suny oswego department of chemistry newsletter
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SUNY OSWEGO DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY NEWSLETTER
Table of Contents:
Faculty/Staff Updates 2-7
Degree Candidates 8
Scholarships/Awards 9-10
News from Alums 10
Alumni Visits 11
3 Retirements 12
Seminar Series 13
Department Awards 14
Chemistry Club 15
Graduation Photos 16
Quest 2021 17
Summer 2021 18
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR:
I may say that our biggest accomplishment for this year is that we all survived. After being 100% online during spring 2020, we provided most of our courses and labs as face-to-face or hybrid for our majors. We offered some labs in half capacity in order to maintain social distancing in labs. Having majors only sections for general chemistry and organic chemistry allowed us to teach these courses in-person rather than online for our majors so we have physical interactions with our students. We are planning to have a regular semester in the fall, but we will not know until the semester starts. Good news is that our summer research program is back to normal this summer. 26 chemistry students involved in full-time summer research with our faculty. 16 of these students were supported by alumni donations. With the largest donation from Peter and Andrea Bocko, we were able to increase the summer research stipends to allow students to work full time in labs rather than multiple jobs over the summer. According to our exit surveys, most of our graduates highlight the importance of summer research in their progress of becoming a chemist. We believe that the best way of educating future chemists is providing more research opportunities both during the academic year and in the summer. Any support from our alumni in that regard is highly appreciated by our department. I will ask for you to utilize your company's matching donation policies to help these young minds. All your donations go directly to our undergraduate and graduate students; either for their summer stipends or research-related expenses. We have an alumni speaker’s program: We ask our alumni to speak to our majors talking about their experiences as students and how their life has been shaped since they graduated from Oswego. Students always comment on these talks and visits in their exit surveys; therefore, we are always looking for our alumni to serve as guest speakers throughout the school year; either in person or over Zoom. If you are interested, please drop us an email to set up your in-person or online meeting. We also welcome any company related talks for recruiting interns or new employees for your company. As a chemistry department, we are blessed with great faculty and staff members. Every year, one of our staff or faculty receives an award for their contribution to campus and the students. Dr. Julia Koeppe received her tenure and was promoted to be Associate Professor, Dr. Bendinskas was promoted to be Distinguished Professor of Service, Dr. Casey Raymond received President's Award for Advising and Mentoring, and Kristin Gublo received President's Award for Professional Service. We also had three retirements this year; Dr. Webe Kadima retired in August 2020, Chris Finnegan retired in November 2020, Dr. Martha Bruch retired in August 2021. There is so much exciting news related to our faculty and programs; such research funding, publications, sabbaticals, summer research, new collaborations, and international trips. Please enjoy reading our annual newsletter and continue to support SUNY Oswego Chemistry Department and Students.
Dr. Fehmi Damkaci Chair Department of Chemistry
ACADEMIC YEAR
2020-2021
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Faculty and Staff
Matthew Baker, Assistant Professor, Organic Chemistry
PhD., The Pennsylvania State University, 2014
B.A., Alfred University, 2009
Research Interests: The design and synthesis of stimuli-responsive polymers and materials. Specific applications include biodegradable and environmentally friendly plastics, as well as polymers with sensing capabilities. Additional interests include the development of application-based organic and polymer chemistry teaching laboratory experiments. Updates: Dr. Baker’s students have been able to maintain their productivity despite the challenges they faced due to the global pandem ic. In total, four students were busy performing research during the academic school year, and three stayed on to conduct research over the summer. During this time, his students were busy working on environmentally friendly plastics with controlled degradation capabilities. As a result of their productivity, two of his students presented their work at a local symposium. Dr. Baker also presented research this year at the National American Chemical Society meeting. This particular presentation highlighted a plastic that his lab has been developing that degrades upon exposure to ultraviolet light. In addition, Dr. Baker has continued to design and implement undergraduate laboratory experiments that focus on introducing students to scientific techniques associated with the field of plastics. One of these new lab projects was the focus of an educational article that was accepted to The Chemical Educator.
