Chemistry Department News 1999-2000
Editor's Corner
The Department has talked about having a newsletter for many years. Well this year I decided to bite the bullet, and actually write one. I was supposed to finish this new letter in early fall, but things got busy, and I'm only now doing it over winter break - better late than never I suppose. Much of my motivation comes from the tremendous changes the Department has seen in the past few years.
Most of the senior faculty, those already here when Bill Wood and I arrived in 1976, are now retired, with only the youngest, John Hennings and Tom Borgers left. Obviously these retiree's had to be replaced. However, there was a time when new tenure-track faculty appointments were few and far between, and our faculty underwent a significant shrinkage. Thus when Roger Weiss (1959-89) and Sury (1966-91) retired we were left for a year with no Analytical chemist (I was 'priviledged" to teach analytical chemistry and instrumental analysis) before we replaced them with Carol Lasko. Carol of course continues with the department, and became the first women to be tenured in Chemistry at HSU. When Bob Wallace retired (1962-92) he was not replaced by Jeff Schineller until 1995, while John Russell (1956-92), was not replaced by Bob Zoellner until 1999. We just replaced Greg Bowman (1966-94) with Kjirsten Wayman this year (Fall 2000). Things are improving though. We will be able to replace Tom Clark (1959-2000) with only a one year hiatus. And we will finally replace half of Sury, after a decade, and half of Mervin Hanson (1965-2000), after only a year, with a single new postion combining analytical and physical chemistry. (Merv has taken advantage of the "faculty early retirement program" and will continue teaching half time for up to five years.)
Chair's Remarks
The beginning of the new millennium (2000-2001) finds me finishing the last year of my second consecutive term as Chair of the Chemistry Department. These are exciting times for the Department and University, with a tremendous turnover of both faculty and administrators. In the five and a half years of my current position as Chair I have had to work with three different Academic Vice-Presidents and three different Deans of the College of Naural Resources and Sciences. Our third Associate Dean begins his tenure this semester. Three new faculty have started their careers in our Department during these past years as well, with two more hired for next Fall. We will soon be a new department.
As you might imagine, this is a somewhat daunting prospect. The Chemistry has had a very strong reputation from before my arrival in 1976. The challenge is to maintain our strong program and traditions while bringing in new people and allowing them new directions.
Because of our recognition of the huge impact the "founders" of HSU's Chemistry department had on its development, and their equally great impact on my own carreer, my wife Gail and I wished to honor them as their last members, Thomas Clark and Mervin Hanson retired. After much though, we decided to initiate a scholarship in honor of these individuals: John Russell, Thomas Clark, Roger Weiss, Robert Wallace, and Mervin Hanson. Two students will be selected this Spring to be the first Chemistry Research Scholars under this program.
The Year in Review
New Facilities & Equipment (1999-2000)
GC-MS: Last year we finally retired our original HP GC-MS with the arrival of a brand new instrument, an HP G1800C GCD System with an HP 5890 Series Autosampler, a GCD Series II Chemstation (NT), and a NIST 98 Library Bundle. We were also able to get HP's MSD Data Analysis Software, which can be used remotely by students in our new Molecular modeling lab. The auto-sampler is enabling Bill Wood to introduce GC-MS into our year Organic Chemistry lab, with students doing their own data analysis and unknown determinations using this powerful technique. Two senior chemistry majors, Jason Giordano (2001) and Todd Deutsch (2001), are seen working at the console.
Atomic Absorption Spectrometer: Special campus funding and a match from Carol Lasko's NSF research grant allowed us to purchase a Unicam 969 Atomic Absorption Spectrometer last year. This instrument replaced the older AA donated by PG&E about a decade ago. The new instrument includes computer interfacing, and is heavily used by Carol in her research, as well as for instruction in instrumental analysis. Alyisha Thompson (2002), a junior chemistry major, is shown working at the instrument.
Molecular Modeling Lab: An NSF-ILI grant written by Bob Zoellner and Rich Paselk along with matching University funds have resulted in the creation of a distributed laboratory for molecular modeling and computational chemistry at HSU. This facility is currently being used to teach courses in molecular modeling and in computational methods of chemistry and physics, as well as to demonstrate molecular models in general chemistry. We will soon be using it to introduce molecular modeling in both organic chemistry series, and macromoleucular modeling in our biochemistry courses. In addition, seven students are already pursuing undergraduate research projects in this laboratory.
