Melissa McLauchlin received her Ph.D in Chemistry

Dec. 13, 2007
44 Students graduated with chemistry & biochemistry degrees this fall

Seven graduate students and 37 undergraduate students received degrees in chemistry and in biochemistry on Dec. 13, 2007. The ASU commencement ceremony was held on a brisk Arizona morning at the Wells Fargo Arena. The ceremony was followed by a reception / holiday luncheon in the department for graduates and their guests, faculty, staff and other members of the department. Dr. James Allen, Associate Chair and Dr. William Petuskey, Chair of the department presented T-shirts to the graduates to commemorate their achievement. A good time was had by all 150 plus people in attendance.

Nov. 20, 2007
Department welcomes new undergraduate advisor Tom Avants

Tom Avants has accepted the position of undergraduate academic advisor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Avants has been at ASU for 10 years serving most recently as Director of the Transfer Center and Honors Alliance coordinator at the Downtown Phoenix campus (2004-2007). For eight years he was an academic advisor in the College of Education.

Tom received his Doctorate of Education in Higher and Postsecondary Education at ASU in 2004. He also has two masters degrees; MS in Counselor Education and a Masters of Divinity. He received a bachelor’s degree with a double major in psychology/sociology. Avants teaching experience includes: Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, UNI 101 Academic Success, and UNI 194 Student Success.

Dr. Avants has been active in the academic advising community serving as president of ASU’s Council of Academic Advisors (CAA) in 1999-2000 and a presenter at eight National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) national conferences. He was the ASU Transfer Student Ombudsperson and has served on the Arizona Academic Advising Articulation Task Force (2004-2007). His academic interests include issues in higher education, student success strategies, academic advising models, and multiple intelligences/learning styles.

Tom’s hobbies are cheering for Sun Devil student athletics, college sports, and travel. He has sponsored student groups to Russia, China, Brazil, Belize, Canada, Romania, and Mexico. He most enjoys spending time with his wife Cathy, their six children and 5 grandchildren.

Nov. 7, 2007
General Chemistry Program To Get a Boost!

General Chemistry faculty across three ASU campuses have begun an ambitious Learner-Centered Education (LCE) course redesign with the purpose of improving the impact and effectiveness of our 100-level courses.  Janet Bond-Robinson, Ron Briggs, Pam Marks, and Chris Pruis have collaborated with educators from the ASU Polytechnic and Downtown campuses on redesigning our general chemistry curriculum to improve quality of instruction through the encouragement of active student learning and collaboration among faculty.  Our chemical education group was recently awarded a $100,000 grant and will begin the redesign process in the Spring with a major renovation of PS H-135 and development of new active-learning activities for our CHM 101, 113, 114, and 116 courses. The fundamentals of this program are also expected to be applicable to our upper-division courses (particularly organic chemistry) in the future.

Oct. 30, 2007
Devens Gust was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

In October, the AAAS Council elected 471 members as Fellows of AAAS. These individuals will be recognized for their contributions to science and technology at the Fellows Forum to be held on 16 February 2008 during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston. The new Fellows will receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette as a symbol of their distinguished accomplishments. Devens Gust , Foundation Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is honored for pioneering contributions to photochemistry and nanotechnology, and for the design and development of novel intramolecular electron transfer devices and related biomimetic schemes.

Full story in Science 26 October 2007: Vol. 318. no. 5850, pp. 586 - 590 DOI: 10.1126/science.318.5850.586.

Oct. 22, 2007
Anne Jones received AFOSR Young Investigator Award

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) announced Oct. 19 it will award $9.5 million in grants to 29 scientists and engineers who submitted winning research proposals through the Air Force's Young Investigator Research Program.

The program is open to scientists and engineers at research institutions across the United States. Those selected will receive the grants over a three-year period.

Anne Jones, assistant professor of Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry was one the 29 winners. Her research will focus on engineering oxidoreductases: utilization of an unnatural amino acid to create artificial hydrogenases. (full story on Air Force Press Release)

Nov 2, 2006

Professor Joe Wang has developed a highly sensitive technology to rapidly detect liquid peroxide explosives in as little as 15 seconds. The results are published as a research communication online in this week’s edition of the leading international analytical journal, The Analyst. full story...

