Proliferation of Prostate Cancer Cells,” Theranostics 2019, in press.

Martin, S.E.S.; Tan, Z.-W.; Itkonen, H.M.; Duveau, D.Y.; Paulo, J.A.; Janetzko, J.; Boutz, P.A.; Törk , L.; Moss, F.A.*; Thomas, C.J.; Gygi, S.P.; Lazarus, M.B.; Walker, S., “Structure-based Evolution of Low Nanomolar O-GlcNAc Transferase Inhibitors,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 13542.

Mark Snider

Fraga, D., Stock, K.*, Aryal, M.*, Demoll, C.*, Fannin, L.*, and Snider, M. J. (2019) Bacterial Arginine Kinases Have a Highly Skewed Distribution within the Proteobacteria. Comp. Biochem. Physio., B 233, 60-71. __________________________

*denotes undergraduate student

Faculty James West

Freije, B.J.*, Hurtig, J.E.*, Pleshinger, M.J.*, Morano, K.A., and West, J.D. “Using a Cross-Linking Approach to Identify Interaction Partners of Yeast Protein Disulfide Isomerases.” Biochemical Society Conference on Reactive Oxygen Species in Physiology, Aging, and Disease, UK, Jul 2019.

Freije, B.J.*, Hurtig, J.E.*, Pleshinger, M.J.*, Morano, K.A., and West, J.D. “Using a Cross-

Linking Approach to Identify Interaction Partners of Yeast Protein Disulfide Isomerases.” Gordon Research Conference on Stress Proteins in Growth, Development, and Disease, Italy, Jun 2019.

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Grants Paul Bonvallet

“REU Site: Physics and Chemistry Research at Wooster,” (John Lindner, Susan Lehman, PIs; Paul Bonvallet, Laura DeGroot, Cody Leary, Niklas Manz, Senior Personnel) NSF-REU; $326,132; April 2019 – March 2022.

“REU Site: Cutting-Edge Science in a Close-Knit Community,” (John Lindner, Susan Lehman, PIs; Paul Bonvallet, Niklas Manz, and Cody Leary, Senior Personnel) NSF-REU, $287,892; April 2016 – March 2019.

“MRI: Acquisition of an NMR Spectrometer to Sustain Excellence in Undergraduate Research,” (Paul Bonvallet, PI; Judith Amburgey-Peters, Spring Knapp, Mark Snider, Sarah Sobeck co-PIs; Michael Peterson, Senior Personnel) NSF-MRI; $343,697; July 2016 – June 2019.

Paul Edmiston Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). “Removal of Complex Mixtures of Perfluoroalkyl Acids from Water Using Molecularly Engineered Coatings on Sand and Silica,” Paul Edmiston (PI), $199,998; 2018-2020.

Hamburger Endowment for Collaborative Projects and Program Development Award; “Elucidating the Impact of Contaminants of Emerging Concern on Fish Populations in

Nakamoto, K. D.*, Perkins, S.W.*, Campbell, R. G.*, Bauerle, M. R.*, Gerwig, T. G.*, Gerislioglu, S., Wesdemiotis, C., Anderson, M.A., Hicks, K.A. and Snider, M. J. (2019) Mechanism of 6-hydroxynicotinate 3-monoxygenase, a Flavin-Dependent Decarboxylative Hydroxylase Involved in Aerobic Nicotinic Acid Degradation. Biochem. 58; 1751-1763.

__________________________ *denotes undergraduate student

Faculty

Hawaiian Estuaries A Cross-Disciplinary Project Involving Chemical Analysis and Fish Biology,” Paul Edmiston, Heiko Schoenfuss (Professor of Biology, St. Cloud State University); Rick Blob, (Professor of Biological Sciences, Clemson University), $2,800; 2018.

Jennifer Faust American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, “Exploring Heterogeneous Reactions of Model Lubricant Films with Indoor Oxidants: Products, Kinetics, and Energetics,” Jennifer Faust (PI), $55,000; 2018-2020.

Mark Snider National Science Foundation; Molecular Biophysics Program RUI; Collaborative Researc; Enzymology of Bacterial Nicotinic Acid Catabolism; Mark Snider (PI), Katherine Hicks (PI, SUNY Cortland), $551,536; July 2018 – July 2021 (estimated).

Sarah Sobeck Impact of Solvent-Solute Interactions on Photochemistry of p-Aminobenzoic Acid Derivatives; American Chemical Society, Petroleum Research Fund; Sarah J. Sobeck (PI), $65,000; September 2013 - August 2018.

Awards Zachery Matesich

The Journal of Organic Chemistry's 2019 Article of the Year Award: Denmark, S. E.; Matesich, Z. D.; Nguyen, S. T.; Sephton, S. M. Catalytic Nucleophilic Allylation Driven by the Water–Gas Shift Reaction, J. Org. Chem., 2018, 83, 23–48.

James West

Loberg, M.A.*, Allan, K.M.*, Graff, A.H., Hurtig, J.E.*, Buchan, J.A.*, Spencer, M.K.*, Kelly, J.E.*, Clodfelter, J.E., Morano, K.A., Lowther, W.T., and West, J.D. (2019) Conserved Aromatic Residues at the Dimer-Dimer Interface in the Yeast Peroxiredoxin Tsa1 Facilitate Decamer Formation and Biological Function. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 32, 474-483. (contribution to a special issue on ‘Redox Pathways in Chemical Toxicology’).

West, J.D., Roston, T.J.*, David, J.B.*, Allan, K.M.*, and Loberg, M.A.* (2018) Piecing Together How Peroxiredoxins Maintain Genomic Stability. Antioxidants 7, 177 (contribution to a special issue on ‘The Role of Peroxiredoxins in Cancer’)

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Kristin Feierabend, Stockroom Manager, After two years of living underneath the new construction of Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Science Kristin, was anxious for the building’s completion. The summer of 2018 was hectic with moving and organizing the consumable inventory into the new stockroom space in Williams while completely reorganizing the original stockroom on the Severance side. Kristin had hoped to have everything set up and organized before the start of fall semester, but due to an unforeseen shelving delay, the reorganization efforts extended well into the school year.

Overall, Kristin has seen a sharp increase in purchasing, package receiving, and requests at the stockroom window now that she is handling the needs for all of Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and the Neuroscience programs. It keeps her and her stockroom assistants busier than ever. With the increase in demand and the expansion of workload, Kristin was able to hire a summer stockroom assistant. Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM) conducted safety shower checks, inventoried labs and storage spaces, and is helping to further organize the stockroom.

Brandie Ross, Kristin Feierabend, and Mary Cornelius

Mary Cornelius, Academic Administrative Coordinator, celebrated ten years with the College in the Department of Chemistry and was recognized in May at the Staff Recognition Luncheon. The year presented many opportunities to rethink the way the administrative staff supports the Department due to the addition of Williams Hall. One major change was that all new spaces now utilized proximity readers on doors to access labs, classrooms, and instruments. The staff coordinated with Campus Access, faculty, staff, and

students to develop a useable system for setting up access and communicating access needs. The Department was awarded Capital Funds to change Severance door lock and key access to proximity access for all lab and instrument rooms. With the experience of onboarding the new spaces, the transition was easier when the project began mid-fall semester. The new building offered opportunities to learn new technology for all, including Mary. Williams Hall has two digital display screens that utilize Raspberry Pi technology to advertise seminars, post faculty and student profiles, promote student organizations and events, etc.

Mary and Brandie now share office space in Williams Hall with Beth (Snyder) Lingenfelter, the administrative coordinator for Biology. The administrative suite houses all the office needs for multiple departments.

Staff

In addition to adapting to the new stockroom space, Kristin was part of the transition team to adapt and update safety policies and training to incorporate practices to better fit the physical changes of Williams and Severance Halls as well as the cultural changes for the utilization of the buildings.

Kristin with Beaker at the COSI Museum in Columbus, OH

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Tim Siegenthaler and Jhony Mera doing regular maintenance on the NMR

Jhony Mera, Electronics and Instrument Technician, completed his first year serving the science departments of chemistry, biology, BCMB, geology and physics as Electronics and Instrument Technician. He shares workspace with Tim Siegenthaler. Jhony’s work involves preventative maintenance, minor repair of instrumentation and helping faculty and students monitoring the greenhouse system and settings. In his free time Jhony enjoys time with his family, playing soccer and working for the Wooster Park and Rec supervising spring and fall soccer tournaments.

Timothy Siegenthaler, Instrument Technician/Machinist, completed his fifth year serving the science departments. Tim’s work involves preventative maintenance and minor repair of instrumentation along with machine shop fabrication of specialized apparatus for faculty, the science labs, and student projects. This last year Tim has had the privilege of working with and training a new partnering employee, Jhony Mera who replaced long-time employee Lee Holtham as Instrument Technician/Electronics. Tim and Jhony work independently but many times tag-team to complete a timelier project. Tim enjoys time with his family, church family, time outdoors and is an FCC licensed Amateur Radio Operator as a hobby.

Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM) is testing a safety shower in Williams Hall

Staff

serving on the planning committee for Expanding Your Horizons, as well as, supporting the purchasing and Stockroom needs for BWISER. Brandie Ross, Part-Time Secretary, is her in third year in the Department. With the transition to Williams Hall, her duties have expanded to support the student employment and safety training needs of the departments that reside within Severance and Williams Hall. One of her main tasks continues to include supporting the B-WISER Science Camp, supporting the program director, Mary Kilpatrick. This past winter she was asked to cover for a staff member on leave in the Provost’s office. She spent 10-20 hours processing and reconciling faculty and staff reimbursements.

Brandie continued her volunteer activities as a board member of the One-Eighty program, helping to plan multiple fundraising events. OneEighty provides an array of services related to addiction and substance abuse, domestic violence, mental health, housing and supportive services, and community health and wellness in Wayne and Holmes County Ohio and surrounding areas.

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Montie Borders made a visit to campus in October for the Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Sciences Dedication. He and his wife joined an impromptu mini-reunion of retired faculty and staff as well as alumni.

Roy Haynes: Even though Roy now has four drawers in the same aisle, a clear counter for working, and a portion of a ventilation hood available, he said he did very little in the way of experimentation during the 2018-2019 school year. Thanks to Paul Bonvallet, he has been trained on the new JEOL NMR. He has a reaction of interest that he will follow by obtaining proton spectra as he varies temperature. He is still trying to get a crystal suitable for an X-ray crystallographic study of a metabolic product of bisphenol A.

Roy has now been retired long enough for his first IS students (1962) to celebrate their 50th reunion. He contacted those students and encouraged them to attend. It was rewarding to meet those who could make it.

Most of March, Roy and his wife were in Florida. They enjoyed a week in Orlando with their daughter (her time-share), her husband, and their son. A visit to the Morse Museum that features the life and work of Lewis Tiffany was a high point. After an eight-day stay on Bradenton Beach in a cottage delightfully named “Happy Turtle”, they did a Road Scholar program entitled “The Arts of St. Petersburg”. They visited friends and relatives in Florida and on our way home. One of the stops was with Dick Bromund and Virginia Pett at their new home in Ashville, NC.

Virginia Pett and Richard Bromund had a busy year in retirement, which was more than a decade ago for both of them. They moved from Wooster, which Dick had called home for 50 years, to Asheville, NC. The primary reason for picking Asheville is that Kate Pett lives there with her family. Other reasons for moving were: warmer climate, larger city, and mountain views. The downside of moving is that they miss their many friends in Wooster.

Professionally, Virginia continues her work as Historian for the American Crystallographic Association (ACA). Virginia and Dick attend the ACA Annual Meetings, where Virginia reports on the activities of the History Committee and does very important and effective networking. They both video record the ACA Award Lectures, which Virginia turns into “movies” for the ACA History Pages. Look at http://history.amercrystalassn.org to see the results of Virginia’s efforts. Dick is now the official ACA Meeting Photographer, so he has lots of opportunities to meet new people. Both of them find these activities very rewarding.

They both enjoy going to Wooster Alumni Weekends, where they reconnect with many former students. Virginia and Dick are in generally good heath, although Dick has been bothered by severe sciatica in recent months. They still spend several months of the summer at their place in New Hampshire. Please feel to get in touch if you want to visit them at either of their homes.

Contact information: 6 Eagles Nest Lane, Asheville, NC 28806, or 62 Fletcher Drive, Rumney, NH 03266. Email: pett@wooster.edu and bromund@wooster.edu. Please feel to get in touch if you want to visit them at either of their homes.

Paul Edmiston, Montie Border, Mark Snider, and Dean Fraga catching up in Knowlton Commons

Helen Murray Free Lecture Dinner with

Virginia Pett, Dick Bromund, Joe Francisco, and Roy Haynes

Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Sciences

Dedication: Dick Bromund with Montie Borders

Emeriti

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The week of October 22nd was a busy one for the campus. The trustees gathered for their fall meetings

which would conclude with the celebration of the completion of the Wooster Promise

Campaign. As the funding of the Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Sciences was a

major accomplishment of the campaign, the week ended with

the multitude of events, including the dedication of the

building. Hundreds of alumni and guests travelled to Wooster for

festivities. The celebration began with a featured

speaker, Thursday, October 25, Scott Poethig (’74, BIOL), John H. and Margaret B. Fassitt

Professor, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania. Professor Poethig completed his Ph.D.

at Yale University. His research focuses on cell and developmental biology, genetics, epigenetics, genomics, and

plant biology.

Saturday, October 27, featured a series of events including a panel that culminated with a day filled with activities, including the office Ribbon

Cutting ceremony, Saturday, October 27, 2019. The Life Sciences Panel kicked off the Saturday events featuring students and faculty from chemistry,

biology, neuroscience, and environmental studies. Paul Bonvallet and Sara Martin participated from the Department of Chemistry. They shared how the new facilities have changed the way they teach and research with students. One the biggest changes shared by faculty is the “think tank” concept of the labs connected to classrooms for fluidity of teaching, lab work, data analysis, and collaboration. The students, including Jennifer Sanchez (’19, BCMB) explained how much easier it is to collaborate with her advisors and other student researchers. The research environment has become more social and less isolated. Guests were able to ask questions and promote ideas on how to maximize use of the new spaces. The official dedication included a ribbon cutting with Sarah Bolton and Morris Williams. Ruth Williams passed away May 6, 2016. She dedicated her life to education and was a member of the

board of trustees of The College. The Williams donated generously to the building of the integrated science building, which extended beyond the brick and mortar. Their funds also help to endow a professorship and student scholarships

Chemistry attendees: Dick Bromund, Virginia Pett, Montie Borders, Judy Borders, Charles Ryan (’86), CindyPapp (‘86), LeRoy Haynes, Diane Rossey, Ruth Haynes.

Upper: Paul Bonvallet, Sara Martin

Right: Mark Snider, Morris Williams, Sarah Bolton, William Longbrake, Dean Fraga

Bottom: Tom Limbird (’69) and Lee Limbird (’70) Tom is an orthopedic surgeon and Lee is a Professor of Biochemistry at Fisk University

Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Sciences Dedication

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Patricia Vittum (1974) Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment.

Patricia Vittum focused her career on the studying turf entomology. She graduated from The College of Wooster with a major in Chemistry in 1974 and then earned a Ph.D. in Turfgrass Entomology at Cornell University.

The remainder of her career (37 years) was spent with the University of Massachusetts in the areas of research, teaching and extension services. Her first 10 years were spent at the Waltham Field Station working in commercial

Alumni Alumni Award

Distinguished

http://ag.umass.edu/people/pat-vittum

floriculture and turf. She then moved to the Amherst campus teaching undergraduate and graduate courses related to turfgrass insects, pesticides, and management. Pat has received many awards for her contributions of her research in biology and the managing of turfgrass insects as well as the development of biological controls, prioritizing the protection of the environment. Most notably, Pat is the first female to receive the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America Col. John Morley Distinguished Service Award. Her largest contribution to the turf entomology is that she is the senior author of “Turfgrass Insects of the United States and Canada”, Second Edition. This publication is considered the “bible of turf entomology.” Pat became interested in turf management when she landed a summer job at Cornell University’s Geneva campus. During the summers of her undergraduate years at Wooster she worked with Haruo Tashiro, one of the co-authors of the book. She later came to realize that Cornell had the second-best entomology program in the country. Pat was recognized Alumni Weekend 2019 as with Distinguished Alumni Award. Here’s a link to her interview: https://youtu.be/iO3zufh9JTg.

Paul Bonvallet had a visit from Erin (Fortin) Wiesenauer (’08, CHEM) and a potential recruit. Erin completed her Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2013. She worked for Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, OR, as a supply chain R&D engineer up until September 2018. Over the years she’s been pursuing her love for photography, and is currently focusing on her craft as the owner of Erin Fortin Photography. She lives in Portland with her husband, Brian, and two daughters, Reese and Rachel, and black lab, Cabo.

Campus Visit

Erin (Fortin) Wiesenauer (’08, CHEM) with Paul Bonvallet

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Adam Osborne, Ph.D. (’05, BCMB) is a Scientist 1 and MassBiologics in Mattapan, MA.

Brian Ondrusek, Ph.D. (’07, CHEM) began a job as a Research Associate for Trulieve, Quincy, FL.

Katherine Stencel (’11, CHEM) began a job as a Quality Control Scientist II at Thermo Fisher Scientific in St. Louis, MO.

Jordan Welker (’11, BCMB) completed his Ph.D. in Genetics from Iowa State University and this spring joined Max Planck Institute for Lung and Heart Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany as a postdoctoral researcher.

Norman Chamusah (’14, CHEM) married Briana Marlatt (‘16) in January 2019 in Dayton, OH. They are living in Michigan where Norman is in the Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering Ph.D. program at Michigan State University. Brianna is a Product Development Technician at Kao Corporation, Cincinnati, OH.

Erika Skillman (’14, BCMB) completed her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State University in 2018. She recently began a position at Care Center Vets as an Emergency Veterinarian.

