2013

• UO Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Geri Richmond receives Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award.
• Oregon Scientists Offer New Insights on Controlling Nanoparticle Stability  In a project — detailed in the Nov. 27 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry C — doctoral student Beverly L. Smith and James E. Hutchison, who holds the Lokey-Harrington Chair in Chemistry at the UO, analyzed how nanoparticle size and molecules on their surfaces, called ligands, influence structural integrity under rising temperatures.
• Dr. Tom Stevens elected as AAAS Fellow  Tom H. Stevens, Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was selected for his contributions in cell biology, particularly for insights into the molecular mechanisms governing protein trafficking in the eukaryotic secretory pathway.
• Research Professor Receives Grand Challenges Explorations Grant for Global Health and Development Research  Richard Chartoff, research professor in the UO Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Director of the Polymer Characterization and Thermal Analysis Laboratory at the Center for Advanced Materials Characterization in Oregon (CAMCOR), will pursue an innovative global health and development research project.
• Brad Nolen’s group identifies protein that builds cell’s skeleton  Reporting in the journal Current Biology, Assistant Professor Brad Nolen’s research group has discovered the protein that starts the formation of branched actin filaments, key structures that determine cell shape and function. The protein, Dip1, and other WISH/DIP/SPIN90 proteins, form seed filaments that are then handed off to other known filament regulators.
• UO Dept of Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty Marina Guenza Organizes Symposium for Fall 2013 ACS National Meeting and Exposition  Professor Marina Guenza served as co-organizer, with Dr. Barbara Capone of the University of Vienna, for the Course-Graining and Multiscale Modeling Symposium sponsored by the Physical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society at the 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, which took place September 8-12 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event, showcased the state of the art research in the field, with more than fifty talks by scientists from top Universities around the world.
• UO Chemistry Department Professor Richmond, Appointed Presidential Chair  Dr. Geraldine “Geri” Richmond, who was named last year to the 25-member National Science Board, has been appointed to serve as the UO’s second-ever presidential chair.
• Oregon team charts new understanding of actin filament growth in cells. Professor Brad Nolen’s research group has published two papers describing how the Arp2/3 complex catalyzes the formation of new actin filaments in cells. Reporting in the journals Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and Chemistry & Biology, this work significantly advances our understanding of the fundamental “motor” that drives cellular processes such as movement.
• Melissa Hale Awarded 2013 Haugland Fellowship. First year graduate student Melissa Hale has been selected as the recipient of the Department’s Rosaria Haugland Graduate Research Fellowship in Chemistry.  Melissa was chosen based on her promise for the  Ph.D. program and on her excellent work in graduate courses, in laboratory rotations, and in teaching. This Fellowship, established by Dr. Rosaria Haugland in 2004, is awarded every three years by the UO Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to an entering or current first year graduate student in Chemistry.  It covers the recipient’s stipend, tuition, and miscellaneous fees for a three-year period.  Learn more about the fellowship
• Oregon Chemists Moving Forward with Tool to Detect Hydrogen Sulfide. Reporting in the Journal of Organic Chemistry, researchers in the UO lab of Michael D. Pluth, Professor of Chemistry, describe the development of a colorimetric probe that relies on nucleophilic aromatic substitution to react selectively with H2S to produce a characteristic purple product, allowing for precise H2S measurement.
• Thin Films of Nickel and Iron Oxides Yield Efficient Solar Water-Splitting Catalyst Researchers in the Solar Materials and Electrochemistry Laboratory of Shannon Boettcher, professor of chemistry, studied the catalyst material and also developed a computer model for applying catalyst thin films in solar water-splitting devices as a tool to predict the effectiveness of a wide range of catalyst materials for solar-hydrogen production. The project has resulted in two recent papers.
• ConfChem Conference on Educating the Next Generation. Read more about the UO’s Chemistry of Sustainability Course in this recent ACS publication. This work was a collaboration between Julie Haack, Jim Hutchison, Andy Berglund, Mark Lonergan, David Tyler and Darren Johnson.
• Bioinformatics Master’s Opens Doors in DNA Sequencing. “The new master’s program provides cross-disciplinary training to prepare graduates for today’s cutting-edge jobs in biotechnology, medical and pharmaceutical industries,” said Dr. Andy Berglund, an associate professor in the Institute of Molecular Biology.
• New Courses by UO Professors in Program to Help Schools. A special University of Oregon program will offer a pair of courses for high school students during winter term, augmenting the offerings of local school districts by holding classes on furlough days and other non-instructional days. UO Chemistry Professors Dr. Marina Guenza and Dr. Andrew Marcus will be teaching Advanced Topics in Chemistry 1.

