Summer 2011
Volume 7
KSU Chemist
Department of Chemistry - Kansas State University / www.ksu.edu/chem / 785-532-6665 / chemdept@ksu.edu
Dear Friends –
We are now about three months into
the renovation of the air-handling
The beginning of August in Manhattan
system in the CBC Building: all of the
brings with it several sure signs of
ductwork leading from the building’s
midsummer: a stream of students moving
four external exhausts to each of our
back into town; unrelenting heat; and an
145 laboratory fume hoods is being
opportunity to update you about some of the
replaced. We’ve also been able to
developments in the department over the
install nine hoods (salvaged from the
past year.
biochem lab-to-main office conversion
We were delighted to be able to welcome a
three years ago) into fourth floor labs,
new colleague in July: Dr. Ping Li joined us
enhancing those spaces for synthetic
those as being among the best classes
as an Assistant Professor of Organic
they’ve taken at K-State, and enrollment in research; even better, the department
Chemistry. Ping earned his Ph.D. at Duke in
didn’t have to pay for the installation!
Honors Chem 1 has tripled under his
Barbara Ramsay Shaw’s group, and then
guidance. He becomes the third member of All in all, the project has been
was awarded an NIH Kirschstein fellowship,
proceeding smoothly up to this point,
our faculty to be so honored, joining
which he completed with JoAnne Stubbe at
although there have been occasional
Yasmin Patell and Maria Paukstelis.
MIT. Ping’s research will strengthen and
glitches and surprises as should be
extend our department’s expertise in bioYasmin Patell received the Commerce
expected in a task of this magnitude.
organic chemistry and will mesh well with
Bank Outstanding Undergraduate
By next February, both the safety and
that of several colleagues in the department
Teaching Award. Remarkably, year after the energy efficiency of our research
and across campus.
year, Yasmin’s more than 1100 students in and teaching laboratories will be
Chemistry 1 and 2 rate her “Overall
vastly improved.
Another new faculty colleague will join us,
Effectiveness as an Instructor” as 5.0/5.0!
albeit not in the traditional sense: in January
Your support continues to be a vital
At commencement an administrator
2011, Dr. Peter Dorhout, a distinguished
part of everything we do. Despite a
quipped: “Yasmin deserves to have her
solid state inorganic chemist from Colorado
stagnant economy, your generosity
own annual award.” Her students and I
State University will begin his duties as
enabled us to distribute ca. $70,000 in
definitely agree.
Dean of Arts and Sciences. Although Peter
undergraduate scholarships to
will not maintain an active research group at Chris Culbertson received the Stamey
outstanding young chemists. This
K-State, he will continue his extensive
Award for Excellence in Undergraduate
summer’s first year of our NSF-REU
national-level involvement with the
Advising. Chris has a holistic approach to grant brought 10 amazingly talented
American Chemical Society.
advising: he hosts prospective students and undergraduates from across the
their parents, conducts ca. 180 individual country to our department to conduct
The podium at the Spring 2011 College of
meetings each year, provides advice on
research with our faculty members,
Arts and Sciences Commencement
career paths and employment
and we plan to try to attract several of
ceremony somewhat resembled a Chemistry
opportunities, and he also coordinates our them back for graduate work here
faculty meeting as three of our colleagues
extensive undergraduate scholarship
using the Alumni Graduate Fellowship
were recognized for their excellence in
program. Chris’s predecessor in this role, Fund, which is now starting to bear
teaching and advising.
Dan Higgins, also received this award.
fruit. We were also honored last year
Christer Aakeröy received the University’s
with the establishment of substantial
To cap off this Spring of well-deserved
highest teaching honor: the Presidential
deferred commitments from loyal
recognitions, Donna Wright, our superb
Award for Excellence in Undergraduate
alumni. Thanks for your confidence in
Accountant II, was named the Classified
Teaching. Students in his Chemistry 2 and
us.
Employee of the Year by the College of
Honors Chem 1 courses consistently rank
Arts and Sciences. Congratulations, all!
Eric Maatta
Page 2 of 4
KSU Chemist
Faculty Profile: Christine Aikens
Christine Aikens’ career at K-State is off to a
terrific start. This is extremely gratifying but
not at all surprising: she is following the
excellent trajectory that she established
during her undergraduate studies at the
University of Oklahoma (B.S. summa cum
laude, named the Outstanding Chemistry
Senior, recipient of an NSF Graduate
Fellowship, etc.), continued throughout her
Ph.D. work with Mark Gordon at Iowa State
(Henry Gilman Fellowship awardee, DOE
Nobel Laureate Conference attendee, etc.),
and sustained during a productive
postdoctoral appointment with George Schatz
at Northwestern.