Kestutis Bendinskas, Professor, Biochemistry
Post-doctoral fellow, John Hopkins University, 1997
Ph.D., Bowling Green State University, 1996
B.S., Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, 1991
Research Interests: -Exploring effects of toxic metals and semi-metals on human health, i.e. omics of lead (Pb), cadmium, mercury, arsenic in kids and steel mill workers in Oswego and Syracuse in the USA, Kolkata in India, and Tbilisi in the DR of Georgia; -Measuring cortisol and testosterone in saliva/urine/hair/nails to help psychologists and medical professionals in their research; -Studying metal-binding properties of proteins, e.g., the quenching of fluorescence of alpha-macroglobulin due to its binding to Pb; -Developing modern biochemistry and omics teaching laboratory experiments.
Update: Dr. Bendinskas was honored by achieving the rank of Distinguished Service Professor and becoming the member of SUNY Distinguished Academy, class of 2021. Kestas supervised nine undergraduate students this year. His students worked on improving RT-qPCR reaction for COVID-19 detection, measured hair and salivary cortisol, also hair, nail, and blood testosterone, and worked on statistical models using R to analyze all data. His Capstone student Brooke Raymond plans to become a veterinarian. His Capstone student Charlotte Labrie Cleary is working on her PhD in Neuroscience at McGill University. Dr. Bendinskas received a SUNY COVID19 Preparedness Innovation and Internship Seed Grant ($10,000) and three NIH grants via collaborations with Syracuse, Rutgers, and Columbia University researchers ($166,598 total). He published five peer-reviewed articles: "The Case for Undergraduate Research Journals" in the Bulletin Mathematical Biology, " Vacation’s Lingering Benefits, But Only for Those With Low Stress Jobs" in Psychology and Health, "Linking metal (Pb, Hg, Cd) industrial air pollution risk to blood metal levels and cardiovascular functioning and structure among children in Syracuse, NY" in Environmental Research, "Association of Sleep Quality With Greater Left Ventricular Mass in 9-11 year-old Children" in Psychosomatic Medicine, and "Seroprevalence of Hepatitis E Virus Antibodies in Adults and Children from Syracuse, New York" in PLoS ONE. Kestas continued serving as the Executive Editor of American Journal of Undergraduate Research (AJUR), which publishes peer-reviewed internationally-indexed manuscripts quarterly.
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Thomas Brown, Assistant Professor, Inorganic Chemistry
Ph.D., University of Nevada, Reno, 2016
B.S.,University of California, Davis, 2011
Research Interests:
Photoemissive copper(I) coordination compounds for use in optoelectronics. Metallophilicity
between closed-shell metal ions and the resulting photoluminescence.
Update:
Tom has completed his fourth year as tenure-track faculty with the Chemistry Department at SUNY Oswego. He had the joy
of mentoring several research students which included six undergraduate students (Ashley, Alex, Ismatou, Christina, Matt, and
Fiona) and four graduate students (Vaea, Emma, Julian, and David). Emma and Julian have completed their Master’s degrees
under Tom’s supervision and will be starting an industrial position and an MBA program, respectively. This past year, Tom
had to navigate through the world of teaching both online and in-person and offered General Chemistry I & II, Inorganic
Chemistry with Lab, Organometallics, and Environmental Science. He continued to spread the love of inorganic chemistry by
developing new laboratory experiments, both experimental and computational, for the senior-level Inorganic Chemistry
Laboratory course. Tom was invited to give a seminar on his group’s research at SUNY Brockport in Fall ’20 which resulted
in a new collaboration. In order to continue his professional development, Tom participated in the PKAL STEM Leadership
Institute hosted by the Association of American Colleges & Universities. This week-long institute provided him tools for further
progressing in his academic career. Tom is looking forward to the next academic year and is excited to meet all the new
students as well as welcome back the returning students.
