Northwestern University Department of Chemistry
CHEMISTRY CONNECTION
Spring 2013
In this Issue
Faculty News
2&3
Student News
4
Honor Roll
5&6
NuMat Technologies Capitalizes on Success
In Memoriam
6
Innovative technology and diverse group
members turned out to be a winning combination for NuMat Technologies. The team,
representing four departments and schools
at Northwestern (Chemistry, Kellogg/
Business, Law and McCormick/Engineering),
developed a new class of nanomaterials that
can transform how natural gas is stored in
motor vehicle gas tanks.
PLU News
7
Letter from the
Chair
8
Omar Farha (left) with NuMat Technologies founders and outgoing Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu (right)
Omar Farha, Chemistry Research Associate
Professor, along with Chris Wilmer, Tabrez
Ebrahim and Ben Hernandez found success
at numerous national business plan
competitions.
NuMat won the inaugural 2012 Department
of Energy National Clean Energy Business
Plan Competition held at the White House
and the 2012 Rice Business Plan
Competition where they were awarded more
than $850,000 in prize money. The Rice win
sent the NuMat team to New York City to ring
the closing bell at NASDAQ.
NuMat was also the top prize winner at the
Venture Labs Investment Competition and
the Chicago Clean Energy Student
Challenge. While the team was confident in
their business idea before entering the
competitions, Farha says the group felt
validated after receiving such positive
feedback from venture capitalists.
Just this month, NuMat received firm
commitments of approximately $1.8 M from
an investor group based in Houston and has
a target close date in mid-April.
NuMat is negotiating a lease at the Illinois
Science and Technology Park, where several
other Northwestern spin-off companies are
located. NuMat has already hired three
employees and hopes to grow its team size to
nine by July 2013.
“The real work starts now,” Farha said. “We
are very much looking forward to the next
steps in the process of creating and
commercializing materials for NuMat’s
applications.”
Follow Chemistry Online
Faculty
News
Chemistry Connection
Page 2
Chemistry Faculty Lead New Research Initiatives
Wasielewski
Poeppelmeier
Geiger
Co
SOFI Process to Mimic
Photosynthesis
The new Solar Fuels Institute (SOFI) is
leading the way in solving the world’s
energy crisis. Led by Michael
Wasielewski and Dick Co, SOFI will use
artificial photosynthesis to fuel the planet
sustainably with sunlight. Unlike current
solar power technologies, the solar fuels
produced by SOFI are liquid hydrocarbon
fuels similar to petroleum and can be
processed, stored, transported and
consumed using existing infrastructure.
Center for Sustainable
Nanotechnology to Study Impact of
Nanoparticles
JCESR to Focus on
Batteries and Energy
The Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology was established to develop a deeper
understanding of nanotechnology’s
environmental footprint and potential
toxicity. Franz Geiger, who leads the
Northwestern team, and researchers from
six other institutions will attempt to understand how the surfaces of new and aged
nanoparticles interact at the molecular
level with cell membranes and what kind of
biochemical pathways are triggered with
these interactions occur. They will study
two freshwater organisms, feeding them
nanoparticles and tracking the particles to
determine if they have any toxic effects on
the organisms.
The Joint Center for Energy Storage
Research (JCESR) will develop and
commercialize technologies that will
provide five times the energy storage at
one-fifth the cost in five years. Advancing
battery and energy storage technologies
for electric and hybrid cars is a critical part
of President Obama’s strategy to reduce
America’s reliance on foreign oil and
reduce energy costs for U.S. consumers.
“It is exciting to be part of this large effort
to push the boundaries of battery and
energy storage technologies—areas in
which Northwestern has a long history,”
says Ken Poppelmeier, who leads the
project for Northwestern.
