Chemistry Department News 2000-2001

Chair's Remarks

Rich Paselk

2001 has turned out to be a year for reflection for me. The 2001-2 AY will be the last year that John Hennings and Merv Hanson teach in the Department - John will finish his pre-retirement and Merv has decided to end his early retirement after two years. And now Tom Borgers has also announced that he will enter the faculty early retirement program (FERP) beginning Fall 2002. Suddenly Bill Wood and I are tied for senior member of the department! Certainly the times are different. When Bill and I came in 1976 we remained the junior faculty members for 17 years before another tenure track position came up. In contrast, Kjirsten Wayman was our junior permanent faculty member for only a year before we hired our latest new permanent faculty members, Bill Golden and Josh Smith. If things go well, they in turn should remain junior only a year as we hope to again be able to hire a tenure track position to replace the half-time positions of John and Merv.

The Year in Review

Scholar of the Year 2001/2002 goes to Chemistry's own Bill Wood!

Bill Wood has been selected as HSU's Scholar of the Year for 2001/2002 by the Advisory Board for Research and Creative Projects for his long record of research in the area of chemical ecology. Dr. Wood's public lecture entitled, "Chemical Ecology: An Introduction," on Thursday, September 13, 2001, at 5:00PM in the John Van Duzer was followed by a benefit dinner honoring Bill and previous scholars.

9/11 Impacts Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship Donor

Mary Wells, Senior Development Officer, University Advancement

It was mid-December 2001 when a chemistry alumnus and sponsor of the Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship notified Mary Wells, Senior Development Officer, via e-mail of "preparation and deployment with my National Guard unit for federal active duty." When Wells responded, an automatic reply came back, "I am preparing to or have been deployed with my National Guard unit for federal active duty." This activation of service resulted from the events of September 11, 2001, and the U.S. call to war.

As a result of the deployment, the donor has had to leave employment and must suspend contributions to the scholarship for an unknown length of time, perhaps more than a year. In the meantime, Wells encourages chemistry alumni and others to help fund the scholarship which covers the cost of annual registration fees for a chemistry major, currently at approximately $2,000 per year. Any gifts received above the amount needed to fund the current year award will be applied to the growing endowment fund for the scholarship.

The Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship was established "to promote and encourage interest in chemistry to promising women at Humboldt State University." In math and science fields, men and women are in disproportionate numbers. Approximately 45 chemistry majors are enrolled at Humboldt State, of which less than half are women.

For more information or to make a contribution, alumni and others can contact 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 Humboldt State University Foundation and mailed to University Advancement, attn: Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521-8299.

Chemistry Offers a New Bachelor of Arts Option

This year we modified the requirements for the BA in Chemistry to be in closer accord with various UC campuses, and to make it easier for majors in other sciences, such as Biology, to switch or gain a second degree. A complete list of the courses in this degree are found on our Chemistry Advising Materials page.

New Facilities, Equipment, etc.

Molecular Modeling Lab: After much frustration, we finally were able to get our MSI software running on our SGI. Hopefully this will enable us to finally do some protein and nucleic acid modeling. We have also upgraded our main modeling facility with the addition of a linux server. Of course this resulted in the usual headaches accompanying networked systems, but we think the bugs are mostly out now. In addition to the new server and a RAM upgrade on all computers, we also made major additions to our software suite. Currently, when booted as Windows 2000/NT® computers, the workstations are equipped with PC SPARTAN Pro®, Gaussian 98W® and GaussViewW®, and MATHEMATICA®, while when booted as Linux systems, the workstations run Jaguar®, GAMESS, and AIMPRO. By using the Linux file server as a Linux controller, we will be able to link the PC computers into a Beowulf cluster parallel computer with up to seventeen nodes.

Department sponsored meetings

New & Used Poster Session: The Department will once again sponsor this event, but during the Spring 2001 semester.

New Faculty and Staff

Bill Golden
Josh Smith

Summer "Semester"

Humboldt has begun "year-round" operation with a modified summer "semester" with 5 and ten week sessions. Chemistry offered four courses in the second, Summer 2001, year-round session: Chem 107 (Introductory Chemistry), Chem 109 (General Chemistry I), Chem 110 (General Chemistry II) and Chem 328 (Introductory Organic Chemistry).

Faculty Notes

Tom Borgers

After 35 years Tom has announced he will take 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. Tom continues 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.

