Dr. Christopher Lawrence, along with recent GVSU graduate Patrick Louden and Target Inquiry teacher Ryan Shoenborn have a new publication.  The paper, "Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Condensation Coefficient of Water” appears in Fluid Phase Equilibria.

Several GVSU faculty and students attended the 245^th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans, LA from April 7-11, 2013.  The contributions of the GVSU chemistry department are highlighted below:

Dr. Deborah Herrington organized the symposium for the “ACS Award for Achievement in Research for the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry in Honor of Mary B. Nakhleh” and gave a talk in that symposium, co-authored by GVSU affiliate Sheila Ryan: “Using particulate level models to improve student understanding of difficult chemistry concepts: Applying what I learned from working with Mary Nakhleh.”  Dr. Herrington also gave an invited talk “Products of the Target Inquiry project: Quality inquiry materials made for and by high school teachers that stand up to student scrutiny” along with co-author Ellen Yezierski.

Dr. Richard Lord co-organized the symposium “ACS Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research awarded to H. Bernhard Schlegel.”

Dr. Felix Ngassa gave a talk titled, “Opportunities and Challenges in Undergraduate Research Mentorship” at the Symposium on Developing and Maintaining a Successful Undergraduate Research Program.  Dr. Ngassa also had two student researchers in attendance at the meeting presenting posters.  Student Ibrahim Al Shaikh Dawood presented the poster “Microwave-Assisted Cu-Free Cross-Coupling of Terminal Alkynes with Aryl Sulfonates and Vinyl Sulfonates”.  Student Tyler Cooley presented the poster, “Direct Cu-Free Sonogashira Cross-Coupling Reaction of Activated Phenol Derivatives with Terminal Alkynes”.

Dr. Andrew Korich and his research group gave two poster presentations at the meeting.  Student Samantha Ellis presented the poster “Macromolecular Assemblies for Gas Storage from Dynamic Bonds.”  Students Christopher Jackson and Cody Rogers presented the poster “Preparation of Benzofuran Trifluoroborate Salts.”

Dr. Nathan Barrows and his collaborators on the NSF-funded ACELL (Advancing Chemistry by Enhancing Learning in the Laboratory) made four presentations at the meeting. During the undergraduate poster session, Allison Kay (GVSU) presented “Bridging the gap: A comparison of students' high school and general chemistry lab experiences,” Megan Robb (GVSU) presented “Fun and frustration: Students' perspectives of college-level laboratories,” Misha Asif (UNLV) and Akanksha Sharma (UNLV) presented “Development and preliminary analysis of the ACELL orientation to laboratory instruction survey (OLIS)”. Dr. MaryKay Orgill gave an oral presentation titled “Chemistry instructors' perceptions of the laboratory learning environment.” All ACELL personnel were credited as contributing authors on all presentations; this included Thomas Bussey (UNLV), George Bodner (Purdue), and Barbara Gonzalez (CSU-Fullerton).                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Dr. Shannon Biros and her research group made three presentations at the meeting.  Student Hope Sartain presented a poster along with co-authors Michael Peruzzi, professors Shannon Biros and Christopher Lawrence, and collaborator Eric Werner titled “Synthesis, f-element complexation, Extraction and Computational Exploration of Multidentate Carbamoylmethylphosphine-Oxide Ligands: In Relation to Nuclear Reprocessing.”  This poster was also accepted for SciMix.  Student LaNora Herrema presented a poster along with co-authors Adam Boyden and Drs. Biros and Werner titled “Multidentate carbamoylmethyl phosphine oxides (CMPO’s) as chelating agents for lanthanides and actinides.”  Finally, student Michael Peruzzi gave an oral presentation entitled “Synthesis of Tripodal CMPO Compounds for Heavy Metal Chelation.”

Professor Deborah Herrington and Visiting Faculty member Angela Slater gave a presentation at the 2012 Fall Science Update at Grand Valley State University on November 14, 2012.  This session was titled “Red Alert! A Guided Inquiry Chemistry Lab.”