Martha Bruch, Professor, Physical Chemistry
Ph.D., University of Delaware, 1984
B.S., University of Delaware, 1978
Research Interests: Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Update: She is continuing to teach general and physical chemistry and to create and analyze chemically modified silica surfaces by sold state C-13 and Si-29 NMR.
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Fehmi Damkaci, Professor, Organic Chemistry
Post-doctoral fellow, Boston College, 2004-2006
Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, 2004
M.S., University of Maryland, College Park, 2000
Research Interests:
Synthesis of designer polymeric nanoparticles to act as targeted drug delivery systems, total synthesis of heterocyclic natural
products with medicinal and/or structural importance, and copper and iron catalyzed reactions, including heteroaryl couplings,
heteroaryl ring formation, and C-H activation using N-pydrylurea derivatives as ligands.
Update:
Dr. Damkaci worked with four undergraduate and graduate students. His new research focuses on alpha-coupling of ketones
with alcohols or aldehydes using copper and NPPA as a catalytic system. He continues to collaborate with Dr Michael Knopp
on research projects during summer and breaks as he joins Dr. Damkaci's group in Oswego. He has been the president of a
national non-profit organization (www.terraed.org) located in Syracuse creating several STEM hands-on opportunities for
students. Dr. Damkaci created a journal for high school research (ijhighschoolresearch.org) to publish high quality research
accomplished by high school students and let them gain publishing skills. Dr. Damkaci organizes regional STEM fairs
(terrafairs.org) in New York City, Rochester, Potsdam, and supports STEM Fairs in Buffalo and Dutchess County. His
organization also provides capacity building grants for CNY public schools to develop hands-on STEM opportunities for its
students. Dr. Damkaci organized the 10th GENIUS Olympiad with more than 1000 projects from 85 countries. Olympiad hosted
close to 1600 students virtually this year but planning to have a big comeback in person next year.
Shokouh Haddadi, Assistant Professor, Forensics & Analytical Chemistry
PhD in Analytical Chemistry University of Waterloo, 2008
MS Tabriz University, 1999
BS Azad University, 1995
Research Interests:
Chemical Analysis of Latent Fingerprints, Forensic Drug Analysis, Arson Analysis
Update:
Dr. Haddadi taught criminalistic chemistry and analytical chemistry undergraduate courses during the Fall semester and advanced forensic chemistry graduate course as well as analytical chemistry and forensic chemistry undergraduate courses during the Spring semester. Dr. Haddadi prepared videos for her online courses during Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. This summer she is preparing for a new graduate course in forensic analytical chemistry which will be offered for the first time in Fall 2021 semester, focused on research topics in forensic analytical chemistry. Dr Haddadi also continued conducting research in the area of forensic analytical chemistry, working with capstone students, the results of which were reported in Quest 2021. In February, 2021. She received the Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity Grant and she has been working with one graduate student who received the Faculty-Student Challenge Grant and three undergraduate students who received the departmental grants, on two different forensic analytical projects this summer. Dr Haddadi, published a paper on her Arson identification project, which was successfully conducted by previous capstone and summer research students, supported by SCAC grant. She has also been working with her collaborators on two other papers during the past academic year, which will be submitted this summer. Dr Haddadi has ongoing projects and the results of one of her current projects is accepted and will be presented in the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2021 meeting by her graduate student, Shelby Barnes. Besides teaching and research, Dr. Haddadi enjoyed serving as the forensic minor advisor and the capstone/assessment coordinator, being in touch with capstone research students and research advisors, and getting to know staff and faculty of other departments and discussing assessment approaches. Dr Haddadi is a member of the alcohol and other drugs as well as the chemical hygiene committees. She is also currently serving as a member of the assessment task force committee. Dr Haddadi is looking forward to another exciting and effective year and would like to thank all faculty, staff and students who she had the opportunity to work with during the last academic year and helped her with their kind advice, excellent support and their warm and effective presence.