Oct 20th, 2006

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 2006 Homecoming Reception

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 2006 Homecoming Reception was held on Oct 20 at the University Club. Alumni, faculty, staff and members from the Chemistry Graduate Student Council attended the event. Dr. William Petuskey, Interim Departmental Chair, announced the Wayne Lusinger Scholarship and gave updates on the Department’s growth. All alumni received official “Graduate of ASU Chemistry & Biochemistry” T-Shirts.

This is the first departmental annual event for alumni. The Department has decided to make this as a new tradition to link our alumni.

click to view pictures at the reception.

August 31, 2006
Dr. Francisco Received the Stanley C. Israel Award from the American Chemical Society

Dr. Wilson Francisco has been selected to receive the Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Fall 2006 from the American Chemical Society. The award is in recognition of his efforts to advance diversity in chemical sciences and to significantly stimulate and foster activities that promote inclusiveness with the Rocky Mountain region. The award will be presented to Dr. Francisco at the 19th Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting that will be held October 14-18th in Tucson AZ.

34 new graduate students for Fall 2006!

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry welcomes 34 new graduate students for Fall 2006. These ambitious new students come from over 20 different schools across the United States and six international countries bringing with them a diversity of backgrounds and an eagerness to begin their studies at Arizona State University. Several students requested to begin their program early and participated in lab rotations during the summer.

Students will work toward one of four degrees offered by the department: an M.S. in Chemistry, Ph.D. in Chemistry, M.S. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. Since there are over 45 faculty members researching within the field of chemistry and biochemistry, and on interdisciplinary projects with life sciences, geology, physics and materials, they will have a wide variety of interesting projects to select from for their graduate research.

The Chemistry and Biochemistry Programs have a lot to offer and will support the new students as they develop their skills and become professional researchers.

Don Seo has won a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award for 2006

Dr. Seo received a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 2006 for his contribution in "Theoretical and Experimental Studies on Itinerant Electron Magnetism in Intermetallics". The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., was established in 1946 by chemist, inventor and businessman Camille Dreyfus who directed that its purpose be "to advance the science of chemistry, chemical engineering and related sciences as a means of improving human relations and circumstances around the world." Since its first years of activity, the Foundation has sought to take the lead in identifying and addressing needs and opportunities in the chemical sciences. With the introduction of the Teacher-Scholar Awards Program in 1969, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation launched an initiative to provide talented young faculty with significant, flexible support during the early stages of their careers. From the program’s inception, Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars have been selected for their research and teaching accomplishments, their commitment to education, and the promise they show of continuing strength as independent investigators. More than 28 Teacher-Scholars have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and two have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

August 21, 2006

Dr. Angell Received David Turnbull Lectureship Award from Materials Research Society

Dr. Austen Angell has been selected to be the recipient of the 2006 MRS David Turnbull Lectureship. The Turnbull Lectureship is awarded to recognize the career of a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to understanding materials phenomena and properties through research, writing, and lecturing. Dr. Austen Angell was chosen from a group of outstanding nominees “for pioneering contributions to the fundamental understanding of the formation, dynamics, and properties of glasses, and particularly his development of fragility as an essential tool for characterizing glass forming materials, coupled with a comprehensive understanding of the field effectively communicated through lectures and publications.”

Mark Hayes	Devens Gust

Chemistry and Biochemistry professors contribute to ‘Digital Magnetofluidics’…

Critical advances in medicine and environmental protection promise to emerge from a new method for biochemical analysis of fluids developed by an international science team led by Arizona State University researchers. Called “Digital Magnetofluidics,” it promises more rapid, more accurate and less costly analyses of water and biological fluids – blood, urine, saliva – that require only miniscule amounts of fluids.

Digital magnetofluidics enables tiny drops of fluids to be manipulated on a silicon chip in ways that produce clearer pictures of the proteins, DNA, bacteria, viruses and chemicals present in liquids. The key to the method’s effectiveness is using nanoscale surface patterns to create a “superhydrophobic” (or water-repellent) surface on which to collect extremely tiny droplets of fluids – a surface formed by mimicking the natural self-cleaning process exhibited by the leaves of the Lotus plant, Hayes explains.

