The Department of Chemistry would like to invite all graduate students to apply to the Mandel Fellowship, an award made possible by a gift established in honor of Dr. Frederick Mandel ’78. In line with his intention, all graduate students demonstrating need are eligible to apply. Those interested in being considered should submit as single PDF file containing:
– Application form
– 2-page CV in NSF format (include bio, grad GPA, publications, presentations, etc)
– 1-page statement describing research experience at Clemson and career goals
– 1-page letter of reference from advisor
Please send applications to chemistry@clemson.edu by Nov 1, 2017. Should you have any questions, please contact Heather Shelton . Results are expected to be announced by December 2017.
CLEMSON – Staff members from the College of Science’s five departments gathered on May 24 at Clemson Outdoor Lab’s Kresge Hall for the college’s first annual Staff Appreciation Luncheon.
Dean Mark Leising welcomed staff from the departments of biological sciences, chemistry, genetics and biochemistry, mathematical sciences, and physics and astronomy. He distributed seven awards to recognize those who go above and beyond to serve the needs of the College of Science, which is still in its inaugural year.
Charles Allen, a systems programmer and developer for the department of mathematical sciences, and Sharon Smith, administrative coordinator for the department of chemistry, were awarded 20-year service awards. Both were acknowledged not only for their years of service to the university but for their ability to maintain high standards within their departments despite numerous obstacles.
Karl Dieter, professor and chair of the department of chemistry, said, “Sharon’s careful, thoughtful and imaginative leadership of the chemistry department staff has created a good overall morale and work ethic that translates into outstanding support for the faculty they serve.” Dieter went on to highlight Smith’s confidence in performing administrative duties for the department as being the key for its smooth operation.
Rita McConnell and April Haynes were presented with 30-year service awards. McConnell serves the department of biological sciences as an accountant and fiscal analyst, while Haynes is an office manager for the department of mathematical sciences.
Physics and astronomy administrative assistant Debra Helvie received the prestigious Hattie B. Wagener Award, whose namesake was an administrative support staff member at Clemson University for many years. This award was created in her name to acknowledge one enthusiastic, devoted employee every year.
“I’m thankful to everyone who nominated me,” said Helvie, an administrative assistant for the department of physics and astronomy. “I know there were many other deserving staff. I’m still in shock, overwhelmed and humbled.” Helvie has worked at Clemson for almost 30 years, answering phone calls, training staff members, reserving exam rooms for students, and scheduling visits to the Clemson Planetarium, among many other duties.
Terry Tritt, chair of the department of physics and astronomy, said, “Debbie is the first person that one meets when they enter the department office. For many, this is their first impression of our department. There is no one I would rather have in that position than Debbie. She is always pleasant and always has a smile on her face … Debbie is the positive beacon in our department that we can all count on.”
Rhonda Reigers Powell, who serves as the assistant manager of the Clemson Light Imaging Facility, snagged this year’s award for College of Science Exceptional Team Member. Powell performs many duties for the Light Imaging Facility, such as directing budgets, calibrating imaging systems, and mentoring undergraduate student interns. Powell is a graduate of Clemson University, having earned her Bachelor of Science in biological sciences in 2001, followed by a Master of Science in microbiology in 2009. She also assists as a staff senator for the College of Science.
“I’m so excited to be recognized as an exceptional team member for the College of Science,” Powell said. “I love my job! I get to work with students, faculty and staff members, and it is rewarding to see that my expertise in microscopy can really have an impact on the success of so many research projects taking place on campus.”
The Outstanding Staff Member Award was presented to David Reynolds, accountant for the departments of mathematical sciences and physics and astronomy. Reynolds was recognized because of his expertise for balancing and organizing budgets, which was instrumental during Clemson’s college reorganization that established the College of Science. Department chairs Chris Cox and Tritt emphasized Reynolds’ always-cheerful personality and his ability to translate complex budget data into terms that a layperson can understand.
Among the awards, Dean Leising also praised the Shared Service Personnel of the college, those staff members who doubled their workload to serve two colleges at one time during the college reorganization. These staff members include Joy Boatwright and Jennifer Ray, who head the human resources department of the college; and Teela Roche, who is the IT consultant for the dean’s office. Also working in the dean’s office is Michelle Duncan, who was acknowledged for her research support efforts in managing the many grants within the College of Science; and Kathy Russ, administrative coordinator for the dean. Public information director Jim Melvin was commended for his work in communications.
Congratulations to Rhett Smith (PI) and Andy Tennyson (Co-PI) for their new NSF award entitled “SusChEM: Sustainable Chemistry from Combined Inorganic and Organic Waste Precursors”. The award is for $315k over three years, with a start date of July 1.
CLEMSON – The College of Science’s department of chemistry held its 2017 Student Honors and Awards ceremony on April 10 in Daniel Hall.
