Department of Chemistry news F A l l / w I n T e r 2 0 1 0 U n I v e r sit y o F I l l I n o is at U r b A n A - C h A m p ai g n Arctic sunset captured by Chemistry alumnus Mark Patsavas. Read more on page 6. A Tradition of Innovative Thinking Since 1868 Inside this Issue Letter from the Department A Moment With Head Martin gruebele PAge 2 PAge 14 U.S. News & World Report Faculty and Alumni elected Ranks Chemistry #6 Fellows of ACS PAge 3 PAge 16 2009-2010 Faculty Awards Alumni Notes PAge 3 PAge 18 Commencement 2010 Chemistry at Illinois’ PAge 4 Oldest Alumnus: Dispatches From Charles “Hap” Fisher the Arctic Dispatches From the Arctic PAge 18 PAge 6 PAge 6 Buhrke’s Research in X-ray Ralph Cicerone Delivers Florescence garners Inaugural Charles David Birks Award Keeling Lecture PAge 19 PAge 8 Remembering Alumni Profile: Richard Heckert Charles David Keeling PAge 20 PAge 9 Remembering gieseking Scholarship Stanley Smith Provides Valuable Research PAge 21 experience PAge 11 In Memoriam PAge 22 McCall Research group Brings Astrochemistry A Moment With to Illinois Martin gruebele PAge 12 PAge 14 New Faces: Professor So Hirata PAge 13 w e l C o m e D e pA r T m e n T n e w S 2009-2010 Faculty Awards letter from the U.S. News & World Report Martin D. Burke will receive a 2011 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Ranks Chemistry #6 Award from the ACS. The award, which consists of $5,000, a cer- Department head tificate, and a $40,000 unrestricted research grant, encourages and recognizes excellence in organic chemistry. Ten Arthur C. Cope The Department of Chemistry at Illinois has risen from Scholars are named annually: four between the ages of 36 and seventh to sixth place in the 2010 U.S. NewS & world 49, four age 50 or older, and two age 35 and younger. Burke will report rankings for graduate chemistry programs. The deliver an address at the 242nd ACS National Meeting in Denver in rankings represent a composite of a number of factors, includ- August of 2011. As I think about this past year, the opening line of A tAle of In other anticipated news, the 2010 U.S. News and World Report rank- ing peer assessment, student selectivity, faculty and financial two CitieS springs to mind: “It was the best of times, it was the ings, largely based on reputation, had the Department of Chemistry resources, graduation and retention rates, and alumni giv- worst of times…” Of course, the state of Illinois budget woes helped at Illinois rising to sixth place. Even more impressive, the National ing rates. The ranking reflects our dedication to excellence and Thom H. Dunning, Jr. has been awarded the 2011 ACS Award to make it one of the most challenging times in recent memory. Staff Research Council (NRC) finally released their data-driven ranking of achievement. Only UC Berkeley, Cal Tech, MIT, Harvard, and for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research. Since reductions were managed entirely in our administrative office with more than 5,000 doctoral programs in 62 fields at 212 universities in Stanford are ranked higher. 1984, this award has annually recognized outstanding individual three of five positions remaining unfilled for a good portion of the the U.S. Rather than providing a single ranking, the NRC gave a range achievement for the use of computers in education, product devel- year as hiring was frozen; two of those three were permanently elimi- with a 90% confidence limit. Taking the mean of the range for the “As maligned as such rankings are,” noted Department Head opment, or research in the chemical and biological sciences. Given nated. As a result, correspondence with our donors and supporters was overall ranking, our Department is well positioned in second place, tied Steve Zimmerman, “departments live and die by them. Students annually, it recognizes outstanding contributions to the advance- delayed, and the patience of many of our graduate students and faculty with Harvard University. Only UC Berkeley ranked higher. Keep an and potential faculty pay attention to the rankings as do the ment of the use of computers in the chemical and biological sci- was strained with slow responses on a broad range of services. We also eye out for the spring newsletter, which will feature an article about the administrators that set our budget.” ences, and consists of a cash prize and certificate. The monetary worked to manage a mid-year budget rescission and a cut in our teach- NRC rankings and what they mean for the Department of Chemistry. award is $5,000, plus a $1,000 travel allowance to attend the meet- ing assistant budget. The rankings reflect the considerable forward momentum Chem- ing at which the award will be presented. Beyond educating