Kimberly Carter-Fenk (’16, CHEM) married Kevin Fenk, May 3, 2019, in Columbus, OH. Both are working on their Ph.Ds. at Ohio State University.

Catherine Christian (’16, CHEM) is pursuing a master’s degree in Accounting at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Kathleen Kalafatis (’17, BCMB/NEUR) plans to begin medical school at the Lincoln Memorial University DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harrogate, TN, in the fall.

Patrick Scanlon (’17, BCMB) completed a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical/Medical Engineering from Case Western Reserve and began a job with Parker Hannifin. He currently serves as a Product Design Engineer in Salt Lake City, UT.

Catherine Boyles (’18, CHEM) is working in Pittsburgh, PA, at Giant Eagle's headquarters as a Quality Assurance Specialist for Snacks, Beverages, Candy, Bread, and Dairy following the completion of her Master's in Food Science at Cornell University.

Kevin Wokosin ('18, CHEM) began a job with the California Air Resources Board in Sacramento, CA.

Patrick McKay ('19, CHEM) is working on a degree in chemical engineering at the University of Kentucky.

News

Amy Toolis (’10, CHEM) presented a seminar fall semester. Alums Jesse

Rossington (’11, CHEM), Research Assistant, Ohio

State University, Department of Food, Agriculture and Biological Engineering, Wooster, and Nathan

Firestone (’11, CHEM), Associate Faculty, Ohio State University:

ATI Campus, Wooster attended. Amy works for PPG Industries in Pittsburgh,

PA. She presented a seminar “Life After Wooster,” and shared her experience as a

chemist working in industry.

Alumni

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Morning Lecture: From Atmospheric Complexes

to Aerosols: New Insights into

Atmospheric Chemistry

Evening Lecture: How We Can Rebuild Trust in Science – And Why We

Must

Endowed Lecture

2007 Mary Lowe Good, University of Arkansas

2008 Richard N. Zare, Stanford University

2009 Jacqueline K. Barton, California Institute of Technology

2010 Harry B. Gray, California Institute of Technology

2011 Sara Risch, Science By Design

Helen Murray Free graduated with a B.A. in chemistry from The College of Wooster in 1945. Her research in clinical chemistry revolutionized diagnostic testing, particularly the "dip-and-read" glucose tests for diabetics, and she was awarded seven patents for her clinical diagnostic test inventions. From 1987 to 1992, she chaired the American Chemical Society's (ACS) National Chemistry Week Task Force, and in 1993 she served as president of the ACS. She and her husband, Alfred, were inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2010, the ACS designated the development of diagnostic test strips as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. That same year, she was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama. In 2011, Helen was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY.

The Helen Murray Free Endowed Lecture Series was established by Helen's children and endowed through the Al and Helen Free Foundation. Each year, this endowed fund will bring to campus a renowned chemical scientist, who will interact with chemistry students at a technical level and present an all-college convocation on the contributions of science to the quality of life.

2012 Catherine T. Hunt, The Dow Chemical Company 2012 Sam Niedbala, Lehigh University

2013 Susan Solomon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2014 Paul S. Anderson, Retired Medicinal Chemistry

2015 Ned Heindel, Lehigh University

2016 Madeleine Jacobs President & CEO of the CSSP

2017 Bassam Z. Shakhashiri University of Wisconsin-Madison

Past Presenters*

*Affiliations at time of lectures.

Joseph S. Francisco, an internationally recognized scholar of atmospheric chemistry and chemical kinetics, was the invited speaker for the Helen Murray Free Lectures, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018.

In his first lecture, Francisco described the fundamental chemical processes that take place in the atmosphere and how they impact ozone depletion, acid rain, and climate change. In the second lecture, “How We Can Rebuild Trust in Science – And Why We Must,” he outlined a practical framework for crafting communication strategies to effectively engage the general public in the importance of what chemists do and the societal impacts of their research and work.

Francisco’s research interests include atmospheric chemistry, tropospheric and stratospheric chemical kinetics and modeling, atmospheric spectroscopy and photochemistry, and aerosol and cloud chemistry. Among his many professional roles and honors, Francisco is a fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the American Physical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He served as the president of the ACS in 2010 and was an appointed member of the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science (2010-2015) by President Obama.

Francisco has served as the atmospheric and

President’s Distinguished Professor of Earth &

Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania

News Helen Murray Joseph S. Francisco

ocean science editor for Pure and Applied Geophysics and is on the editorial advisory boards of several journals. He is a co-author of the textbook “Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics,” which has been in print for nearly three decades and is widely considered as the fundamental textbook in the field. He has published over 600 peer-reviewed publications.

Professor Francisco with Eran Maina (’21, BCMB)

Free

26

Chemistry

Yutan Getzler – Chemistry Seminar Associate Professor, Chemistry, Kenyon

College, Cyclic Polymers by Ring Expansion

Amy Toolis (’10) – Chemistry Seminar Chemist, PPG Industries, Pittsburgh, PA One Chemist’s Life after Wooster

Alexis Ostrowski – Chemistry Seminar Associate Professor of Chemistry, Bowling Green

State University, Harnessing Photochemistry & Photophysics of Metal Complexes for Responsive Metallo-Supramolecular Materials

Interdepartmental

Professional Development Kaitlynn Arnholt* (’12, CHEM), Organic Lab

Coordinator, Rebecca Craig* (’13, CHEM), Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Karl Feierabend*, Associate Professor, Emily (Linville) Fargo (’12, BCMB), Primary Care Clinical Specialist, Cleveland Clinic, Marylou LaLonde*, Assistant Director of Career Planning, Jesse Rossington (’11, CHEM) Research Assistant, Ohio State University, Department of Food, Agriculture and Biological Engineering

*The College of Wooster

Donald Watson – BCMB & Chemistry Seminar Associate Professor, Associate Chair for Graduate

Studies, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Delaware

Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM), Anna Schroeder (’21, CHEM),

Juliette Shea (’19, CHEM), Kaeli Zoretich (’19, BCMB)

Recent Advances in the Cross-Coupling of Heteroatomic Electrophiles

Matthew Elrod, Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Biggs Professor of Natural Science, Oberlin College, Physical Organic Chemistry on Atmospheric Particles

Abraham Badu-Tawiah – Chemistry & STEM Seminar

Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ohio State University

Serving the Underserved Population through Technology Development

Matt Wohlever – BCMB & Chemistry Seminar Assistant Professor of Chemistry and

Biochemistry, University of Toledo Quality Control of Mitochondrial Tail Anchored

Proteins

Rachel Kirpes – Chemistry & Environmental Studies Ph.D. Candidate, Chemistry, University of

Michigan, From the North Pole to Capitol Hill: Arctic Aerosol Chemistry, Climate Change, and Science Policy Small Molecule Inhibitors of Influenza Virus Replication

Seminars

Jesse Rossington (’11, CHEM), Kaitlynn Arnholt (’12, CHEM), Emily (Linville) Fargo (12, BCMB), Becky Craig (’13, CHEM)

Amy Toolis (’10, CHEM)

27

Students Goldwater Scholar

Wooster Student a 2019-20 Goldwater Scholarship Recipient Prestigious award goes to chemistry and mathematics double major Kyndalanne Pike By Author Hugh Howard Posted on June 12, 2019 https://news.wooster.edu/news/2019/06/wooster-student-a-2019-20-goldwater-scholarship-recipient/

WOOSTER, Ohio – Kyndalanne Pike, a rising senior at The College of Wooster who is double majoring in chemistry and mathematics, has been selected for one of the preeminent undergraduate awards – a Goldwater Scholar. The 2019-2020 awardees — 496 college students from across the U.S. — were recently announced by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation.

Established in 1986 to honor the five-term Senator from Arizona, the Goldwater Foundation is a federally-endowed agency with a goal of fostering and encouraging outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.

Pike’s honor extends Wooster’s long-running success when it comes to Goldwater Scholars, as she is the 10th such awardee over the last 11 years, but the first since 2015 when both Matt Loberg and Sarah McGrath were recipients.

Pike, from Willoughby, Ohio, will utilize the $7,500 award to “conduct research at the interface of chemistry and applied mathematics, utilizing data analysis to develop new techniques for trace analysis of environmental contaminants,” she summarized in the application.

At Wooster, Pike is the lead student assistant for the Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) instrument, even providing technical support for faculty who are less familiar with it. She uses the very powerful tool to “see the un-seeable,” performing quantitative measurements of tiny molecules in water, which results in the exact chemical structures of different water solutions. It is part of chemistry professor Paul Edmiston’s continuing research that is “working towards developing and testing absorbents that remove a specific pollutant in water.”

In addition to the chemistry aspect, Pike wrote a computer program to crunch the large amounts of mathematical data, which has expediated the process and helped her determine what’s significant. “Our data analysis has gone so much faster. As new data sets come in, I’ve been able to update it, then expand what we’re doing with the data by adding a line or two of code … while analyzing hundreds of experiments, conducted by those working in the ‘Edmiston Lab,’” she explained.

This summer, Pike is gaining further experience via a highly-coveted 12-week industrial internship in analytical chemistry at Corteva, formerly Dow AgroSciences, in Indianapolis. She will be working with the mass spectrometry group and looks forward to “doing more qualitative work and being exposed to more instrumentation, which will allow (her) to learn new tools and techniques.”

Pike’s career goal is to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry, and now with the incredible mentored undergraduate research experience Wooster has provided, plus a top-of-the-line internship and a Goldwater Scholar in hand, many top graduate schools will certainly take notice.

Kyndalanne Pike (’20, CHEM/MATH)

28

Student Profiles

Senior Russell Boston is Making an Impact as a Health Coach Part of Wooster Community Hospital’s Community Care Network By Author Hugh Howard Posted on September 19, 2018 https://news.wooster.edu/profiles/senior-russell-boston-is-making-an-impact-as-a-health-coach/

Russell Boston (’19, BCMB)

Wooster Community Hospital and The College of Wooster have teamed up to provide at-home health management support for Wooster residents who have chronic health conditions through the Wooster Community Care Network. Russell Boston (’19, BCMB) was awarded an APEX Fellowship the summer before his senior year, to work as a full-time health coach. For eight weeks, Boston visited an average 20-25 patients at their homes. The Network strives to improve the care of the patients to reduce their hospitalization needs. The volunteers learn hands-on skills in observation, assessment, and patient interaction. These are

valuable skills for students planning to attend medical school, helping them to stand out among the many applicants. Boston said that it has been a rewarding experience, as his visits would often conclude with the patient appreciating the visit and feeling reassured about their progress.

Re-creating ancient remedies Araam Abboud combines classics and biochemistry and molecular biology in one I.S. By Author Caitlin Paynich Posted on July 3, 2019 https://news.wooster.edu/profiles/recreating-ancient-remedies/

Araam Abboud ignited her interest in ancient remedies through the History of Ancient Medicine course taught by Monica Florence, associate professor of classical studies. A first-generation Lebanese American from Cleveland, OH, she spent her summers in Lebanon. Already familiar with cultural remedies and traditions, she decided to double major in classical studies and biochemistry and molecular biology to gain a better understanding of how cultural beliefs affect medical care and treatment. “By looking back and studying ancient medicine, we not only can give them the credit they deserve but adapt these treatments and understand if we can apply them modernly,” she said.

Her I.S. research set out to translate and interpret the wound theories of two ancient physicians, Celsus and Hippocrates, and determine their understanding of the use of the modern concept of synergism, when two ingredients work alone, but together, their combined effort is greater than their individual effect.

Araam Abboud (’19, BCMB/GLIS)

Students

29

Chemistry Club Officers. L to R: Abigail Ambrose (’20, PHYS), Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM), Juliette Shea (’19,

CHEM), Kyndalanne Pike (’20 CHEM/MATH)

Chemistry Club’s year began with the recruitment of new members at the annual Scot Spirit Day, an event in the fall semester that encourages first year students to learn about the various student groups on campus.

The STEM Success Initiative sponsored the STEM Zone’s annual STEM bash, an event for students to specifically explore STEM related clubs. This year the Astronomy, Biology, BCMB, Geology, Greenhouse, Neuroscience, Physics, and Pre-Health Clubs along with Minorities in STEM, Student Mathematical Association, Woobotics, and First-Responders participated. Chemistry Club coordinated an activity in which students used Dots candy to build Lewis dot structures.

Fall community building activities also included the Chemistry Club and Biochemistry Club collaborating together to present a safety training session for custodians in Williams and Severance Hall, as well as welcoming students and guests at the annual Helen Murray Free lecture in October.

In the spring, the Club hosted “Water Week” to raise awareness about environmental contaminants in water. The week included an evening lecture, What’s in the Water (In the Air)? by Becky Craig (’13, CHEM), visiting professor, and a contaminant-themed scavenger hunt, “Find the Contaminant!,” around Severance and Williams Halls.

Students

Club members also participated in several events spring semester. Members presented an ocean acidification demonstration at the Greenhous Club’s Earth Fest and volunteered at the Melissa Schultz Memorial run to honor Dr. Melissa Schultz. One of the biggest spring events is the community Science Day, when the STEM clubs provide activities for community members, especially children, to learn about science. This year, Chemistry Club’s room featured liquid nitrogen ice cream and sorbet, a red cabbage pH indicator activity, tie-dye milk, and lava lamps.

Throughout the year, Chemistry Club hosts the popular weekly lunches with the chemistry faculty and staff. The casual lunches help build community within the department.

Chemistry Club

STEM Bash event: Dots candy are being used to build Lewis dot structures.

30

Four students, Anna Schroeder (’21, CHEM), Juliette Shea (’19, CHEM), Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM), and Kyndalanne Pike (’20, CHEM/MATH) travelled with visiting faculty member and alumnus Zack Matesich (’11, CHEM) to the 257th ACS National Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, FL, March 31 – April 4, 2019. The Sherman Fairchild grant supported the travel of Juliette Shea and Chloe Litts.

Student Poster Presentations:

C. Litts*, J. Shea*, P.A. Bonvallet Trans/cis photoisomerization of kinetics of a calixarene-capped azobenzene.

K. Pike*, E. Stebel*, H. Hartmann*, M. Klonowski*, P.L. Edmiston; Removal of short-chain to long-chain perfluoroalkyl substances from water using organosilica adsorbents.

K. Pike*, E. Stebel*, H. Hartmann*, M. Klonowski*, P.L. Edmiston; Per- & polyfluoroalkyl substances in the environment: from legacy to emerging contaminants.

J. Shea*, Z.D. Matesich; Efforts towards the application of flow chemistry in the synthesis of crown ethers.

A. Schroeder*, Z.D. Matesich; Application of flow chemistry in the dehydration of 4-methylcyclohexanol.

Faculty Presentations:

Shea, J. A.*; Schroeder, A*.; Matesich, Z. “Applications of Flow Chemistry in Undergraduate Research.” 257th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Orlando, FL, April 2019.

*Undergraduate students

Anna Schroeder, Juliette Shea, Chloe Litts, and Kyndalanne Pike

Students

Anna Schroeder (’21, CHEM)

Zack Matesich (’11, CHEM)

Juliette Shea (’19, CHEM)

Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM) with Eric Popczun (visiting

assistant professor, 2016-2017)

ACS Meeting

31

Pittcon Pittcon 2019

Was held March 17 — 21 Pennsylvania Convention Center

Philadelphia, PA, USA

Jennifer Faust, Paul Edmiston, and four students, Jenelle Booker (’21, CHEM), Brittany Bowman (’19, CHEM), Kyndalanne Pike (’20, CHEM/MATH), and Shayna Vicker (’21, BCMB), attended the Pittcon Conference and Expo meeting in Philadelphia, PA, March 17-21.

Conference & Expo

Student Poster Presentations: J.C. Booker*, A. Gireesh*, B. Bowman*, A. Welch*, C. Mangan*, K. Miller*, J. A. Faust; Pesticide extraction methods from northeast Ohio Precipitation samples: Validation by GC-MS and LC-MS/MS 1590-43 P

B.M. Bowman*, J. A. Faust; Analysis of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) by chromatography in precipitation samples collected in northeast Ohio. 1590-36 P

Students

K. Pike*, M. Klonowski*, E. Stebel*, P.L. Edmiston; Organosilica Adsorbents for Solid-Phase Extraction of Short-Chain and Long-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Substances. 210-43 S. Vicker *, J. A. Faust, K. Wokosin*, E. Womack*; Characterizing the formation of brown carbon with attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy. 1590-38 P

*Undergraduate students

24th Midwest Stress Response & Molecular Chaperone Meeting

Two students, Ben Freije (’20, BCMB) and Patrick Carmel (’20, NEUR/BCMB), joined James West at the Midwest Stress Response & Molecular Chaperone Meeting, January 19, 2019, at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. They each presented posters. The titles are listed below with asterisks by Wooster undergraduate students.

Freije, B.J.*, Hurtig, J.E.*, Morano, K.A., and West, J.D. Identifying Redox Partners of Specific Yeast Protein Disulfide Isomerases with a Thiol-Reactive Protein Cross-Linker. Midwest Stress Response & Molecular Chaperone Meeting, 2019.

Carmel, P.C.*, Zhang, X. and West, J.D. Monitoring Proteostasis with the Folding Sensor AgHalo in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Midwest Stress Response & Molecular Chaperone Meeting, 2019.

*Undergraduate students

32

SETAC Students

Eva Stebel (’19, CHEM) attended the Ohio Valley Regional SETAC Chapter, April 4th and 5th in Louisville, KY, “Emerging Contaminants: Impacts, Challenges, and Advances”. Stebel was awarded the Best Undergraduate Student Platform Presentation Award for her talk, “Adsorption of Perfluoroalkyl Substances to Modified Organosilica Adsorbents.” She was also awarded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the best overall undergraduate presentation

Ohio Valley Regional SETAC Chapter: “Emerging Contaminants: Impacts, Challenges, and Advances,” April 4th and 5th, Louisville, KY

SERDP & ESTCP Symposium 2018: Enhancing DoD’s Mission Effectiveness, November 27-29, Washington, D.C.