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Julia Koeppe, Associate Professor, Biochemistry
[email protected] Postdoctoral fellow, Oxford University, England, 2006-2010 Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 2006 B.S., Hope College, Michigan, 2001
Research interests:
Protein interactions involved in activation and regulation of innate immunity. Protein interactions linking blood clotting and
inflammation. Structure-function relationships in enzymes. Creating research-based curricula for biochemistry teaching labs.
Updates:
It was another productive year in my research lab. I had 12 students working with me, and 5 of those were working on Capstone
projects. Due to the pandemic, 4 of my students were working entirely remotely on computational projects, and we made good
progress studying enzyme structures and investigating mutations using a program called FoldIt from the University of
Washington. Students in the lab continued to study enzymes of unknown function, and we now have good functional data for
a few different enzyme structures. We also continued to study interactions among complement proteins using surface plasmon
resonance, and we were able to grow some crystals of a domain of thrombomodulin that we may be able to use to study its
structure.
I presented my work at two virtual conferences. I was invited to speak about my work with thrombomodulin and the complement
system at the 4th Annual Complement-based Drug Development Summit in October 2020. I also presented a poster focused
on our enzyme function work at the annual meeting of the Biophysical Society that was held virtually in February 2021.
I taught all of my courses remotely during the 2020-2021 academic year. The most interesting part of this was the biochemistry
lab courses, for which I developed an entirely computational curriculum that we used for Biochemistry 1 Lab in the fall and
Introductory Biochemistry Lab in the spring. We did three major projects computationally, and the first of these was a
structure/function study of the main protease from SARS-CoV-2 in which students used computer modeling to explore how
amino acid mutations might affect the structure. We also completed a brief introduction to the Python coding language. The
third project was the computational analysis of structures of unknown function from the Protein Data Bank that has been an
ongoing part of the curriculum.
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Vadoud Niri, Associate Professor, Analytical Chemistry
[email protected] Post-doctoral fellow, University of North Dakota, 2009-2010 Post-doctoral fellow, University of Waterloo, 2004-2008 Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, University of Tabriz
Research Interests:
Dr. Niri’s research group has been focusing on developing new sampling/sample preparation
and analytical methods for monitoring chemical pollutants, which negatively affect public health
and the environment (air, water, soil and sediment media) and investigating the efficiency of
possible removal/remediation techniques for these compounds.
Update:
Dr. Niri has been active in research by supervising 1 graduate student and 6 undergraduate students in their research projects in the area of analytical chemistry during last fall and spring semesters. His research group worked on different projects such as analyzing drugs in biological samples, analysis of microbial volatile compounds from mold samples, and VOC removal by indoor plants. He has been also collaborating with Dr. Haddadi from chemistry department and Dr. Poongodi from Biological Science department. The results of the research project have been presented on-campus and regional meetings. Presentations (presenters are underlined): 1.K. Feng, S. Pincay, and V. Niri, Analysis of Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds Produced from Molds Using Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy, QUEST, SUNY-Oswego, April 14th, 2021. (virtual) 2.M. Gysbers, T. Maslin, S. Haddadi, and V. Niri, Analysis of benzodiazepines used in drug facilitated crimes, Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society 2021, Newark, DE, June 9th – 12th, 2021. (virtual)
Casey Raymond, Associate Professor, Inorganic Chemistry
[email protected] Post-doctoral fellow, Northwestern University, 1996–1998 Ph.D., Colorado State University, 1996 B.S., Michigan State University, 1991
Research Interests: Solid-state inorganic chemistry, metal oxide, boron chemistry, crystallography, brewing science, fermentation science, and food science. Update: I am returning to the Associate Director of the Honors Program as Prof. Gwen Kay has completed her terms as president of the SUNY Faculty Senate. We continued our work on transition metal-polyoxometalate compounds. Jeff Schneider and I spent much of the summer developing plans for general chemistry labs in the fall. We planned for the worst case scenario of completely online activities. Ultimately we’re glad that we did that as the worst case happened and all of our labs were virtual. At the end of October we realized that we needed to accomplish the same thing for CHE 214 labs. And although we had an online-only section for the remote students, all of the other sections were able to meet in alternate weeks so that students were able to perform many of the experiments. On the home front, we continued cycling and even had our first ride in December on the tandem—even if it was short and brisk. Thanks to a biweekly vegetable box delivery, a reasonable pantry, and well-stocked freezer we extended our shopping to every 4 or 5 weeks. Last August we lost Ulysses to complications and we’re sticking with two cats. Rosemary and Puma are definitely playmates, but Rosemary (at half the size) is still the boss and can get Puma to run away with just a look. We were both vaccinated by June and we have been enjoying our first unmasked, face-to-face gatherings in 15 months. In many cases, it has given us an opportunity to practice with the pizza oven we bought last fall. Things cook very quickly at 900+ °F.
