Brian Steinberg Receives NESACS Award

Brian Steinberg, a graduate student in Professor Larry Scott’s research group, has just been accepted to the Northeast Section of the American Chemical Society’s (NESACS) student exchange program that will take place in March 2009 in Essen, Germany. Brian will present the results of his research at NESAC-sponsored events both in Essen and in Boston later in the spring. Brian’s presentation will be based on a forthcoming paper highlighting the development of a microwave assisted intramolecular arylation reaction and it's use in the synthesis of highly curved carbon scaffolds.
(12.12.08)


New Class of Catalyst Reported by Hoveyda in Nature

Vanderslice Millennium Professor of Chemistry Amir Hoveyda's latest research, published in the journal Nature, has developed a new class of catalyst that promises to expand research in the fields of medicine, biology and materials science.

A new class of exceptionally effective catalysts that promote the powerful olefin metathesis reaction has been discovered by a team of Boston College and MIT scientists, opening up a vast new scientific platform to researchers in medicine, biology and materials. The new catalysts can be easily prepared and possess unique features never before utilized by chemists, according to findings from a team led by Professor Amir H. Hoveyda and MIT Professor and Nobel Laureate Richard Schrock, who received the 2005 prize in Chemistry for early discoveries of catalytic olefin metathesis. The team's findings are reported in the current online edition of the journal Nature. "In order for chemists to gain access to molecules that can enhance the quality of human life, we need reliable, highly efficient, selective and environmentally friendly chemical reactions," said Hoveyda, the Joseph T. and Patricia Vanderslice Millennium Professor and Chair of the Chemistry Department. "Discovering catalysts that promote these transformations is one of the great challenges of modern chemistry."

Catalytic olefin metathesis transforms simple molecules into complex ones. But a chief challenge has been developing catalysts to this organic chemical reaction that are practical and offer exceptional selectivity for a significantly broader range of reactions. Schrock, the Frederick G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry at MIT, said the unprecedented level of control the new class of catalysts provides will advance research across multiple fields. "We expect this highly flexible palette of catalysts to be useful for a wide variety of catalytic reactions that are catalyzed by a high oxidation state alkylidene species, and to be able to design catalytic metathesis reactions with a control that has rarely if ever been observed before," Schrock said. Highly versatile molecules that contain carbon–carbon double bonds, alkenes, or olefins, are ubiquitous in medicinally relevant and biologically active molecules. Tetrahedral in constitution, the new catalysts are the first to exploit a metal with four different ligands– molecules that bond to the central metal – which in turn dictate the catalysts' high level of reactivity and selectivity. "For the first time these catalysts take advantage of the configuration of a metal with four different ligands attached to it, an untested situation that has long been predicted to be a strong director of asymmetric catalytic reactions that take place at the metal center," said Schrock. Unique to this catalyst is the metal molybdenum as a source of chirality, also known as "handedness. "Like the mirror image of left hand and right, molecules can come in two variations, one a reflection of the other. But these two variations often function in entirely different ways – sometimes one proves harmful, while the other is benign. With molybdenum at its core, the new catalyst gives chemists a simple, unique and efficient way to produce one form of the molecule or the other in order to yield the desired reactions. The new catalysts are also structurally flexible, a relatively unconventional attribute that lends them exceptional chemical activity. The discovery of catalysts with stable configurations and flexible structures is expected to allow chemists to design, prepare and develop new chemical transformations that furnish unprecedented levels of reactivity and selectivity, according to the co-authors, which include BC researchers Steven J. Malcolmson, Simon J. Meek, and Elizabeth S.Sattely.

