The Department of Chemistry Times
An Electronic Newsletter of the Department of Chemistry
State University of New York
College at Brockport
Volume 1, No. 1
Brockport, NY 14420
June 2002
Organic chemist and long-time Department
Chairman Ingo H. Petersen took a three-year
“bridge” to retirement in 1992 before finally
retiring completely in 1995. He and his wife now
reside in Maryland near one of their daughters.
WE’RE STILL THE SAME
OLD DEPARTMENT
By Thomas W. Kallen
Like the proverbial axe, which has had a few new
handles and a few new heads but is still the same
old axe, the Department of Chemistry has had a
few members of the faculty leave, has hired a few
new faculty members, but is still the same old
department.
Analytical chemist John W. Bixler retired in 1999.
His wife Susan still works for the School of Arts
and Performance at the College, which makes
John a practicing househusband.
Organic chemist Don Wadsworth, a Kodak retiree
and volunteer adjunct faculty member in our
department since 1987, “retired” from his
volunteering in 2001. He still lives in Rochester
during the summer but has also set up a winter
home in Arizona.
Physical chemist James E. Eilers first left the
department in 1985 for greener pastures at the
Eastman Kodak Company and then left Kodak to
become chair of the Department of Chemistry at
Southern Illinois University at East St. Louis.
Physical chemist and long-time Department
Chair Derek L. Hill succumbed to a long bout with
cancer in 1989.
Only Kay Thomas Finley (hired in 1970), Thomas
W. Kallen (hired in 1970), J. Emory Morris (hired
in 1968) and Kenneth D. Schlecht (hired in
1970) remain from the “early” faculty of the
department! As one reflects upon who remains
and lists the departed members of the faculty, it
would be logical to conclude that precious little
remains to identify the department as the “same
old department!” Nevertheless, the new faculty
members added to the department have
managed to make it seem like the “same old
department,” a department with which many
graduates would identify in an instant!
Organic chemist Martha M. Vestling left the
department in 1990 to take a position as a mass
spectroscopist at the University of MarylandBaltimore County. She is now employed as
director of MS Laboratories at the University of
Wisconsin in Madison.
Inorganic chemist Kermit A. Schroeder took
advantage of a NYS retirement incentive for an
early retirement in 1991 and now lives in Greece,
NY.
Physical chemist David W. Dwyer (PhD, SUNY
Binghamton) was hired in 1990, in part in
reaction to Tom Kallen teaching physical
chemistry. Unfortunately, Dwyer left us in 1999
for a much higher paying position in the private
sector after having earned tenure in 1997.
Physical chemist Armin Sommer retired in1992,
still lives in Brockport at least part of the year,
and spends as much time with his children and
grandchildren as they will let him.
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Organic chemist William P. Todd (PhD, Cornell
University) was hired in 1992 after serving one
year as visiting assistant professor. Todd left us
for a position in Academic Computing in 1998
and then left the College for a higher paying
position in the private sector in 2000, joining
Dave Dwyer in the employ of a defense contractor
in Washington, DC.
was to teach physical chemistry after Dave Dwyer
suddenly resigned that summer.
Spectroscopist Susan S. Collier (PhD, University
of Rochester, 1966) was hired as an adjunct
professor to teach our non-majors’ General
Education course, CHM121, Women and Men Do
Science, in the spring of 1999 as part of the
departmental effort to manage the crisis created
by Bill Todd’s departure.
Her adjunct
appointment was continued when the sudden
resignation of Dave Dwyer deepened the crisis in
the fall of 1999. Collier has been reappointed
each semester to teach CHM121 and to teach
CHM111, Introduction to Chemistry, in the spring
semester, even though Bill Todd and Dave Dwyer
have been replaced. Collier, a recent Kodak
retiree, has become much like a full-time
member of the faculty. She attends and
participates in staff meetings, has volunteered to
serve on departmental committees, participates
in departmental “outreach” activities, and has
even sponsored an undergraduate research
fellow in each of the last two Summers with her
generous donations to the Brockport College
Foundation!
Carolyn J. Greene (BS, Chemistry, SUNY
Brockport, Class of ’70 and MS in Education,
SUNY Brockport, 1980) was hired in 1992 as a
visiting lecturer to teach a physical science
course required of all Elementary Education
program students. Greene proved to be so
successful as a teacher of students having little
or no science background and a fear or dislike of
science that she was offered a one-year term
appointment as lecturer in 1993. She has
continued as a lecturer (a non-tenured rank)
since then, accepting a series of one-, two-, and
three-year term appointments.