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Jeffery Schneider, Associate Professor, Analytical and Environmental Chemistry
Ph.D., Dartmouth College, 1992
M.S., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1985
B.S., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1981
Research Interests: The determination of arsenic and lead in soils of Rice Creek Field Station,
the study of carbohydrate composition of beer, and the investigation of the effect of boiling times
on the isomerization of alpha acids in hops.
Kristin Gublo, Instructional Support Specialist
M.S., SUNY Oswego, 1999
B.S., SUNY Oswego, 1996
Update: Kristin is responsible for providing all reagents and equipment for our laboratory courses. This past year also included
making numerous instructional videos for our introductory chemistry lab course and organic chemistry labs for the student’s
virtual weeks. She provided lab safety training workshops each semester to the chemistry faculty, graduate students and
undergraduate research students. Kristin serves as the department's Professional Advisor, Advisement Coordinator,
Coordinator of the General Chemistry Peer Mentor Program, and Academic Probation Advisor. She taught two sections of our
“Freshmen Chemistry Seminar” course in person this past fall semester for our incoming majors. This course provides incoming
students a gateway to chemistry course to help smooth their transition and provide opportunities to build a strong cohort of
support. She taught Chemical Safety in person in the spring semester. Next year she will in charge of a new course we are
developing, “Career Skills for Chemists”. Kristin works closely with our Career Services and Alumni office to provide our majors
with alumni visits. She serves as the club advisor for both the Chemistry Club and the Pre-optometry club. She is active in
various committees on campus including advisement practices, the chemical hygiene committee and the student lab safety
committee. This year she was awarded the 2021 President’s Award for Excellence in Service for her commitment to our
students. She continued to supervise 5 work study students this year giving these students an in person job on campus during
COVID. Her teenagers are her “spare time”. Ryan is going into 11th grade and Emily will be entering 8th grade this fall (and
her dog Toby who is now 5). She started college visits with Ryan already, SUNY Oswego was their first. Her husband Ed
(Oswego alumn ꞌ 95/ ꞌ97) has been with Thermopatch Inc. in Syracuse for 17 years as their Operations Manager.This year they
took the kids to a Beaches resort in Jamaica for a much deserved vacation after being cooped up inside for so long.
Chad Sigindere, Instrumentation Specialist
M.S., University of Pittsburgh, 2017
M.S., SUNY Oswego, 2014
Update: Chad has been maintaining and servicing analytical instruments and laboratory equipment for over a year. He took on
several fabrication and modification projects over the past year. He was also involved with the instrumental analysis laboratory
course; guiding students and fixing instruments and equipment throughout the academic year. Chad is planning on joining the
chemical hygiene and other committees this year. He is building a large garage and workshop from scratch. Most of his spare
time is spent on planning and gathering materials and supplies. He will also be joining the fatherhood club and is excited. Chad
and his wife are expecting their baby girl in late October.