We are currently about halfway through the grant period (about 75% of the funding) and have set up a computer teaching lab with fourteen 600 MHz Gateway E4200 student computer stations, a server and a faculty station. A second mini-lab is equipped with two additional Gateway computers and two Macintosh G4 computers. All of the Gateway machines are dual-boot Linux / Windows NT and are loaded with a suite of software including PC-Spartan pro, Gaussian 99, Mathematica, Microsoft Office, and web browsers. They can also be used to access and process data from our HP GC-MS. A third small lab houses a grant purchased Silicon Graphics Octane server loaded with biomacromolecular software from Molecular Simulations Inc. (obtained with a grant from CSUPERB, the CSU biotechnology consortium). This lab also contains our four cpu Beowolf cluster, which will be used for parallel processing of large jobs on Gaussian.
Scientific Instrument Museum Home: The Chemistry Department's scientific instrument museum has recently acquired a permanent home on the second floor of the Humboldt State University Library. For additional information on this collection, check out the museum's web-site at www.humboldt.edu/~scimus. Many of these "antique" instruments were used until fairly recently our in Chemistry and Physics courses, and may hold fond memories for our alumni.
New Faculty and Staff
Kjirsten Wayman: Kjirsten began teaching Chem 328 (Brief Organic Chemistry lecture and lab) for us in the Fall 2000 semester. She is already having a very positive impact on both our Department and program. She is very popular with her students and with our majors. She is looking forward to starting her research in earnest this summer, and to teaching advanced organic chemistry next spring. Currently, her research focuses on the study of catalytic hydrolysis systems using NMR techniques to follow the kinetics of the reactions.
Kjirsten comes to HSU from the University of Colorado at Boulder where she completed her PhD in Organic Chemistry under Dr. Tarek Sammakia.
Two new positions authorized for AY 2001-2:
Another position in Organic and General Chemistry to replace Dr. Clark. After a successful search we have hired Dr. Joshua Smith, currently finishing his second post-doctoral year at the University of Colorado, Boulder under Dr. Josef Mickl. Symbolically, Josh did his graduate work at Dartmouth under the direction of one of Dr. Clark's friends and grad school colleagues, Dr. David Lemal. A combination position in Analytical and Physical Chemistry to partially replace Dr's Weiss and Hanson was also authorized. After a successful search we hired Dr. William Golden, who has been working for the Department for many years in a temporary capacity. Bill did his graduate work in Physical Chemistry at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He then did a post-doc under John Overend, also at Minneapolis, before starting a career at IBM. Bill came to HSU after a successful stint as a Research Scientist studying surface phenomena at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA.
Scholarships and Awards
Premiere Chemistry Scholarship Debuts at Humboldt
Mary Wells, Senior Development Officer, University Advancement
What do a bachelor of arts in chemistry and a bachelor of science in chemistry have in common at Humboldt State? Some of the answers include:superior undergraduate experience, small student to faculty ratio, faculty committed to teaching, strong laboratory emphasis, excellent facilities, AND a relatively small proportion of female compared to male students. Enter "Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship," newly established through a charitable gift by an anonymous chemistry alumnus. The scholarship is intended "to promote and encourage interest in chemistry to promising women students by providing financial support equal to California resident registration fees," an amount approaching $2,000.00.
Men outnumber women students roughly 2:1 in chemistry. The numbers aren't big, overall, about 35-40 majors per year at Humboldt, but they reflect the general trend that men and women are in disproportionate numbers in mathand science fields.
The first ever specific scholarship for Humboldt Chemistry majors, the Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship was first awarded for the academic year 2000-2001 to Monica Higdon. Ms. Higdon, a junior in general chemistry, transferred to Humboldt from Cuyamaca Junior College in San Diego and expects to graduate May 2002. She has taught sections of the supplemental chemistry class (to Chem 109) and has restarted the student club, Free Radicals, along with a fellow colleague while pursuing full-time studies and special projects in chemistry.
Qualified female candidates must be: enrolled full-time, pursing a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Humboldt State University, an upper division student, enrolled in chemistry courses during the academic year of the award, and have a cumulative minimum GPA of 3.0 in courses required for the major.
Alumni and others can contribute to the Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship by contacting Rich Paselk, Chair, Department of Chemistry,(707) 826-5719, e-mail: rap1@humboldt.edu; or Mary Wells, Senior Development Officer, (707) 826-5135, e-mail: wells@humboldt.edu. Checks should be made payable to the Humboldt State University Foundation and mailed to University Advancement, attn: Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521-8299.