The findings mark the latest discovery from the long-standing collaboration between the Hoveyda and Schrock labs, work that has been supported by more than $3.5 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health for nearly a decade. "Unquestioned leaders in their own areas of science, Hoveyda and Schrock have pooled their complementary skills to come up with an elegant solution to an elusive goal—the development of catalysts for enantioselective olefin metathesis," said John Schwab, who oversees organic synthesis grants at the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences. "This is a beautiful illustration of the power of collaborative science."
(11.19.08)
Science Daily, Chemistry World (UK), Nanowerk, PhysOrg.com, DailyIndia.com, http://web.mit.edu/chemistry



EMERGE to Promote Diversity in Chemistry Graduate Education

This fall, the Chemistry Department will launch a new program to promote diversity in graduate science education. EMERGE - the acronym for Expanding Multi-Cultural Engagement and Recruitment in Graduate Education – will bring promising undergraduates from diverse cultures to the Merkert Chemistry Center at Boston College for an in-depth view of the doctoral program in Chemistry. The two-day program will include opportunities to meet with Chemistry faculty and graduate students and to tour the campus and the Boston environs. The due date for applications is 30 September, and applicants may apply on-line. For further information, please go to: www.bc.edu/chemistry/grad/emerge.html or contact Chemistry Graduate Program Administrator Ms. Dale Mahoney at dale.mahoney@bc.edu. (08/01/08)


Davidovits Lab and Aerodyne Collaborate on Climate Change Technology

An aerosol mass spectrometer developed by scientists from the Merkert Chemistry Center and Aerodyne Research, Inc. is giving scientists who study airborne particles the technology they need to examine the life cycles of atmospheric aerosols – such as soot – and their impact on issues ranging from climate change to public health. Chemistry Professor Paul Davidovits and Aerodyne Principle Scientist Timothy B. Onasch say their novel spectrometer allows researchers to understand what happens to these submicroscopic particles that can absorb and scatter light and influence the lifetime of clouds.

“For scientists looking at climate change, the biggest uncertainty has to do do with the effect of aerosol particles in the air,” says Davidovits. “The issue is made that much more complex because aerosols can have different effects on climate. That means the target is constantly shifting.” For further information, please see: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080725094041.htm
(07/28/08)


John Kozarich Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows Named

We are pleased to announce the appointments of the 2008 Kozarich Fellows as they embark on their summer research projects at the Merkert Chemistry Center. Austin Travis and Angelo Cangialosi, both sophomores at Boston College, are actively engaged in the laboratories of Professors Jason Kingsbury and Amir Hoveyda, respectively.  Austin’s and Angelo’s unabashed enthusiasm for studying organic chemistry at Boston College shone through in their fellowship proposals. As a researcher in the Kingsbury lab, Austin relishes the challenges to his intellectual and creative capabilities. Angelo embraces the analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities required for successful molecular synthesis in the Hoveyda lab. As young researchers, Austin and Angelo seem destined to follow in the footsteps of role model, Dr. John Kozarich (BCC’71).



For Dr. John Kozarich, who endowed the summer fellowship program that bears his name, the undergraduate research experience in the Chemistry Department at Boston College planted the seeds for his astounding career in academic and pharmaceutical research. Dr. Kozarich currently serves as chairman and president of ActivX Biosciences, Inc. and was formerly vice president at Merck Research Laboratories. He has also served on the faculty at the University of Maryland and Yale University Medical School. He has over 125 publications and holds three patents. Dr. Kozarich received his B.S. in Chemistry summa cum laude from BC; his Ph.D. in biological chemistry from MIT; and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. We are grateful for his generous support and inspiration. (06/20/08)


Inaugural Jeong-Long Lin Fellows Begin Summer Research

The Merkert Chemistry Center welcomes the inaugural Jeong-Long Lin Fellows as they begin their summer research projects in our faculty laboratories. Patrick Momplaisir is no stranger to Boston College, having obtained a B.S. in Management in 2003. Patrick has been in the McNair Program at the University of Massachusetts/Boston since 2006, where he is taking post-baccalaureate courses in medical science. Patrick is working with Professor Larry McLaughlin’s research group on a project that entails synthesizing modified oligonucleotides for use in studying biological events such as RNA processing. Ervin Pejo started out at Bunker Hill Community College and transferred to the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, where he is a Biochemistry major. Ervin is working with Professor Mary Roberts’s research group on a project that looks at phospholipases and their interactions with membranes. Andrew Rivera, a Boston College undergraduate, is majoring in Biochemistry and just finished his freshman year. Andrew is working with Professor Kian Tan’s research group on a project to develop methods for controlling selectivity in organic reactions.