Water and biological fluids typically bead up like a ball on superhydrophobic surfaces, but the introduction of a magnetic field produced by injecting tiny magnetic particles into the droplets keeps the ball from rolling off the surface.

This allows for the fluids to be controlled through exerting magnetic force, and moved with extreme precision across the tips of nanowires, which are only about 200 atoms in diameter and less than a hundredth of the width of a human hair in length. The research can accelerate the development of microfluiditic devices that would, for instance, allow as many as 20 to 30 various tests to be performed using a single, tiny drop of blood. A major goal is to refine the technology to create point-of-care devices that would provide rapid diagnoses for people who live far from hospitals, or in cases of emergency medical care in which there is an urgent need for speedy medical analysis.

At ASU, Garcia is among scientists and engineers developing microfluidic and test-surface techniques. The team includes Mark Hayes and Devens Gust, both professors of chemistry and biochemistry, and Tom Picraux, who spent the past four years on the ASU chemical and materials engineering faculty before recently becoming chief scientist for the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico. full story..

This is posted both on ASU Insight (August 4,2006) and ASU Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering' s press release.

July 27, 2006
Chair Blankenship is leaving ASU…

Dr. Robert Blankenship, former chair of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, accepted a position at Washington University in St. Louis as the “Lucille P. Markey Professor of Biology and Chemistry” and will leave ASU in August 2006.

Dr. Blankenship has worked for ASU for 21 years. He served as the chair of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry for 4 years from 2002 to 2006. During the past four years, the number of tenure-track faculty members, the number of high-quality graduate students admitted to the department, and the number of curriculum offerings were doubled. Dr. Blankenship also founded the “ASU Center for the Study of Early Events in Photosynthesis (Photosynthesis Center)”. This led to world-wide recognition for photosynthesis research at ASU.

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry appreciate Dr. Blankenship’s commitment. A farewell reception was held at the University Club on July 27, 2006. Dr. Blankenship received an “Award of Appreciation” from Faculty, Staff, APs, and students; he also received a gift from the Photosynthesis Center.

June 23, 2006
New graduate degree programs - MS and PhD degrees in Biochemistry have been approved

The Arizona Board Regents voted to approve MS and PhD degrees in Biochemistry at its meeting on June 22, 2006. The new degree programs are now officially operational and existing students who wish to can transfer into them from their current degree program. The requirements for the new degrees are the same as the Chemistry degrees. Existing students who are interested in transferring should consult with their advisor. These degrees are designed for students whose research is in biochemically oriented areas and who wish to have their degree in Biochemistry instead of Chemistry.

May 11, 2006
47 students graduated from ASU in Spring 2006 with degrees in Chemistry or Biochemistry.  

The ASU commencement ceremony was held in Wells Fargo Arena on May 11, 2006 followed by a reception for all graduates and their guests in the department. The department Chair, Dr. Robert Blankenship, and Associate Chair, Dr.William Petuskey, along with other faculty were in attendance at the reception. Dr. Cheryl Shavers, a past graduate of ASU with both a B.S and Ph.D. degree in Chemistry, was invited as the guest speaker at the reception.  Dr. Shavers shared her vast experiences in business, industry and government with the newly graduated students.

April 14, 2006

President's Professor: Ian Gould
Photochemist embraces teaching

This year ASU is honoring the first class of ASU President's Professors. This new prestigious award, is designed to reward enthusiasm and innovation in teaching, the ability to inspire original and creative work by students, mastery of subject matter and scholarly contributions.