Greene’s
performance as a teacher has only gotten better;
and her course has only gotten larger over the
years since her first appointment. In 2002 she
received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in
Teaching!
Physical chemist Markus M. Hoffmann (PhD,
Washington University-St. Louis, 1997) was hired
in 2000. A native of Germany, Hoffmann
completed a post-doctoral appointment at
Pacific Northwest National Laboratories in
Richland, WA prior to his appointment here. He
has the distinction of having obtained his first
grant as a SUNY Brockport faculty member before
he was even on our payroll. The summer before
he began here, he received a prestigious threeyear start up grant for new faculty at
predominantly undergraduate institutions from
the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.
SUNY Brockport graduate and chemistry major
Dawn M. Lee (BS, Chemistry, SUNY Brockport,
Class of ’93; MS, Chemistry, RIT, 2002) was hired
part-time as our laboratory manager in 1994.
Lee’s function was to ease the burden placed on
the faculty of preparing chemicals, special
equipment, and the laboratory rooms themselves
for use in the high-enrollment, lower-division
courses. She proved herself to be so invaluable
in managing the laboratory experience of
increasing numbers of students with a reduced
number of full-time faculty members that her
position was made into a full-time position in
1995.
Organic chemist Margaret E. Logan (PhD,
University of Rochester, 1982) was hired in 2001
after spending a year on our faculty as visiting
assistant professor. Logan spent nearly 20 years
in industry as a research chemist at Eastman
Kodak and at Johnson & Johnson (Ortho-Clinical
Diagnostics) prior to coming to our department.
After having earned spectacular reviews teaching
organic chemistry as an adjunct faculty member
at SUNY Buffalo and at Hobart and William Smith
Analytical chemist Mark P. Heitz (PhD, SUNY
Buffalo, 1995) was hired in 1999. Heitz
completed a post-doctoral appointment at Penn
State and worked as a visiting assistant professor
at Wittenberg College in Ohio prior to his
appointment at SUNY Brockport. Although he
was hired to replace John Bixler and teach
analytical chemistry, first teaching assignment
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College, she now earns spectacular reviews
teaching chemistry for us!
the campus; and in May of this year she received
her Chancellor’s Award, a bronze medallion, at
the annual Spring Recognition Dinner!
In addition to the new members of our faculty, we
have also appointed as volunteer unpaid adjunct
faculty members two SUNY Brockport graduates
and chemistry majors. Peter T. Papagelis (BS,
Chemistry, SUNY Brockport, Class of ‘92), an
employee of the Eastman Kodak Company, was
appointed in 1992 at the urging of John Bixler.
Papagelis assists us immeasurably by
maintaining our GC’s and GC-MS in operating
condition. He has also taught Brockport
undergraduates and graduate students the
rudiments of mass spectroscopy under the
heading of CHM399/499, Independent Study,
and has been a member of the three-person team
teaching CHM413, Spectral Interpretation, since
1997. Jack D. Fox (BS, Chemistry, SUNY
Brockport, Class of ’92, and MS, Physical
Chemistry, SUNY at Binghamton, 1997), an
employee of Rochester Midland Corporation, was
appointed in 1999 at Dave Dwyer’s urging. Fox
assists us by maintaining our 300 MHz Fourier
transform nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
spectrometer and electron spin resonance (ESR)
spectrometer in operating condition. His service
is recognized by Rochester Midland in an
informal “deal” whereby they (meaning Fox) get
free use of the NMR and ESR spectrometers.
Greene joins J. Emory Morris and Kermit A.
Schroeder as faculty members of the Department
of Chemistry who have won this coveted award.
Congratulations, Carolyn! Wear your medallion
with pride!
DON WADSWORTH RETIRES,
THIS TIME FOR REAL
By Thomas W. Kallen
Organic chemist Don Wadsworth, a Kodak retiree
and volunteer, unpaid adjunct faculty member in
our department since 1987, “retired” from his
“volunteering” in 2001.