New Scholarship Honors the "Founding Faculty" in the Five Disciplines in Chemistry at HSU
Rich Paselk, Professor of Chemistry
Humboldt Chemistry Research Scholarship: My wife Gail and I have a special sense of gratitude for the five senior faculty representing the five subdisciplines of chemistry at Humboldt. With Merv Hanson and Tom Clark retiring, we felt we had reached the end of an era, and we wished to do something to thank these individuals.
With an initial donation of $2500 and a fund raising campaign among Chemistry Alumni, we established The Humboldt Chemistry Research Scholarship. The initial campaign raised over $16,000, with two private donors and a local business (Northcoast Laboratories) matching us. Other donations ranged from $50 to $750. The scholarship is now endowed in perpetuity for one annual $750 award. Additional annual donor pledges of $500 and $250 will enable us to offer a second $750 scholarship in Dr. Clark's honor for at least the near future. We continue to receive donations for this fund and hope to increase its value over the years.
The first two scholarships will be awarded this spring: honoring these founding faculty , supporting faculty interest in undergraduate research, and promoting and encouraging undergraduate chemistry research by providing financial support to capable students. Scholarships will be awarded as follows: Russell Inorganic Chemistry Scholar (honoring John B. Russell), Clark Organic Chemistry Scholar (honoring Thomas J. Clark), Weiss Analytical Chemistry Scholar (honoring Roger J. Weiss), Wallace Biochemistry Scholar (honoring Robert A. Wallace), and Hanson Physical Chemistry Scholar (honoring Mervin P. Hanson).
Department sponsored meetings
New & Used Poster Session: In the Fall of 1999.
Computational Chemistry Meeting: The Chemistry Department hosted the 1999 biennial CSU Computational Chemistry Conference.
Summer "Semester"
Humboldt has begun "year-round" operation with a modified summer "semester" with 5 and ten week sessions. What's different from the old summer school? As a "regular" session students enroll regularly, paying regular fees etc. rather than operating through Extended Education. Currently faculty may teach in summer for additional compensation, but in the future it is planned that teaching loads could be spread over the three sessions.
Chemistry offered two courses in the first, Summer 2000, year-round session: Chem 109 (General Chemistry) and Chem 328 (Introductory organic Chemistry). We plan to offer four courses in the second, Summer 2001 session: Chem 109 and Chem 110 (General Chemistry), Chem 107 (introductory Chemistry) and Chem 328 (Introductory organic Chemistry).
Faculty Notes
Tom Borgers
Tom is currently teaching the year-long Physical Chemistry sequence. He also continues his long tradition of teaching Thermodynamics & Energy Systems (ENGR 471) and Building Energy Analysis (ENGR 473) in the Engineering department.
Thomas Clark
Dr. Clark retired in 1999-2000 after a distinguihed carreer teaching organic and general chemistry for 41 years at Humboldt. His tenure at Humboldt is not quite a record, but close! Dr. Clark continues to visit us regularly, and had lunch with and attended seminars by most of the candidates for both of our new positions this year. He also continues to help Bill Fraser and our faculty in maintaining "his baby", our 300 MHz NMR.
Burt Codispotti
Burt has been teaching introductory and general chemistry labs for us for a nuumber of years now. However, Fall 2000 will probably be his last semester here, as he begins a career teaching high school - he will be doing his student teaching at Eureka High Spring 2001 in Chemistry under Welden Benzinger (Burt can also teach German and Music, having additional degrees in both subjects!).
Clyde Davis
Dr. Davis retired in 1999-2000 after teaching inorganic chemistry at Humboldt for 31 years.
William Golden
Bill is currently teaching the short Physical chemistry sequence and Chemistry 110. He will add Envirnomental Chemistry (Chem 305) to his hectic schedule in Spring. Bill recently applied for, and recieved, a tenure track position in the Department.
Mervin Hanson
After over thirty five years as a faculty member, Merv has retired, taking advantage of the Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP). As a FERP member he will continue teaching half-time for us for up to five years. The Department will take adavantage of this situation by having him pass on his unique background and skills in his Mathematica course (Chem 340) and Physical Chemistry lab, which he continues to teach.
John Hennings
After over thirty years of teaching Organic Chemistry, John will retire at the end of next year. In the past few years John has been teaching half-time, focussing recently on Chem 105 and Chem 106, the introductory sequences for Nursing and Natural Resources students.