“Our awardees can remember the hours they spent in the lab and all the experiments they’ve had to do over and over again. They can remember struggling with material in their textbooks and feeling like they might never fully grasp it,” said Karl Dieter, chair of the department of chemistry and professor of organic chemistry at Clemson University. “But today is the day to honor them and reinforce in their minds that all their efforts were worth it and will pay many dividends in the future. So, let’s give the awardees a round of applause for their achievements and hard work.”
Rebecca Pontius, winner of the Mark Bernard Hardin Prize in Chemisty, said that the award was special to her because it was named after Clemson University’s first-ever chemistry professor.
“My dream is to become a research professor at a university as wonderful as Clemson,” Pontius said. “I’m very honored to have my name associated with Professor Hardin’s. This fall, I will be heading to graduate school to pursue my doctorate in chemistry.”
Andrew Poveromo, winner of the Outstanding Chemistry Senior Award (Western Carolina ACS Award), said that rolling up his sleeves and putting in a lot of time and effort is what has led to most of his achievements.
“I know that while my grades are good, I’m not necessarily the top student and I’ve had to work hard to earn those grades,” Poveromo said. “I was also very active outside the classroom, such as giving tours of the chemistry department to perspective students. Because of this, I feel like I’ll be leaving a great impact on the chemistry program. After graduation, I’ll be attending grad school in the fall at Penn State to pursue my Masters in Food Science.”
For a list of all the award winners, along with a musical slideshow, click HERE:
The highly sophisticated work of College of Science students from the chemistry department was on display at the recent Creative Inquiry Poster Forum held in the Watt Family Innovation Center.
Clemson has offered undergraduate degrees in chemistry almost from the founding of the institution, and it was among the first departments at Clemson to offer a doctorate. Chemistry is deeply ingrained in the traditions of Clemson. Only 2.4 percent of members of the American Chemical Society describe themselves as unemployed but actively seeking employment. Chemists work in a wide variety of fields including the traditional chemical industries of manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and analytical research and services, and also in related fields including engineering, health care, education, law, and national security.
Clemson University’s Dr. Jeff Anker (right) received the Dr. Wallace R. Roy Distinguished Professorship award on March 31 at the Greenville Health System’s Community Room at Greenville Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Thomas Pace (left), a physician in the GHS orthopedic surgery department, was the presenter.
Anker is an associate professor in the department of chemistry in C.U.’s College of Science. As Roy professor, Anker will seek out broader collaborations to advance his research using X-rays for biomechanical measurements and chemical sensing, especially to monitor fracture healing and study implanted medical device-associated infection.
Anker is working with Pace on several National Institutes of Health grants, including developing a noninvasive technique to monitor strain on hip screws, as well as a method of using X-ray technology to noninvasively detect orthopedic device infection.
In the midst of Winter, one looks forward to Spring and the promise of new beginnings. I hope the Holiday season has brought you renewal and encouraged plans for the New Year. The Chemistry Department is part of a new ecosystem and is looking forward to fresh plantings in the coming year.
After 32-years as a faculty member in the Chemistry Department and the last several as Chair, I plan to retire this coming summer. It has been an exciting and challenging journey and I am thankful for the opportunities over the years to teach, engage in research, and serve various communities. I am especially grateful for the generosity of my colleagues in allowing me to play the resident philosopher. Although learning the nuts and bolts of institutional structure and operation and the fluid dynamics of human interaction has been a mixed blessing, the challenges have been magnified this year as the new College of Science begins to build a foundation in the midst of many uncertainties. Concurrent with a search for a Dean of the College, a committee has been formed to search for a new Department Chair.
Chemistry Faculty are serving in various capacities in the College. Brian Dominy has assumed the position of Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Darryl DesMarteau has completed his affiliation with the Tobey-Beaudrot Chaired Professorship and we are looking to fill the position with an internal candidate. Jeff Anker, Dev Arya, Joe Kolis and Ken Marcus have had a very successful year in grant funding and the faculty are enthusiastically engaged in research and teaching. Bill Pennington, Carlos Garcia and Tania Houjeiry won a NSF REU award and the inaugural class of undergraduate summer research participants will work with faculty this summer. Last year’s faculty search has successfully concluded with the hiring of Sourav Saha, an organic chemist with a research program in materials chemistry. Laura Lanni, William McWhorter and MyCia Cox joined the department as Lecturers.