Don received a BS in Chemistry from Penn State
University in 1954 and an MS in Chemistry from
the University of Delaware in 1961. He worked as
a polymer chemist at Hooker Electro-Chemical
from 1954 to 1956, as a research chemist at the
Army Chemical Center from 1956 to 1962, and
as a research associate at the Eastman Kodak
Company from 1962 to 1986.
Wadsworth came to our department with a
$10,000 grant from Eastman Kodak Company to
fund hands-on research experiences for SUNY
Brockport undergraduates. When his grant finally
ran out, he continued working, first with
undergraduates who were registered for credit in
CHM399/499, Independent Study, and later
with undergraduates who were registered for
credit in CHM341/342, Advanced Organic
Chemistry Laboratory I and II. In all, Wadsworth
brought over $56,000 in undergraduate research
support to the Department of Chemistry and 42
students received the direct benefit of his
volunteerism!
Like Dave Dwyer and Bill Todd before them, Mark
Heitz, Markus Hoffmann and “Maggie” Logan
“fit” the image of the department developed by
those who went before and by the few “geezers”
who remain. The “same old axe” has been
refurbished once again. We are still “the same
old department!”
CAROLYN J. GREENE WINS THE
2002 CHANCELLOR’S AWARD
FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING
By Thomas W. Kallen
Before leaving for his second home in Arizona, He
provided the Department of Chemistry chair with
the following list of students whom he had had as
research students in one capacity or another:
This past fall, J. Emory Morris led a departmental
effort to nominate Carolyn Greene for a
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
based on the excellent student reaction to her
teaching in NAS 273, Investigations in Physical
Science. In February of this year we were notified
that Greene had become one of the nominees of
Adadolapo I. Oyefeso, ’88, Chemistry
Barry L. Hafer, ’89, Chemistry
Sharon C. Hogan
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Christopher S. Knopp, ’89, Chemistry
Matthew L. Picone, ’89, Chemistry
Daniel P. Stella, ’89, Chemistry
Brian T. Briggs, ’90, Biology
Jack T. Briggs, ’90, Biology
John C. Dowd, ’90, Biology
Randy C. Mehlenbacher, ’90, Chemistry
Darlene R. Turner (Utter), ’90, Chemistry
Thomas P. Gavigan, ’91, Chem/Physics
Alex N. Giglio, ’91, Chem/Biology
Richard J. Hartman, ’91, Chemistry
Heather R. Lane (Brown), ’91 Chemistry
Donna M Russell, ’91, Biology
Carol M. Murray-Regan, ’92 Chemistry
Michael C. Rotundo, ’92, CHM/Physics
Christopher N. Utter, ’92, Chemistry
Mark G. Wozniak, ’92, Chemistry
Edward McCashion, ’93, Biology
Celeste M. Teluk, ’93, Chem/Biology
Clifford K. Frederick, ’93, Chemistry
Edward L. Conn, ’93, Chemistry
Douglas Stafford, ’94, Chemistry
Michael F. Ciraolo, ’94, Chemistry
Matthew Barry, ’95 Chemistry
Karl F. Biedlingmaier, ’95, Chem/Bio
David C. Gilbert, ’95, Chemistry
Lisa C. Milne, ’95, Biology
Paul Trotto, ’96, Chemistry
Arthur M. Koinis, ’97, Biology
Rohit K. Bajaj, ’97 Chemistry
Robert C. Cooke, ’99, Chemistry
Sherry L. Barton (Rock)
Roderick Fry, ’00, Chemistry
Jennifer E. Laemlein, ’00, Chemistry
Frederick J. Vyverberg, ’00, Chemistry
Tracy L. Wiesner, ’00, Chemistry
Franklin I Allen
Maria J. Bonanno, ’01, Chemistry
Renee Y. Earl, ’01, Chemistry
The faculty and staff of the Department of
Chemistry would like to take this opportunity to
thank Wadsworth for his many years of service to
the department. He most certainly helped the
department by providing its students with the
opportunity to work on his research projects and
by providing the department with someone to
cover the Advanced Organic Chemistry
Laboratory courses.
2002 IS A HIGH WATER MARK
FOR SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE
RESEARCH SUPPORT
By Thomas W. Kallen
Six SUNY Brockport undergraduates will receive
financial support for their summer research
activities this year. Professor Thomas W. Kallen,
chairman of the Department of Chemistry said,
“This represents a new high for the Department.