Andrew Lantz published a paper this month along with GVSU students Ryan J. Flaherty, Bertil Nshime, Michael DeLaMarre, Sam DeJong, and Pamela Scott.  The article, “Cyclodextrins as complexation and extraction agents for pesticides from contaminated soil” appears in Chemosphere, Volume 91, Issue 7, May 2013, Pages 912–920.  The article can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.02.005

Deborah Herrington and members of the Target inquiry Program at GVSU were asked to give teacher workshops at the Annual PittCon conference and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh in March 2013.  As a result, Target Inquiry teachers provided 3 workshops:

·         Bridle, C “Introducing Inquiry Into Your Science Class” Invited Teacher Workshop, 2013 PittCon Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, March 16, 2013

·         Cullen, D. & Putti, A. “Teaching Advanced Chemistry Topics Through Inquiry” Invited Teacher Workshop, 2013 PittCon Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, March 16, 2013

·         Yezierski, E. & Putti, A. “Atoms, Molecules, and Ions, Oh My!” Invited Teacher Workshop, Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, Sewickey, PA, April 27, 2013.

Dr. Deborah Herrington and former GVSU chemistry professor Ellen Yezierski published a book chapter, titled “The road to scientific literacy: How Target Inquiry is improving instruction and student achievement in high school chemistry” in the book Exemplary Science: Best Practices in Professional Development (Revised 2^nd Edition), published by NSTA Press.  This chapter is the “featured chapter,” which can be accessed for free from the NSTA store using the following link: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/files/PB192X4E2web.pdf

Richard Lord gave an invited talk on March 21, 2013 at the University of Georgia, as part of a seminar series for the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry (CCQC).  The talk was titled “Computational Insight into Unusual Redox Behavior: Spin Crossover Coupled Redox Reactions and Multielectron Transfer Events.”

At the International Teacher-Scientist Partnership Conference held in Boston, MA from Feb. 13-14, 2013, Deborah Herrington presented the session “Bringing the Research Experience to the Classroom.”  Dr. Herrington also presented a poster titled “Target Inquiry Transforms Instruction: Combining RETs with Inquiry Materials Development” along with co-author Ellen Yezierski at this conference.

Thomas Pentecost presented a talk, titled "Advantages of Rasch analysis using pre and post assessments in determining changes in students’ conceptual understanding", at the Ohio River Valley Objective Measurement Seminar on May 3rd at the University of Kentucky. 

Dr. Andrew Korich received a Pew FTLC Scholar Teaching grant.  Dr. Korich plans to work with students in a polymer science course at GVSU.  The grant is titled “Sparking Curiosity in Polymer Science through Interactive Learning.”

Richard Lord has two new articles accepted for publication:

• Bheemaraju, A.; Beattie, J.W.; Tabasan, E.G.; Martin, P.D.; Lord, R.L.; Groysman, S. Steric and Electronic Effects in the Formation and Carbon Disulfide Reactivity of Dinuclear Nickel Complexes Supported by Bis(iminopyridine) Ligands Organometallics, 2013, ASAP (doi: 10.1021/om400187v).


• Fan, D.; Lord, R.L.; Cisneros, G.A. Ab Initio QM/MM Calculations Show There is an Intersystem Crossing in the Hydrogen Abstraction Step in the Dealkylation Catalyzed by AlkB J. Phys. Chem. B 2013, ASAP (doi: 10.1021/jp403116e).

Laurie Witucki was included in the list of the Top 25 Women Professors in Michigan by onlineschoolsmichigan.com.  The goal of the top professors list is to highlight post-secondary educators who have been awarded recently for excellence in the classroom, on campus, and/or in the community. The complete list of award winners can be found at: http://onlineschoolsmichigan.com/top-college-professors-in-michigan/women/

·      Psciuk, B.T.; Lord, R.L.; Winter, C.H.; Schlegel, H.B. Can Metallapyrimidines Be Aromatic? A Computational Study into a New Class of Metallacycles J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2012, 8, 4950-4959 (doi: 10.1021/ct3006979). 

·      Moore, J.D.; Lord, R.L.; Cisneros, G.A.; Allen, M.J. Concentration-Independent pH Detection with a Luminescent Dimetallic Eu(III)-Based Probe J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 17372-17375 (doi: 10.1021/ja307098z).

·      Lord, R.L.; Allard, M.M.; Thomas, R.A.; Odongo, O.S.; Schlegel, H.B.; Chen, Y.-J.; Endicott, J.F. Computational Modeling of the Triplet Metal-to-Ligand Charge-Transfer Excited-State Structures of Mono-Bipyridine-Ruthenium(II) Complexes and Comparisons to their 77 K Emission Band Shapes Inorg. Chem. 2013, ASAP (doi: 10.1021/ic300935k).