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2020- 2021 Chemistry Degree Candidates (*Students graduated with Honors)
December 2020
Kirsch, Michael Biochemistry PhD in Chemistry at North Carolina State University
Ingersoll, Vincent Chemistry BA Method develop and analytical service research assistant at Norwich Pharma
Salmons, Kyle Chemistry BA
McManus, Jenna Chemistry BS
Woodside, Kaylandra Chemistry BS Lab Technician at Mohawk Valley Health System
Rappleye, Sarah Geochemistry BS Lab Technician at Novelis in Oswego, NY
May 2021
*Colon, Olivia Biochemistry Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) Program
Cup, Theodore Biochemistry
*Labrie-Cleary,Charlotte Biochemistry McGill University, Integrated Program in Neuroscience (PhD)
Morocho, Bella Biochemistry
Raymond, Brooke Biochemistry Planning to apply to Vet School for Fall 2022
Sylvestre,Eldad Biochemistry
Thompson,Sylvia Biochemistry MS Chemistry, SUNY Oswego
*Makara, Anna Chem BS Env Novelis
*Bailine, Ryan Chemistry BS
Covey, Jenna Chemistry BS University of New Haven, Forensic Science MS
Feng, Karman Chemistry BS Columbia University, Masters in Education
Kearns, Ryan Chemistry BS
Kent, Ashley Chemistry BS
Kincaid, Warren Chemistry BS Syracuse University, PhD in Chemistry
*Kuhn, Derek Chemistry BS
*Maslin, Taylor Chemistry BS Penn State University for the Masters in Forensic Science Program
*Scalzo,Christina Chemistry BS University at Buffalo, PhD in Chemistry
Scott, Lauren Chemistry BS
Deval, Baelin Geochemistry
MS Candidates May 2021
Gachema, Maryanne Chemistry MS Pace Analytical Life Sciences, South New Berlin NY, Analytical Chemist
Frampton, Angela Chemistry PSM
Kuczkowski, Emma Chemistry PSM Schrödinger, Boston MA, Associate Scientist 1, Educational Specialist
Giler, Jose Chemistry MS
Barber, Julian Chemistry PSM Account Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific
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Spring 2021 Department Awards
Willy G. Schuh Outstanding Senior Award
Christina Scalzo
Pearle Monroe Scholarship
Michaela Gysbers
Augustine Silveira Jr. Chemistry
Scholarship
Taylor Maslin
ACS Analytical Award
Gregg Holliday
ACS Undergraduate Award in
Inorganic Chemistry
Anna Makara
ACS Senior Organic Award
Olivia Colon
Anthony VanGeet Scholarship
Angela Wu
ACS Undergraduate Award in Physical
Chemistry
Kevin Farrell
ACS Undergraduate Award in
Environmental Chemistry
Karman Feng
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Updates from our Alumni:
1. Glendon Widrick (’74) retired after teaching Math & Science (mainly Chemistry) for 34 years in upstate New York. His memorable and worthwhile college education started in the fall of 1970. He spent the "lion's share" of his time in three places: SCALES HALL , the BASEBALL DIAMOND - where he enjoyed a very successful four years on the pitcher's mound, and SYNGG HALL - which, in 1970, was the recently constructed, "state of the art" Math/Science building . His education at Oswego prepared him for a very rewarding and successful teaching career. He was voted Teacher of the Year several times by the students and was invited to give the commencement address at graduation on four different occasions. He is so thankful for all Oswego has done for him and he makes it a point to financially support the education program at Oswego annually and return to visit on a regular basis. THANK YOU LAKERS!!
2. Chris Fuller (’76) retired June 2019 from US Geological Survey after a 37 year career as a research geochemist studying processes affecting fate and transport of metal contaminants in surface and groundwater. Chris continues at the USGS as an emeritus scientist, and currently lives in Menlo Park, California, with his wife, a geologist.
3. Garrett Smith (’90) is employed as a Manager at Bristol Myers Squibb, GMP/GDP Audits. 4. Congratulations to Sarah Harris (recent VAP) and Kate Bailie (‘18) on their recent publication.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.0c03194 5. Laura Smith ( ’17) began her teaching career this year, teaching high school chemistry and forensic science at
Our Lady of Lourdes HS in Poughkeepsie. 6. Dan Dempsey (’07) has accepted and begun a junior faculty position at Boston University, where his lab is
located at the Medical School. Research focuses on investigating the structure, function, and regulation of deubiquitinases and RNA-modifying proteins.