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2012

• Professor David Tyler would like to dispel some myths about “green” consumerism. David Tyler, chemistry professor, plastics expert, and public speaker helps us make sustainable choices based on facts rather than trends or clever marketing.
•  Professor Richmond Appointed to National Science Board Geri Richmond, the Richard M. and Patricia H. Noyes Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oregon, has been appointed to the National Science Board, according to a White House announcement.
• UO Opens the New Lewis Integrative Science Building. Kimberly Andrews Espy, vice president for research, innovation and graduate education, announced, “And now I declare the Robert and Beverly Lewis Integrative Science Building officially open,” as Beverly Lewis, one of the major donors behind the $65 million science building, pulled a lever and released green and yellow balloons on the audience.
• Dr. von Hippel is the recipient of the 2013 Biophysical Society Founders Award University of Oregon’s Professor of Biophysical Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Dr. Peter von Hippel, will be honored with the Founders Award for establishing the principles which underlie the quantitative study of all protein-nucleic acid interactions. He will be honored at the 2013 Biophysical Society Founders Awards Symposium on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Computer Simulations for Multiscale Systems can be Faster, Better, More Reliable. University of Oregon scientists have found a way to correctly reproduce not only the structure but also important thermodynamic quantities such as pressure and compressibility of a large, multiscale system at variable levels of molecular coarse-graining.
• Bringing The Chemistry Laboratory to The Winery. Professor Dr. Tom Stevens and University biology researcher Micah Bodner have created their own wine using skills they learned as scientists.
• Governor’s Green Chemistry Initiative Draws Praise from UO Leadership. “Gov. Kitzhaber’s leadership in advancing green chemistry and promoting its application by the state’s agencies is an important step for Oregon,” said Dr. James E. Hutchison, UO Chemistry Professor and green chemistry pioneer.
• UO Lands I-Corps Grant to Explore Nitrate Sensors for Agricultural Use. A research team led by University of Oregon chemistry professors Darren Johnson and Michael Haley among 25 selected for first-quarter 2012 awards from the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program.
• New measuring techniques can improve efficiency, safety of nanoparticles. Using high-precision microscopy and X-ray scattering techniques, University of Oregon researchers have gained eye-opening insights into the process of applying green chemistry to nanotechnology that results in high yields, improves efficiency and dramatically reduces waste and potential negative exposure to human health or the environment.

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2011

• UO Chemistry Professor Michael Haley Elected as AAAS Fellow. Michael Haley, who is also the Chemistry Department Head, is among 539 newly elected 2011 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

• UO theoretical chemist Marina Guenza named a 2011 APS Fellow. Marina Guenza, whose theoretical explorations focus on the structure and dynamics of complex fluids, is among 238 scientists selected as 2011 Fellows by the American Physical Society.