Three Junior Faculty Join Chemistry Department
Freedman
Harris
Shiozaki
The department welcomed three new faculty members in Fall 2012. Danna Freedman completed her graduate work at
Berkeley and was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT before joining Northwestern. Freedman’s research applies the approaches
and tools of synthetic inorganic chemistry to understand and overcome fundamental obstacles in physics and energy
research. David Harris received his Ph.D. from Berkeley and did his postdoctoral work at Harvard. Harris’ research
program is dedicated to utilizing synthetic inorganic chemistry for the construction of functional inorganic molecules and
materials, with an emphasis on compounds that exhibit interesting magnetic properties. Toru Shiozaki joins us from the
University of Stuttgart in Germany, where he completed his postdoctoral work. He received his Ph.D. from the University
of Tokyo. Shiozaki’s research focuses on developing novel electronic structure theories to realize quantitative modeling of
materials and biological systems.
Faculty
News
Chemistry Connection
Page 3
Faculty Awards & Honors
Lin Chen
2013 AAAS Fellow
Franz Geiger
2012 Irving M. Klotz Professorship
2012 AAAS Fellow
Brian Hoffman
2012 Joseph Chatt Medal from Royal Society
of Chemistry
2012 Alfred Baker Award in Bioinorganic
Chemistry from ACS
Joseph Hupp
2012 Division of Analytical Chemistry Award
in Electrochemistry from the ACS
Mirkin, cont.
2012 Award for Creative Invention from the
American Chemical Society
Scheidt, cont.
2012 Fellow, American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2012 Featured in special issue of National
Geographic titled “100 Scientific Discoveries
That Changed the World”
Richard Silverman
2013 Bristol-Myers Squibb-Edward E.
Smissman Award of the American Chemical
Society
2012 Honorary professorship from Hunan
University in Changsha, China
2012 Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor to
Singapore
2012 Honorary degree from Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore
2012 AAAS Fellow
Mercouri Kanatzidis
2013 Cheetham Lecture Award
2012 AAAS Fellow
Tobin Marks
2013 Alan G. MacDiarmid Medal, University
of Pennsylvania
2012 Theodore W. Richards Medal, American
Chemical Society
2012 U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Award in the Chemical Sciences
2012 Erik B. Young Lecturer, University of
Maryland, College Park
2012 UCLA Hawthorne Lectureship,
University of California Los Angeles
2012 ACS Fall Plenary Symposium,
Philadelphia, PA
2012 Case Western Reserve University Allen
and Constance Ford Distinguished Lecture
Series
2013 Roland T. Lakey Award from Wayne
State University
2012 Sato Memorial International Award of
the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan
Sir Fraser Stoddart
2012 Elected Fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences
2012 Named Honorary Fellow of the Royal
Society of Chemistry
2012 Distinguished Citizen Award from the
Illinois St Andrews Society
Samuel Stupp
2013 Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement
in Biomimetic Chemistry
2012 Georgia Institute of Technology
Pritchett Lecture
2013 Centre for Nanomedicine Visiting
Professorship, University of New South
Wales
2012 University of Southern California Ming
Hsieh Institute Symposium
2012 Member, National Academy of
Engineering
2012 International Material Science Award
from the International Centre for Materials
Science, Bangalore
2012 International Scientific Advisory Board,
Centre for Cooperative Research in
Biomaterials-CIC biomaGUNE, Spain
Milan Mrksich
2013 Fellow, American Institute for Medical
and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
Alexander Statsuk
2012 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical
Sciences
2012 World Molecular Imaging Society
(WMIS) Fellow
Mark Ratner
2012 American Chemical Society Willard
Gibbs Medalist
Regan Thomson
Illinois Division American Cancer Society
Research Scholar (2012–2016)
Chad Mirkin
2013 Materials Research Society (MRS)
Fellow
2012 Featured in special issue of National
Geographic titled “100 Scientific Discoveries
That Changed the World”
2012 Excellence in Chemistry Symposium
Speaker, University of Texas Southwest
Medical Center
Karl Scheidt
2012 Japanese Society for the Promotion of
Science (JSPS) Invitation Fellowship
Michael Wasielewski
2012 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award from the
American Chemical Society
2012 Member, U.S. National Academy of
Engineering
2012 Distinguished Alumni Award and
Election, Circle of Discovery, University of
Maryland
2012 American Chemical Society Somorjai
Award for Creative Research in Catalysis
2012 Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, The
Ohio State University
Thomas Meade
2013 NIH/NHLBI SBIR Topic 80 Review
Chair
2013 Honorary Member of Materials Research Society of India (MRSI)
2013 Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society
Walston Chubb Award for Innovation
Student
News
Chemistry Connection
Page 4
Love Triumphs Over Hate to Make New Compound
Chemistry graduate student Jonathan Barnes had a hunch for creating an exotic new chemical compound, and his idea
that the force of love is stronger than hate proved correct. He and his colleagues are the first to permanently interlock
two identical tetracationic rings that normally are repelled by each other. Many experts had said it couldn’t be done.