More than 1000 attendees from the Department of Defense (DoD), the military services, academia, industry, and other federal agencies gathered in Washington, D.C., to learn about the latest technologies that enhance the DoD’s mission through improved environmental and energy performance.

Paul Edmiston was awarded a SERDP (Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program) Grant, Removal of Complex Mixtures of Perfluoroalkyl Acids from Water Using Molecularly Engineered Coatings on Sand and Silica. His research is related to environmental restoration of contaminated groundwater.

Paul took two of his research students to present posters at the Symposium, Eva Stebel (’19, CHEM) and Heather Hartmann (’21, CHEM).

Eva Stebel, "Fluoroalkyl-Modified Organosilica Adsorbents Evaluated for Removal of Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Water."

Heather Harmann, "Passive Sampler for Water and Sediment: Measuring Bioavailable Organics and Metal Ions with a Rapid Equilibrium-Based Device."

SERDP

Paul Edmiston with Eva Stebel (’19, CHEM) and Heather Hartmann (’21, CHEM)

Shelton Poole, Army Corp of Engineers with Eva Stebel (’19, CHEM)

33

Awards & Recognition

An Tran (’21, CHEM) ACS POLYED Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry John Nugent (’20, CHEM) ACS Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry Ian Mundy (’19, CHEM) ACS Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM) ACS Physical Chemistry David DeGina-Segal (’22, CHEM) Kejun “Coco” Liu (’22, BCMB) ACS Wooster Section - First-Year Award Eric Kraus (’21, BCMB) John W. Chittum Prize in Chemistry Mattaeus Klonowski (’21, CHEM) John W. Chittum Scholarship Alicia McElwee (’22) Claire Hefner (’22) Lauren “Ren” Johnson (’22) Alexa Bencic (’22)

Marly McGowan (’22) Aditi Chowbey (’22) Benjamin “Ben” Hines (’22) Emma Davidson (’22)

CRC Freshman Chemistry Achievement Award

Kevin Miller (’20, BCMB) LaShell Memorial Scholarship John Nugent (’20, CHEM) Cary R. Wagner Prize in Chemistry Rebecca Hopkins (’20, CHEM) Robert E. Wilson Scholarship

Herrick L. Johnston Scholarship in Chemistry The Herrick L. Johnston Scholarship in Chemistry honors the memory of Herrick L. Johnston, Class of 1922, Sc.D. 1943, and was established by Margaret Vanderbilt Johnston Dittmers in 1982. The scholarship is awarded to an incoming first-year student on the basis of merit and a strong interest in chemistry. Because of a generous gift to the fund this past year, we were able to award two in-coming first year students a 2019-2020 Johnston Scholarship. The first recipient is Noah Fox who graduated from Athens High School, Athens, Ohio. Noah is interested in studying chemistry as a means of improving environmental preservation. The second recipient is Zoé Semersky from Antioch Community High School, Antioch, IL. Zoé is interested in pursuing a medical career.

Annual Recognition Awards Scholarships and prizes received by Departmental majors at the Dewald Recognition Banquet held February 21, 2019.

Vivien Chan (’89, CHEM) Prize in Interdisciplinary Sciences (academic excellence in the sciences with an interest in pursuing an advance degree in interdisciplinary sciences)

Rose Taylor (’19, CHEM/MATH) Afton Widdershins (’19, BCMB/MATH)

The Elias Compton First-Year Prize (highest academic standing as a first year) Kyndalanne Pike (’20, CHEM/MATH) James Kendall Cunningham Memorial Prize (awarded to the pre-medical student, at the end of their junior year, is adjudged to be most likely to succeed in the medical profession) Benjamin Freije (’20, BCMB)

Dr. Donald L. Dewald Prize (sophomore who shows outstanding growth and commitment to STEM in their first year)

Madison Heller (’21, BCMB) Eran Maina (’21, BCMB)

Eberhart Family Scholarship (awarded to students in good academic standing) Rebecca Hopkins (’20, CHEM) The Stuart J. Ling Jazz Award Eric Guberman (’19, BCMB) Julia Quinby McCleary Prize (recognizes unusual initiative and achievement of a sophomore or junior woman working to support their College attendance and has maintained a 3.0 GPA) Madison Heller (’18, CHEM) Theron L. Peterson & Dorothy R. Peterson Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement (STEM major who is an outstanding scholar) Kyndalanne Pike (’20, CHEM/MATH)

John M. Robinson M.D. Scholarship (awarded to students preparing for a career in medicine) Regan Szalay (’20, CHEM) Edward Taylor Prizes (highest academic standing first and sophomore years) Scott Perkins (‘20, NEUR/BCMB) Francis and Elizabeth Twinem Scholarship (awarded at the beginning of the senior year to a pre-medical student who has shown promise for a distinguished career in medicine through their 1st three years) Paulo Nunes (’20, BCMB)

Theodore Williams Prize in Music Eric Guberman (’19, BCMB) Afton Widdershins (’19, BCMB/MATH)

Students Departmental Recognition: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Year Students

34

Elliott Detrich

Fourth Row: Christopher Good, David Thomas, Elliott Detrich, Colin Ford

Third Row: Eva Stebel, Duncan Crow, Zachary Lyon, Ian Mundy

Second Row: Rada Zunich, Rose Taylor, Erika Womack, Cody Park, Hyuga Uchida, Gabriela Jocas

First Row: Samantha Adusumilli, Yukun (Ada) Jin, Brittany Bowman, Leah Scharlott, Juliette Shea

Missing: Charles VanDenburgh

SeniorsChemistry Class of

2019

35

19 students graduated with a major in Chemistry

1 student graduated with a double major: Rose Taylor – Chemistry and Mathematics

Chemistry majors graduated with minors: Colin Ford – Mathematics Cody Park – Geology Leah Scharlott – Sociology Erika Womack – Philosophy

Senior Prizes, Awards, and Scholarships

Duncan Crow ACS Wooster Section Senior Award ACS Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry

Elliott Detrich Department of Chemistry Citizenship Award

Colin Ford Sisodia-Williams Prize in Biochemistry

Christopher Good ACS Undergraduate Award in Environmental Chemistry

Ian Mundy William Z. Bennett Prize in Chemistry

Leah Scharlott ACS Wooster Section Senior Award

Eva Stebel American Institute of Chemists

Hyuga Uchida William Byron Ross Memorial Prize in Chemistry

Rada Zunich Royal Society of Chemistry Certificate of Excellence

Other Senior Honors

Phi Alpha Theta (History) Ian Mundy Pi Mu Epsilon (Mathematics) Colin Ford

Christopher Good Hyuga Uchida

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Scholarship

Rose Taylor

William H. Wilson Prize in Mathematics Rose Taylor

Departmental Honors were awarded to:

Duncan Crow Colin Ford

Christopher Good Yukun (Ada) Jin

Ian Mundy Rose Taylor

Hyuga Uchida Rada Zunich

Elected to

Phi Beta Kappa:

Colin Ford Christopher Good

Ian Mundy Rose Taylor

Majors with American

Chemical Society Certification in

Chemistry:

Samantha Adusumilli Duncan Crow Elliott Detrich

Colin Ford Christopher Good Yukun (Ada) Jin

Ian Mundy Rose Taylor

David Thomas Charles VanDenburgh

Rada Zunich

Seniors

Hyuga Uchida

Chemistry

4ooster Community Care Network Health Coach

36

Entering graduate school: Colin Ford Cornell University, MEng in Materials Science Engineering) Christopher Good Vanderbilt University (analytical chemistry) Yukun Jin University of Notre Dame (chemistry) Leah Scharlott University of Iowa (organic chemistry/ chemistry education)

Entering health professional school: Samantha Adusumilli Ohio State University College of Dentistry Rada Zunich University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Pharmacy School

Employed: Brittany Bowman Lab Technician Juliette Shea Pharmacy Technician, CVS Pharmacy

Eva Stebel Chemist, Pegasus Technical Services Rose Taylor Ross Mathematics Program, China David Thomas Medicinal Chemist, Cayman Chemical Hyuga Uchida Analyst, J.P. Morgan, Tokyo, Japan

Other: Duncan Crow Studying for MCAT, then applying to medical schools Elliott Detrich Taking courses, shadowing in specialty dentistry, applying to

dental school Ian Mundy Applying to City Year, Peace Corps, and AmeriCorps

Post-Graduation Plans Eva Stebel

Ian Mundy

Erika Womack

Christopher Good

Samantha Adusumilli

Juliette Shea

Chemistry Seniors

2019 Senior I.S. Symposium Independent

Study

37

Samantha Adusumilli Paul A. Bonvallet Don't Go Chasing Water: Investigating the Role of Water on the Binding Strength of Dibenzo-24-

Crown-8 and Dibenzylammonium Hexafluorophosphate

Brittany Bowman (Copeland Funded) Jennifer A. Faust The Analysis of Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) by