We have come a long way since the days when we
could only offer one summer research fellowship.
I hope we can continue to find sources of funds to
support this many students each summer!”
Summer research support amounts to a
fellowship stipend of $3,200 per student---$400
per week for eight weeks of research under a
SUNY Brockport faculty member. In addition to
the stipends associated with the summer
research fellowships, these students will be
eligible to receive financial support from the
College, in the form of travel allowances, to travel
to the National Conference on Undergraduate
Research in April 2003 to present the results of
their research.
Those faculty members participating in this
program receive no compensation, of course.
Kallen said, “They are already being paid too
much by the overly generous people of the state
of New York.”
Don also published two papers in the Journal of
Organic Chemistry with SUNY College at
Brockport undergraduates as co-authors: one
with Brian T. Briggs and Matthew L. Picone (J.
Organic Chem., 1991, 56, 5594) and one with
Christopher S. Knopp, Adedolapo I. Oyefeso,
Barry L. Hafer, Richard J. Hartman, Randy C.
Mehlenbacher, and Sharon C. Hogan (J. Organic
Chem., 1994, 59, 4319).
Sources of funds to support student research are
quite varied. Amanda Sturdevant, who is working
with Analytical Chemistry Professor Mark P. Heitz,
is being supported by the income from the Morris
Fund administered by the Brockport College
Foundation and established by Professor J.
Emory Morris. Sturdevant’s research project is
4
entitled “Probing Solvation and Reaction in
Supercritical Fluids.”
Four chemistry majors presented the results of
their research at NCUR ’02, the 2002 National
Conference on Undergraduate Research, held at
the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater this past
April.
Chris Woods, who is working with Physical
Chemistry Professor Markus M. Hoffmann, is
being supported in part by the income of the
Chemistry Alumni Fund and in part by the John W.
Bixler Gift, both administered by the Brockport
College Foundation. Woods’ project is entitled
“An Electron Spin Resonance Study of Aqueous
Surfactant Systems.”
Seniors Elizabeth Gregory, Lindsay Harrington,
and Jason Salter, and Junior, Jason Tubbs
traveled by car 450 miles west to Whitewater
Wisconsin with their research mentors to present
oral research papers to an audience of their
peers and research mentors from other colleges
and universities.
Andrea Topolnycky, who is working with Organic
Chemistry Professor Margaret E. Logan, is being
supported by a gift to the Brockport College
Foundation by Susan S. Collier, a recent Kodak
retiree and currently an adjunct member of the
faculty. Topolnycky’s project is entitled “The
Synthesis and Evaluation of Electron-rich Diaryl
Tellurides as Antioxidants.”
Elizabeth Gregory’s presentation was entitled “An
Improved Synthesis of Amino-Substituted Diaryl
Tellurides.” Her research was done last summer
under Margaret E. Logan with the support of the
Chemistry Alumni Fellowship for Undergraduate
Research administered by the Brockport College
Foundation.
Stacy Morrill, who is also working with Professor
Margaret E. Logan on the same project, is being
supported by a gift to the Brockport College
Foundation by Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, a
Division of Johnson & Johnson.
Lindsay Harrington’s presentation was entitled
“Fluorescent Molecules as Probes in
Supercritical Fluids.” Her research was done
under Mark P. Heitz last summer with the support
of the Morris Fellowship for Undergraduate
Research administered by the Brockport College
Foundation.
Finally, Jason Tubbs and Jason Carr, who are
working with Physical Chemistry Professor
Markus M. Hoffmann, are supported by funds
from a start-up grant for new faculty at
predominantly
undergraduate
institutions
received by Hoffmann from the Camille and Henry
Dreyfus Foundation. This is the second year of
this three-year grant. “The Jasons” will be
working on a project entitled “Bringing Two
Environmentally Friendly Solvents Together: Ionic
Liquids and Supercritical Carbon Dioxide.”
Jason Tubbs’ presentation was entitled “NMR
Relaxation Measurements on Ionic Liquid
Systems.” His research was done under Markus
M. Hoffman last summer and received support in
the form of an eight-week Undergraduate
Research Fellowship paid from the Camille and
Henry Dreyfus Foundation grant administered by
Hoffmann through the SUNY Research
Foundation.