On the surface, the rings hate each other because each carries four positive charges making them tetracationic. But
Barnes discovered by introducing radicals (unpaired electrons) onto the scene, the researchers could create a love-hate
relationship in which love triumphs.
Unpaired electrons want to pair up and be stable, and it turns out the attraction of one ring’s single
electrons to the other ring’s single electrons is stronger than the repelling forces. The process links
the rings not by a chemical bond but by a mechanical bond, which, once in place, cannot easily be
torn asunder.
Barnes
The study detailing this new class of stable organic radicals was published January 25 by the
journal Science.
“It’s not that people have tried and failed to put these two rings together -- they just didn’t think it was possible,” said Sir
Fraser Stoddart, a senior author of the paper. “Now this molecule has been made. I cannot overemphasize Jonathan’s
achievement -- it is really outside the box. Now we are excited to see where this new chemistry leads us.”
The new Northwestern compound has attractive electronic characteristics and can be made quickly and inexpensively.
Down the road, it may be possible to expand this first linked pair into a longer chain-like polymer where this methodology
could be useful in new technologies for batteries, semiconductors and electronic memory devices.
Driven by curiosity, Barnes only began to look at the radical chemistry of the ring cyclobis (paraquat-p-phenylene) two
years ago, nearly 25 years after the ring was first made.
“I wondered what would happen if we took it all the way to the max,” said Barnes, the paper’s first author and a member
of Stoddart’s group. “Can we take two of these rings, each with four positive charges, and make them live together?”
The rings repel each other like the positive poles of two magnets. Barnes saw an opportunity where he thought he could
tweak the chemistry by using radicals to overcome the hate between the two rings.
“We made these rings communicate and love each other under certain conditions, and once they were mechanically
interlocked, the bond could not be broken,” Barnes said.
Barnes’ first strategy -- adding electrons to temporarily reduce the charge and bring the two rings together -- worked the
first time he tried it. He, Stoddart and their colleagues started with a full ring and a half ring that they then closed up
around the first ring (using some simple chemistry), creating the mechanical bond.
When the compound is oxidized and electrons lost, the strong positive forces come roaring back -- “It’s hate on all the
time,” Barnes said -- but then it is too late for the rings to be parted. “That’s the beauty of this system,” he added.
Most organic radicals possess short lifetimes, but this unusual radical compound is stable in air and water. The
compound tucks the electrons away inside the structure so they can’t react with anything in the environment. The tight
mechanical bond endures despite the unfavorable electrostatic interactions. The two interlocked rings house an
immense amount of charge in a mere cubic nanometer of space. The compound, a homo[2]catenane, can adopt one of
six oxidation states and can accept up to eight electrons in total.
“Anything that accepts this many electrons has possibilities for batteries,” Barnes said.
“Applications beckon,” Stoddart agreed. “Now we need to spend more time with materials scientists and people who
make devices to see how this amazing compound can be used.”
