Union College students and faculty members attend the American Chemical Society’s National Meeting:
Ten Union College students and four Chemistry Department faculty members attended the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Dallas, Texas, March 16-20. The Union students and faculty gave a total of 12 presentations at the meeting. Travel funding for the students came from grants from Union’s Student Conference Travel Grants, the National Science Foundation, and departmental support.
Union contingent
Biochemistry major Michael Morris '14, Biology major Lane Roberts '14, Chemistry majors Courtney Elwell '14, Taera Kim '14, Thomas Kolb '15, Jared Mondschein '14, Paulina Piotrowski '14, Isaac Ramphal '14, Erin Waterman '14 and Mechanical Engineering & Chemistry double major Leah Smith '14 attended the meeting along with Chemistry Department professors Mary Carroll, Michael Hagerman, Joanne Kehlbeck, and Laura MacManus-Spencer.
Highlights
Each of the ten students presented his/her research during one of the poster sessions.
Posters were presented in the Division of Analytical Chemistry (ANYL), Division of Chemical Education (CHED), Division of Environmental Chemistry (ENVR) and Division of Inorganic Chemistry (INOR).
ANYL 148 “Luminescent-probe-doped TEOS-based silica aerogels for oxygen sensor applications”
Thomas M. Kolb ’15, Prof. Mary K. Carroll, Prof. Ann M. Anderson (Mechanical Engineering)
CHED 1101 “Identification, characterization, and synthesis of Drosophila athabasca cuticular hydrocarbons”
Paulina K. Piotrowski ’14, Lane K. Roberts ’14, Prof. Joanne D. Kehlbeck, Prof. Roman Yukilevich (Biology).
ENVR 325 “Investigation of binding interactions of perfluoroalkyl acids with human serum albumin using an improved approach to equilibrium dialysis”
Michael A. Morris ’14, Prof. Laura A. MacManus-Spencer
ENVR 382 “Cerium oxide and laponite filtration membranes for water purification”
Tae Ra Kim ’14, Prof. Laura A MacManus-Spencer, Prof. Michael E. Hagerman
INOR 313 “Mechanochemical routes to bicontinuous conductive polymer networks for solar applications”
Erin R. Waterman ’14 and Prof. Michael E. Hagerman
INOR 583 “Synthesis, characterization, and biological reactivity of mixed ligand Cu(II) complexes”
Courtney Elwell ’14, Prof. Laurie Tyler (Chemistry), Prof. Kristin Fox (Chemistry), Prof. Joseph Tanski (Dept. of Chemistry, Vassar College)
INOR 619 “Fabrication and characterization of vanadia-silica aerogels”
Leah C. Smith ’14, Aude M. Bechu ’16 (Chemistry), Prof. Mary K. Carroll, Prof. Ann M. Anderson (Mechanical Engineering)
INOR 651 “Directing polyaniline self-assembly using Laponite nanoparticles”
Jared S. Mondschein ’14, Prof. Michael E. Hagerman, Prof. Rebecca Cortez (Mechanical Engineering)
INOR 654 “Graphene-polyaniline-laponite nanocomposites for solar applications”
Isaac A. Ramphal ’14, Prof. Michael E. Hagerman
Union faculty members gave three oral presentations at the conference.
Talks were presented in the Division of Chemical Education (CHED), Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry (COLL) and the Division of Environmental Chemistry (ENVR).
CHED 1560 “Curricular concept mapping through the chemistry curriculum at Union College”
Prof. Joanne D. Kehlbeck and Prof. Michael E. Hagerman
Oral presentation in the symposium on Chemistry Education Research
COLL 695 “Water-processable Laponite nanocomposites for energy and environmental applications”
Prof. Michael E Hagerman, Tae Ra Kim ’14, Jared S Mondschein ’14, Isaac A Ramphal ’14, Erin R Waterman ’14
Oral presentation in the symposium on Multicomponent Functional Nanomaterials: Development and Applications
ENVR 60 “Aqueous photolysis of the common ultraviolet filter chemical octyldimethyl para-aminobenzoic acid (Padimate O)”
Prof. Laura MacManus-Spencer, Sarah Bercovici ’11, Shivani Suhag, ’12
Oral presentation in the symposium on Emerging Micro-Pollutants in the Environment
The Union College Chemistry Club received a Commendable Student Chapter Award from the ACS, based on its 2012-13 activities. This is the second highest recognition level. It also marks the 20th year in a row that our Chemistry Club has received an ACS award. Club President Isaac Ramphal '14 accepted the award on behalf of the officers at a ceremony.