It is expected that these students will present
their research results at SUNY Brockport’s
Scholars Day 2003, at the 2003 Undergraduate
Research Symposium of the Rochester Section of
the American Chemical Society, or at the 2003
National Conference on Undergraduate Research
(NCUR ’03).
Jason Salter’s presentation was entitled “A HighPressure Variable Volume View Cell for Phase
Behavior Studies.” He also worked last summer
under Markus M. Hoffmann and received support
in the form of an eight-week Undergraduate
Research Fellowship paid from the Camille and
Henry Dreyfus Foundation grant administered by
Hoffmann through the SUNY Research
Foundation.
FOUR CHEMISTRY MAJORS
PRESENT THEIR RESEARCH
AT NCUR ‘02
By Thomas W. Kallen
5
Each student’s research was continued for credit
as an independent study project during the
academic year following his or her summer
research participation.
will not provide complete support for one
undergraduate fellowship!
The Faculty of the Department of Chemistry and
their students, both present and future, wish to
thank each donor for his/her generosity.
The Office of the Vice President for Academic
Affairs paid the students’ travel expenses in part.
YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
IS IMPORANT TO US!
PLEASE DONATE TO THE
BROCKPORT COLLEGE
FOUNDATION
JOHN W. BIXLER’S
“RETIREMENT
CHALLENGE” NETS
ALMOST $10K FOR
UNDERGRADUATE
RESEARCH
By Thomas W. Kallen
Two funds held and managed by the Brockport
College Foundation regularly support the summer
undergraduate research activities in our
Department: the Morris Fellowship Fund,
established by Professor J. Emory Morris and the
Chemistry Alumni Fund. While income from the
Morris Fund will support the award of one
summer undergraduate research fellowship each
year, income from the Chemistry Alumni Fund is
much less and will support the award of one
summer undergraduate research fellowship every
other year. We would like to increase the corpus
of the Chemistry Alumni Fund to the extent that it
too would support one undergraduate fellowship
each year.
By Thomas W. Kallen
In response to Professor Emeritus John W.
Bixler’s “retirement challenge” to his former
research students and to the faculty of the
Department of Chemistry, a total of twenty
students and faculty made donations to the
Chemistry Alumni Fund of the Brockport College
Foundation. Several of the students’ gifts were
enhanced by corporate matching donations to
the Fund made by their employers.
True to the sense of the “challenge,” Bixler
responded by matching the student and faculty
donations to the Foundation. As a special
“bonus,” Bixler also returned to each student
donor his/her research notebooks!
The summer undergraduate research fellowships
are currently fixed at $3,200 for eight weeks of
research under the supervision of a chemistry
faculty member. The research project and the
faculty research mentor are selected by the
award recipient from a list of possible projects
and mentors that are advertised by the
department early in March.
While Professor Bixler’s donation was placed in a
special fund to be used to support student
research during the summers of 2000, 2001, and
2002, the students’ donations, faculty
donations, and corporate matching donations go
to build the corpus of the Chemistry Alumni Fund.
The Department of Chemistry is allowed to draw
approximately half of the Fund’s annual earnings
to support one undergraduate research fellow
each year. Earnings have averaged almost ten
percent of the corpus in recent years.
The faculty research mentor receives no financial
compensation for supervising the student’s
research. However, benefits may accrue to the
research mentor if the student’s research proves
to be fruitful and the work leads to a publication.
Bixler’s matching gift has already provided partial
support of the 2001 Chemistry Alumni Fellow,
Elizabeth Gregory. This year it will provide partial
support of the 2002 Chemistry Alumni Fellow,
Chris Woods. It is sad but true that the earnings
of the corpus of the Chemistry Alumni Fund still
You may contribute to either fund directly or you
may direct your contribution to the chairman of
the Department of Chemistry who will forward it
to the Brockport College Foundation. We are only
given a list of donors to each fund annually, at the
6
close of the Foundation’s fiscal year; and our
acknowledgment of your gift will be a little late if
it is made to the Foundation directly. If your gift
is directed to the Department of Chemistry
chairman, we will be able to acknowledge your
donation in a more timely fashion. In either case,
the Brockport College Foundation will promptly
acknowledge your gift.
least one faculty member suspected that
Harrington was considering changing, or had
changed, her major from chemistry to English.
So, what’s the truth Lindsay? Are you really going
to Ohio State this fall to study atmospheric
chemistry?
Lindsay’s “Roast 2002” Poem
By Lindsay Harrington
Pertinent addresses are:
Early this April,
around day 4 or 5
I started to identify with
the probe molecule’s life
Brockport College Foundation
Office of Institutional Advancement
SUNY College at Brockport
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, NY 14420-2926
The things I’ve done
and the time I’ve spent
All add up to
my local environment
Thomas W. Kallen, Chairman
Department of Chemistry
SUNY College at Brockport
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, NY 14420-2971
Beyond the new Union
and manicured lawns
Enter a world where
the crowds are gone
In either case, be sure to note on your check the
name of the fund to which you would prefer to
have the gift credited. If no designating notation
is included with your gift, the gift will be credited
to the Foundation’s general fund.
Beyond the caution sign,
over a six-inch drop
Past the point where
the snow plows stop
STUDENT/FACULTY ROAST
DEBUT OF POET, LINDSAY
HARRINGTON
I approach Smith Hall,
not New Lennon, Smith
More my home than my home,
where my life is
“The Roast,” traditionally held following the
Spring Spaghetti Dinner on the last Friday of the
spring semester, was held on the last Saturday of
the spring semester this year, Saturday, May 11
(Isn’t that roast-able?). The date was changed so
members of the faculties of Departments of
Chemistry and Physics could attend the College’s
Annual Recognition Dinner on May 10 to honor
Carolyn Greene who was receiving the
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
“The Roast” has been held every year since its
spin-off from the Harvard House Spaghetti Dinner
in the late 1970’s.
Contained inside,
I look out the window
At the buildings and places
where most people go
Those people, I know,
are not like us
They make up the bulk solvent,
the atmosphere and such
Little shoulder bags,
in which nothing can fit
The outside fashion world,
I just don’t get it
Lindsay Harrington (Class of ’02) read an original
poem at “The Roast.” This poem did not qualify
for “extra credit” or “bonus points” in any
chemistry course she was taking. Therefore, at
What do they have in there,
7
a folder, maybe a pen?
But I’m just jealous of their free time
Time I don’t have to spend
But as we learned in chem. safety,
too much of anything will kill you
An now here it comes,
the end is in sight
From what I know now,
I suppose I’ve won the fight
Inside our space
we work day and night
Sometimes we get cranky,
sometimes we fight
I’ve been a good probe,
I convey all I think
But my time has come
to be dumped in the sink
But most of the time
we have lots of fun
Even though we’re quite pale,
as we don’t see the sun
Water and ethanol
will increase my disposal rate
Down the drain, to the sewers, to the streams,
or perhaps Ohio State
I think of the broken glass
and failed synthesis
And all of the accidents avoided
with small wooden sticks
MORE FROM THE 2002
STUDENT/FACULTY ROAST
Smith has character,
we all have our place
We care for each other,
support in all that we face
Amanda Sturdevant (Class of ’03). A chemistry
and criminal justice double major, has allowed us
to print her composition, “The Life of a Chemistry
Major,” which was read at the Student/Faculty
Roast held on Saturday, May 11. The complete,
unedited text follows:
The task at hand
Is what we must do
Whether or not
the NMR will boot
THE LIFE OF A CHEMISTRY MAJOR
Reboot, reboot,
then punch it three times
An believe it or not,
old Bruker comes back to life
By Amanda Sturdevant
It all started when you signed up for CHM 205
and 206…way back when. You had no idea what
you were getting into…you just wanted to blow
things up and play with chemicals. So, you and
about 100 other freshmen walked into the Blue
Room at noon on the first Monday of classes,
found a seat, and were happy in your own little
bubble…until that door in the front of the room
opened and in walked your professor. There he
was…the man…the myth…the legend, in his plaid
flannel shirt…Dr. Thomas Kallen. He might have
said good morning or asked how you all were
doing, but most likely, he walked up to that giant
board, picked up a piece of chalk, if he could find
one, and started writing on the board. And you,
assuming you might need this stuff eventually,
started copying it all down, exactly as he wrote it.
You probably didn’t ask questions, if you had
them, out of fear that he would fill up another
board with an explanation. So, there you were…3
Is my thesis done?
No, not quite, it isn’t
‘cause whenever there’s time…
Dr. Heitz, my computer won’t print
I’ve been in the lab room
Almost ‘til night
But I can’t go home
‘til my products look right
Homework’s half done,
I don’t need to be the best
Stop exciting my electrons!
I need a rest!!!
It’s not that I don’t like chemistry,
because I really do
8
days a week for an hour at a time … writing …
thinking …and questioning how on earth this was
going to help you. It was here that we all learned
the basics, memorized the periodic table, despite
our best efforts at avoiding it, and started to refer
to Chang as if he were a member of the class.
And when you entered your first chemistry lab you
saw how it would all fall into place. You were
given your own drawer, your own goggles, and a
breakage card. With any luck, at the end of the
semester you couldn’t see through your card, your
drawer was still full, and you had gotten used to
eye sweat and having goggle marks on your face
hours after the lab was over. This was only the
beginning….
It was about this time that you forgot what your
art major roommate looked like, forgot what a
Saturday night used to be for, and secretly began
to smile to yourself whenever someone walked by
with their ONE book or cute little shoulder bag in
tow. You became proud to carry your backpack
on both shoulders, so you wouldn’t break your
arm, and spent more time in Smith than you
spent in your own room. Your friends started to
question your choice of lifestyle and worried
when you weren’t doing work. The life of a chem
major….
Chemical Safety was a nice change to the
monotony. You actually understood the majority
of the class material, could talk about it in
English, and picked up some valuable life skills.
The Fire Department tried to hide their smiles and
keep their laughter to a minimum when you
picked up a fire extinguisher for the first time and
you learned the difference between a star crack,
a chip, and “just throw it out.” The phrase,
“Now…let’s suppose…,” rang in your head all
day.
If you were one of the 10 of that first year to stick
with it, actually declare a major in chemistry, and
decode Kallen’s sense of humor, you moved on to
Organic Chemistry. You picked up a second
language in “reaction mechanisms,” pushed
those arrows in your spare time, drew pictures
like Picasso, and learned that even if you didn’t
get what you intended to in lab, as long as it was
the worst smelling thing you’ve ever encountered
in your life, it was a decent result! Oh, and it was
here that the “spare time” became that 15
minutes between classes and anytime the
professor was a little late to class. The
convolutions in your brain were filled with
reactions, products, SN1, SN2, and you started to
forget what your friends looked like during the
week. But you kept on….
Now, since we want our chem. majors to be
diverse in their classes, Physics and Calc were
also on the horizon of fun. After a few weeks in
Physics you started to question everything around
you and how it moved, didn’t, or how long it
would take for the book to hit the ground if you
threw it out your dorm window! You might have
even tried to find ways to determine
simultaneously the exact position and
momentum of a particle…again in your spare
time. And Calc…what is the point? You would
soon find out…in CHM 408, 409.
Analytical then introduced us to the world of
burets, titrations, linear regression, and error
propagation. You either hated it or loved it. You
could spend hours preparing the perfect solution,
pour it ever so carefully into your own buret (you
were really cool now), be watching it drip by drip
by drip for another hour…and then…in one
catastrophic moment, you blinked! The next
thing you knew, your flask was hot pink, the
solution was below the last line on the buret, and
it was 5 o’clock. Just another day in the life of a
chem major! This semester was also when you
started to propagate error in just about
everything you did…and may even have tried it
with your test grades…+/-? And I’m sure most of
us still have the linear regression program saved
on a disk somewhere…or wish we had.
This was it, the last of the required courses for
your major, the one you had heard about in the
back hallways of Smith, the one you started
lifting weights for months ago (so you could carry
the book), this was physical chemistry. The name
in itself strikes fear in the hearts of many and
terror in the minds of the rest. The first couple of
classes were OK…you followed the lecture,
understood your notes, and could get a good
start on the homework. Then things started to
slip away from you…the 8 boards of notes in
class started to look like Hebrew, your own notes
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were encrypted, and you were lucky to
understand the homework question, let alone try
to answer it! It was here when you appreciated
the multiple attempts on homework and the
slightly different grading scale of the chemistry
department. Schrodinger became a bully, the
Hamiltonian operators had pretty cool symbols,
you began to feel for the particle in the box and
wanted to let it out, and your room at home was
helping to increase the entropy of the universe
because you were never there to clean it. But, a
few months and bicep muscles later you could
proudly display your “Honk if you Passed Pchem”
bumper sticker!
molecular modeling. Anyway, I am really excited
about it.”
