Uo Chemistry News
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UO CHEMISTRY NEWS UNIVERSITY OF OREGON • COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES • DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY • 1997 FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD The Department of Chemistry to thank you for your continuing had another fine year last year, and generous response to the fund. One we’re off to a great start this year. of the exciting ways the fund is be- Since I last wrote, our faculty re- ing used is to facilitate the introduc- ceived several prestigious awards, tion of new “green” chemistry we had large enrollment increases in courses. For example, we are devel- our undergraduate courses, and we oping a new organic lab course that brought in a record number of grant emphasizes an environmentally con- dollars for research. Further details scious approach to organic chemis- are found inside these pages. try. Likewise, plans are underway to The faculty is committed to main- develop an “environmental” track of taining excellence in the department. general chemistry. The idea behind That is why we created the Chemis- the new course is to teach general try Achievement Endowment Fund chemistry using lectures and prob- as an additional source of revenue lem sets that have an environmental for the department. As described in emphasis. It takes money to develop last year’s newsletter, the fund is new courses and refurbish old ones used for the support and enhance- and the endowment fund is helping ment of teaching and research. I to make it possible. would like to take this opportunity continued on page 2 NMR Facility Received Million Dollar Upgrade The magnetic resonance facilities and Instrumentation Services at the University of Oregon have (CRIS), located in the heart of the been updated with the addition of organic-inorganic laboratories on the two state-of-the-art Varian NMR third floor of Klamath Hall, has ac- spectrometers that cost a total of one quired a new Varian INOVA-300 million dollars. Funding was pro- NMR spectrometer for open-access vided by grants from the National analytical and research use. This Science Foundation, the National NMR replaces the GE QE-300 that Myungok Yoon works in the third-floor Institutes of Health, and the Markey was installed in 1984. The new sys- instrumentation facility with Varian Foundation. Chemistry Research tem, equipped with two broadband- INOVA-300 NMR spectrometer. continued on page 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 2 Richard M. Noyes Acheivement Award Winners Geri Richmond goes Physical Chemistry Harry Noller and PAGE 7 to the White House Achievement Award Donald McQuarrie Septemberfest ’97 continued from the top of page 1 This four-channel system is ca- Finally, let me remind you that pable of the most advanced triple- ChemStores we like to hear from you. One of the resonance experiments required for most widely read parts of the news- elucidating the secondary and ter- letter is the “News From All Over” tiary structure of proteins by NMR. Is Now section, which has news about you. This instrumentation is facilitating a Let us know what you are doing, number of collaborations between even if it is just your current posi- groups in the Department of Chem- ScienceStores tion, and we will include the infor- istry and the Institute of Molecular Biology. Mike Strain is in charge of An extensive review by depart- mation in our next edition of the ments who used ChemStores has newsletter. both the CRIS NMR and molecular biology NMR facility. resulted in a reorganization and a name change to ScienceStores. Stu- dents and faculty members who ob- tain supplies will still be greeted with a friendly smile from Clarisse Heinhorst, ScienceStores operator. Clarisse, who has been with the Uni- continued from the bottom of page 1 versity of Oregon since 1978, says there has been little change in day- RF channels, can be adapted for use to-day operations other than the in virtually any two-nucleus experi- markup has been reduced and stan- ment. At the same time, it provides dardized. Items in ScienceStores are convenient walk-up service for now sold for a flat 10 percent mark- quick, routine 1-D spectra. up and Clarisse is experimenting The other instrument is a new with stocking some new items in Varian INOVA-600 NMR spectrom- order to meet the needs of faculty eter acquired for the study of pro- and students. tein molecular structure and The administrative structure has function, and the primary user is the also changed. Formerly a part of the Dahlquist laboratory, Department of Department of Chemistry, Chemistry and Institute of Molecu- ScienceStores is now a distinct unit. lar Biology. It is installed in a new Bruce Wilson, laboratory manager facility on the ground floor of Kla- for the Institute of Molecular Biol- math Hall next to ScienceStores in ogy, has taken on the additional the former