William Golden

After many years teaching part-time in the Department and becoming one of our pillars of general chemistry, Bill was appointed to a tenure track position beginning Fall 2001. As our new Physcal Chemist Bill has been attending the Mathematica® class and Physical Chemistry Labs under the tutelage of Mervin Hanson in preparation to taking them over from Merv next year. Bill is also looking forward to restarting his laboratory research program in surface chemistry. He already has two undergraduates ready to begin work with him this spring.

Mervin Hanson

After two years teaching half-time in the faculty early retirement program (and over thirty five years as a full-time faculty member) Merv has decided to "cut the cord." Merv has been of tremendous value to the Department in these two transitional years. This year he is mentoring our new physical chemist, Bill Golden, in the Mathematica course (Chem 340) he and Pat Tam (Physics) developed and Physical Chemistry lab, which he has taught for as long as I can remember. Merv also decided to carry a teaching overload his last year in order to give some release time to one of our new organic chemists, Kjirsten Wayman, so she prep for her Advanced Organic Chemistry course. Mervin, we wish you the best, but we will miss you!

John Hennings

After over thirty years of teaching Organic Chemistry, John will retire at the end of this year. This last year was a bit of an adventure for John. He managed to break his leg in the Fall, and then break it again a few weeks later (surgery and multiple pins were required to reaasemble him). When he was able to return to work he and the Depatment were able to explore teaching General Chemistry lab from a wheel chair and then on crutchs. All went well, and John is now back on his feet and apparently as good as ever.

Carol Lasko

If all goes well, Carol will join the ranks of our senior faculty next fall with her promotion to Full Professor. We forsee no problems as Carol sets a standard of excellence across the board. Carol is amoung teh best as a teacher, she has a strong research program with a recent publication (co-authored with a student) in an ACS journal and another publication in J. Chem. Ed., and she has a strong committment to the community with a water quality analysis program for grade school children and regular participation in a program for challenged kids.

Ralph Martinez

Ralph is currenlty the "heart" of our introductory chemistry program, teaching either Chemistry 107 or the Chemistry 105, 106 sequence each term.

Richard Paselk

I continue to scatter myself in a variety of pursuits. As President of the Advisory Board for the HSU Natural History Museum I became involved in local activities at the Museum and HSU held in conjunction with the PBS Evolution sereies. Specifically I coordinated a series of lectures (one by me) given on campus, and helped with the evolution course for high school teachers given by Ed Metz of our Biology department. I was also an invited speaker for the Alexander von Humboldt Conference 2001 held at HSU in June. My topic was "The Scientific Instruments and Observations of Alexander von Humboldt." The lecture was illustrated with pictures I took at the Smithsonian with the aid of the curator of scientific instruments, Deborah Warner. Bob Zoellner and I are finishing up our last year of our NSF computer grant. This year we are installing a new linux server, and adding a new software package, Jaguar. We have also had the unfortunate opportunity to learn more about networks and their frustrations! Of course I continue as chair of the Chemistry Department.

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 write: During the summer of 2001, two students, Devon Rossetto (Biochemistry, 2002) and Jasmina Allen (Interdisciplinary Studies, 2002) worked on research projects with me. Devon and Jasmina studied the regulation of gene expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli using proteomics techniques. Both students were supported by Howard Hughes Medical Institute Summer Research Scholarships. Jasmina presented a poster at the CSUPERB Biotechnology Symposium in January 2002.

Fall 2002 brought a sabbatical leave and I spent several weeks at Oregon State University in Professor Doug Barofsky's lab learning how to use Maldi-tof and LC-MS-MS Mass Spectrometer techniques to identify proteins from 2-D electrophoresis gels.

William Wood

As noted elsewhere in the Newsletter, Bill was honored as Humboldt's Scholar of the Year. Billl also notes two new publications this year, one with Cynthia L. Archer, formerly in the Biology Department graduate program, and now in medical school:

Bill also sponsored one of our Chemistry majors, Darcy Walden, in the new HSU-Howard Hughes Medical Institute Summer Fellowship administered by Jacob Varki in the Biology Department.

Staff Notes

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.