Since joining our faculty in August 2007 as
Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry,
she has rapidly built a theoretical chemistry
research program of international
prominence. She has published 19 peerreviewed articles in top-quality journals in
that short time span: these range from singleauthor papers, to those in collaboration with
experimentalists, to those with other
theorists. Most impressively, five of those
contributions list an undergraduate co-worker
as the first author. Among the four
undergraduates who have thus far completed
Senior Thesis Research under Christine’s
direction, three are now pursuing graduate
studies in chemistry, and the fourth is
enrolled in medical school.
Prof. Aikens’ dedication to undergraduate
education is clearly evident from the above
successes of her students, but is also manifest
in other, less-visible ways. For example, in
Summer 2010, on her own time, she
organized a non-credit series of tutorials on
computational chemistry. This class met one
hour a day for five weeks, and attracted
twenty participants (graduate and
undergraduate students alike) from
Chemistry, Physics and Biochemistry. She
has supported her students’ travel to regional,
national and international venues to present
their research results. She was also chosen to
deliver a plenary lecture at the Undergraduate
Research Symposium held at last October’s
Midwest Regional ACS Meeting.
Photo credit: K-State Communications and Marketing
Projects underway in Christine’s group range from interpreting the optical
spectra of discrete gold and silver nanoclusters, to fundamental studies of
nanoparticle growth and luminescence, to an investigation of lactic acid
polymerization on MgO and, most recently, to an examination of the
mechanism of water splitting in the oxygen-evolving complex of
Photosystem II. These broad interests reflect her keen intellect, and her
comfort with the disciplines of chemistry, theory, and physics.
The quality of Prof. Aikens’ science can be glimpsed by her success in
attracting extramural funding: in 2009, she received both a two-year ACSPRF award and a three-year grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific
Research. In 2010, she received a five-year, $600,000 NSF CAREER
Award.
Christine’s influential research and her successes in mentoring young
scientists in the classroom and in the laboratory have earned her a place
among the most distinguished scientists in her peer group. Last February,
she was announced as a recipient of a Sloan Research Fellowship, one of
only 23 chemists across North America to be recognized as, in the words
of Dr. Paul Jaskow, President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, “the very
brightest rising stars of this generation of scholars.” In May, she was
designated as a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar: she was one of only 13
chemists nationwide to receive this prestigious honor. This summer, she
was recognized by the ACS Division of Computers in Chemistry with a
Hewlett-Packard Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, for which she will
give a presentation at a special symposium at the Fall ACS National
Meeting.
Undoubtedly, many more great things lie ahead for her!
Page 3 of 4
KSU Chemist
Donors to the Chemistry Department 7/1/10 - 6/30/11: Thanks to one and all for your support!
Gifts $10,000 - $49,999
Jerry and Judy Reed
Gifts $5,000 - $9,999
John Berschied and Donna Derstadt
Georganne and Art Hiser
David and Wendy Manzo
Jerry Patrick
Gifts $1,000 - $4,999
James and Jane Curtis
George and Linda Hawks
Michael Hinton
Eric and M’Elizabeth Maatta
Gertrude and Herb Moser
Edward and Chris Null
Thomas and Shannon Shields
Charley and Kay Smith
Richard and Judith Steppel
David and Connie Wetzel
Art Williamson
Julie and Kenneth Zimmerman
Gifts $500 - $999
Jerry Crow
Morris and Louise Grotheer
Jim Hodgson
Ken and Linda Klabunde
Larry Kraus
Bill Kush
Dave and Brenda Rindom
Isobel Smith
John and Ann Sparapany
Daniel Stegner
Gifts $250 - $499
James and Elizabeth Barnes
Steve and Sandra Bernasek
Etcyl and Ruth Blair
Ronald and Nancy Bridges
Cheryl and Charles Chafin
Elizabeth Doyle
Charles and Terry Foxx
Charles and Joan Johnson
Ed and Patricia Mishmash
Richard and Joan Nelson
Larry and Celia Nicholson
John Novak
Robert and Beverly Sanchez
John Selby
Gifts $100 - $249
Jerrel and Cynthia Post Anderson
Gary and Barbara Bender
Philip and Joan Brown
Robert and Patricia Cather
Allan and Cynthia Childs
Gerald and Marilyn Davis
Kate Dooley
Darrel Ellis
Jerry and Joyce Foropoulus
Brent and Karen Fulton
Kendall Guyer
Bryce* and Betty Harthoorn
David and Jean Heying
Larry and Kathleen Jackson
Glenn and Catherine Lo
Heather Meredith
Ralph and Dana Myers
Delbert and Joanne Nauman
Tom and Kathryn Neill
Marva and Robert Nelson
Marybeth Nelson
Dale and Jean Noel
Tsutomu and Susan Ohno
Maria Paukstelis
Robert and Beatrice Pearson
Douglas and Judith Pedrotty
Steven Rock
Martin and Margaret Shetlar
Mike and Beth Snyder
Bob and Rhonda Spencer
Robert and Dorothy Wiens
Ralph and Susan Willard
Rongda Xu and Xin Huang
Gifts up to $100
Anton and Susan Ahrens
Ronald and Daisy Bowen
David Brooks and Laura Kanost
Benjamin Champion
Anna Clark
David and Barbara Cole
John and LeeAnn Desper
Dennis Gillen
Dambar Hamal and Shanti Singh
David Hodgson
Jim and Carolyn Hodgson
Kurt and Kate Hoeman
Gene Howe*
Burk and Ann Jubelt
Myungshim Kang
Jim and Margaret Mertz
Suchada and Andrzej Rajca
Ernest and Sylvia Robb
Janie Salmon
Richard and Anita Shores
Jason Smee
Hongwang Wang
Donald and Mary Zebolsky
* = deceased
Deferred Commitments
Anonymous
Charley and Kay Smith
Corporate Gifts
Aerosurvey Inc.