Chromatography in Precipitation Samples Collected in Northeast Ohio

Duncan Crow (Copeland Funded) Paul A. Bonvallet Investigation of 𝜋-Stacking in Swellable Organically Modified Silica Using Novel Synthesis Strategies

Elliott Detrich Sarah J. Sobeck I Am Dye-ing Here: A Kinetic and Structural Study of Carminic Acid and Its Photodegradation

Colin Ford Zachery D. Matesich Adapting the Photocyclization Isomerization of 2-Acetylbenzaldehyde

into 3-Methylphthalide to a Continuous Flow System

Christopher Good (Copeland Funded) Paul L. Edmiston (FA) Jennifer Faust (SP) Elucidating the Impact of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Hawaii: An Interdisciplinary Study Involving Chemical Detection and Aquatic Toxicology

Yukun Jin Sarah J. Sobeck Analysis of Photo-Physicochemical Properties and Stabilities of Alizarin and Purpurin

Gabriela Jocas Paul L. Edmiston (FA) Sarah Sobeck (SP) Modeling of a Passive Sampler Based on Swellable Organically Modified Silica

Zachary Lyon Jennifer A. Faust

The Method Development and Qualitative Characterization of Organosulfates in Rainwater by LC-MS

Ian Mundy Sara E. S. Martin

All Aboard! The Identification of Inhibitor Candidates for the Bacterial Enzyme MurG via Molecular Docking Simulations

Leah Scharlott

Colin Ford

Zachery Lyon

Brittany Bowman

Duncan Crow

SeniorsChemistry

Independent Study

Yukun Jin

38

Cody Park

Leah Scharlott Jennifer A. Faust Please, Be My Guest! Quantifying Association Constants Between Cationic Guest Species and Tetrapropoxycalix[4]arene as a Model for Calix[4]arene-Capped Azobenzene

Juliette Shea Zachery D. Matesich Go with the Flow: The Synthesis of Benzo-15-crown-5 Through the Application of Flow Chemistry

Eva Stebel Paul L. Edmiston (FA), Paul A. Bonvallet (SP) Development of Cationic Polymer-Organosilica Porous Materials for the Adsorption of Perfluoroalkyl Sulfonates and Carboxylates from Water

Rose Taylor (Chemistry & Mathematics) Sarah J. Sobeck & R. Drew Pasteur Investigation of the Aqueous Photodegradation of Ortho- Substituted Aminobenzoic Acid Derivatives Under UVC Light

David Thomas Paul A. Bonvallet Evaluating Bases for the Synthesis of Dibenzo-24-Crown-8 Ether with a Methyl Viologen Template

Hyuga Uchida Paul L. Edmiston (FA), Sarah J. Sobeck (SP) Enhancing Petroleum Production: Investigation of Oil/Water Separation Method for Chemical Injection Enhanced Oil Recovery Technology Using Swellable Organically Modified Silica

Charles VanDenburgh Paul A. Bonvallet

An Investigation of Reaction Conditions for the Esterification of Benzoic Acid Using Swellable Organically Modified Silica

and Observed Spectrographic Shifts of Encapsulated Carbonyls

Erika Womack Jennifer A. Faust Production and Quantification of Brown Carbon from Multiphase Reactions of Methylglyoxal with Gas-Phase Methylamine

Rada Zunich Sara S. E. Martin

Toward Inhibitors of MurG: Identifying Fragments That Could Bind to MurG as a Starting Point for Inhibitors of Bacterial Cell Biosynthesis

David Thomas

Cody Park

Rada Zunich

Charles VanDenburgh

Seniors Chemistry

Independent Study

Rose Taylor

Jennifer A. Faust Degrading Diesel Fuel and WD-40®:Method DevelopmentforCharacterizing Oxidation of Thin Layer Alkanes

39

Jennifer Sanchez

Back Row: Justin Fox, Andrew DeLaat, Ryan Campbell, Jasmine Herd, Patrick Carmel*, Ken Kalikasingh, Andrew Gold, Carolina Shams*, Eric Guberman

Middle Row:

Anna Gibbs, Russell Boston, Colleen O’Sullivan, Phillip Plotkin*, Kaeli Zoretich, Afton Widdershins, Devin Frisby, Carolyn Lee, Adebola Bamidele, Madigan Strange

Front Row: Sarah Pitell, Araam Abboud, Caylee Cunningham, Fredi Carey, Emily Walker, Jennifer Sanchez, Noelle Sadallah, Oscar Bautista*

Missing: Nikhil Dole, Aditi Sringeri

*Neuroscience major with a BCMB track

Biochemistry

Biology

& Molecular

Class of

Seniors

2019

40

Departmental Honors awarded to

Russell Boston Ryan Campbell

Devin Frisby Eric Guberman

Colleen O’Sullivan Emily Walker

Afton Widdershins Kaeli Zoretich

Elected to –

Beta Beta Beta Russell Boston Ryan Campbell

Colin Ford Justin Fox

Eric Guberman Kenneth Kalikasingh

Carolyn Lee Colleen O’Sullivan

Sarah Pitell Emily Walker

Afton Widdershins Kaeli Zoretich

Phi Beta Kappa Colleen O’Sullivan Afton Widdershins

Alpha Psi Omega (Theatre & Dance) Madigan Strange

Pi Mu Epsilon (Mathematics)

Afton Widdershins

Sigma Delta Pi (Spanish)

Julia Higgins Colleen O’Sullivan

Aditi Sringeri

26 students graduated with a major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

4 students graduated with a double major: Araam Abboud – Classical Studies

Fredi Carey – French & Francophone Studies Colleen O’Sullivan – Spanish Afton Widdershins – Mathematics

8 BCMB majors graduated with minors: Devin Frisby – Classical Studies Andrew Gold – Philosophy Julia Higgins – Spanish Jasmine Herd – Psychology

Carolyn Lee – French Madigan Strange – Theatre & Dance Kaeli Zoretich – English

2 students enrolled in dual degree program with the School of Dental Medicine at Case Western Reserve University Julia Higgins Dominic Muccio

Senior Prizes, Awards, and Scholarships

Sarah Pitell American Institute of Chemists

Araam Abboud Frank Hewitt Cowles Memorial Prize in Classics

Emily Walker & Karen Diane Cross Memorial Award Afton Widdershins

Colleen O’Sullivan Roland H. Del Mar Prize in Spanish

Ryan Campbell Sisodia-Williams Prize in Biochemistry

Anna Gibbs Joseph E. Weber Premedical Award

Afton Widdershins William H. Wilson Prize in Mathematics

College Prize

Anna Gibbs G. Julian Lathrop Memorial Award

BCMB

Anna Gibbs

Seniors

Russell Boston

41

Post-Graduation Plans

Entering graduate school: Adebola Bamidele Quinnipiac University (biomedical sciences) Oscar Bautista Case Western Reserve University (neuroscience) Russell Boston Duke University (biomedical) Caylee Cunningham Duquesne University (chemistry) Nikhil Dole Johns Hopkins University (bioethics) Andrew Gold Case Western Reserve University (human nutrition) Jasmine Herd Cleveland State University (post-baccalaureate program) Colleen O’Sullivan Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions (genetic

counseling) Sarah Pitell University of Pittsburgh (environmental engineering) Madigan Strange Purdue University (cellular and molecular biology) Emily Walker Ohio State University (environmental science)

Entering health professional school: Andrew DeLaat Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine Anna Gibbs Ohio State University Medical School Julia Higgins Case Western Reserve University Dental School, Cleveland, OH Carolyn Lee Pharmacy School Afton Widdershins Pennsylvania State University (MD/PH.D. program)

Employed:

Araam Abboud Research in the history of medicine Ryan Campbell Research at National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD

Fredi Carey STEM Scholar Coach, Schuler Scholar Program, Chicago, IL Patrick Carmel Quality Technician, Daisy, Wooster, OH Eric Guberman Clinical Trial Operations Development Team member, Abbvie Carolina Shams Farm and Clean Eating Operations Manager, Hawi, Hawaii

Peace Corp Jennifer Sanchez Secondary Math Teacher, Guinea, Africa

Justin Fox

Araam Abud

Madigan Strange

BCMB SeniorsEric Guberman

Andrew Gold

Carolyn Lee

42

Aaram Abboud (BCMB & Classics) (Copeland Funded)

Dean Fraga & Monica Florence Infection Control! Synergism in Hippocratic Wound Infection Theory and the Antimicrobial Efficacy of the Barbarum Plaster Against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Adebola Bamidele William R. Morgan The Effects of Phytophthora sojae Effector Protein PsAvh110 on Cellular Pathways within Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Oscar Bautista (Neuroscience) Seth Kelly 'Got Sleep?': An Investigation of Possible Proteomic Sleep Regulators in Drosophila melanogaster

Russell Boston Paul L. Edmistin (fall)/Sara E. S. Martin (spring) Save Our Masses from Starving: Develop-ment of a SOMS-Based Spatiotemporal Phytohormone Delivery System

Ryan Campbell (Copeland Funded) Dean M. Fraga Defining the Determinants of Substrate Binding for 6-Hydroxynicotinate 3-Monooxygenase (NicC) from Bordetella bronchiseptica RB50