Reprinted by permission of NU NewsCenter
Honor Roll
Chemistry Connection
Page 5
Contributors to the Department
of Chemistry from September
2011 to August 2012
Sean S. Adams
Anthony W. Addison
Bradley Jay Adelman
Pamela M. Alexander
Craig S. Allen
A. Louis and Nancy Willis Allred
Frank and Marjorie Traxler Alschuler
Mark Theodore Anderson
Vartkess Ara and Alice Batts Apkarian
Jo Ann Arceneaux
James R. Aronson
Michael E. Barwig
Richard D. and Ruthann Bates
Richard Jay Bosch
Kimberly Elizabeth Bowen
Robert B. Bowman
Cherlynlavaughn Bradley
Brian M. Breczinski
Douglas C. Brewer
Stanley M. Brown
Bertie N. and Susan Beda Butts
D. Michael Byler
Daniel Campbell
Merle W. Carlson
Nancy Ellen Carpenter
Jon S. Castor
David S. Chan
Stanton Ching
Jae-Hoon Chung
Cecilia Cicchinelli
Shaun Clancy
Albert C. Claus
Richard R. Clikeman
Noal Cohen
Raymond E. Conrow
Samuel C. Creason
W. Kemp Culbreth III & Mary Maier Culbreth
Theodore W. Cutshall
Aristides J. Damascus
Thomas J. Dannhauser
David C. Darwin
Esther Yerger Dickens
Malcolm Dole Jr.
Mark Anthony Drezdzon
Harry S. Edwards
Robert Edwin Eilers
Paul E. Ellis Jr. and Donna M. Ellis
Lei Fang
Hermann Faubl
Eric L. Faulring
Morton and Jean Sabatka Fefer
Philip L. Feidelseit
William E. Fialkowski
Patricia Palbicke Foley
Jerry Foropoulos Jr.
Sherri R. Forrester
Bruce H. Frank
Robert J. French
James A. Garrison
Susan Mabrey Gaud
Marc Aaron Giesener
Jo Ann Gilpin
Benjamin M. and Jerry Watts Gimarc
Nathan and Elaine Pensky Gochman
Edward J. Golonka
Gary M. Goncher
Vinod K. and Vijay L. Goyal
John Leonard Grant
Harry B. Gray
Geoffrey L. Greene
Claude R. Gunter
Charles Hammond
John D. Hansen
Howard Heck
William A. Hermann
Jerome M. and Fleurette Kram Hershman
Menard G. Heydanek Jr.
L. Kenneth Hiller Jr. and Barbara A. Bentson
Richard H. and Janet M. Hirsch
Robert J. Hlavacek
Norman E. Hoffman
Frederick A. and Judith Anderson Hohorst
Mark W. Holladay
Anne L. Holmes Feeney
Mele Howland
Edward L. Huesing
John W. Huffman Jr.
