International Funding for LSAMP Faculty Mentors, the US/France/Belgium
iREU Program, and a new “Research Abroad” European Master’s Degree
CHE 1263336
Randy Duran
Louisiana State University
With:
David Spivak, Gloria Thomas, LSU
Oleg Melynk, Lille
Wais Hosseini, Strasbourg
Neil Garg, UCLA
Olaseni Sode, Univ Chicago and Toulouse
Gwenael Rapenne, Toulouse
Mamta Rawat, Cal State Fresno
Guy Royal, Eric Saint Aman, Sylvie Chardon, Marie-Noëlle Collomb, Grenoble
Dozens of REU students and many others
About Louisiana State University

The comprehensive land-grant university of the state, ~30,000
students

Strong materials/bioanalytical/health science

1 hour away from New Orleans

Strong French-Cajun tradition in culture and food
Grad school?
Dr Doug Gilman
sdgilman@lsu.edu
About “Dr. D.”



Gordon A Cain Chair – what is an endowed chair?
Office of Research and Economic Development
 Undergraduate research
 International
 STEM Literacy
NIH R01 $1.7M – seeking postdoc/GS “Spatiotemporal
Modulation of Osteogenesis in a 3-D Stromal/Stem Cell Model”
Optical tweezing/laser capture microdissection
The US/France Belgium iREU in Translational Chemistry
REU - more than $5000 per student
Mentor (faculty) international collaboration awards of $5000
EU funding to help 24 faculty come to your campus
Earning the equivalence of a European Masters degree
Challenge to REU participants “get enough accomplished to merit co-authorship”
No application (!!!) nomination only
How? …. And why?
UG Research, a requirement
for Grad/Med
school, Industry
Finding Research
Opportunities
Let’s compare three extremes
Rec letter
based on a
single class:
Grades
Major/minor/courses
Ranking in class
Performance
Enhances
Academic
performance
Rec letter
based on
research
in the US:
Publications/results
Techniques/skills
Best in “xx” years
Works hard
Reliable
Adaptable
Creative
Good communicator
Personality
Outside skills
Dedication
Placement in
independent
research
abroad:
Clarify skills a mentee
needs to develop
Identify external factors
influencing research abroad
RevealTalent most appropriate
for each research opportunity
National Science Foundation
Message: Early research is a necessity and an
opportunity, enable it
More than 2 semesters
Advocate research benefits
Aim Students High
Document success
Cultivate respect, sophistication
And humility
Reference letter skills
Talent
Promote off campus/Intl
Apply for JSPS, DAAD and NSF GRF
Present/publish
Academic Credit/Awards
Life-changing events
Teach them who pays the bills
Continue at home institution
Teachers/mentors/family
Finding Research Opportunities
What are attributes that enhance success in an international setting?
What are External Factors that mentors might miss?
Family
Mentoring according to an understanding of a given student’s family situation is increasingly important
Living at home? (independence)
Need to financially support family
Family support for diabetes/obesity/dementia
Student is a young parent
Family beliefs
“helicopter” parents
All evolving
Dr. Johnnetta Cole (past President of Spelman) - 4 obstacles to African Americans studying abroad
1.
2.
3.
4.
Faculty and Staff (from failing to encourage black students to a dearth of resources).
Finances (black students are more likely to come from families with lower incomes).
Family and Community (safety issues and concerns about racism in an unknown place).
Fears (student worries about encountering new forms of racism).
Oleg Melynk, Institute Pasteur de Lille, France
Cancer Biology and Chemistry
“Prepare long in advance of arriving”
“When you go abroad, try and make your “group” those around you in the
laboratory, avoid only doing activities with other Americans”
‘Our multidisciplinarity is an asset’
2 start-ups
Multiple large grants from the European Union
Part of comprehensive cancer center (only 10 in France)
Citations in each year
“One-pot chemical synthesis of small ubiquitin-like
modifier protein–peptide conjugates using bis(2sulfanylethyl)amido peptide latent thioester surrogates”
E. Boll, H. Drobecq, N. Ollivier, A. Blanpain, L. Raibaut, R. Desmet, J. Vicogne and
O. Melnyk, Nature Protocols, 2015, 10, 269-292
New regenerative peptide polymer materials
O
N
O
HS
peptide 1
NH2
SH
SH
n
N
H
O
wanted
HS
O
peptide 2
O
N
peptide 1
NH2
SH
SH
SH
SH
N
O
n
N
H
O
O
peptide 2
wanted
N
SH
SH
Stem cell
self-renewing
undifferentiated
unwanted
(termination)
Progenitor cell
Nb of divisions limited
differentiated
Hypoxic niche Matrix (stiffness,
composition)
3D cross-linker peptide polymer
Elijah Martin (Morehouse College), 2011
Now UC San Francisco
Synthetic peptide polymers to maintain the immature state of stem cells
Controlled pO2, mimic hypoxic conditions (Jérôme Vicogne)