• An anti-cancer drug used extensively in chemotherapy binds pervasively to RNA — up to 20-fold more than it does to DNA, a surprise finding that suggests new targeting approaches might be useful, according to research in the Victoria DeRose lab.
• University of Oregon chemists have developed a boron-nitrogen-based liquid-phase storage material for hydrogen that works safely at room temperature and is both air- and moisture-stable — an accomplishment that offers a possible route through current storage and transportation obstacles.
• With the help of a high-powered transmission electron microscope, research in the Jim Hutchison lab has captured never-before-seen views of miniscule metal nanoparticles naturally being created by silver articles such as wire, jewelry and eating utensils in contact with other surfaces.
• University of Oregon Chemistry faculty member Dr. Geri Richmond was co-organizer of a recent three-day workshop in Beijing that made history as the first such event to bring together exclusively women chemists from the U.S. and China to share and discuss their work.
• University of Oregon Chemistry faculty member Dr. Marina Guenza and Doctoral student, Ivan Lyubimov, devised a mathematically rich analytic approach to account for often-missing thermodynamic and molecular parameters in molecular dynamic simulations.
• Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry is going to Phase 2 – A collaborative Oregon State University-University of Oregon Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry, born under a National Science Foundation grant in 2008, is moving into a second phase under a new five-year, $20 million NSF grant.
• Coupling laser-driven, two-dimensional fluorescence imaging and high-performance computer modeling, a six-member team, led by University of Oregon chemist Dr. Andrew H. Marcus and Harvard University chemist Dr. Alan Aspuru-Guzik, solved the conformation of self-assembled porphyrin molecules in a biological membrane.
• Brad Nolen is among 22 U.S. scientists selected for their research potential in the biomedical sciences; he is the second member of the UO’s Institute of Molecular Biology to win the four-year unrestricted Pew Scholar support.
• Dr. Shannon Boettcher, professor of chemistry and member of the University of Oregon Materials Science Institute, is among the 18 early career scientists selected worldwide to the 2011 class of DuPont Young Professors.
• Dr. Richmond is among 72 U.S. scientists elected into membership of the National Academy of Sciences.
• A UO team of Darren Johnson and Richard Taylor has received a $250,000 “Scialog Fellows” grant from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA).

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2010

• In a collaboration between Dr. Ken Prehoda and researchers in the UO Biology Department, a mechanism for stem cell divisions has been uncovered. Reported in the journal Nature, this work explains how stem cell daughter cell size is controlled.
• Dr. Richmond received the Joel Henry Hildebrand Award in the Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry of Liquids sponsored by ExxonMobil Research & Engineering, Co. This award is intended to recognize distinguished contributions to the understanding of the chemistry and physics of liquids.
• Dr. Guenza has accepted a three-year term on the 39-member editorial advisory board of the journal Macromolecules, a publication of the American Chemical Society. The twice-monthly journal publishes original research on all fundamental aspects of macromolecular science including synthesis, polymerization mechanisms and kinetics, chemical modification, solution/melt/solid-state characteristics, and surface properties of organic, inorganic and naturally occurring polymers.
• A primer at the 5th annual Greener Nano Conference. University of Oregon chemistry professor and founding director of Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative (SNNI), Jim Hutchison and postdoctoral research associate in chemistry Lallie McKenzie make pitches for green chemistry in nanotechnology.
• Chemistry Department Professor Visits White House. Geri Richmond, Professor of Physical Chemistry, attended the Dec. 10 meeting of the White House Council on Women and Girls to discuss ways to attract more females into science, math and engineering. Her trip was covered in an Oregonian education blog called Chalk It Up.

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2009

• Chemistry Professor David Tyler receives Research Innovation Award for professional contributions to the intellectual vitality of the University of Oregon and its College of Arts and Sciences.
• Biochemist Ken Prehoda’s group has discovered how an enzyme directs stem cell polarization during division.
• Thinking of turning your chemistry green? Consult GEMs. A database designed to build community and reduce barriers when adopting green chemistry has doubled in size in the last two years.

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2008

• Oregon theory may help design tomorrow’s sustainable polymer. Theoretical Physical Chemist, Marina Guenza, provides focus to years of unexplained behavior of molecules moving in plastics.
• Physical Chemistry Professor Geri Richmond Receives 2008 Bomem-Michelson Award and has been selected as a 2008 Fellow of both the Association for the Advancement of Women in Science and the Society of Applied Spectroscopy.
• New nanocluster to boost thin films for semiconductors.