Kristjan Ingvarsson
Benedict J. Invergo
Malcolm P. Johnson
Susan Mainwold Johnson
Inga Faller Junk
William Kalsbeck
Gary C. Kanel
David P. Keeton
M. Richard Kem
William J. Kennelly III and Maureen A. Sullivan Kennelly
Frederick L. Killian
Ronald M. Kipnis
Ruth M. Kowaleski
Timothy K. Krauskopf
Gregory J. Kubas
Bonnie Ezan Lai
Bernard B. and Helen Martin Lampert
Edward Lee
Edward L. Lee
Elizabeth Harwick Lee
Mary Beth Leonard
Ronald E. Leone
Stephen R. Leone
Allan B. and Sandra Matthews Levin
Sheldon N. and Suzanne Goldberg Lewis
Eric S. Lightcap
Manfred Lindner
Elizabeth Litzinger
Hui-Jean Liu
Michael S. Lyons
David B. MacLean
John A. Maguire II
James G. and Elaine Stedman Magyar
John S. Magyar
Mark Edward Mailliard
Arthur Mar
H. Glynn Marsh and Sue C. Cummings
William B. and Yvonne Connolly Martin
Paul Christian Marx
Mary Otto McCullough
Rex H. McGehee
Craig C. McLauchlan
Charles D. McLaughlin
J. Donald McPike Jr.
Dorothy N. Meeker
Kelly N. Meissner
Paul Matthew Meister
Sara Steck Melford
Steve and Jennifer Frantz Miff
Deborah S. Mortensen
Patricia Krecker Moyer
Thomas and Linda Mueller
Lois Myerholtz
John R. Nazy
Irene Kernaul Nero
Norman P. and Georgine Reid Neureiter
R. Wayne Ohline
Gene L. Oliver
Mary Jo Ondrechen
Thomas W. Ott
E. James Owens
Joel D. Oxman
Steven Scott and Grace Wang Pabalan
Robert L. Palmer
Jigar Patel
John M. and Mrs. John M. Patterson
William J. Peard
Robert W. Peters
James O. and Elizabeth A. Peterson
James R. Petisce
Richard F. Piehl
Rangasamy Pitchai
Stuart Eric Pollack
Ben Porter
Margaret McAuley Preckel
Babu Rajendran
John A. Ranieri
Mark A. and Nancy Ratner
Matthew Gregory Reuter
David Ronald Richards
Bruce W. Ristow
Lynn J. and Cathy L. Robbins
James E. Roberts
Julian L. Roberts Jr.
Honor Roll
Chemistry Connection
Contributors, continued
Chandler Drew Robinson
Thomas R. and Elizabeth Miller Roesel
Bruce I. Rosen
Saul W. Rosen
Salvatore F. Russo
William H. Saunders Jr.
Richard G. Scamehorn
Charles J.V. Scanio
Luke A. and Pauline Klompien Schaap
Susan L. Schaper
Jean E. Schelhorn
Gene McArtor Schiefelbein
Richard S. Schiefelbein
Steven M. Schildcrout
Karl F. Schoch Jr.
Jeffrey G. Schubert
Allan E. Schultz and Andrea Lubov
William J. Schulz Jr.
Afif M. Seyam
Srujesh Shah
David Shi
Richard B. and Barbara K. Silverman
Charles N. Singman and Alicia I. Levy-Singman
Carla Slebodnick
Reginald T. Smart
Emily A. Smith
H. Gilbert Smith Jr.
David T. and Nancy Gottschalk Sonntag
Ralph E. Spindler
Philip J. Squattrito
Andrew L. Staley
Wayne M. Stalick
Audrey Hasselbacher Stansfield
Kimberly D. Statler
Robert Scott Stearman
Kent P. Steele
Virginia H. Stryker
Dan Studebaker
Marilynn L. Sullivan
Derek R. and Charlotte Smith Supple
Thomas and Nancy A. Szymanski
Kathleen C. Taylor
Stanton A. Taylor
Mollie L. Tevrucht
Walter E. Thatcher
Lisa Parks Thompson
Mark A. Thompson
George J.W. Tichenor
Matthew Dean and Michaline Kuby Todd
Andrew Joseph Towarnicky
James G. Traynham and Gresdna A. Doty
David Alan and Katherine Cason Treichel
Joseph A. Walder
Justine Simon Walhout
Constance Turner Walker
William L. Wallace
Cynthia Wang
George A. and Judith A. Ward
Douglas J. Webb and Manisha D. Patel
Wendell W. and Ladonna Weber
James K. and Lori Duff Weddell
Patrick A. Wegner
Karen M. Weidenheim
Jacob Morey and Emily Samuels Weinig
John Raymond Wells
In Memoriam
George H. Anderson
Courtney L. Anthony, Jr.,
Mrs. George M. Calhoun
John L. Cooper, Jr.
Mrs. Rosaland M. Crandell
Otis E. Fancher
George Wright Fowler
Edgar W. Garbisch, Jr.
Mrs. Norman Gienapp
Gregory W. Grynkewich
John R. Guilliams
Charles H. Hamilton
Nancy Rose Hime
William H. Howard
Ryotaro Kotani
Stanley H. Langer
Edward M. Lewicki
Page 6
Pearl Lussky
Lucien G. Maury
John G. Mayne
Thomas F. Mich
George B. Rathmann
Christian Rondestvedt, Jr.