Carol Lasko
In addition to being one of our most popular Chem 109 instructors, Carol teachs analytical (Chem 341) and instrumental analysis (Chem 441). She has also developed an innovative and popular general education course on Alchemy! In addition to her teaching, Carol has an active research program involving undergraduate researchers with funding from the National Science Foundation.
Ralph Martinez
Ralph is currenlty the "heart" of our introductory chemistry program, teaching either Chemistry 107 or the Chemistry 105, 106 sequence each term. He will be offering Chem 107 in Humboldt's new summer session this coming year (Su 2001).
Richard Paselk
I continue to be a bit scattered in both my interests and my activities, though the past few years have been particularly wild. During my last sabbatical (F 1998) Bob Zoellner and I successfully wrote an NSF grant to introduce computational chemistry and molecular modeling throughout the chemistry curriculum. This brought the department over $180,000 to set up a new 14 station computational chemistry lab, and four station mini-lab and advanced servers and software. We are currently in the second year of this grant and continue to work on new courses, labs and research projects using these facilities.
Not content to just do chemistry, I also worked with the HSU Natural History Museum to put much of their collection on-line. Over 400 specimens were digitally photographed and placed on the web in a highly inter-linked site. I continue to work with the museum to enhance and add to this site.
This past year my virtual scientific instrument museum gained physical reality with the dedication of the "Robert A. Paselk Scientific Instrument Museum" (named after my father) on the second floor of the library. An inheritance from my parents and a donation from my brother enabled us to construct and install three display cases housing my collections of the earliest instruments used at Humboldt, as well as more recent, but obsolete instruments used here.
Instructionally, I've become a bit of a web-maniac, posting not only syllabi and exams, but also complete sets of notes for six different courses thus far. Of course the greatest work and deepest sites have been created for my biochemistry courses, which were the first to be posted and thus the most revised - they are the models for the rest. This has been a great exploration for me. What after all should be the web's role in supporting education? More specifically, how can it be utilized to aid and improve what we do in and out of the classroom? I have few answers, so every semester I try something a bit different - more evolutionary than revolutionary.
Two years ago the College created a new postion and hired Michelle Dostal as the CNRS Hazardous Waste Technician. As a member of the search committee and co-designer of the position I volunteered to be her direct supervisor, a postion I continue to hold.
Darin Price
In addition to working in the Organic Stockroom part-time, Darin teachs all of our lower division labs, and occasioanally teachs lab for Chem 328 (Introductory Organic Chemistry) as well.
Jeffrey Schineller
Jeff replaced Bob Wallace a number of years ago. He has been very successful in recruiting undergraduates to pursue research under his tutelage. Jeff is the primary instructor for our year-long Biochemistry sequence where he has built an excellent rapport with studnets and a particularly strong reputation in laboratory instruction. Jeff has been recommended for tenure this year and wesmooth sailing in this trying process. He plans a well deserved sabbatical in the Fall 2001 semester.Kjirsten Wayman
Kjirsten is our newest faculty member. You can find out more about her, above, under New Faculty and Staff.
William Wood
Bill writes: Teaching. For the past year I have worked on the organic chemistry curriculum to keep it abreast with modern developments and needs that have developed in organic chemistry. Some highlights are listed below.
One Semester Organic Chemistry. For both semesters of Chemistry 328, I continued to update and revise the Chemistry 328 Laboratory Manual. This manual includes laboratory exercise on using the chemical literature, something that is usually not included in a course at this level. Biology students learned how to use Chemical Abstracts, with each student being given an individual research topic. Material Data safety Sheets (MSDS) are explained and procured through the Internet and a topic in the Merck Index was researched. Also a special lecture was given on naturally occurring alkaloids illustrating plant toxins and legal and illegal drugs of plant origin used by humans. The lecture was followed by a field trip to the HSU greenhouse to see some of the plants described in the lecture.
Year Long Organic Chemistry. The Chemistry Department received a University grant to purchase a new Hewlett-Packard GC-MS. The focus of this grant was to incorporate mass spectrometry into the undergraduate organic curriculum. This was initiated in the year-long organic chemistry course (Chemistry 321) during Fall 2000. Each student in this course was assigned two unknown compounds to analyze using mass spectrometry. Their exercise focused on the information that could be gained by analysis of each compound's molecular ion. During the spring semester 2001, students will be able to obtain mass spectra of several of their "unknowns" to help in their determination of a compounds structure.