Organic photochemist Ian Gould has distinguished himself in industry and academia. While at Eastman Kodak, Gould attained an international reputation for his research into the interaction of light and matter. His studies helped uncover the basic chemical principles underlying photography and photosynthetic solar energy harvesting.
Full story from ASU Insight

April 12 , 2006

Joseph Wang has been selected for the 2006 ACS (Division of Analytical Chemistry Cole Parmer) Award in Electrochemistry

Dr.Joseph Wang, professor of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at ASU, is the 2006 Recipient of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Analytical Chemistry ColeParmer Award in Electrochemistry. The Award will be presented to Prof. Wang during the Fall 2006 ACS Meeting in San Francisco (Sept. 2006). Wang has been recognized for his life-long contributions to the fields of electroanalytical chemistry and electrochemical biosensors. He has authored of 700 papers, 8 books and 25 chapters. He was a recipient of another ACS Award (for Chemical Instrumentation) in 1999.
Full story from ASU Insight

James Cronican	Shannon Fortin

March 27 2006

University lands 4 Goldwater Scholars
For the first time in ASU history, four young undergraduate students – all but one just turning 21 years old – have scored big in the competitive world of science and math awards, winning national Goldwater Scholarships.
They already are deeply involved in research projects at the Biodesign Institute, TGen and the Center for Solid State Electronics Research, where they are studying cancer cell biology, thermonuclear fusion, enzyme catalysis and proteins.
The winners – all of them juniors at ASU – are:

• James Cronican, a biochemistry major from Omaha , Neb.
• Shannon Fortin, a biochemistry major from Phoenix .
• Lawrence Mickelson, a materials science and engineering major from Mesa.
• Paul Schmit, a physics major from Glendale

Full story from ASU Insight

March 8, 2006 ( from CLAS News)

ASU engineers, scientists in line to receive almost $9 million for Dept. of Defense research

Two teams of ASU researchers will lead major projects funded by highly sought-after grants from the U.S. Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program. Four Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering faculty members will be the lead team for a major aerospace research project. A maximum of $6 million in MURI grant funds will support work to develop more advanced sensor systems to better assess the structural health of aircraft. And, a team from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which includes faculty and graduate students, could receive as much as $2.6 million to develop inexpensive lasers based on a new family of silicon-based semiconductors. Enabling silicon to perform optical functions will impact virtually all sensing, security, communication and computing systems, according to the Department of Defense.

One of the MURI-funded projects is the outgrowth of several years of collaboration between ASU professors José Menéndez, in the physics and astronomy department and John Kouvetakis, in the chemistry and biochemistry department. full story...

Giovanna Ghirlanda, Assistant Professor of Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, receives NSF CAREER award: “Towards the Rational Control of Redox Potential and Catalytic Activity of Designed Functional Membrane Proteins”

Dr. Ghirlanda ’s research focuses on the de novo design, i.e. design from scratch, of artificial model proteins that can perform a desired function. Possible applications include the preparation of novel drugs, catalysts, biosensors, and smart materials. With the support of this five year $ 450,000 grant, Dr. Ghirlanda will focus on designing metal binding membrane proteins. A deeper understanding of the relationship between protein structure and function in the membrane environment will permit the preparation of artificial miniaturized proteins tailored to specific biological and non-biological applications. As part of this program, Dr. Ghirlanda will partner with “Science is fun” to bring classroom experiments in K-12 schools. The program relies on undergraduates participating in this service learning activity to perform demonstrations in the classrooms, thus integrating the outreach aspect with the training of future science teachers.

February 27, 2006

Hao Yan received NSF Career Award on "DNA Directed Self-Assembly of Multicomponent Nanoarchitectures"

February 21, 2006

Voltaix Inc., a leading manufacturer of chemicals and gases for the semiconductor and photovoltaic industries, has obtained worldwide exclusive rights to an advanced materials technology developed at ASU.

The innovation, which provides “designer molecules” for the production of devices such as cell phones, computers and other wireless devices, helps reduce power consumption and increase system performance. It also could play an essential role in the next generation of solar cells and photonic devices such as lasers and photodectors.

The approach deploys new, custom-built molecules that are used to create materials to build semiconductor devices. The molecules were designed and produced by John Kouvetakis, an ASU professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and his coworkers at the university. full story...

