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The Carnegie Mellon Chemist
CHEMISTRY ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
January 1997
Chemistry Undergrads
Awards We are pleased to report that the quality of our chemistry ma- jors was recognized by a number of awards in 1996, including: the Presi- dent's Scholarship for Law School at the University of Dayton (Michelle Forney), the Society of Analytical Chemistry Pittsburgh Award (David Hackney), the Andrew Carnegie So- ciety Award (David Hackney), a Uni- versity Leadership Award (Theresa Abernathy), a Senior Leaders Award (Shannon Lemrow), and a Fifth Year Scholarship from Carnegie Mellon (Everett Neal), see further below.
1996 Graduating Class Twenty- two students received undergradu- ate degrees in chemistry in the May 1996 commencement. Two of these completing the requirements for the Departmental Honors Program. Two graduated with University Honors, and six received MCS College Hon- ors. Two were inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and one into Phi Kappa Phi. Eight students entered graduate schools including: Brandeis, Wisconsin, Purdue, Northwestern, and U. Washington.
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Alumnus Research Cited
in C&E News
Lawrence R. Sita , BS 81, and his research group in the Department of Chemistry of the University of Chi- cago were featured in the News of the Week column in Chemistry & En- gineering News for their research on carbon dioxide fixation (see the 11 November 1996 issue, p. 8). Larry received a PhD from MIT in 1985, and is now an Assistant Professor at the Univ. Chicago. The work cited was done with a graduate student and a postdoctoral associate. The report cited their demonstration that isocyanates and carbodiimides can be prepared from carbon dioxide and bisamides containing the group 14 metals germanium or tin by a process known as metathetical exchange (reported in J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1996) 118 :10912). Larry is quoted in the C&EN column: “This repre- sents a simple ‘fixation’ of CO 2 via a facile metathesis process that occurs rapidly and exothermically at room temperature.” He points out that iso- cyanates and carbodiimides are both classes of compounds used to pre- pare a number of industrially impor- tant chemicals.
Alumna Receives
National Award
Stephanie Louise Kwolek , MM 46, has received the 1996 National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest honor for technological achievement. The award is in recog- nition of her central role in the inven- tion and development of Kevlar®, an aramid fiber of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Co. We were fortunate to have Stephanie give a talk to the Women in Science seminar series this year to recount her professional experience. On graduation from Margaret Morrison, she joined the Pioneering Research Laboratory of du Pont. There she became part of an initiative to find new polymers and polymerization methods to obtain materials with higher use tempera- tures and other desirable properties, subsequently assuming a leadership role in that enterprise. The investiga- tions developed an impressive range of new materials, some of which de- veloped to commercial products: Ly- cra® spandex fiber, Kapton® poly- imide film, and Nomex®. That work also led to the first identification of a liquid crystalline solution of a fully synthetic polymer, and the first
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Department of Chemistry
The Department Head’s Column
On behalf of the Chemistry Faculty, I am again pleased to address the Alumni of our Department, to highlight some of the important de- velopments in the Department since our last Newsletter, and to share our plans for the future.
To summarize faculty affairs, I am pleased to note the promotion of Karen Stump to the rank of Principal Lecturer, the reappointments of Assistant Professors Susan Graul, Michael Hendrich and Linda Peteanu, and the appointment of Colin Horwitz and Mark Bier as Re- search Faculty. Professor Josef Dadok will retire in July 1997, from long service to the University, having joined Carnegie Mellon in 1967. Professor Jonathan Lindsey accepted a Chaired Professorship at North Carolina State University; we all wish him the best in his new envi- ronment. At the same time, our Department continues to renew itself, with searches currently open for a Senior Computational Chemist and two Bioorganic Chemists.
Last year was quite successful for Chemistry, reflected in part by an increase in the available Departmental Research Budget from $3.9 to $4.9 million. Our graduate class has grown steadily: 14 new students joined us in 1996, as compared to 11 in 1995 and 9 in 1994. In addi- tion to graduates from American colleges, one student each arrived from of Bulgaria, China, India and Switzerland.
We graduated a magnificent class in 1996. Nearly all of the gradu- ates either went on to graduate schools, professional schools or gained industrial positions. We believe that the strong research com- ponent in the undergraduate curriculum helps our undergraduates compete in the world outside Carnegie Mellon. In fact, nearly all stu- dents in the classes of '94, '95 and '96 were involved in research. That research had the tangible results of 7 papers published in 1994, 8 in 1995 and 7 in 1996. For example, Theresa Abernathy coauthored a paper published last year in "Science".