Fredi Carey Laura Sirot & Marion Duval Adipokinetic Hormone Receptors in

Patrick Carmel (Copeland Funded) James D. West Monitoring Proteostasis with the AgHalo Folding Sensor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Caylee Cunningham (Copeland Funded) Paul L. Edmiston (fall)/Ryan S. Arvidson (spring) Dirty Hair, You Should Care: An Evaluation of Sebum Removal Ability by Common Cosmetic Absorbents and Organosilica on Human Hair

Andrew DeLaat Ryan S. Arvidson The Effect of Natural Products on Digestive Tissue and the Differential Expression of TRP Channels in Female Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes

Nikhil Dole (Copeland Funded) James D. West Exploring a Role for Dif1 in Promoting Genomic Stability

Justin Fox William R. Morgan Investigation of Phytophthora Sojae’s RXLR Effectors Effect on the MEKK1/MAPK Pathway

Devin Frisby

Benjamin J. Leslie The Identification and Characterization of a Halophilic UvrD Homologue and its Incorpor-

ation into Helicase Dependent Amplification

Anna Gibbs (Copeland Funded) James D. West

Influence of Altered Ribonucleotide Reductase Inhibitor Degradation on

Genomic Instability in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Andrew Gold Ryan S. Arvidson

Devin Frisby

Caylee Cunningham

Bola Bamidele

Ryan Campbell

Fredi Carey

SeniorsBCMB

Independent Study

SeniorsBCMB

Independent Study

the Reproductive Tract of Ae. Aegypti Mosquitoes, Coupled with the History of in Ae. Aegypti Haiti

Characterization of Fatty Acid Desaturase and Elongase Activities in Meleagris Gallopavo using RT-qPCR Analysis

43

Eric Guberman (Copeland Funded)

Erzébet R. Regan (fall)/ Benjamin J. Leslie (spring) A Boolean Model of Contact Inhibition of Proliferation

Jasmine Herd Dean M. Fraga The Role of Arginine Kinase in the Cilia of Paramecium

Kenneth Kalikasingh (Copeland Funded) Brian M. Carlson Characterization of Metallothionein-2 (mt2) and Rad51 (rad51) as Potential Biomarkers for Cadmium Toxicity in Betta splendens

Carolyn Lee (Copeland Funded) Stephanie S. Strand To Be or Not to Be: An Investigation into the Pseudomonas protegens strain 12H11 VgrG2b Protein

Colleen O’Sullivan (Copeland Funded) William R. Morgan Identifying Gene Targets of Phytophthora sojae Effector Protein PsAvh 172 by Synthetic Lethal Analysis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Sarah Pitell Paul L. Edmiston (fall)/James D. West (spring) Protein Immobilization and Enzymatic Activity in Swellable Organically Modified Silica

Noelle Sadallah Sara E. S. Martin Facilitating Studies of Peptidoglycan Synthesis: Optimizing NagZ Production to Enable Access to Lipid I

Jennifer Sanchez William R. Morgan Analyzing the Effects of PsAvh110 on Transcription Factor Pho4 Under Low Phosphate Conditions

Carolina Shams (Copeland Funded) Erzébet R. Regan (fall)/Benjamin J. Leslie (spring) Defying the System: A Boolean Model of Neuronal Fate Decision and Aberrant Cell Cycle Re-entry in Alzheimer's Disease

Aditi Sringeri Niki Spahich Identifying Mutations Acquired by Porcine

Delta Coronavirus (PDCoV) for Infection of Chicken and Human Cells

Madigan Strange Dean M. Fraga Whose Got the Moves?: Building the Tools to Determine the Physiological Role of Arginine Kinase Genes in Caenorhabditis elegans at Lowered Gene Expression Levels

Emily Walker Ryan S. Arvidson Characterization of Synergistic Toxicity in a Fungicide-Insecticide Combination in Honey Bees

Afton Widdershins (Copeland Funded) Erzébet R. Regan (fall)/Brian M. Carlson (spring) and R. Drew Pasteur Investigating the Development and Behavior of Heterogeneous Tumors

Kaeli Zoretich Dean M. Fraga Progress Towards Understanding Nicotinic Acid Degradation and the nic Operon in B. niacini Using Differential Gene Expression Analysis

Sarah Pitell

Afton Widdershins

Emily Walker

Noelle Sadallah

Jazz Herd

Kaeli Zoretich

Independent Study

BCMB Seniors

44

Sarah Sobeck served as the Moderator for the Feature Presentation

The Senior Research Symposium was supported by the Henry J. Copeland Fund for Independent Study

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

MORE TO COME… Eric Guberman*

Copeland Funded Ian Mundy Carolina Shams**

FROM OHIO TO THAILAND: HISTORIES, NARRATIVES, AND ADAPTATIONS

Kenneth Kalikasingh* Copeland Funded

RELATIONSHIPS IN LITERATURE, POETRY, AND FILM

Collen O’Sullivan*

NOVEL APPROACHES TO TREATMENT AND PREVENTION

Andrew DeLaat* *Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Major **Neuroscience: Cellular Neurophysiology (BCMB)

FEATURE PRESENTATION MELISSA SCHULTZ I.S. RESEARCH PRIZE IN SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

With this prize, we remember Dr. Melissa M. Schultz, Associate Professor of Chemistry, who was tragically killed on February 7, 2015 in an automobile accident. She was passionate about the environment and sustainability, and a beloved mentor to her students. It is appropriate therefore that we take a moment to remember her this day.

First Prize: Eva Stebel (Chemistry) – Development of Cationic Polymer-Organosilica Porous Materials for the Adsorption of Perfluoroalkyl Sulfonates and Carboxylates from Water

Second Prize: Claire Smrekar (English) – Introductions to Ecology: How Children’s Literature Inspires Environmentalism

Third Prize: Hyuga Uchida (Chemistry) – Enhancing Petroleum Production: Investigation of Oil/Water Separation Method for Chemical Injection Enhanced Oil Recovery Technology Using Swellable Organically Modified Silica

On April 26th, The College of Wooster did not hold any conventional classes; instead the College itself became a classroom as the Class of 2019 demonstrated the projects they developed during the academic year. Students, faculty, staff, parents, and community members were encouraged to move around the campus and listen to presentations, view art exhibits, attend oral presentations, ask questions about research during poster presentations, enjoy musical and theatrical performances, and explore the work of the senior class. All Chemistry Majors and BCMB Majors presented posters of their Independent Study projects. In addition, students had an opportunity to present their work digitally and orally.

Melissa Schultz I.S. Research Prize in Sustainability and the Environment senior

presenters: Hyuga Uchida (CHEM), Claire Smrekar (ENGL), and Eva Stebel (CHEM) with Moderator:

Sarah Sobeck

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Jayne Blinkhorn (’21, CHEM) Advisor: Paul Bonvallet Location: Wooster Dept of Physics

Funding: NSF-REU: Physics and Chemistry Research Project: Analysis of solutes trapped within SOMS by spectroscopy and microscopy

Luke Borgelt (’21, BCMB) Advisor: Mark Snider Funding: NSF RUI

Project: Purification of flavoenzyme 6-hydroxynicotinate 3-monooxygenase

Philip Carter (’20, CHEM) Advisor: Rebecca Craig Funding: Williams Summer Research & Sanborn-

Bromund Fund (endowed Department funds) Project: Synthesizing atmospherically-relevant organic

compounds to study kinetics of the acid-catalyzed reactions they undergo

Brian Corbin (’20, Hiram College)

Advisor: Paul Bonvallet Funding: NSF-REU: Physics and Chemistry Research Project: Measuring the force generated by swellable organically modified silica (SOMS)

Emma Davidson (’22) Advisor: James West Funding: Sophomore Research

Project Title: Studying the Biological Activities of a Thioredoxin Variant Library

David DiGena-Segal (’22, CHEM) Advisor: Paul Edmiston Funding: SERDP Grant Project: LC-MS, PFAS project

Anh Dinh (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Mark Snider Funding: NSF RUI

Project: Cloning novel genes involved in B. niacini nicotinic acid catabolism

Heather Hartmann (’21, CHEM/SPAN) Advisor: Paul Edmiston Funding: Peterson Fund Project: SERDP PFAS project

Claire Hefner (’22) Advisor: Paul Edmiston Funding: SERDP Grant Project: SERDP PFAS project

Noah Helton (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Mark Snider Funding: NSF RUI

Project: Computational genomics and RNAseq to determine the nicotinic acid catabolic operon in B. niacini

Thinh Huynh (’22, BCMB) Advisor: James West Volunteer Project: Mutating putative ubiquitylation sites in the ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor Sml1

Ethan Kahrl (’20, CHEM) Advisor: Jennifer Faust Volunteer Project: Creating self-assembled monolayers and alkane films for attenuated total reflection-FTIR studies

Chloe Litts (’20, CHEM) Supervisor: Kristin Feierabend Funding: Department of Chemistry Summer Stockroom Assistant