January 20, 2006

ASU research selected by Science magazine for Editor’s Choice

Research done at ASU characterizing the morphology of soot, with important implications for climate science, was featured by Science magazine (2006, 311, 305) in its Editor’s Choice highlights of recent literature. The work was published in Geophysical Research Letters (2005, 32 , L24811, doi: 10.1029/2005GL024461 ) and was a collaborative project with the group of Regents’ Professor Peter Buseck of the ASU Chemistry and Biochemistry and Geological Sciences Departments and colleagues at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and California Institute of Technology.

Click to view a pdf of the Editor’s Choice page from Science magazine.

December 23, 2005

ASU research was chosen as one of most important advances in chemistry of 2005

Two dimensional femtosecond spectroscopy of a photosynthetic antenna complex that was prepared at ASU was chosen by Chemical and Engineering News as one of the most important advances in the area of physical chemistry for 2005. (http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/ 83/8351chemreview.html.) The work was published in Nature (2005, 434, 625-628) and was a collaborative project with ASU Chemistry and Biochemistry Department Professor and Chair Robert Blankenship and Prof. Graham Fleming from the University of California at Berkeley.

ASU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry excels in publications in Science and Nature

From 2000-2005, twenty five papers have appeared in the prestigious journals Science and Nature with authors who are faculty members in the ASU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

click here to a list of these publications.

Oct 27, 2005
Dr.Joseph Wang, professor of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at ASU, won Electrochemistry Communications Award 2005

Dr. Wang's paper " Low-potential stable NADH detection at carbon-nanotube-modified glassy carbon electrodes" published in Electrochemistry Communications in 2002, Volume 4, Issue 10 pages 743-746 , is the best cited paper published in 2002 and therefore winner of the Electrochemistry Communications Award 2005. The award was initiated in acknowledgement of high quality papers and is awarded on a yearly basis.

A direct free link to this article will appear on the journal homepage, as the winner of the award in 2005, and a Publisher's Note will be published in the journal announcing the award.

42 New Graduate Students!

It is an exciting time for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry! The fall 2005 graduate student incoming class is the largest ever with 42 students! The new class is a diverse one with students from 18 states and 3 countries, including China, Nepal and India. The students come from a variety of schools:

July 25th, 2005
Graduate Student Raul Rivera has been awarded NHI Fellowship

The National Institutes of Health (NHI) has awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service fellowship to Raul Rivera.

This is a graduate fellowship administered by NIH PREDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP AWARDS FOR MINORITY STUDENTS. The award is in support of Raul's research in Dr. Peter William’s group titled "Reactive Sequencing of DNA".

More information on NIH PREDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP AWARDS FOR MINORITY STUDENTS is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/

June 22, 2005 - From ASU news
Researchers find photosynthesis deep within ocean
In the inky blackness of the ocean depths, a newly discovered bacterium is living despite its natural need for light. Researchers, including ASU biochemist Robert Blankenship, say the organism’s photosynthesis adaptations 1.5 miles under water could provide valuable clues in the resiliency of life – and the search for life forms on other planets. Read more..

June 20, 2005 from PhysOrg.com - The latest physics and technology news
Researcher Fashions DNA to Further Advances in Nanotechnology

Hao Yan, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University and an assistant professor in ASU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, recently created unique arrays of proteins tethered onto self-assembled DNA nanostructures.

While other efforts in recent years have focused on learning how to build DNA-based nanostructures, Yan's work is novel because it makes it feasible to attach any desired biomolecule onto DNA nanostructures. Such work is an important step and can serve as a future foundation for biocatalytic networks, drug discovery or ultrasensitive detection systems.

"Rationally-designed DNA nanoscale architectural motifs have for a long time been envisioned as scaffolds for directing the assembly of biomolecules such as proteins into a functional network," said Yan. "However, the methods to control such assemblies are still scarce. A robust and modular approach is needed. " full story..

May 13, 2005
Chemistry doctoral student claims national fellowship honors
Source: ASU Insight May 13,2005 . By Nora Coronado

ASU graduate student Wilton Virgo has claimed the Eastman Kodak Dr. Theophilus Sorrell Fellowship Award for his outstanding research work by the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE).The fellowship award supports outstanding African-American doctoral students in chemistry,chemical engineering and life sciences who have made significant contributions to science and engineering research at the graduate level. The fellowship will fund Virgo’s research assistantship during his final semester at ASU, and he will travel to Kodak headquarters in New York to visit the company’s research and development division this summer.