Professor Jeong-Long Lin, a visionary physical chemist, served as chair of the Chemistry Department at Boston College during a pivotal period in the department’s history. His leadership emphasized the high standards of scholarship that have sustained the department’s excellence and continue to inspire us into the future. (6/17/2008)


Women in Science & Technology Program: Third Time’s a Charm!

A Boston College student-run program designed to inspire the next generation of women scientists has just completed its third year. The month-long Saturday series, which ran from 26 January through 16 February, brought together 24 female students from Boston-area high schools for research, lectures, field trips, and the opportunity to meet mentors and role models from scientific disciplines. This year’s participants came from Braintree High School, Malden High School, Methuen High School, North Cambridge Catholic High School, and Trinity Catholic High School.



Participants spent the morning sessions engaged in laboratory experiments led by women undergraduate science majors from Boston College. In the afternoon sessions, participants enjoyed field trips and special lectures designed to demystify science with real-life applications. Activities included a tour of a research lab at the Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute where they saw brain surgery performed on a mouse. They visited the New England Wildlife Center for a hands-on tour of their treatment care facilities and educational center. A detective from the Sexual Assault Unit of the Boston Police Department discussed the use of science-based techniques on crime scene investigations. Professor Goran Krilov, a theoretical chemist, engaged participants with hands-on computer visualizations of chemical structures. On the final day of the program, participants were given a tour by Ms. Elizabeth O’Day (BCC’06) of several Harvard University research laboratories. Liz O’Day, now a graduate student at Harvard, initiated the WST Program in 2006, as a way of sharing her enthusiasm for science with young women and introducing them to career opportunities in the field.

Eighteen undergraduate women science majors at BC volunteered their time and energy to help with the project, and Liz Carroll served in a leadership role. Chemistry Professors Mary Roberts and Lynne O’Connell and Clare O’Connor from Biology serve as advisors to WST, in addition to being role models for the students.

We thank Boston College undergraduate science majors Amanda Balboni, Nikki Carreau, Liz Carroll, Meaghan Cells, Courtney Cronin, Dani Currier, Grace Festin, Inna Grishkan, Emily Kim, Grace Kim, Julie Oh, Katie Poutsiaka, Nari Rheu, Kristen Schratz, Sarah Shannahan, Cara Sullivan, Christine Vaudo, and Allison Whalen for their contributions to WST. (2/20/08)


Professor Torsten Fiebig Receives Sloan Research Fellowship

The Chemistry Department is pleased to announce that Professor Torsten Fiebig, an assistant professor of physical chemistry, has been awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship. The highly prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships are intended to enhance the careers of the very best young faculty members in specified fields of science. Currently, a total of 118 fellowships are awarded annually in seven fields: chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics. The Sloan Research Fellowships were established in 1955 to provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars. Selection procedures for Sloan Research Fellowships are designed to identify those who show the most outstanding promise of making fundamental contributions to new knowledge.

Professor Fiebig joined the faculty of the Chemistry Department at Boston College in 2003. A native of Germany, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Gottingen in 1996 and was a post-doctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology. Professor Fiebig’s honors include: the Grammatikakis-Neumann Award of the Swiss Chemical Society (2006); the Emmy-Noether Fellowship (2000), and the Otto-Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society (1997).

The Fiebig research group is interested in a fundamental understanding of molecular interactions and ultrafast processes (e.g. energy, electron and proton transfer) in complex molecular architectures. Our primary focus is to develop and apply new spectroscopic methodologies for probing real-time structural changes in biological systems. The underlying goal is to understand molecular function by probing structure and dynamics simultaneously. Currently, the Fiebig research group investigates the interaction of UV-radiation with DNA on the ultrafast time scale addressing the question of how electronic excess energy delocalizes and dissipates in -stacked nucleic acids. (02/15/08)


Professor Gao wins Smith Family Foundation New Investigator Award

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Jianmin Gao, assistant professor of chemistry, will be one of seven recipients of the Smith Family Foundation New Investigator Award. The prestigious $200,000 award is designed to provide newly independent scientists the opportunity to demonstrate creativity and assist them in the transition to other sources of research funding.

Launched in 1991 by the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, the Smith Family New Investigator Awards Program supports newly appointed junior faculty engaged in basic research in the areas of AIDS, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes (both autoimmune and Type II) and neuroscience. Now entering its 16th year, the Program has made awards to 96 investigators and provided over $13 million in research support.

Professor Gao, a chemical biologist, came to Boston College in the fall of 2007 from The Scripps Research Institute, where he conducted research as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Jeffery W. Kelly. He obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2004 at Stanford University under the direction of Professor Eric T. Kool and earned his B.S. in chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).

The primary goal of Professor Gao’s research program is to understand the intimate details of how proteins fold and misfold. The proper folding of proteins is known to be absolutely essential for their biological functions. In contrast, the misfolding and aggregation of proteins have been implicated in a wide array of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Type II Diabetes. Professor Gao and his students employ a multidisciplinary approach, integrating organic chemistry, protein engineering and biophysics, to probe the physio-chemical basis of protein folding/misfolding processes. Advances in this area are expected to provide new understanding of the pathologies of protein misfolding diseases and to foster the design of novel therapeutic strategies for disease treatment. (12/07/2007)


LaMattina Graduate Fellowships Announced

The Chemistry Department is pleased to announce the 2007-2008 John LaMattina Graduate Student Fellows in Organic and Organometallic Chemistry: Tricia L. May, Zhen You, and Joshua D. Sieber.

Tricia May, who is in Professor Amir H. Hoveyda’s research group, is examining new N-heterocyclic carbene ligands for applications to asymmetric conjugate addition of alkyl- and arylmetal reagents to b-substituted cyclic enones for the formation of all-carbon quaternary stereogenic centers. The new Ag-NHC complexes allow access to medicinally important compounds of high enantiomeric purity that were previously unattainable.

A member of Professor Marc L. Snapper’s research group, Zhen You has focused on developing the kinetic resolution of hydroxyketones through catalytic asymmetric silylation using a simple amino acid-based catalyst. The new strategy significantly shortens the routes to various enantiomerically enriched hydroxyketones which are important chiral building blocks for asymmetric synthesis.

Josh Sieber is currently developing transition-metal-catalyzed conjugate allylation processes using allylboronates as nucleophiles in the Professor James P. Morken’s research group.

The LaMattina Graduate Student Fellowship was established in academic year 2005-2006 with the generous support of Chemistry Department alumnus John L. LaMattina (B.S. 1971) and his family. (11/02/2007)


Dr. Bo Li to be New X-ray Facility Director

The Chemistry Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Bo Li as the first full-time director of the Chemistry X-ray facility.  Dr. Li will join the department in January 2008, coming from the University at Albany (SUNY), where he completed his Ph.D. degree in inorganic chemistry and X-ray crystallography in May of this year.  He holds an M.Sc. degree in materials chemistry from the Beijing Polytechnic University and a B.S. degree in materials chemistry from Tongji University in China.

Dr. Li is a very personable, energetic scientist with extensive experience in small molecule single crystal X-ray diffraction, ranging from organic and inorganic to organometallic compounds.  He is intimately familiar with Schlenk line and glove box techniques and will be setting up a special crystallization laboratory to help users grow crystals. 

As a graduate student at Albany, Dr. Li won a teaching award, and he is eager to teach a hands-on course here in the theory and practice of X-ray crystallography.  His duties will include overseeing the entire X-ray facility, including the macromolecular X-ray diffractometer, but his major focus will be small molecule single crystal X-ray crystallography.

When the renovations of the X-ray facility are completed later this semester, Dr. Li will visit BC to oversee the installation of the diffractometers.  On that occasion, he will present a departmental seminar on his work at Albany entitled: "Structural Investigation of Inorganic and Organic Compounds Using a Combination of X-Ray Diffraction and Spectroscopic Techniques" The time and place will be announced. (11/01/2007)


Professor Ross Kelly Elected Fellow of AAAS

Congratulations are in order for Professor T. Ross Kelly, who has just been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). A Fellow, who must be nominated by a group of three AAAS Fellows, at least two of whom are not affiliated with the institution of the nominee, is defined as "a member whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished." AAAS Fellows are drawn from the elite in their respective fields of research.

In the letter announcing his election, Ross was cited for his "demonstrated excellence in research and teaching and a distinguished record of enlightened leadership and wise counsel." The Award will be presented at the annual meeting of the Association in February in Boston. (10/24/2007)


Graduate Fellowships Announced

Yunmi Lee has been named recipient of the 2007-2008 Astra Zeneca Graduate Fellowship in Organic Chemistry.  Lee, a member of Professor Amir H. Hoveyda’s group, is focused on developing new methods for the catalytic enantioselective synthesis of tertiary and quaternary carbon centers that are useful chiral synthons as precursors for biologically active molecules.  The 2007 Schering-Plough Graduate Fellowship has been awarded to Russell E. Giudici and Heather E. Burks.  Also in the Hovedya Group, Giudici’s research focuses on expanding the scope of Ru-catalyzed asymmetric ring-opening/cross metathesis to include non-styrenyl cross partners and well as highly strained cyclopropenes and cyclobutenes.  Burks, a student in the group of Professor James P.Morken, is working on the development and mechanistic elucidation of the palladium-catalyzed enantioselective diboration of allenes, and on development of an enantioselective diboration of dienes.  Recently announced, the 2007/2008 Novartis Graduate Fellowship in Organic Chemistry for Minorities and Women is has been given to Tricia L. May.  A member of the Hoveyda Group, May is examining new N-heterocyclic carbene ligands for applications to asymmetric conjugate addition of alkyl- and arylmetal reagents to b-substituted cyclic enones for the formation of all-carbon quaternary stereogenic centers. 


It's SRO for Professor Ross Kelly

If it's Friday morning, you can count on a capacity-plus crowd in Devlin 008 for another session of class CH23101 - Organic Chemistry, taught by Vanderslice Professor of Chemistry T. Ross Kelly.

Kelly has a particularly challenging charge: engaging the hundreds of organic chemistry students each semester in what traditionally has been considered one of the most difficult of undergraduate subjects.

In past years, Organic Chemistry has seen enrollment averaging in the mid-200s, so administrators were surprised at this year's uptick by 20 percent.

"Devlin 008 is our largest classroom," said Student Services Director Louise Lonabocker. But this year's enrollment of 307 has topped its number of seats by three, she says.

"We saw the course enrollment was up to 305 at the start of the semester, but we assumed it would change during Drop/Add period," Lonabocker said. "And it did - only it went up."

The scholar charged with keeping the attention of the 300-plus audience (in which women students outnumber men 166-141) of budding chemists and physicians is himself a nationally recognized scientist - one of many senior faculty members at BC who, while holding impressive research credentials, remain committed to teaching undergraduates.

Kelly's achievements in the lab are considerable: he was the first to synthesize the anti-cancer agent fredericamycin A; he created a molecular "brake" which can stop the rotation of a certain molecule; and he earned global headlines with the prototype of a molecular paddle wheel that was among the world's smallest motors.