Now you were almost done…one more duty to
perform and the degree was yours! All you had to
do was write a few critiques, study a topic,
prepare a 20-minute Power Point presentation,
and present it to your classmates who had been
with you since that fateful Monday. Not a big
deal right? Well, I don’t have any personal
experience, but I’ve heard it’s quite an enjoyable
experience. You only lose a week’s worth of
sleep, lose about 10 pounds because eating
takes up way too much time, and learn to save
your file about six different ways so that one will
work on the day of your talk. No problem! The
life of a chem. major….
If you have news about yourself that you wish to
have mentioned in the Alumni News section, send
a note by e-mail to tkallen@brockport.edu.
Nicholson was our 2001 Kronthaler Award
recipient, our 2001 Departmental Scholar, and
earned the Sigma Xi Award for Research in
Chemistry. He also earned Departmental Honors
in Chemistry as an undergraduate. His thesis,
“Molecules Entrapped Within AOT Reverse
Micelles,” describes research done principally
during the summer of 2000 while working under
Professor Mark Heitz as a Morris Undergraduate
Research Fellow.
VISIT THE WEB SITE OF
THE DEPARTMENT OF
CHEMISTRY
By Dawn M. Lee
Although you are probably reading this newsletter
online, you may or may not be aware of the
existence of the Web site of the Department of
Chemistry. This Web site is located (hidden) on
the Web site of the SUNY College at Brockport, at
http://www.brockport.edu/~chemistry/ and has
been undergoing almost constant expansion,
modification and updating. We invite you to visit
the site regularly!
So, to all my friends who have completed this
journey and are still here to tell about
it…congratulations on a job well done! You have
made us all proud and I hope to follow in your
footsteps next year. Now…go blow up some s---!
ALUMNI NEWS
The webmaster of the Chemistry Web site, Dawn
Lee (dlee@brockport.edu), would appreciate any
suggestions for its improvement that you might
have. Please e-mail her with your comments!
By Thomas W. Kallen
Mike Nicholson, ’01, who is currently a graduate
student in biochemistry at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, MD, recently sent an email to his undergraduate research advisor, Mark
Heitz, in which he reported, “…I joined my thesis
lab! Although I came in thinking biophysics, I
ended up in molecular biology. I joined Janice
Clements’ lab – we are a retrovirus lab that uses
SIV as a model of HIV. My project will be looking
at key events in the budding process of SIV/HIV.
I’ll be doing lots of molecular biology as well as
some good old-fashioned biochem and some
Lee is also soliciting contributions to the
Department’s Web site. She is interested in
generating an Alumni Page, where alumni may
post information about themselves, and is
particularly interested in receiving brief
statements from our alumni regarding their
experiences at SUNY Brockport and/or in the
Department of Chemistry, to be used as an online
prospective student-recruitment tool.
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Our departmental secretary Phyllis P. Lista
(plista@brockport.edu) maintains a list of email
addresses of our alumni and will e-mail this
newsletter to each of them. We invite you to add
your e-mail address, and those of any other
chemistry alumni with whom you may be in
contact, to this list. Simply e-mail your address
to Phyllis!
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER
ARE WELCOMED!
By Thomas W. Kallen
If you have a suggestion for an article to appear
in the Department of Chemistry Times, or if
you wish to author an article in the Times,
please e-mail your suggestion or your article as a
Word file to tkallen@brockport.edu.
If you e-mail an article, it will be edited it and
added to the text of the next edition of the
Times. If you simply suggest an article of
possible interest instead, I will write it, submit it
to you for editing, and include it in the next
edition of the Times. In either case, the article
will be forwarded to Ken Schlecht for possible
inclusion in a newsletter to be mailed to
chemistry alumni.
The Department of Chemistry Times
is posted on the Department of Chemistry
Web site at irregular intervals by Professor,
Chairman and Editor Dr. Thomas W. Kallen,
Department of Chemistry, SUNY College at
Brockport, 350 New Campus Drive,
Brockport, NY 14420-2971. You may visit
the Department of Chemistry Web site at
www.brockport.edu/~chemistry/.
E-mail
messages to the Times should be addressed
to tkallen@brockport.edu.
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