Coco Liu (’22, BCMB) Advisor: Sara Martin Funding: Sherman Fairchild Grant (Wooster) Project: Alzheimer’s Research Project - Virtual screening studies to identify potential inhibitors of enzymes

Alicia McElwee (’22) Advisor: Mark Snider Funding: NSF RUI

Project: Purification B. bronchiseptica 6-hydroxynicotinate 3-monooxygenase

Snider Summer Research Group: (front to back) Anh Dinh, Luke Borgelt, Philip Plotkin, Alicia McElwee, Noah Helton

Students Summer Activities On Campus

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Vy Nguyen (’22) Advisor: Jennifer Faust Funding: ACS Petroleum Research Fund Project: Multiphase photo-oxidation of nonadecane films in an oxidation flow reactor

Noelle Sadallah (’19, BCMB) Advisor: Sara Martin Funding: Sherman Fairchild Grant – Alzheimer’s Research Project: Alzheimer’s Research Project - Senior mentor. Developing inhibitors and an activity assay for a class of enzymes

Regan Szalay (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Sara Martin Funding: Whitmore-Williams Fund Project: Alzheimer’s Research Project - Using chemical synthesis to make candidate inhibitors of MurG

Vinh To (’22) Advisor: Jennifer Faust Funding: ACS Petroleum Research Fund Project: Oxidative aging of model lubricant films by ozone and hydroxyl radicals

An Tran (’21, CHEM) Advisor: Jennifer Faust Funding: Sophomore Research Project: Monitoring “brown carbon” precursors and

Students On Campus

Grace Adkins (’21, BCMB) Advisor: Ardythe Morrow, Ph.D. Location: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH Funding: SURF - GE Project: Center for Disease Control vaccine study

Alexa Bencic (’22, BCMB)

Facult Mentor: Katie Boes Location: Beacon Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Cincinnati, OH Funding: APEX Fellowship Project: Shadowing surgeries and clinical visits and assisting in inpatient and outpatient care and support

Gema Briggs (’22, NEUR/BCMB)

Faculty Mentor: Dan Bourne Location: Universidad Regional Amazonico IKIAM, Ecuador Funding: APEX Fellowship

Project: Research applied amphibian conservation at and present conservation-focused environmental science to children at La Unidad Educativa Nacional

Manh (Mark) Bui (’21, CHEM)

Advisor: Craig Forsyth, OSU Location: Ohio State University, Columbus, OH Funding: Ohio Five SURE Project: Synthesis of apratoxin analogues for anti-cancer activity.

Emmalee Cooke (’21, BCMB) Advisor: Katherine Hicks, Ph.D. Location: SUNY Cortland, Courtland, NY Funding: NSF RUI: Enzymology of Nicotinic Acid Catabolism Project: Structure and mechanisms of the enzymes in the nicotinic acid degradation pathway

Summer Activities

Meghan Wells (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Benjamin Leslie Funding: Sherman Fairchild Grant Off Campus

Mark Snider’s NSF-funded summer research program included a new research experience for the participants in the B-WISER Alumnae Camp (girls entering 9th grade in the fall). Snider’s summer researchers, along with his collaborator’s research team from SUNY Cortland University, served as the TAs for this week-long project that investigated whether bacteria isolated by the girls from different soils they collected were able to degrade specific environmentally-relevant contaminants. The girls in the camp worked in groups to investigate this question and learned how to design experiments to test hypotheses, conduct research involving microbiology and analytical chemistry techniques, and gave presentations at the end of the week to teach other groups what their team had discovered about their bacteria’s ability to degrade several contaminants.

Above: B-WISER Alumnae work in lab. Top right: Campers review results in ‘think space.” Bottom right: Camper shares progress with research

B-WISER Alumnae Camp Participates in NSF-Funded Research

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Dr. Benitez Ponce Summer Lab Members: Nedas Matulionis (’20, CHEM), Emmily Moses (Ohio Northern University), Leslie Taylor, Ana

Vazquez-Catoni, Daowen Huo, Ranjana Rawal, and M. Soledad Benitez Ponce

Students Summer Activities Off Campus Alex DeLong (’22, CHEM)

Faculty Mentor: Ibra Sene Location: The Center for AIDS Research, Providence, RI Funding: APEX Fellowship Project: Drug resistance testing

Samantha Draves (’20, BCMB)

Faculty Mentor: Cody Leary Location: The Center for AIDS Research, Providence, RI Funding: APEX Fellowship Project: Research assitant analyzing mutating HIV in a lab and conduct studies on patients with HIV/AIDS

Evan Faxon (’21, BCMB) Advisor: James Voos, M.D. Location: University Hospital, Cleveland, OH

Asvin Gireesh (BCMB ’21)Advisor: Monica Yepes-Rios, M.D. Location: Cleveland Clinic – Lutheran Hospital, Cleveland, OH Funding: APEX Fellowship Project: Updating the farm food database, and focus on patients’ social determinants of health.

Emma Hambright (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Laura Sirot, Ph.D. Location: University of Costa Rica Funding: NSF Grant Project: Mosquito collection in Costa Rica to analyze the blood meals they fed on

Heather Hartmann (’21, CHEM/SPAN) Advisor: Maria Francesa, Director Location: Office of Student Health, Arica, Chile Funding: Internship

May Hlaing (’22, BCMB) Location: Ohio State University, Columbus, OH Funding: Ohio Five SURE

Koral Kasnyik (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Karin Musier-Forsyth Location: Ohio State University, Columbus, OH Funding: Ohio Five SURE Project: HIF-1 5’ UTR structural changes upon human RNA helicase a binding

Matteaus Klonowski (’21, CHEM) Advisor: George Nazin, Ph.D. Location: University of Oregon, Eugene, OR Funding: NSF Grant

Project: Investigating single-walled carbon nanotube electronic structure

Elijah Learn (’20, CHEM) Advisor: Xumeng Ge, Ph.D. Location: Quasar Energy, Woooster, OH Funding: Quasar Energy Group

Eran Maina (’21, BCMB) Advisor: Evette Radisky, Ph.D. Location: Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL Funding: SURF Project: Identifying and characterizing enzymes involved in ovarian cancer progression and metastasis

Nedas Matulionis (’20, CHEM) Advisor: M. Soledad Benitez Ponce, Ph.D. Location: Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center, Wooster, OH Funding source: OARDC Project: The role of bacteria in the uptake of phosphorus by plants

Alexander Morris (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Steve Strauss, Ph.D. Location: Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR Funding: NSF REU Grant Project: Optimizing a genomr wide association pipeline on poplar trees searching for genes relating to tissue regeneration

Alex DeLong

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Students Off Campus Summer Activities

Bao Nguyen (’20, NEUR/BCMB) Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Bowen Location: ACT NOW, Da Dong Province, Vietnam Funding: APEX Fellowship Project: Start an anti-littering campaign based in Da Lat city, creating media campaign, initiating community cleanups, and designing interactive workshops

John Nugent (’20, CHEM) Advisor: Hannah Shafaat, Ph.D. Location: The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH Funding: Ohio Five SURE Project: Artificial Metalloenzymes for Small Molecule Activation Reactions

Paulo Nunes (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Florinda Palacios Vega, M.D. Location: Laboratorio de Análisis Clínicos BIO-CELL, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia Funding: APEX Fellowship Project: Lab assistant at free clinic observing the collaboration between two organizations to care for underprivileged members of the community

Scott Perkins (’20, NEUR/BCMB) Faculty Mentor: Brooke Krause Location: Charleston Area Medical Center Health System, Charleston, WV Funding: APEX Fellowship Project: Harm Reduction Intern, Ryan White HIV Program

Hunter Pierson (’20, BCMB) Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Bowen Location: Wooster Community Hospital, Wooster, OH

Funding: APEX Fellowship Project: Wooster Community Care Network Health Coach

Moyo Saliu (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Ankit Bharat, M.D. Location/Funding: Northwestern University: Feinberg School of Medicine Project: Does hypercapnia decrease CSCL 12 by increasing the processing of p105 to p50?

Leman Simpson (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Xin Zhang, Ph.D. Location: Penn State University, State College, PA Funding: NSF and 3M Project: Chemical biology and protein aggregation

Wesley Wagner (’20, CHEM) Advisor: Wade Self, Ph.D. Location: AbbVie, Chicago, IL Project: Investigated proteins and biomarkers in human biological matrices for neuroscience therapeutic area

Qaiser Zaidi (’20, BCMB) Advisor: Simak Ali, Ph.D. Location: Imperial College, Department of Surgery and Cancer, London, England Funding: APEX Fellowship Project: Breast cancer research, researching new therapies and observing progress

Ohio 5 SURF Program John Nugent (’20, CHEM) with Sean Marguet (OSU

Ph.D. student)

Frequently Used Abbreviations ACS – American Chemical Society APEX – Advising, Planning, Experiential Learning NSF – National Science Foundation REU – Research Experience for Undergraduate RUI – Research in Undergraduate Institutions SURE – Summer Undergraduate Research Experience SURF – Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow

APEX Fellowship Scott Perkins (’20, NEUR/BCMB)