students, research remains the central component istry at Illinois has achieved recently. In the last year alone, the I sincerely thank everyone who stepped up and worked extra hours of our enterprise, and you will read in this issue how Illinois chemists department has had 16 patents listing chemistry faculty inven- Wilfred van der Donk will accept the 2010 Jeremy Knowles under difficult circumstances to help us through this period. As always, have changed our view of the Earth and the universe through pio- tors, four faculty and eight alumni elected ACS fellows, and a we have some outstanding staff working in the Department of Chem- neering research on the atmosphere, oceans, and outer space. Page 7 number of other faculty and student awards. We also welcomed Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry for his interdisciplin- istry. With their considerable extra effort and creativity, I am happy describes the inaugural Charles David Keeling Lecture series. Dave Professor So Hirata, a world-renowned theoretical chemist from ary work on the discovery and development of new antibiotics, the to say that for the most part we have weathered the storm. We have Keeling (B.S. 1948) made the most accurate measurements of carbon the University of Florida. Read more about Dr. Hirata on page 12. mechanism of fatty acid oxidation by cyclooxygenase and lipoxy- reorganized and retrained some of the staff, hired a Stewardship and dioxide in the atmosphere, which has led to the current concern about genases, and the development of new biocatalysts for use in the Advancement Coordinator using non-state funds, and found new ways climate change. Related work is being carried out today by Mark Pat- The rise in rankings also reflects our insistence on attracting pharmaceutical industry. The award itself consists of 2,000 BP and to deliver instruction that do not compromise the high standards our savas (B.S. 2006, Lauterbur). As part of his Ph.D. thesis he is measur- some of the best and brightest graduate and undergraduate stu- a medal, which was presented at the award lecture on September students deserve and have come to expect. ing carbon dioxide in seawater in the Arctic Ocean and has sent some dents. On this and the broader successes of the department, Tom 17 at the RSC conference “Directing Biosynthesis 2010: Discovery, beautiful photographs (see page 8). Finally, page 11 offers an overview Rauchfuss, former director of the School of Chemical Sciences, Evolution, Function” in Durham, UK. As part of the award, van Challenges certainly remain with the state economy. And our out- of Professor Ben McCall’s pioneering work in astrochemistry. pointed out: “Without a doubt, one can trace back the success of der Donk will also be delivering a lectureship at UK universities standing faculty continue to be courted by other universities. But good our department to our very loyal alumni who have impacted our in March of 2011. This award is an especially fitting one because news is abundant. As described in detail on page 12, we hired a bright I hope you find this newsletter both interesting and informative. As programs immeasurably.” This is a point quickly picked up by Knowles served as a visiting instructor in the Department of young theoretician, Professor So Hirata, from the University of Florida. always, please share your ideas and stories with me (sczimmer@illinois. Zimmerman, who added, “These rankings are absolutely a direct Chemistry in 1962 well before he joined the Harvard faculty. His Our alumni and faculty continue to receive many awards, a sampling edu) and best wishes for the upcoming holiday season! result of the extraordinary partnership that we have built with our of which can be found on page 3. With their extraordinary 2007 gift successful alumni.” extended time here as well as at Yale is cited as a major reason for toward a student support program, Dr. Robert C. and Carolyn Spring- Sincerely yours, his wanting to work in an American chemistry department. born have allowed us to attract some extraordinary graduate students The best-known American college and university rankings have to Illinois. Indeed, Bob (B.S. 1951, Marvel) and Connie made their been compiled since 1983 by the magazine U.S. News & World annual trip back to campus a few weeks ago to meet the 17 remarkable Report and are based upon data which U.S. News collects from students known as Springborn Graduate Fellows. each educational institution either from an annual survey sent to Steve C. Zimmerman schools or from the institutions’ websites. It is also based upon Head and Roger Adams Professor opinion surveys of university faculty and administrators who do Department of Chemistry not belong to the school.