Virgo will receive his doctorate in chemistry in December. His thesis adviser is professor Timothy Steimle.“It is an honor to receive the Kodak fellowship and be recognized for my research,” Virgo says. “Professor Steimle’s lab at ASU compares favorably with the top laboratories in the country. The fellowship will be a great aid in my pursuit of the Ph.D.”

Virgo conducts research in spectroscopy, or the interaction between light and molecules.His research involves using laser spectroscopy to probe the structure and bonding in metal that contain molecules known as radicals, which serve as a catalyst for chemical reactions. Measuring their properties provides insight about chemistry at the molecular quantum level.Furthering understanding at this level is critical to developing new catalysts to meet increasing demands on a dwindling chemical feedstock and reduce the degradation of the environment, Steimle says.“The ephemeral nature of transient metal containing molecules makes the laboratory detection and characterization pursued by Wilton extremely challenging,” Steimle says. “Although there are innumerable predictions of the properties of metal containing radicals in the literature, his results provide the first determination of fundamental electrostatic and geometric properties for these species.”Virgo’s and Steimle’s collaboration has produced nine publications in the field’s top journals,as well as invitations to present at international meetings. Their work is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Basic Energy Science Division of the Department of Energy.

May 13, 2005
Phoenix ARCS Foundation rewards 14 ASU doctoral students
Source: ASU Insight May 13,2005 . By Nora Coronado

Fourteen ASU doctoral students have won the 2005 Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Scholarship. The $6,000 fellowships are awarded by the Phoenix ARCS Foundation to top graduate student researchers at Arizona’s three state universities.

The Phoenix ARCS Foundation, one of 12 chapters in the nation, supports graduate students in the fields of natural science, medicine and engineering who have exceptional academic promise and whose scholastic endeavors demonstrate potential for widespread benefits.

Justin Searcy (organic chemistry), who is working on the isolation and synthesis of new anti-cancer drugs, is one of the 14 winners. Justin was one of the 15 winners of 2004 ARCS Award.

April 29, 2005
ASU selects inaugural President’s Professors (from ASU News)

Four exceptional professors who have made outstanding contributions to undergraduate education at ASU are the first to receive the President’s Professor Awards, in recognition of the level of excellence they bring to ASU.

Inaugural awardees are Randall Cerveny, professor of geography; Alice Christie, associate professor of technology and education; Ian Gould, professor of chemistry and biochemistry; and the late Paul Rothstein, associate professor of industrial design who died unexpectedly on March 8, after he had been nominated for the award.

Gould joined ASU in 1998 after spending 12 years at the research laboratories of Eastman Kodak and has quickly established a reputation as one of the finest teachers on the faculty. He gets rave reviews from students for his ability to help them understand organic chemistry, yet he has a worldwide reputation for his research into the interaction of light and matter. He has 10 patents and more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, yet is known for the generous amounts of time he spends helping students outside class. full story..

April 28, 2005
ASU professor creates novel technique to identify DNA mutations ( from ASU Web News)
A new method to identify DNA mutations may shepherd in an era of small, portable, electronic devices for the rapid screening and identification of genes that harbor disease.

Joseph Wang, director of the Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors at the Biodesign Institute at ASU, led a team that successfully merged efforts in the fields of biosensors, electronics, and nanotechnology to fashion nanocrystals that can act as “DNA biosensors” by electronically recognizing subtle mutations in the DNA. This creates enormous potential for applications such as the diagnosis and treatment of genetic diseases, detection of infectious agents and reliable forensic analysis. full story...

