NC State Chemistry attends Hope College Schaap Chemistry Symposium

Graduate students Carl Meunier (Sombers' group) and George Van Den Driessche (Fourches' group), along with Professor Caroline Proulx, were invited to attend the Schaap Chemistry Symposium, hosted by Hope College in July. This is a special research symposium and recruitment event attended by 15 universities and industrial partners. Thanks to George for writing an article about their experience.
Posted August 15, 2017

Melanie Chestnut receives travel award to attend EPR-2017 conference

Melanie Chestnut from Professor Smirnov's group received a $500 travel award to attend an International Conference on Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging of Biological Systems (EPR-2017) in Morgantown, WV on July 16–July 22, 2017. This 5-day conference was a combined meeting of the "16th In Vivo EPR Spectroscopy and Imaging" and the "13th Spin Trapping/Spin Labeling" conferences.

During the conference, Melanie received an "Award of Excellence" in the best poster competition for her presentation on "Profiling local water concentration in membranes and proteins down to 2 Å spatial resolution by HYSCORE spectroscopy of nitroxide spin labels." She was awarded a certificate and $400 cash prize. Congratulations, Melanie! Posted August 15, 2017

Michael Bereman and coworkers demonstrate reversal of TDP-43 protein aggregation common in degenerative diseases

Dr. Michael Bereman, an Associate faculty member in the department, and coworkers have demonstrated that they can promote de-aggregation of a protein (TDP-43) in the muscles of mice. The clumping together of this protein is a hallmark of degenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). They hope to identify compounds that would be able to do the same in neurons of people with ALS. You can find their press release here, and their paper in Nature Communications. Posted July 24, 2017

Lucian Lucia named ACS Fellow

Dr. Lucian Lucia has been named an ACS Fellow by the American Chemical Society. This honor is bestowed upon ACS members who have demonstrated excellence in their contributions to science and in their volunteer activities to the ACS and broader community. Dr. Lucia's current research in soft materials chemistry focuses on studying the parameters that control the activity of biopolymers for drug delivery, self-healing, and tissue engineering.

His service includes a number of volunteer positions in ACS from secretary to chair that have lead to an increase in member participation, awards, external collaborations, and outreach. He co-founded an international journal, BioResources, that serves as a preeminent forum for biomass and bioenergy research. He currently serves as councilor for the ACS Cellulose & Renewable Materials Division, and is a new member of the ACS Chemists with Disabilities Committee.

Dr. Lucia is only the second chemistry faculty member to achieve Fellow status; the other is Dan Comins, Professor Emeritus, who was named Fellow in 2010.
Posted July 13, 2017

Kay Sandberg's distance education work featured by the Distance Education News at NC State

Dr. Kay Sandberg's distance education work has been featured by the Distance Education News at NC State. For the past 13 years, Kay has developed, delivered, and refined organic chemistry, distance-education courses. The article highlights her sometimes zany approach (screaming cats!?) to help students grasp and remember organic chemistry concepts. The article also highlights the impact on her students, many of whom are so inspired by her approach to teaching, they volunteer to TA for future classes. Posted June 23, 2017

Maria Gallardo-Williams featured in Inside Higher Ed article

Dr. Maria Gallardo-Williams was featured in a June 14 Inside Higher Ed article on the production of a set of videos for use in the organic chemistry laboratory program. This work was supported by the Alt-textbook project by DELTA and has led to improved lab completion times and a more uniform laboratory experience for students. You can find her videos on YouTube under her name. Posted June 23, 2017