Instrumentation for our research and education has significantly im- proved. Proposals submitted by Professors Collins, Hendrich and Peteanu to the Dreyfus Foundation and to Hewlett Packard were funded, resulting in four new UV spectrometers and the second FT- NMR instrument for our undergraduate laboratories. We are all de- lighted by the establishment of the Center for Molecular Analysis, with Mark Bier as Director, which houses research grade spectrometers (UV/VIS/NIR, FT IR, MALDI TOF MS, LCQ MS, and two 300 MHz NMR instruments). This burst in research instrumentation significantly im- proves our research capabilities; it will be very important in attracting new faculty, and further strengthening our undergraduate and gradu- ate programs.
We hope and expect to continue the trajectory of 1996 into the new year. I would like to thank you, our faithful Alumni for your interest in the Department and ask you to continue to work with us to improve your Alma Mater by sending your valued suggestions and advice. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski
Chemistry Faculty: G. C. Berry T. J. Collins J. Dadok S. T. Graul M. P. Hendrich M. Kaplan
P. J. Karol H. J. Kim M. Llinás K. Matyjaszewski R. D. McCullough E. Münck
G. D. Patterson L. A. Peteanu S. W. Staley R. F. Stewart K. H. Stump C. H. Van Dyke D. Yaron
Faculty Profiles
Two of our senior faculty are featured in this issue:
Gary D. Patterson
joined the Department in 1984 as Pro- fessor of Chemical Physics and Poly- mer Science, following a decade in the Chemical Physics Department at the AT&T Bell Laboratories. His graduate work had been with Nobel Laureate Paul J. Flory at Stanford Uni- versity. His research interests em- phasize the structure and dynamics of amorphous materials from gases to glasses, with special emphasis on the behavior of polymeric materials. He uses laser spectroscopy to “listen to molecules sing and watch them do their dance” over a wide frequency range. These experimental results are then used in a systematic, rigor- ous analysis of theoretical and com- puter calculations of material behavior. Recently, Gary has been teaching Advanced Physical Chemistry for un- dergraduate Chemical Engineers and Statistical Chemistry for graduate stu- dents. Chemistry majors see him as the advisor to the ACS Student Affili- ate Chapter and one of the team of undergraduate class advisors--and as “the other Professor who comes to undergraduate seminars!Ó.
Stuart W. Staley
joined the Department in 1986 as Professor of Chemistry, coming from prior positions at the Universities of Nebraska and Maryland. His research encompasses several areas of physi- cal organic chemistry: studies of elec- tron transfer by dynamic NMR spec- troscopy, the preparation and charac- terization of Mobius aromatic mole- cules, the synthesis and isolation of theoretically interesting highly reac- tive molecules. In each area, Stuart combines the synthesis of molecules expected to exhibit unusual proper- ties with structural and dynamic char- acterization of their molecular behav- ior, and applications of molecular or- bital theory to model the behavior. A recent example involves the dynamics of bond switching and electron trans- fer in the dianions of two cyclooc- tatetraene rings bridged by various
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Department of Chemistry
Chemistry Fifth Year
Scholarship Program
As noted above, Everett Neal, a Chemistry undergraduate, re- ceived a Fifth Year Scholarship from Carnegie Mellon for 1997-98. The scholarship program, begun in 1991, provides tuition and a $6,000 fellowship to support dis- tinguished students in a fifth year of study to pursue a broadened edu- cational program, often in an en- tirely different area than their major field of study. Everett, who is working toward degrees in Chemis- try and Industrial Management, would like to highlight the similari- ties and differences between the sciences and arts through a series of on-campus lectures during his fifth year. He is a member of the Kiltie Band, a resident assistant, and participates in intramural sports. He is a coauthor of two published scientific papers resulting from re- search at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Carnegie Mellon.
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Kwolek (from p. 1)
successful exploitation of the properties of such solutions to de- velop the commercial product, now known as Kevlar®. Over 200 appli- cations for Kevlar® include light- weight personal armor, nearly neu- trally buoyant cables to anchor deep sea rigs operating at depths where other materials fail of their own weight, and a light-weight filler in composites for the transportation industry. ••
Faculty Affairs
Chemistry Research Retreat number 6 was held in a new venue for the annual event: the Hidden Valley Resort in the Laurel High- lands. The prior retreats were at the more spartan (but scenic) YMCA camp, also in the Highlands. The retreat, organized each autumn (as the leaves develop their fall colors) by Eckard Münck , affords faculty, graduate students
and research associates of the De- partment the opportunity to meet from Friday evening through Sun- day noon for seminars and informal discussion and relaxation. The re- search presentations are dis- tributed among the members of the Department's research groups. The program allows plenty of time for discussion, both during the sessions, as well as during the 'free-time'. The funding for this ac- tivity comes in part from gifts from alumni and friends.
Jonathan S. Lindsey has left us to become Glaxo Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry of North Carolina State University. We wish him well in his new position.
James W. Whittaker has left the Department to join the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology, Portland, OR, where he will pursue his biochemical re- search interests.