Quite a number of Graduate Students have completed their degrees since our last Newsletter. Students graduating with a Ph.D. include Vibhor Agrawal (Dominy) and Carlos Angele-Martinez (Brumaghim) in May, Tingting Han (Dominy), Daniel Hercules (Thrasher), Zhe Jia (Dominy), Liuwei Jiang (Marcus), Melissa Rogalski (Anker), Jamie Shetzline (Creager) and Daniel Willett (Chumanov) in August and McKenzie Campbell (Whitehead), Yi Jin (Chumanov), Yinling Liu (Dominy), and Alfredo Picado-Valenzuela (Dieter) in December. Dani Dong (Pennington/Wetzler), Paul Haupt-Renaud (Marcus) and Sara Jones (Marcus) graduated with the M.S. degree.
We are excited to be part of the New College of Science and look forward to the opportunities for synergistic engagement with our sister departments in the college. I hope that you find our electronic Newsletter to be an effective and useful mechanism for keeping you abreast of the developments in the department. As always, we appreciate your support and hope that you will keep in touch with us.
Three new lecturers were added to the chemistry department faculty in August 2016, to teach general chemistry and organic chemistry. They each bring unique skills and perspectives to our department that we highly value. Here is some more information about them. Welcome!
Dr. Laura Lanni, a new chemistry lecturer, completed her doctorate at the University of South Carolina in 2010. She has taught general and organic chemistry at Newberry College and USC, and researched boronate ester-linked polymers of intrinsic microporosity at Newberry College. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a high school advanced placement chemistry teacher for 11 years. With a B.S. in engineering chemistry from Oakland University, her first professional position was as a development chemist in automotive coatings at BASF. Her two daughters both graduated from Clemson, and the whole Lanni family, especially her husband, are crazy Clemson football fans. Besides her love for chemistry, Dr. Lanni writes fiction—her debut novel, OR NOT TO BE, was published in 2014.
Will McWhorter’s initial interest in chemistry was sparked by his Spartanburg High School chemistry teacher’s, Mrs. Nancy Bane and Mr. Troy Bridges. As an undergraduate at Clemson University, he became interested in organic chemistry as he studied and carried out undergraduate research under the direction of Prof. John Huffman (Clemson University, emeritus) graduating with a B.S. in 1978. At Harvard University, he studied natural products synthesis under the guidance of Prof. Yoshito Kishi, participating in the synthesis of palytoxin. He also studied organic syntheses in the classroom under Prof. Elias J. Corey. After obtaining his Ph.D. in 1984, Dr. McWhorter carried out postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zuerich) under Prof. Albert Eschenmoser and at the Suntory Institute for Bioorganic Research in Osaka under Prof. Koji Nakanish. He worked as a medicinal chemist at the Upjohn Company and its successors in Japan and Kalamazoo, MI and later worked as a research and development chemist at Milliken and Company in Spartanburg, SC. Dr. McWhorter is teaching general chemistry (CH1010 and CH1020). He is a masters swimmer and enjoys serving as a USA and YMCA swimming official at meets.
Dr. MyCia Cox is a Nanoscale Scientist who obtained her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina. Her research background is in Design and Characterization techniques of Optical Metamaterials and Nanoscale Materials. She enjoys spending time with her family, Astronomy, and constructing new teaching paradigms for her classes and beyond.
Clemson chemistry has two principal student groups, the undergraduate student affiliate chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Chemistry Graduate Student Organization (CGSO). Both groups have been active. The CGSO group has hosted many science outreach activities including a lab coat and goggle demonstration at Daniel High School, they have participated in local charity work with the Anderson County Habitat for Humanity project, and they have hosted a variety of social events including a welcome picnic for new graduate students, tailgate parties for Clemson football, and many other things. More information on the CGSO Group may be found on their Facebook page, at this link. https://www.facebook.com/Clemson-Chemistry-Graduate-Student-Organization-236399156377981
The undergraduate ACS affiliates group has also been active, with outreach activities at local schools and several members attending and presenting their research at the Southeast Regional American Chemical Society meeting in Columbia in October 2016. Their chapter advisor Dr. Elliot Ennis is working with them on more activities for spring 2017.
Following a tradition started in 2016, The Department of Chemistry is organizing the 2nd Annual Chemistry Department Research Symopsium, to be held from 9:00 AM to noon on Saturday March 4 2017, in the Watt Family Innovation Center on the Clemson University campus. The Symposium will once again feature posters presented by graduate students from each research group in the department. The purpose of this event is to share the research and accomplishments of the last year with each other and the larger Clemson community that we are a part of. Perspective graduate students are also invited to the event as a means for them to learn about the research in the department and to interact with our graduate students. Alumni, representatives from local industry and students from local public schools are also encouraged to come. We really hope to see you there!
Coffee and refreshments will also be served at the event.
The Department of Chemistry would like to invite all graduate students to apply to the Mandel Fellowship, an award made possible by a gift established in honor of Dr. Frederick Mandel ’78. In line with his intention, all graduate students demonstrating need are eligible to apply. Those interested in being considered should submit as single PDF file containing:
