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August 2018

 

Dear Alumni and Friends:

This year, the  Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University marks its 60th anniversary! We hope you will join us for our celebration in October (see below for more information!) We’re pleased to share a quick update on happenings in our department from the first half of 2018. Thanks to those of you who shared recent updates from your own lives. Keep them coming so we can add them to our  Department News page.

Warmly,

Nancy S. Goroff
Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry

 

New Faculty Member: Karena Chapman

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Karena Chapman, Senior Scientist at Argonne National Lab, as the inaugural Joseph W. Lauher and Frank W. Fowler Endowed Chair in Materials Chemistry. Dr. Chapman is a leading expert in using crystallography to determine the structure of partially ordered materials and dynamic systems. She previously earned a Materials Research Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award and in 2016, was recognized by the American Chemical Society's news magazine C&EN as one of the " Talented Twelve." Dr. Chapman starts in her new position at Stony Brook this summer.

 

Celebrate our Diamond Jubilee, 
October 19-20, 2018

Join us in celebrating the Department of Chemistry's 60th Anniversary while enjoying  Homecomingfestivities! The celebration will include Keynote alumni talks, a Long Island Wine Tasting, a Meet and Greet Brunch, an alumni career panel, and building tours. Look for more information by email or visit the event  website . Registration information coming soon !

 

 

Commencement Speaker: Dr. Michael R. Berman, BS '75

We were pleased to welcome back alumnus Dr. Michael R. Berman, who carried out undergraduate research with Professor Philip M. Johnson in the 1970s. As a program officer at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Dr. Berman manages a cutting-edge program in basic research in experimental physical chemistry, nanoscience, and theoretical chemistry, seeking to understand, predict and control chemical reactivity and energy transfer. Dr. Berman presented this year's Department of Chemistry Convocation address, titled "Balancing Your Own Equation." 

 

Student Updates

  • Chris Giuliano BS '18, a joint Chemistry and AMS major, has been awarded a  National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Chris also earned a Goldwater Fellowship and was one of the University's 2018 valedictorians.

  • Eric Rizzo received an ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship to conduct research in the lab of Prof. Ming-Yu Ngai. Eric was one of only 10 awardees for this national fellowship competition.

  • We welcomed Prof. Melanie Nilsson PhD '00, Associate Professor at McDaniel College, back to campus on  May 10  to speak with our graduate students about career pathways, diversity and inclusion, and the differences between research universities and primarily undergraduate institutions. Thank you, Melanie!

  • This year's Maria Tzamarioudaki Award went to Katarzyna (Kasia) Lee PhD '17. The Lee Myers Awardee was Xiaoxue Zhang PhD '18. The Chemistry Award for Outstanding Doctoral Student went to Dimitriy Vovchok PhD '18 and Weijie Zhou PhD '18.

  • The  2017-18 Paul Licht Undergraduate Teaching Fellows were Kyle McLaughlin, Shreya Patel, Thomas Farquharson, Kevin Tan, and Adrian Thompson.

 

Faculty Updates

  • Nicole Sampson, Chair of Chemistry 2012-2017, was recently appointed  Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

  • Knapp Chair Esther Takeuchi won the  2018 European Inventor Award from the European Patent Office (EPO), in the "non-EPO country" category, for her innovative work on energy storage and power sources.

  • The Department of Energy recently announced that Stony Brook will be  home to two Energy Frontiers Research Centers with new funding of $21.75M. Esther Takeuchi leads the Center for Mesoscale Transport Properties (m2M), which received renewal funding for four more years, and John Parise leads the new EFRC, A Next Generation Synthesis Center (GENESIS).

  • Jarrod French was named a  2018 Cottrell Scholar for Innovative Research and Teaching by the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement.

  • Ming-Yu Ngai was selected to receive the 2018 Young Academic Inventor's Award from the NAI-SBU Chapter.

  • Stanislaus Wong was chosen for the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.

  • Eric Patterson has been named a Senior Lecturer in the College of Arts and Sciences.

 

SBU Chemistry in the News

 

Resources for faculty and students support and strengthen the educational experience. The Department of Chemistry depends on our alumni and friends to build and improve our research infrastructure through support of instrumentation, graduate fellowships, and building new laboratories. 