Richard S. Schiefelbein
John H. Seipel
Dwight A. Sweigart
Eve Veis
Patrick A. Wegner
Bernhard Wunderlich
Ruth S. Wyler-Plaut
Geri Doran Yanes
David A. Zaukelies
Robert P. Zelinski
Constance Brauer White
Kenton H. Whitmire
John S. and Laurie Campbell Wilkes
David L. and Virginia T. Williams
Joel M. Williams Jr.
Marian Magnusson Wolf
Allen J. Wysocki
Jiyang Yan and Yonghong Yang
Sina Yeganeh
Alex H. Yim
Nicholas George Zafer
James K. and Maria Capestany Zimmerman
Companies and Foundations
Alumnae of Northwestern Northwestern
American Cancer Society
American Undergraduate Research Society
United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation
The Dow Chemical Company
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc.
Intel Corporation
JSR Corporation
The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc.
The New York Community Trust
Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Inc.
P.P.G. Industries, Inc.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Polyera Corporation
American Chemical Society-Washington
Duward F. Shriver, former Morrison Professor and Chairman
of the Chemistry Department passed away on March 6, 2013.
Born in 1934 in Glendale, CA, Shriver was raised on Oahu in
the Hawaiian Islands. He received his undergraduate degree
in 1958 from the University of California, Berkeley, working
with William L. Jolly, and his Ph.D. in 1961 from the University
of Michigan, working with Robert W. Parry. He spent his entire
academic career at Northwestern beginning in 1961. He was
named Morrison Professor of Chemistry in 1987 and served as Department
Chair from 1992 to 1995. Shriver published more than 400 scientific works and
mentored more than 150 students and postdocs who went on to careers in industry and government, at national laboratories, and at colleges and universities. His research interests spanned inorganic and organometallic synthesis,
bioinorganic, solid-state, and polymer chemistry, and vibrational spectroscopy.
He was a key member of the Materials Research Center and the Ipatieff Catalysis Center at Northwestern. Among the many professional awards Shriver
received for his research are a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Alfred P. Sloan
Research Fellowship, the Royal Society of Chemistry Ludwig Mond Medal, the
Materials Research Society Medal, and the American Chemical Society Award
for Distinguished Service in Inorganic Chemistry. He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Shriver is survived by his
wife Shirley, children Justin, Daniel and their spouses, and two grandchildren.
PLU News
Chemistry Connection
Page 7
Service
We have had an exciting year for our service programs! In Fall 2012, our primary outreach
program, Science in the Classroom (SITC), was fortunate to have full financial sponsorship by
MRSEC. This is an exciting change that will allow our program to continue without worry of
financial restraints. SITC is currently sending teams of graduate students to 3rd and 4th grade
classes—including a special education class and bilingual classes—at the Stephen K. Hayt School
in Chicago to provide monthly hands-on science experiences. We currently have more than 60
graduate student and postdoctoral volunteers participating in this program. Each 90-minute lesson
has a specific theme, such as "Pressure and Gasses," "Electricity," and "Simple Machines." The
program will culminate at the end of the year with all 200 students coming to Northwestern to watch a show of exciting
science experiments put on by NU graduate student volunteers. In addition to SITC, we have begun to proudly sponsor
another program this year, the Science Mentorship Program at the Boys & Girls Club.
Beyond our service programs, PLU has reinstated Service Grants for PLU members. With Service Grants, members
can apply to receive PLU financial support for a service project. We have proudly awarded two service grants this year.
Finally, PLU hosted its annual Holiday Food & Clothing Drive. We had the opportunity to donate 7 boxes of food and
clothing and $60 in cash donations to a homeless shelter in Chicago, Cornerstone Community Outreach.
Travel Grants
Because of our high involvement in new student recruitment this past spring, the department contributed to our travel
grant fund and allowed us to increase both the amounts and number of chapter travel grants for PLU members. Since
July 2012, AΓ Chapter has awarded 13 chapter travel grants and one international travel grant. Additionally, some of
our members were awarded travel grants from the National PLU organization.