2021 Dean’s Writing Award
Charlotte Labrie-Cleary
Outstanding Peer Mentor Award
Michaela Gysbers
Outstanding TA Award
Emma Kuczkowski
Excellence in Safety Award
Ashley Kent
Francis J. McKeown Scholarship
Fathima Raviya Careem
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Seminar
Speakers
Department of
Chemistry
Seminar
Program
2020-2021
Seminar Program Cooridnator
for 2020-2021:
Julia Koeppe
Alumni Visits
Pandemic Alumni Zoom Panels:
We were not allowed to have any visitors on campus this past year. We know how much our students and Faculty enjoy visits
from our alumni. So this year, we had to offer the next best thing, some vitual visits. We would like to thank the following
Alumni for giving up time from their busy work schedules to meet with our students. Our students really enjoyed your “visits”.
Dr. Thomas Mahl MD (‘80)
Jacobs School of Medicine
& Biomedical Sciences
Dale Roberts ‘’85
Senior Research Scientist
Ortec Inc.
Dr. Adam Szymaniak ‘13
Scientist
Enanta Pharmaceuticals
Ryan Cotroneo ‘15
Chief Technology Officer
UNX Industries Inc.
Jessica Blodgett ‘15 Biotech Production Specialist II Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Joshua Malone ‘15 PhD Student LSU
Alyssa Aldrich ‘17
Medicinal Chemist
Roswell Cancer
Institute
Alison Taylor ‘18 Chemist L'Oréal
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Retirements during the 2020-2021 academic year:
Dr. Webe Kadima
22
Years of Service
Dr. Martha Bruch
23
Years of Service
Christine Finnegan
36
Years of Service
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Department of Chemistry Seminar Series
2020-2021
__________________________________________________
Coordinator: Dr. Julia Koeppe
Dr. Y. Chris Li
University at Buffalo
Rationally Guided Design of
Electrocatalysts and Systems for CO2-to-
Fuels Using Renewable Electricity
Dr. Sagar Khare
Rutgers University
Mutations and modeling in the time of
COVID-19: tracking the evolution of the
SARS-CoV-2 proteome in 3D"
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Dr. Casey Raymond was the 2021
recipient of the President’s Award for
Excellence in Academic Advisement
Dr. Kestas Bendinskas earned the
SUNY Distinguished Service
Professor rank
Congratulations to Dr. Julia Koeppe
for her promotion this year to
Associate Professor!!
Department of Chemistry Awards 2020-2021:
Kristin Gublo was the 2021 recipeint
of the President’s Excellence in
Service Award
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Chemistry Club News:
The club had to be very creative this year to keep our students involved virtually. They started off the school year
with a kahoot “Guess the Professor” game in September. Students were given 3 fun facts about a professor and
they had to guess which professor it was.
Example: Can you guess who this is?
1. Holds dual citizenship
2. Used to work at a Thai restaurant
3. If I wasn’t a chemist, I’d love to be a pilot
Answer: Dr. Thomas Brown
In October they celebrated National Chemistry Week. Events for the week included "Name that Lab Item" game,
a Demo Video Show, Chemistry Kahoot Trivia, T-shirt Design contest, find a mole on Mole Day.
In November with the help of Dr. Brown, they offered their Graduate School information program virtually.
In February, they celebrated International Women and Girls in Science with a Instragram contest and made
chemistry themed valentine for their members.
In March, they made a “Tell Me You Are A Chemistry Major Without Telling Me” video, check it out:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hqcq4459N3DB02DtnrOr7H3za0dmm0wK/view?usp=sharing
They held elections for the next school year in April and hosted their very first ever Senior Week. Events included:
Dress like your Professor Contest, share your favorite chemistry meme, Guess the Senior kahoot game, Ice cream
night at Bev’s, and Senior photo and gift pick up.