He also has won honors such as Teacher of the Year by BC's student Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and the American Chemical Society's Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, which acknowledges a career that combines cutting edge research with excellent teaching.
(10/5/2007) -by Patricia Delaney for the Boston College Chronicle


Abbott Laboratories Support Announced

The Chemistry Department is pleased to announce that Abbott Laboratories Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development will provide continued support for the Abbott Laboratories Symposium. Abbott Laboratories’ strong desire to continue support for present and future graduate and undergraduate research is greatly appreciated by our faculty and students. Professor Marc L. Snapper of the Boston College Chemistry Department and Dr. Michael Hoemann of Abbott Laboratories will serve as the contacts for this collaboration. (09/05/2007)


Professor Torsten Fiebig Receives 2007 Inter-American Photochemical Society Young Investigator Award for his work on electron transport in DNA using ultrafast spectroscopy

A recent contribution of Professor Torsten Fiebig’s group in the area of DNA photochemistry addresses a long-standing question. Since the early days of DNA photochemistry, there have been speculations about the degree of electronic delocalization in stacked DNA bases. A thorough understanding of this phenomenon is central for understanding the mechanism of UV light-induced chemical reactions, which may result in carcinogenic mutations. Fiebig’s team has recently applied his new experimental techniques to single and double stranded DNA, tracing the electronic excitation both in time and in space along the base stack. Results of the experiments provide the first evidence regarding the existence of delocalized electronic domains (excitons) in DNA. (08/09/2007)


Eli Lilly & Company Grant to Provide Seminar Support

The Chemistry Department is pleased to announce that we have received a grant from Eli Lilly & Company to support the academic year 2007/08 Boston College Organic Chemistry Seminar Series. Lilly strives to create and deliver innovative medicines that enable people to live longer, healthier, and more active lives. As a component of this goal, Lilly is committed to supporting programs that promote excellence in patient care. This initiative will no doubt have a positive outcome and impact on the lives of patients.


Professor Steven Bruner Publishes Key Nature Article

The Bruner group has solved a key research problem associated with the production of the therapeutically-important class of antibiotics - the vancomycins - in nature. The article appearing in the 17 May 2007 issue of Nature magazine discusses issues associated with the pharmaceutical production of structurally complex antibiotics and the goal of exploiting natural antibiotic pathways to generate new therapeutics. In addition to important applications toward antibiotic biosynthesis, the Bruner group’s research provides the first picture of how an enzyme interacts with oxygen gas. Oxygen is a common reagent used in all processes of cellular biology. The enzyme studied, DpgC, is unique in that it catalyzes complex oxidation chemistry without the assistance of any metal or co-factor. The work reports the first atomic resolution picture of this enzyme "caught in action" giving unprecedented detail regarding the mechanism of antibiotic biosynthesis. The Bruner article was highlighted in the 21 May issue of Chemistry & Engineering News and will be featured in an upcoming issue of The BC Chronicle.
Please also see: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/07/bruner-antibiotic.html


U.S. News & World Report gives BC Chemistry Department top-rankings

The latest rankings of “America’s Best Graduate Schools” by U.S. News & World Report indicate that Organic Chemistry is the top-ranked program in the College of Arts and Sciences at Boston College. Nationwide, the Organic Chemistry division at BCC is ranked 18th, and our Chemistry Department overall ranks 50th. Only 91 of 185 Ph.D. programs in chemistry nationwide were ranked in this survey, which was based on data computed in January 2007. Of those 91 universities, the only program ahead of Boston College on the list with as few chemistry faculty (19 faculty, ranked 50 overall) is Duke University (19 faculty, ranked 43 overall). Only two chemistry departments with 20 faculty members are ranked higher than BC: Johns Hopkins University (ranked 28) and Emory University (ranked 36). The next smallest chemistry department that ranks ahead of BC is the Scripps Research Institute (24 faculty, ranked 6th overall).


Professor Hoveyda Awarded the Max Tishler Prize by Harvard University

Our department chair, Professor Amir Hoveyda, was selected by the faculty of the Harvard University Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology to receive the 2007 Max Tishler Prize in recognition of his outstanding contributions to chemistry. The lecture presented by Professor Hoveyda on the occasion of receiving this award described his latest research on "New N-Heterocyclic Carbenes: Exciting Frontiers in Reactivity, Selectivity, and Catalysis."