Student Notes

photo: graduatesGraduation 2001

We had eight students graduate this year: Bryan L. Casper, Todd G. Deutsch, Jason A. Giordano, Jonathan L. Largent, Andrew C. Malone, and James Pablo each received a Bachelor of Science, while Brian E. Gray recieved a Bachelor of Arts in the spring. Most of our graduates posed for a picture, seen at left. Adam Daly, having left campus a few years ago, completed organic chemistry at a sister institution and graduated in the fall with a B.S.

photo: Free RadicalsChemistry Club ("Free Radicals")

The Chemistry Club sponsored two activites which were funded by goggles sales by the club and the generous donation of $100 to the club by a parent: a Bay Area Field Trip and an Awards Picnic at Arcata Redwood Park:

Bay Area Field Trip. Four members of the Chemistry Club (Laura Duckworth, Jason Giordano, Monica Higdon, and Alisha Thompson) took a field trip to UC Berkeley during spring 2001 to visit various graduate departments etc. They provided a few photos to document their adventures.

Awards Picnic at Arcata Redwood Park. Four different awards were given at an informal ceremony at the picnic on Saturday, May 5, 2001.

The Chemistry Club provided a barbeque, meat (or its vegetarian equivalent), condiments, drinks and chips for our afternoon festivities. Boche ball and frisbee tossing rounded out the days get-together. A small award ceremony followed, with certificates and flowers given to the honorees.

photo: AwardsA CRC Freshman Chemistry Award, The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, was presented by Bob Zoellner to Bernadette Clueit.

The Humboldt Chemistry Research Scholarship: This year two scholarships, for $750 each, were awarded. In recognition of these awards, custom made, framed certificates were presented to Monica Higdon, the Thomas Clark Organic Chemistry Scholar, and Alisha Thompson, the Roger Weiss Analytical Chemistry Scholar.

Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship was again awarded to Monica Higdon for her outstanding performance as a chemistry student at Humboldt.

Finally, the Chemistry Club members acknowledged Darcy Walden's reciept of a HHMI Summer Research Fellowship to work under Bill Wood in the HSU Chemistry Department this Summer.

Awards and Scholarships
photo: Awards PlaqueMonica Higdon is the Humboldt Women in Chemistry Scholarship recipient for 2000-2001.

For the second year Miss Higdon has recieved this new scholarship created through the generosity of one of our alumnii. The donor specified that a student may recieve this scholarship a maximum of two times.

photo: Awards PlaqueFirst Annual Humboldt Chemistry Research Scholarships

Monica Higdon becomes our first Thomas Clark Organic Chemistry Scholar with her proposal: "A Comparison of Anti-oxidant Capabilities [of oraganic molecules] using Computational Methods." Monica will be working under the direction of Bob Zoellner.

Alisha Thompson becomes our first Roger Weiss Analytical Chemistry Scholar with her proposal: "Identifacation of Metal Binding Sites on the Biopolymer Chitosan." Alisha will be working under the direction of Carol Lasko.

The CRC Freshman Chemistry Award

Each year the publishers of the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics sponsor an award of a free Handbook to the "top" student in Chem 109 at HSU. This year Bob Zoellner felt there were three top students, so the Department and Bob and Rich Paselk funded two additional awards to Bernadette Clueit, Trish Keller, and Lehrin Morey.

The ACS Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry

Each year the American Chemical Society (ACS) sponsors an award for the top analytical chemistry student in our department. The award consists of an honorary membership in the Analytical Division of the ACS and an eight month subscription to Analytical Chemistry, one of the world's leading journals of analytical chemistry. This years award went to Monica Higdon.

HSU-HHMI Summer Fellowship

Two of our Chemistry majors were awarded Howard Hughes Summer Fellowships to pursue research at Humboldt during the summer of 2001. Devon Rossetto (Biochemistry, 2002) pursued biochemical research in Jeff Schineller's laboratory, while Darcy Walden pursued organic chemistry in Bill Wood's Laboratory.

Alumni Notes

Evelin Medong(Class of 1992) writes: I am a teacher in one of the high schools in Kuching,Sarawak. (Kuching is the capital city of the Sarawak state.) I teach physics, chemistry and math. After I graduated in 1992 from HSU, I returned home and a few months later worked as a temporary teacher for 2 yrs teaching math and general science. I discovered that I love teaching and I decided to become a full-time trained teacher. So I signed up for training at a teachers college and a year later I got my diploma in teaching. And here I am a full time teacher. I've been teaching general physics for 5 years now, general chemistry for 3 years and math for 8 years. I started teaching chemistry 3 years ago after the old chemistry teacher transferred to another school. I really enjoy teaching chemistry to my students, especially when it comes to organic chemistry. We always have fun naming the organic compounds according to IUPAC. I also love to give my students "unknown" compounds for them to analyze, sometimes just for the fun of the chemistry.

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.