Krzysztof Matyjaszewski has started an Industrial Consortium on Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP), sponsored by 11 companies: AKZO, Asahi, Bayer, BF Goodrich, DSM, Elf, Geon, JSR, Kaneka, PPG, Rohm & Haas. The mission is to define the scope and limits of ATRP, along with possible applications. ATRP is developing as a robust technique for controlled/"living" radical po- lymerization, affording many features of the control of monomer se- quence and chain topology associated with anionic polymeriza- tions. The key is a rapid dynamic equilibrium be- tween minute amounts of active radicals, which may add monomer, and dormant chains, com- prising the bulk of the chains, thereby sup- pressing chain termina- tion, and affording con- trol over monomer sequence, chain topology, and chain length, similar to that in anionic polymerizations. Controlled monomer placement permits preparation of homopolymers, as well as co- polymers with random, alternating, block, gradient, or graft se- quences (top to bottom in figure). Controlled topology permits preparation of linear, comb or star branched and hyperbranched polymers (see figure). ATRP has been used with styrenes, dienes, (meth)acrylates and acrylonitrile to prepare polymers with pre- determined molecular weights (Mn>10^5 ) and low dispersities (Mw/Mn<1.05). See Kris's entry in the Department's Home Page for a bibliography.
Mark E. Bier joined the Department in August 1996 as Director of the new Center for Molecular Analysis (CMA). The CMA features modern high-per- formance analytical instruments for use by the Departments of Chemistry and Biological Sciences, and other centers and departments of CMU. Mark had been a Scientist at Finnigan Corp. in San Jose, CA, following Ph.D. studies at Purdue Univ. His research interests include instrumentation development for mass spectrometry, ionization tech- niques, surface induced dissociation, and membrane inlets. The CMA con- tains FTIR/NIR, UV/VIS/NIR spec- trometers, and two 300 MHz NMRs. Two research grade mass spectrome- ters will be added in 1997, to provide molecular weight and sequence infor- mation for nonvolatile organics, includ- ing small synthetic and natural macro- molecules, at the femtomole level. Mark was part of a design team that devel- oped one of these instruments while he was with Finnigan. Details on these in- struments and the services offered by the CMA will soon be available on the WEB through the Department's Home Page.
Controlled placement Controlled topolgy
Department of Chemistry
Richard D. McCullough's research group has been successful in structurally organizing electrically conductive polymers by self-assembly into monolayer or bilayer bundles of highly conductive nanosheets in re- cent work. New amphiphilic, regioregular alternating copolymers of polythiophene have been syn- thesized and are assembled at an air-water interface and transferred to a hydrophilic substrate surface to make mono- layer or bilayer films. The pre- dicted structure of the nanosheet has been characterized on the water surface by X-ray synchrotron experiments. New applications of these ma- terials may be conducting polymer switchable biomembranes and sen- sors and ordered nanoarays of conjugated polymers at metal or semi- conductor surfaces nanoelectronic applications.
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Faculty Profile (Continued from p. 2)
saturated or unsaturated groups is studied by C-13 NMR spectroscopy to determine mechanisms of charge transfer and the relative conduc- tivities of the bridging groups, with ab initio molecular orbital calcula- tions to complement these experiments. Stuart is active in teaching in the undergraduate curriculum, including the courses and laboratories in organic chemistry, and a course he introduced in scientific writing.
Josef Dadok will retire as Profes- sor Emeritus at the end of the '96-' academic year, after long service to the University, having joined Carnegie Mellon in 1967. Joe is well known for his research in instrumen- tation in NMR spectroscopy. His work in NMR instrumentation in Czechoslovakia in 1957-67 led to the first commercial NMR in Eastern Europe. His long-time collaboration with Professor Emeritus Aksel A. Bothner-By included the design, construction and use of advanced high-field spectrometers, producing the first instruments at field strengths of 5.9 and later 14.1 Tesla (^1 H reso- nances of 250 and 600 MHz, respec- tively). These spectrometers were the focus of the NIH National NMR Facility for Biomedical Studies at Carnegie Mellon for more than two decades, attracting scientists from around the world. A history of these developments authored by Joe may be found in the Vol. 1 of the Ency- clopedia of Nuclear Magnetic Reso- nance , 1996 (John Wiley). ••
ALUMNI NEWS
Your generous responses to the questionnaire in the Newsletter and requests for continued issues are much appreciated--we now have heard from 222 of you (many more than once as you update us on your whereabouts and career)!
John N. Welsh , BS 25, writes that he is retired but still very active in applied chemistry, a.k.a. cooking!
Elizabeth P. Hartner (née Pearsall), BS 31, MS 37, who is retired from the Univ. Pittsburgh, was a member of the CMU Reunion Committee in the fall of 1996. She authored "Introduction to Automated Literature Searching," which was published in 1981.