April 13, 2005
Harnessing the Sun- ASU’s website featured Dr. Blankenship’s Research.
Sunlight provides a vital energy source that scientists have spent decades attempting to harness. Now a team of researchers, including ASU chemist Robert Blankenship, has developed a technique that provides a better understanding of photosynthesis and may lead to more efficient sunlight to energy conversion devices, like solar cells. full story...
April 4, 2005
Shedding Light On Photosynthesis - Chemical & Engineering News announced Dr. Blankenship's new paper “2-D method directly measures electronic coupling in a photosynthetic complex” (Brixner T, Stenger J, Vaswani HM, Cho M, Blankenship RE and Fleming GR) that appeared in Nature 2005, 434,625. full story…

March 9, 2005
Stephen Straight and Michael Hambourger have been selected to attend the 55th Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students

Stephen Straight and Michael Hambourger, Graduate Students of ASU department of chemistry and biochemistry, were selected in a in a national competition for support by the National Science Foundation Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate (NSF MPS) to attend the 55th Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students in Lindau, Germany, June 2005. They will have the opportunity to spend about a week with many Nobel Laureates and other students selected from around the world.

Since 1951, Nobel Laureates in chemistry, physics, and physiology/medicine convene annually in Lindau , Germany , to have open and informal meetings with students and young researchers. Information on this year’s meeting is available at http://www.orau.gov/lindau2005/meeting/default.htm

ASU, Mayo Clinic fund ambitious health projects

ASU and the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale are teaming up to fund five ambitious projects that will tackle several of today’s most challenging human diseases and afflictions. Each project is geared toward a specific medical condition or problem. Dr. Jiunn-Liang (Julian) Chen, Assistant Professor of Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, will work with Dr. David F. Smith of Mayo’s biochemistry department to develop a system where the enzyme can be created and manipulated outside of the cell. The technique could allow numerous experiments to be performed on the enzyme, which could then provide major insights into the aging process and diseases associated with it. full story...

February 28, 2005
Welcome aboard! Athena Kennedy has joined us as the Graduate Programs and Recruitment Coordinator

Athena Kennedy, Graduate Programs and Recruitment Coordinator, comes to ASU Chemistry and Biochemistry from Colorado State University and California State University, San Bernardino. She is originally from Wyoming where she received her Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and Communication from the University of Wyoming. She is also earning her Master’s degree in Communication from UW. Athena’s experience lies in the area of Student Services, including Student Activities, Student Life, Admissions, Student Recruitment, and Advising. Also, her background includes Public Relations, Marketing, and Interpersonal Communication. Athena is excited to be a part of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department! Her hobbies include painting and drawing, camping, biking, running, aerobics classes, traveling, playing with her two Greyhounds, and spending time with her husband.

January 18, 2005

Dr. Everett L. Shock has been elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). One of the few honors that AGU confers, Fellowship is awarded to scientists who have acknowledged eminence in one or more branches of geophysics. The number of Fellows elected each year is limited to no more 01.% of the total membership of AGU.

The presentation of the Fellows certificate will be made during the "Honors Ceremony" on 25 May 2005 in New Orleans.

November 8, 2004

Fifteen ASU doctoral students have won the 2004 Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Scholarship.

The $6,000 fellowships are awarded by the Phoenix ARCS Foundation, one of 12 chapters in the nation. The Phoenix chapter grants the awards to top graduate student researchers at Arizona ’s three state universities in support of their dynamic research projects. For the second year in a row, ASU has the most ARCS Scholars among the three universities.

Justin Searcy is one of the fellowship recipients.

Justin Searcy, organic chemistry, is working on the isolation and synthesis of new anti-cancer drugs. Full story..

Oct 29th 2004

ASU Gets Grant to Develop High Speed DNA Sequence Reader
Source: ASU News (http://www.asu.edu/asunews/research/DNAsequence_grant_102904.htm)

Sequencing of the human genome is one of the major scientific advances of our time. But with 3 billion base pairs, initial sequencing of the human genome took 11 years and cost $1 billion to complete in 2002. Today, it costs up to $50 million to sequence 3 billion base pairs.

That may soon change as the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health, awarded a $1.7 million grant to a team of researchers led by Peter Williams, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Arizona State University.

The grant, one of two awarded to ASU in this program, is part of a round of NIH funding totaling $38 million going to several research teams to spur the development of innovative techniques to dramatically reduce the cost of DNA sequencing, a move aimed at broadening the application of genome information in medical research and health care. Full story...