American Chemical Society
ConocoPhillips
Eli Lilly and Company
ExxonMobil Foundation
Hospira Inc
MGP Ingredients
Pfizer Foundation
Pfizer Inc
Phi Lambda Upsilon
Shell Oil Company Foundation
Takeda Pharmaceuticals No. America
The Boeing Company
The Dow Chemical Company
The Dow Chemical Foundation
The P&G Fund
The Reinhold Foundation
The Trust Company of Manhattan
Generous contributions from the individuals, corporations and organizations above have
helped us to support talented undergraduates, attract quality graduate students, enhance
our instructional and research equipment, host outstanding scientists for interactive visits,
and send our students to conferences to present their research findings. Should you be
interested in contributing, please contact our department’s KSU Foundation officer, Damon
Fairchild (1-800-432-1578; 785-532-7524; damonf@found.ksu.edu). We would be honored
to have your support.
Teaming Up to Fight Cancer
KSU Chemist
CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT
KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
213 CBC BUILDING
MANHATTAN, KS 66506
PHONE:
785-532-6665
FAX:
785-532-6666
E-MAIL:
chemdept@ksu.edu
WEB:
www.ksu.edu/chem/
Call, write, e-mail, or
better yet, stop by.
We’d enjoy hearing
from you.
A Round of Applause for:
Each of our graduate faculty members maintains an
independent research program, and virtually all of them are
also involved in various collaborative efforts – with each
other, with colleagues across campus, and with other
scientists all over the world. Perhaps you didn’t know that
many of our faculty members are part of another important
research team: the Johnson Center for Basic Cancer
Research, which is headquartered in KSU’s Division of
Biology. Professors Aakeröy, Bossmann, Chikan,
Culbertson, Higgins, Hua, Ito, Jankowiak, Li and Rayat are
all conducting cancer-related research as Affiliates of the
Center. These projects range from nanoparticle-based
magnetic hyperthermia treatments, to photodynamic
therapies, to the synthesis of new anti-cancer drugs, to
methods for detecting biological markers of early-stage
tumor development. Apart from the intrinsic value of the
knowledge gained, another significant benefit from our
colleagues’ efforts is their training of talented undergraduate
researchers who receive support from the Center through
scholarships and fellowships. Learn more about the Center
for Basic Cancer Research at http://cancer.ksu.edu/
Viktor Chikan, who earned
tenure and promotion to
Associate Professor of
Physical Chemistry.
rd
Ayomi Perera, 3 year Ph.D.
student in Stefan Bossmann’s
group, who was recognized for
the best presentation at KSU’s
Graduate Research Forum.
th
Lateef Syed, 4 year graduate
student in Jun Li’s group, who
received both the FateleyHammaker Collaboration in
Research Award and a KSU
Research Foundation
graduate fellowship.
th
Evan Hurley, 4 year graduate
student in Christer Aakeröy’s
group, who received a second
consecutive NSF GK-12
graduate fellowship.
Remember when?
The undated photo of Don Setser at left likely
was taken in the early 1970s, around the time
that he and his group began to investigate
energy transfer and emission in metastable
noble gas-halogen species. That work spawned
the development of various types of excimer
lasers and earned Don and his Ph.D. student
J.E. Velazco a share of the Rank Foundation
Prize in Optoelectronics in 1992.
With his nearly 400 published articles, and an
astounding h-index of 57, Don stands as one
Department of Chemistry
Kansas State University
213 CBC Building
Manhattan, KS 66506
NAME
STREET ADDRESS 1
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CITY, STATE 00000
of our department’s most distinguished
and influential scientists; having earned
his B.S. degree here, he also stands as
one of our most distinguished alumni.
His list of honors and recognitions is far
too long for this space. Don retired as
Distinguished Professor in 2000, but he
hasn’t slowed down. He comes to his
office most every day, often on
weekends, and continues to pump out
manuscripts: he has published about 25
papers since his “retirement”.