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Graduation Photos with Faculty (We promise there are smiles under those masks):
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Quantitative Analysis of Diphenhydramine Using Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microexctraction (DLLME) Paired with GC-MS Presenter: Ryan Kearns Research Advisor: Dr. Shokouh Haddadi Cortisol Measurements in Animals Presenter: Brooke Raymond Research Advisor: Dr. Kestas Bendinskas Prediction of Function for Enzyme 4Q7Q Presenters: Tanashia Burrell and Mikaya Punzalan Research Advisor: Dr. Julia Koeppe Determination of lead concentration in former fruit orchard soil at Rice Creek Field Station, Oswego, NY. Presenter: Warren Kincaid Research Advisor: Dr. Jeffery Schneider Testing for esterase function in the enzyme with PDB ID 4Q7Q Presenter: Namrata Pokharel Research Advisor: Dr. Julia Koeppe Analysis of Degradation Pathways for a Biodegradable Plastic Presenters: Kyle Burley and Johann Roque Research Advisor: Dr. Matthew Baker Variability of Food Processing in Oats Presenter: Clara Boafo Research Advisor: Dr. Cleane Medeiros
Quest 2021 took place virtually on April 14th
Presenters:
Investigation Into Polyoxometalates Presenter: Anna Makara Research Advisor: Dr. Casey Raymond Analysis of Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds Produced from Molds Using Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy Presenters: Karman Feng & Stephany Pincay Research Advisor: Dr. Vadoud Niri Photophysical Properties of Copper(I) as a Function of Ligand Rigidity and Bite Angle Presenter: Ashley Kent Research Advisor: Dr. Thomas Brown The Anti-microbial Properties of Silver found in Alagon Presenter: Christina Scalzo Research Advisor: Dr. Fehmi Damkaci Urinary lead and arsenic are associated with carotid intima media thickness in CNY children Presenter: Charlotte Labrie-Cleary Research Advisor: Dr. Kestas Bendinskas Investigating the function of enzyme 2O14 Presenters: Ryan Bailine and Derek Kuhn Research Advisor: Dr. Julia Koeppe
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Summer 2021 Research Program:
The department was happy to welcome 26 Chemistry students to campus this summer to offer them a research
experience with our faculty. All students were funded this year which was amazing. We would like to thank
the following programs for supporting our students, Dr. Peter Bocko ‘75 and Andrea Guglielmo Bocko ‘73
Research Awards, Dr. Alan Ewart Award, Dr. Augustine Silveira Research Award, Graduate Chemistry
Research Awards, Math and Science Research Awards, and SCAC grants from our ORSP office.
The Brown Group
The Ounkham Group
The Baker Group
The Damkaci Group
The Bendinskas Group
The Koeppe Group
*cont. on next page
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We would like to thank our generous alumni that made donations to our department last year. We used
this money to support extra programs and to purchase equipment for our laboratories. Thank you very
much.
If you are interested in making a gift to the college to support the department, you can go to alumni’s
secure on-line website (www.oswego.edu/givenow). To allocate the donation to our department, simply
specify “Other Designation”. You have four options available: Chemistry Department, a Chemistry
Scholarship, the Augustine Silveira, Jr. Research Scholarship Fund, or the Chemistry Summer Research
Fund. Checks can be made out to “Oswego College Foundation, Inc.” and can be mailed to: University
Development, 219 Sheldon Hall, Oswego, NY 13126. Please write your designation in the memo line.
Or given online at https://alumni.oswego.edu/givenow
Please contact us for our next newsletter:
MAIL: SUNY Oswego
Department of Chemistry
296 Shineman Center 30 Centennial Drive
Oswego, NY 13126
EMAIL: [email protected]
ONLINE FORM: https://www.oswego.edu/chemistry/after-oswego
Back row:
Baelin Devall (‘21), Ryan Kearns
(‘21), Ashley Kent (‘21)
Front row:
Stephany Pincay (‘21), Charlotte
Labrie-Cleary (‘21), Karman Feng
(‘21)
The Haddadi/Niri Group
The Raymond Group