Your generosity, whether it's the renewal of your support or the decision to give for the first time, allows us to do what we do best – innovative, creative research and teaching that’s the hallmark of a great public research university. I hope you'll consider investing in our students and faculty by making a  gift today or speaking with the College's advancement representative, Assistant Dean Rebecca Bair, rebecca.bair@stonybrook.edu, or (631) 632.6178.

You may also make a gift online to Chemistry via the link below.

Support the Department of Chemistry

 

January 2018

Happy New Year from the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University! There have been many exciting happenings in the Department this past year, and we are glad to give you a quick update. 

I became Chair of the Department of Chemistry in January 2017, following the excellent tenure of Professor Nicole Sampson, who served as Chair for four and a half years. Below are some of the highlights of the past year. Please send us your own updates, so we can include them on our Alumni News page! 

We also hope to welcome you back to Stony Brook in October 2018, as we celebrate the 60th Anniversary of SBU Chemistry. More details will be coming in the Spring... 

If you want to learn more or to visit the Department of Chemistry during the year, please let us know.

We are always happy to see friends and alumni.

Warmly, 

Nancy S. Goroff
Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry

 

 

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New Leaders in Chemistry Wall

Honoring Our Past Faculty  

 

On May 4, 2017, we welcomed former faculty and families to Stony Brook for the official unveiling of our Leaders in Chemistry Wall. Check out the photo gallery of the event, and see the Leaders in Chemistry page for the description of each faculty member's tile. We also are collecting stories about each of our past faculty, so please share your favorites!

 

 

Robert F. Schneider, 1933-2017

nn It is with great sadness that we report that this past spring we lost one of the longest serving members of the Department of Chemistry, emeritus professor Robert Schneider. Bob served as research mentor for the first PhD earned at Stony Brook, Raymond McKay. He also led the University's Research Administration office for many years, and went on to serve as Director of Informatics and Compliance in the Office of the Vice President for Research. Bob was a dedicated educator, continuing to teach in the general chemistry labs well after his retirement. Bob also played a leading role in the development of the Leaders in Chemistry Wall, and we were very glad to have his son, Scott, and grandson with us for the unveiling.

 

 

 

Student Updates


We are very proud of our students' accomplishments and honors!

  • Graduate student Kellon Belfon was one of only 12 recipients worldwide of the prestigious Computational Science and Data Science Fellowship from the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on High Performance Computing (SIGHP).
  • Undergraduate Joshua Farr received the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry.
  • Jiefu Yin received the 2017 Mow Shiah Lin Scholarship.
  • Locally, Princess Spencer and Jose Hernandez were honored with this year's Paul Licht Teaching Awards in Chemistry. Yuning Chen was selected to receive the Maria T. Fellowship award. Johnny Lee and   Bingqian Zheng were selected to      receive 2017 Chemistry Graduate       Research Fellowship awards.

 

 

  Faculty Updates

 

 

 

New Faculty Member: Eszter Boros

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Eszter Boros has joined the Department of Chemistry this Fall as an assistant professor. Eszter's research  takes advantage of the rich structural diversity of metal complexes, paired with their versatile luminescent and radioactive properties, for the design of new metal-based molecular imaging probes and therapeutics for personalized medicine. Her work, which continues a long SBU Chemistry tradition of excellence in developing biomedical imaging techniques, will help improve our understanding of cancer, bacterial infection, and lung disorders in humans.

 

 

 

 

In the News

 

 

Undergraduate Alumni Survey Open Now

Please help us evaluate and update our undergraduate curriculum by taking our survey  of undergraduate alumni. All Chemistry and Engineering Chemistry BS and BA alums should receive a separate email request about the survey, but you can access the survey here. Your response will be most helpful if received before March 1, 2018.

 

 

 

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NSBU Hosts International Organic Chemistry Symposium

The 17th International Symposium on Novel Aromatics (ISNA) took place at Stony Brook, July 23-28, 2017, with 285 participants from 21 different countries.

 

 

You Can Make a Difference

We are in the last year of our comprehensive campaign, designed to build resources for faculty, students and staff. Your gift, whether it's the renewal of your support or the decision to give for the first time, allows us to do what we do best – innovative, creative research and teaching that’s the hallmark of a great public university. I hope you'll consider making a gift  today or speaking with the College's advancement representative, Assistant Dean Rebecca Bair, rebecca.bair@stonybrook.edu, or 631-632-1457.

 

 
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