Recent Research. In the past several years I have continued to explore new territory in my research area, Chemical Ecology. Recent publications continue to expand my belief that what were widely believed to be scent glands in ungulates are a source of antibiotic compounds. Research on mushrooms has shown that they produce potent compounds to keep predators from eating them and to repel bacterial and fungal attacks. Finally, a long term project has been finished. About 20 years ago, I investigated the defensive secretion of a rare millipede found in Humboldt County. It took 5 years to find an individual who could identify it to species and 15 more years to determine the structure of the major defensive chemical.
Pronghorn Antelope Research. The pronghorn is the sole living member of the family Antilocapridae, a family consisting of living and extinct pronghorns and the extinct merycodonts. Major pronghorn interdigital gland compounds all have chain lengths of C14 or C16 and include an aldehyde, 3-alcohols and an ester. These are, tetradecanal, 1-tetradecanol, (Z)-9-hexadecen-1-ol, 1-hexadecanol and 1-hexadecyl acetate. The function of interdigital glands has not been determined but a possible function may be the production of antimicrobial substances. The pronghorn's interdigital gland also contains compounds that have previously been shown to have antibacterial activity. 1-Tetradecanol has been reported as a growth inhibitor of the bacteria Prionibacterium acnes, Brevibacterium ammoniagenes, and Streptococcus mutans. (Z)-9-Hexadecen-1-ol inhibited growth of S. mutans and 1-hexadecanol the growth of P. acnes. [Publication - "Antibacterial compounds in the interdigital glands of pronghorn, Antilocapra americana," William F. Wood, Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 29, 417-419 (2001)]
A Banana Slug Antifeedant from Mushrooms. The mushroom, Clitopilus prunulus (Scop.:Fr.) Kummer is not rapidly consumed by predators, however, small bites marks are frequently observed on their caps suggesting it had been tasted and rejected. We found that the coastal Pacific Northwest banana slug, Ariolimax columbianus (Gould) tasted this mushroom and rejected it. Analysis of volatile compounds produced by tissue disruption of C. prunulus similar to that caused by a feeding slug showed that 1-octen-3-ol was the major compound. The amount of 1-octen-3-ol in crushed of C. prunulus and an antifeedant bioassay are of the same order of magnitude. Thus, this chemical may be the reason slugs reject this mushroom. [Publication - "1-Octen-3-ol, a banana slug antifeedant from mushrooms," William F. Wood, Cynthia L. Archer and David L. Largent, Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 29, in press (2001).]
A New Alkaloid from a Millipede. GC-MS analysis of the defensive secretion from the millipede Buzonium crassipes showed three volatile components, ß-pinene (35%), limonene (6%) and a new alkaloid, buzonamine (59%). Buzonamine had a HRMS molecular ion at m/z = 221.1785 (calculated for C14H23NO, 221.1781), 14 carbons in the 13C-NMR and 23 hydrogens by SFORD, DEPT and APT experiments. All distinct 1H nuclei were assigned to 13C resonances with 2D 1H-13C COSY data, and the final structure was determined by 1H-1H COSY, 1H-13C HMBC and nOe experiments. Buzonamine contains 4 rings including an epoxy group and a tertiary nitrogen. ß-Pinene, limonene or buzonamine, kept the mound nesting ant, Formica obscuripes, from eating mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) treated with 1 mg of the chemical. A 150 mg millipede expels 4 mg of secretion. [Publication - "Buzonamine, a new alkaloid from the defensive secretion of the millipede, Buzonium crassipes," William F. Wood, Frederick J. Hanke, Isao Kubo, Jennifer A. Carroll and Phillip Crews, Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 28, 305-312 (2000).]
Different Volatile Chemicals in Mushroom and Mycelium. The extracted volatile components from mycelium and sporocarp of the mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus, were completely different by GC-MS analyses. To our knowledge, this is the first published instance in which differences of mycelium and sporocarp has been demonstrated for any mushroom species. This shift in chemical production may reflect different antimicrobial defensive strategies at different stages in the life cycle of this fungus. Previous researchers have shown that 1-octen-3-ol from the sporocarp had antibacterial activity. The volatile from the mycelium, 4-methoxybenzaldehyde has been reported to inhibit gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and fungi. It also stops the germination and growth of fungal spores. [Publication - "Different volatile compounds from mycelium and sporocarp of Pleurotus ostreatus," William F. Wood, George R. Farquar, and David L. Largent, Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 28, 89-90 (2000).]