Department of Biology Mike Strain in the new facility with duty of stores manager. This change “fly lab”. Varian INOVA-600 NMR spectrometer. reflects the broader customer base of the stockroom and the changing needs of the departments. Geri Richmond Goes to the White House Geraldine L. Richmond was presented a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring at the White House on Thursday, September 11, 1997. She was one of nine individuals and ten organi- zations honored with this award. The award, which carries a $10,000 grant, is designed to encourage participation in the field by minorities and members of other underrepresented groups. Geri says she is honored to have been given this award, particularly since so many former students played a central role in the nomination process. Pamela Fischer, an engineer at Intel Corp. in Hillsboro, Oregon, and a former Ph.D. student with Richmond, says, “She’s a fantastic role model of someone who can do it all—a successful woman scien- tist, a professor, and a mother. She goes out and actively recruits women into science even in the face of people who say they can’t do it.” Richmond intends to use the award for local programs designed to get girls in K–12 interested in mathematics and science and to launch a nationwide mentoring program for women interested in pursuing careers in chemistry in higher education. Congratulations and keep up the good work, Geri! 2 The Richard M. Noyes Physical Chemistry Achievement Award The first recipient of the Richard who study and build on this work. M. Noyes Physical Chemistry Professor Noyes received a Achievement Award was Mathew Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955, a Miller, an undergraduate researcher Fulbright Fellowship in 1964, Na- in the Diane Hawley lab. Miller tional Science Foundation Senior graduated summa cum laude, re- Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1965, ceived the Biochemistry Achieve- and an Alexander von Humboldt ment Award, and is Phi Beta Kappa. Senior American Scientist Award in The award, previously the Physi- 1978–79. His most notable honors cal Chemistry Achievement Award, are his election into the National was renamed in honor of Professor Academy of Sciences in 1977 and Richard “Dick” Noyes who came to election to the American Academy the university in 1959. Noyes, who of Arts and Sciences in 1989. served as department head for four During his career, Professor terms, was a major player in the Noyes has published 190 scientific development of the Department of articles in professional scientific Chemistry until his retirement in journals and he was associate editor 1984. He is an internationally of the Journal of Physical Chemistry in acclaimed chemist, known most 1980–82. On April 6, 1989, marking widely for his work in chemical ki- the occasion of his seventieth birth- Richard M. Noyes netics and the Oregonator model of day, Professor Noyes was honored oscillating chemical reactions. His with a special Festschrift edition of individual is a rare event—a signifi- work on oscillating chemical reac- the Journal of Physical Chemistry, cant tribute by the scientific commu- tions brought worldwide recogni- which included articles by many nity to his contributions, service, tion to Eugene and the University of former students and colleagues. and spirit in advancing chemistry Oregon from scientists in chemistry, Dedication of a full issue of a major teaching and research in Oregon, in physics, biology, and mathematics international research journal to one the nation, and around the world. Chemistry Endowment Fund Three years ago the Department have just passed the $50,000 mark in been very gratifying. We express of Chemistry embarked on a fund- gifts received that qualify for the our deep appreciation to all of you raising challenge to raise $60,000 in state match. We hope to meet our who have contributed. The names five years, which would be matched $60,000 goal of matched gifts in the of those who contributed during with funds from the State Board of fourth year of our campaign. The the past academic year, 1996–97 Higher Education. At present we contributions made by you have are listed below. CONTRIBUTORS 1996–97 Abbott Labs Manuel Debono Meagan Hessel Mohammad David Paxton (S. and M. Magic) Christopher de Groot Hewlett Packard Malekzadeh Robert Pinschmidt Air Products Dow Chemical Co. (C. Houk) Lisa Markov Lucius Rivers (R. Pinschmidt) (G. V. Bettoney) Marion Hill Kent Marshall James Roberts Andrew D. Barofsky David Draper James Hofrichter Mitchel Martin Rohm & Haas George V. Bettoney Tom Dyke Meyer Horowitz Mark McClure (J. M. Owens) Curtis E. Borchers Eddie Bauer Carol Houk Mark Meier Douglas Runckel Boise Cascade (S. Hadley) Tricia Igawa Yoon Merrill Maurice Schwarz (R. M. Vaughn) Patrick Ellison Paul W. Jagodzinski David Messenger Claibourne Smith Michael Bozarth Thomas R. Farnham David E. Jensen Chup Yew Mok Linda Smith John F.