2007/2008 Beckman Scholar Award

The 2007 Beckman Scholar Award Selection Committee has chosen Edward C. Koellhoffer, a sophomore Biochemistry major working in the laboratory of Professor Daniel Kirschner, Department of Biology, to receive a 2007-2008 Beckman Scholar Award. Ted's research project, which he designed jointly with Professor Daniel Kirschner and Professor Anne Stellwagen, will focus on conformational and morphological analyses of the prion protein, Sup35 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and fiber x-ray diffraction (XRD). During his fifteen-month tenure as a Beckman Scholar, Ted will attend two Beckman Scholar Symposia sponsored by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation in Irvine, California. He will receive stipend and travel funds to present his research results at a scientific meeting. The monetary value of the Beckman Scholar Award is $19,300.


Norris-Richards Research Scholarship

The 2007 James FlackNorris/Theodore William Richards Summer Research Scholarship is the most recent award for Ryan Heney, an undergraduate student in Professor Evan Kantrowitz’s group. This award carries a stipend of $2,750 for a minimum commitment of ten weeks of full-time summer research. The presentation of the award will be made at the meeting of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS) on Thursday, 10 May, at Northeastern University. Ryan is also the 2007 recipient of the Dean’s Scholar at Boston College, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, and the Chemistry Department Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry.


Stephanie Ng Receives 2007 Schering-Plough Science and Innovation Award

Ms. Stephanie Ng, a graduate student in Professor Marc Snapper’s group, has been selected to participate in the 2007 Schering-Plough Science and Innovation Award Program. Sponsored by Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Schering-Plough Research Institute, this award seeks to recognizes academic excellence and to strengthen the ties between industry and academia. Ms. Ng and her faculty advisor will travel to Schering-Plough’s New Jersey facility to tour the laboratories and participate in a symposium held to honor the Science and Innovation Award winners. Boston College is one of 13 universities nationwide selected to participate in this prestigious program based on its strengths in Organic Chemistry. Dr. John Traverse, a Schering-Plough scientist and alumnus of BC, will present Ms. Ng with a cash award and a trophy at a presentation on 1 May. Ms. Ng’s research is currently focused on using new reactions developed in the Snapper lab toward the synthesis of the natural product cycloaraneosene.

The 2006 winner of this award was Dr. Elizabeth Sattely, BCC 2007, now a post-doc at Harvard Medical School.


Laura Wieland & Stephanie Ng Receive 2007 Roche Excellence Award

Two Organic Chemistry graduate students, Ms. Laura Wieland, of Professor Amir Hoveyda’s group, and Ms. Stephanie Ng, of Professor Marc Snapper’s group, have been selected to present research talks at the 2007 Roche Symposium: Excellence in Chemistry. The two-day symposium, which will take place at Hoffman-LaRoche in Nutley, New Jersey this June, provides selected graduate students and Roche chemists with the opportunity to discuss their research. Ms. Wieland’s research focuses on developing new reactions to efficiently synthesize chiral building blocks that contain structural motifs which are difficult to synthesize by other methods, and which are prevalent in natural products and biologically important molecules. Ms. Ng’s research is currently focused on using new reactions developed in the Snapper lab toward the synthesis of the natural product cycloaraneosene.


Vikki Tsefrikas Receives 2006/2007 Boston College GSAS Award

Ms. Vikki Tsefrikas, a graduate student in Professor Larry Scott’s group, has been selected by the Boston College Graduate School of Arts & Sciences as the recipient of the 2006/2007 Academic Achievement Award. Ms. Tsefrikas’s research focuses on carbon nanotubes, which are one of the strongest materials known to man and have potential applications in electronics and thermal conductivity. Ms. Tsefrikas is attempting to chemically synthesize a specific nanotube by building a hemispherical endcap that can serve as a template from which a nanotube will be grown.


Women in Science & Technology Program Embarks on Second Year

A Boston College student-run program designed to inspire the next generation of women scientists is now in its second year. The month-long Saturday series, which began March 17 and is being offered free of charge to participants, will showcase in particular the impact of women in the sciences and current opportunities for women in the field.