Socials
Since August 2012, PLU has organized 5 departmental socials, each with an attendance of 75 or more. Highlights
include our Chili Cook-off, the Oktoberfest Social (with Trivia), and the Super Bowl Beer Tasting Social!
Connecting
Like our new PLU Northwestern Facebook page for updated announcements, service opportunities, and pictures!
Join our revived Phi Lambda Upsilon – Alpha Gamma Chapter LinkedIn group to connect to the NU PLU network!
Upcoming Events
Seminars
May 31: Marple-Schweitzer Lecture: Dr. John Warner from the Warner-Babcock Institute
TBD: Annual Career Panel: Non-traditional Careers in Science
Socials
We have another exciting series of socials coming up including the Annual Trivia & Raffle Fundraiser to benefit the “We
Are Newtown” Memorial Scholarship and the Mr./Ms. Northwestern Competition!
Service
In addition to our annual SITC show in May, PLU is excited
to co-sponsor the You Be the Chemist National Chemistry
Bee competition for the first time this April!
Marie Heffern
PLU President
NU grad student uses aluminum foil to teach SITC kids about gravity
Letter from
the Chair
Chemistry Connection
As winter quarter
comes to a close, we
look forward to springtime and becoming
reacquainted with the
green spaces and
lakefront on the
Evanston campus. Winter quarter was
busy and full of activity:
- Eight faculty members presented during
our weekly lunch seminar series.
- Amy Rosenzweig and yours truly were
invested with endowed chairs.
- Sixteen distinguished visitors from
around the country presented seminars
and lectures, including Charles D. Hurd
Lecturer John Santini of RadioRx, Inc.
and L. Carroll King Lecturer Brian
Coppola from the University of Michigan.
- 115 prospective graduate students visited campus during two weekends in
March to meet faculty and students, and
to learn more about what makes
Page 8
Northwestern a unique place to study
Chemistry.
We have much to look forward to in
spring quarter. In April, faculty,
students and postdocs will attend and
present at the ACS spring meeting in
New Orleans. In May, we welcome
industry representatives at our annual
Industrial Associates event and
officially open the doors to the new
Integrated Molecular Structure
Education and Research Center
(IMSERC). And finally, in June, we
will say goodbye to graduating
students and welcome them to the
alumni community.
I was sad to learn of Professor
Emeritus Duward Shriver’s passing on
March 6. Du joined the faculty in
1961, rose through the ranks, and
became Chair in 1992. He will be
remembered as an authentic scholar
and gentleman. I hope you read the
story about Du’s contributions to
Chemistry on page 5 of this newsletter.
Planning is underway for a reunion
in 2014, which will celebrate 130
years of excellence in Chemistry at
Northwestern. We hope you will join
us in fall 2014 as we reminisce
about past accomplishments and
look ahead to future growth and
opportunities. Please be sure to
update your contact information so
we can send you a formal invitation
to the reunion.
A special note of gratitude to those
of you who donated to Chemistry in
the past year. Your contributions
help us support initiatives that have
an immediate impact on the
educational experience of our
students. Thank you!
Best regards,
Northwestern University Department of Chemistry
Stay in Touch
Do you have a new email address? Were you recently promoted or given an award? Please
keep us informed of news and events in your personal and professional life. You can
update your alumni profile by navigating to the Alumni tab on the Chemistry website.
Upcoming Events
May 2: Industrial Associates
May 17: IMSERC Grand Opening Event
June 21: Commencement
September 8-12: Alumni event at ACS National Meeting in Indianapolis
Save the Date!
The Department of Chemistry will host a reunion in fall 2014 to celebrate 130 years of excellence in
teaching and research.
Technological Institute | 2145 Sheridan Road | Evanston, IL 60208
Ph. 847.491.5371 | Email: cheminfo@northwestern.edu
Web: www.chemistry.northwestern.edu