Robert Zoellner
Bob replaced John Russell, and now Clyde Davis, as our Inorganic chemist. He brings new skills into the Department with his interest in molecular modelling and computational chemistry. Bob and Rich Paselk successfully wrote an NSF grant to introduce computational chemistry and molecular modeling throughout the chemistry curriculum at HSU. This brought the department over $180,000 to set up a new 14 station computational chemistry lab, and four station mini-lab and advanced servers and software. We are currently in the second year of this grant and continue to work on new courses, labs and research projects using these facilities.
Staff Notes
Susan Dobie
Susan Dobie continues to serve as Administrative Support Coordinator II in the Departments of Chemistry, Physics and Physical Science at Humboldt State University. She enjoys working long hours at a high energy level, and interacting with students, faculty and staff while supporting the academic efforts of all concerned.
Susan is as involved in academia as she can be, and teaches occasional speech courses for College of the Redwoods, Humboldt State University and Veterans Upward Bound. Susan also offers her expertise in public speaking to chemistry and physics majors by giving annual talks to assist them in presenting a professional senior seminar.
For those who remember Susan's love of cats, she continues to raise a rare and exotic breed of cat, the Turkish Angora. Susan has been a confirmed cat person all her life, and found her heart won over by these personality plus creatures of beauty. Susan enjoys the many roles she plays, and is quite clear about her pride in being a part of the multifaceted HSU staff community.
Student Notes
Graduation 2000
Eleven students graduated this year, including a few who have been gone for some time, but finally finished "that last requirement.".
We tried something different as a graduation party, and hosted a get together in the hall outside the stockroom in the "Chemistry building" (fifth floor of Science A).
Monica Higdon is the Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship recipient for 1999-2000.
Miss Higdon is the first recipient of this new scholarship created through the generosity of one of our alumnii. The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, intends to fund this scholarship and to endow it at its current annual value though annual donations of $4,000 over a period of ten years.
Monica writes: "I enjoy learning about food chemistry and related biochemical topics. One of my hobbies is hunting down research that either debunks or supports various nutritional fads. My current interest is the increasingly well supported antioxidant activity of phenols in tea and wine. I am currently looking into the Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry Ph. D program at UC Davis. In fact, this summer I will be working with Dr. Andrew Waterhouse, an enology professor and wine chemist at UC Davis. The experience will allow me to narrow down my interests as well as get an idea of what the programs at Davis are all about."
Chemistry Club ("Free Radicals")
The Chemistry Club became official in the fall of 2000. We formed with the intention of creating a support system for chem majors as well as any other interested persons. Club activities include bi-monthly meetings and student-faculty potlucks. We are also planning a trip to the bay area to visit Stanford, UC Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The club members share ideas about everything from surviving classes to the latest chemistry news. Goggle sales and donations have added to our monetary reserves which will help pay for our field trip over spring break.
EH&S Internships Provide Practical Experiance for Undergraduates
Over the past few years chemistry majors have been able to add to their resume's and explore career directions with HSU's Office of Environmental Health and Occupational Safety. One of our current seniors, Jason Giordano (2001), is shown dressed in his EH&S outfit inspecting hazardous waste for pick-up from the Chemistry stockroom. Jason has a paid student position. A recent chemistry graduate, Patricia "Patsy" Buckley, also worked for EH&S, but on a volunteer basis.
According to Tom Manoli, Hazardous Materials Coordinator for EH&S, "Environmental Health and Occupational Safety recruits qualified science and engineering students, who have successfully completed general college chemistry and at least one semester of organic chemistry, to support the campus hazardous waste management program. Duties include, but are not limited to, collection, transport and storage of hazardous chemical and biological wastes, management of the hazardous waste handling facility, waste inventory data entry into the Environmental Management System and occasional support for the Hazardous Materials Coordinator during campus wide inspections."
Both paid and volunteer student positions with EH&OS are available but are limited and tend to fill quickly. Schedules are flexible with advance notice. Safety training is supplied free to the EH&OS student personnel and includes 1) Hazardous Waste Operations Emergency Response (required 40 hour class), 2) Hazard Communication, 3) Driver Safety, 4) First Responder Awareness, 4) First Responder Operations, 5) American Heart Association CPR, 6) Red Cross First AID, and 7) Safe Chemical Storage Practices.
Alumni Notes
If you'd like to share information about what you are doing, professional or career successes etc. please submit information via email to Rich Paselk, rap1@humboldt.edu and I will post them to this newsletter. We are also hoping to put out a print version, so if you want to be put on our mail list drop us a card or email us your address.
