In the spotlight...

Michael Kenney, chemistry senior, honored as one of first Dean's medalists... read more

Chair's message

Onward and Upward …

In my humble opinion, chemistry and biochemistry is at the core of all things of scientific and engineering interest and, indeed, life and civilization. It is one of the true creative sciences where chemists routinely think up and create some new substance that had not existed before. That is certainly a major reason why ASU chemistry and biochemistry research was ranked 6th internationally by Thompson-Reuters, a science and technology research evaluator, in terms of the impact of its research publications. This creativity can readily be seen in all of the department’s students, staff and faculty -- and not just in its research activity, but also in its instructional and service missions. Here are but a few examples.

Our students continue to distinguish themselves with academic and performance excellence. Graduating senior, Michael Kenney, became the department’s inaugural recipient of the Dean’s Medal and was later recognized by the ASU Alumni Association with its Outstanding Graduate Award. Kenney is planning to pursue a Ph.D. at Stanford University. Department graduates (from prior years) Kimberly Kurkurba, John Blanchard and Conor Cox, and graduating seniors Erik Stout, John Ingraham and Michael Kenney each received the highly prestigious and coveted NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. Each of these students will be pursuing an advanced degree with some of the top scientists of our age. There are many more stories presented in this newsletter, each of them individually interesting for their creative content.

Our faculty continue to demonstrate the qualities that brought the department to its present extraordinary world status amongst chemistry and biochemistry departments. Professor Petra Fromme’s breakthrough studies on protein structure determination were recognized with a university Faculty Achievement Award for Defining Edge Research and Creative Work for the natural sciences. Her pioneering work (with physics professor John Spence) on the development of femtosecond nanocrystallography promises to revolutionize the elucidation of complex system structures. Professor Alexandra Ros extended a fine departmental tradition of winning NSF CAREER awards - one of the National Science Foundation’s premier funding competitions, and one that is directed toward young faculty members just starting their professional careers. She won her award by proposing novel dielectrophoretic methods for separating and purifying large biomolecules like DNA. Professor Hao Yan was named the first Milton Glick Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry for his creative work in both nanoscience research and teaching and we note his capture of the cover page of the April 2011 Science issue. And to further emphasize excellence in teaching, Professor Ian Gould was named “Professor of the Year” by the ASU Parents Association. These are but a few stories that are described in our newsletter.

The department is doing very well, and we can all be proud of our accomplishments. It is at this point, though, that I announce that I will be stepping down as chairman this summer to take on another administrative position at the university. It has been an honor and privilege for me to represent this group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. The last six years have been exciting indeed as the remarkable advances in all of the department’s missions, i.e., instruction, training and research, have unfolded. I look forward to continuing as professor, as I take on new duties.

With best regards,

Bill Petuskey