Oct 26th 2004

Chemistry faculty receive awards from AAAS, I-APS, and Blaise Pascal

Dr. Robert E. Blankenship, Chair and professor of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Each year the Council elects members whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.” Dr. Blankenship is honored for distinguished contributions to understanding photosynthesis, including studies on antenna processes, primary photochemistry in reaction centers, and the origin and evolution of the process.

Dr. Devens Gust, Foundation professor of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has received the 2004 I-APS Awards in Photochemistry from the Inter-American Photochemical Society.

The Inter-American Photochemical Society Award in Photochemistry was established in 1988 to recognize outstanding contributions by members of the Society to the advancement of the photochemical and photophysical sciences.

Dr. Thomas Moore, professor of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is the recipient of the International “Blaise Pascal” Research Chair 2004.

The Blaise Pascal Research Chairs were established in 1996 by the State and the Ile-de-France region. Each chair allows highly qualified, internationally acclaimed, foreign research scientists in all disciplines, accompanied if they wish by other research workers, to continue their work on a scientific project for a 12-month period that could be spread over two years in a higher learning institution or research institution in Paris/Ile-de-France.

Oct 22, 2004

ASU Featured Faculty- Students honor Francisco for mentorship, friendship

Dr. Wilson A. Francisco is the winner of "Featured Faculty - October" selected by ASU Co-Curricular Programs. (http://www.asu.edu/vpsa/partnerships/facultywinner_new.htm)

Dr. Francisco has been teaching chemistry and biochemistry at ASU since 1999. Entering his sixth year, he enjoys the quality and diversity of the students that the ASU campus offers. He believes that he gets the opportunity to teach, interact and mentor some of the best students in the nation.

The student that nominated him for Featured Faculty stated that, "Professor Francisco has contributed outside his classroom through mentorship, research in his laboratory, but importantly through his conscious efforts to provide opportunity to students who are driven to succeed."

The news was also published in ASU Insight October 22, 2004 Regular Edition (http://www.asu.edu/asunews/Insight/pdfs/102204.pdf)

June 28th 2004

Karl Booksh won the 4th Elsevier Chemometrics Award

Dr. Karl S. Booksh, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is the recipient of the 4 th Elsevier Chemometrics Award. The award is presented every four years to a chemometrician, younger than 40 years of age, who has contributed significantly to the development of chemometrics in the last 5 years. This prestigious award was established to stimulate the careers of young scientists by recognizing noteworthy accomplishments in the field. Booksh is the first scientist of the award from North America . The award will be presented at the 2004 Chemometrics in Analytical Chemistry conference in Lisbon , Portugal .

Booksh joined the ASU in 1996 as an Assistant Professor after 2 years as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of South Carolina . He received his PhD from the University of Washington in 1994. Booksh is North American Editor of the Journal of Chemometrics and on the editorial advisory board of Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems and Talanta. He has published over 60 scientific papers, mostly in the field of chemometrics and chemical sensor development.

Previous winners of the Elsevier Chemometrics Award are:

• 2000: Dr. Rasmus Bro, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University Denmark
• 1996: Dr. Terje Vegard Karstang, Norsk Hydro, Porsgrunn , Norway
• 1992: Dr Lutgarde Buydens of the University of Nijmegen , Nijmegen ,
• The Netherlands

This year’s award is split between Booksh and Dr. Anna de Juan Capdevila from the University of Barcelona, Spain.

From left: Andrew Kalador(ExxonMobil), Dr. C. Austen Angell, Charles P. Casey (President of the ACS)

Regents Professor C. Austen Angell, of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is honored at the recent National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) with the Joel Henry Hildebrand Award in the Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry of Liquids (Sponsored by ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company and ExxonMobil Chemical Company). The award is in recognition of Angell's "pioneering experimental studies of supercooled and glassy water, and the introduction of seminal ideas of liquid fragility, liquid and vitreous polyamorphism, and non-aqueous electrolytes.

The Award was presented by Andrew Kaldor- Manager, Downstream Research ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.