Elizabeth K. Winters (née Kenney), BS 36, son, George Winters, Col. USAF ret. is a member of techni- cal staff of Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering In- stitute.
Stuart G. Ballin , BS 38, is retired from the Chief Medical Examiner's Office of New York City; he earned MS (41, Polytechnic Univ.) and PhD (49, Univ. of Texas) degrees after leaving CMU.
John J. McGovern , BS 42, MS 44, PhD 46, sent along the sad news of the untimely death last year of his eldest son, John, Jr., also a Carnegie Mellon Alum- nus (BChemE 70, PhD 84).
Anna M. Lenahan (née Longridge), MM 46, now owns and operates a travel agency in Newport Beach CA. She moved to that area after graduation, and worked for several years for the Jet Propulsion Labs. Harry T. Dryer , BS 48, is retired from the Applica- tions Laboratory of Applied Research Laboratories, Inc., is living in Dearborn, MI. David I. Sapper , BS 49, MS 51, PhD 52, is pres- ently a management and technical consultant, follow- ing retirement as VP of R&D and Dir. of Corporate Tech. Center of Clevite Industries; retirement is being enjoyed with wife, Shirley (MM 52), with travel to see 4 children, 5 grandchildren, and throughout Europe. Joyce R. Rudick (née Rayvid), BS 61, is carrying out research on women's health at the National Insti- tute of Health; she and husband, Joel (61 Architec- ture) have 3 sons. Michael Zerner , BS 61, who recently completed a 6 yr. term as Chair of the Department of Chemistry at the Univ. of Florida gave a seminar last year to the CMU Chem. Dept.; he remarks that "the Department cer- tainly has changed since I graduated!"
Beverly B. Deerhake (née Babcock), BS 62, writes that she has just returned from Antarctica and Easter Island, after travel to 85 countries and living abroad for 13 yrs, including in Trinidad, Egypt and Norway.
Continued on next page +
Side view of dimer segment Top view of adjacent dimer segments
Air Water
3.85 Å
7.8 Å
12 Å
3 Å
Department of Chemistry
ALUMNI NEWS (Continued from prior page)
Erich C. Blossey , PhD 63, is on the faculty of the Dept. of Chemistry of Rollins College in Florida. He re- cently lectured at the Rhône-Poulenc-Rorer Round Ta- ble on Combinatorial Chemistry
Larry Clemens , PhD 64, is a corporate scientist with the 3M Company - Adhesives Technology Center., - 3M co. in St. Paul, MN
Marvis Hartman , PhD 72, now Technical Director, OEM Products Europe, of PPG Industries writes that "the skills taught me at CMU by W. L. Mock have served me well".
Sharon Jones Elliott (née Jones), PhD 86, was recently promoted to Supervisor, new Polymer Prod- uct Development of Aristech Chemical Corp.
John Duchowski , MS 87, PhD 90, became a Sr. Staff Scientist in the Sci. & Lab. Services Dept. of Pall Corp., Los Angeles, after a postdoctoral at the Univ. of Calif. at Riverside; his current work involves the characterization of hydraulic and lubricating fluids. He writes that "The training I received in the Chem. Dept. provided me with a solid background which prepared me very well to face the challenges of the modern in- dustrial market. I look back very fondly at the time I spent at CMU…".
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Alumnus Cited for Contributions
Stephen H. Montgomery, BS 79, received an Outstanding Research Team Award from his em- ployer, Abbott Laboratories, for scale-up of a prote- ase treatment for HIV and AIDS. The team improved the production process and reduced costs, to make the delivery of the drug commercially viable. The award carried a donation of $5,000 in Abbot stock to
the university of the winners choice--Stephen made us his choice, for which we thank him and Abbott! ••
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
We want to thank the many Alumni who have made gifts to the University and/or Department. These are extremely important to our efforts to provide a quality educational experience to our students. Gifts may be made to Carnegie Mellon, either as unrestricted gifts to the University, or as gifts designated by you to be used by a particular unit within the University (Chemistry for example!).
The Chemistry Department has many activities in both undergraduate and graduate education that benefit from your generosity in gifts you specifically desig- nate for the Department, including:
- Grants for undergraduate and graduate students for travel to scientific meetings
- Support for Departmental Colloquia
- Support for undergraduate research projects
- The Annual Chemistry Department Retreat
You may designate gifts to the Department by explicit request to that effect, or by instructions that your gift be directed to account number 1-31296. Some of you may be able to take advantage of gift-matching programs at your place of employment. In any case, thanks again for thinking of us! ••
Chemistry Alumni Directory
Many of you responded affirmatively to offer to oblige your classmates in locating you from our files. If you have not responded, and wish to do so, please check the "Yes" box in the Questionnaire below
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Department of Chemistry
Carnegie Mellon University
Mellon Institute
Box 166
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