RWPE1 human prostatic cell line for screening and selecting
Prostatic stem cells (normal, cancer) characterized by Roland Bourette
“Scope and limitations of bis(2-sulfanylethyl)amino (SEA) native peptide ligation”Raibaut,L. ; Lissy, Elizabeth; Melnyk, O.
Peptides 2012. Proceedings of Thirty-second European Peptide Symposium, September 2-7, 2012, Athens, Greece. pp 218-219
“Synthesis and use of bis(2-selenalylethyl)amido peptides as peptide selenoester surrogates” Raibaut, L; Ollivier, N.; Chang, Yun
Min; Monbaliu, JCM; Melnyk, Oleg; 2015, Submitted
Wais Hosseini, Molecular Tectonics, Univ. Strasbourg
“Teach students to translate intuition into formulation of a problem”
I do not need “another pair of hands”… “bring your own ideas,
they could be right, they could be wrong”
“Diversity is richness”… “research abroad is not a substitution…
it is an addition…. You loose nothing by learning something else
Neil Garg, REU , 1999, NYU
“Molecular tectonics: From simple tectons to complex molecular
networks” Hosseini, MW Accounts of Chemical Research
38 313-323 (2005) 524 citations
Neil Garg, Natural Products and Reaction Discovery, UCLA
"In the summer of 1999, I participated in an UG research opportunity that changed my life. I went from
being a student with little direction to a person in charge of my own future. UG research helped
prepare me for graduate studies, and ultimately, for my job at UCLA as an assistant professor."
“Embrace the experience
and expect to be challenged"
NIH Pathway to Independence Award, 2006, NSF CAREER Award, 2010, DuPont Young Professor
Award, 2010, A. P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 2012, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 2013,
Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, 2015 . . .
Neil Garg, UCLA
When you are abroad “be fearless”
“Fearless can be the bungee cord"
Bungee Jumping
Interlaken Summer 1999
“Just as much (more) fearless can be
participating in the daily lab coffee break "
Olaseni Sode, Postdoc Univ Chicago, and
(2005) Undergraduate Researcher – Toulouse France
Advice for success
• Remind mentees – it is more work than may have been originally thought, to be successful in an international lab.
• Important to train students to ask lots of questions and be extremely diligent about communicating.
• Keep an open mind.
• More important than in a non-international lab.
Gwenael Rapenne,
Toulouse Coordinator
The Igau group, Lab de Chimie de Coordination, Toulouse, France circa. 2005.
Advice to faculty mentors
O. Sode and G. A. Voth J. Chem. Phys. 141, 22D527 (2014)
• Evaluations and progress reports to provide focus for project trajectories
• Organization is key
Synthesis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-based nanovehicles equiped with triptycene wheels
H.P. Jacquot de Rouville, R. Garbage, R.E. Cook, A.R. Pujol, A.M. Sirven, G. Rapenne, Chem. Eur. J. 2012, 18, 3023-3031.
Figure 9. Olaseni Sode was an NSF REU student
funded through Dr Duran’s grant in 2005 at the
Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination (Toulouse).
After a PhD at Illinois, he won a Ford Foundation
postdoc award to continue in computational
chemistry at the University of Chicago. He joined the
chemistry faculty at the University of Tampa as an
Assistant Professor in 2015.
This summer he returned as an invited speaker to
the workshop in Grenoble where he gave the
inspirational talk “Electron Transfer and Proton
Transport in [FeFe]-Hydrogenase with Multiscale
Computer Simulations” to the group of undergrad
researchers.
“Faculty mentors should keep an open mind about how the research their
student will do could benefit their own research program”
Mamta Rawat, Cal State Fresno
“US mentors can have an invaluable role in identifying prospective students”
We study bacteria, (Staphylococcus aureus and
Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and environmental
bacteria which are important in global carbon
cycling (cyanobacteria). How these bacteria
respond to stress helps reveal new drug targets
and helps to reveal how environmental changes
will affect organisms (cyanobacteria).
Geanncarlo Lugo
Univ Paul Sabatier
Toulouse
Singh AR, A Strankman, S Duran, D Vargas, AA Roberts, K Barretto, H Upton, CJ
Hamilton, M Rawat 2013 “Analysis of mutants disrupted in bacillithiol metabolism
in Staphylococcus aureus” Biochem Biophys Res Comm 436:128-133
Guy Royal and Eric Saint Aman, University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble France
“Teach US UGs how to network/socialize quickly with their new labmates – this makes
A huge difference in getting results faster and is also a valuable skill for industry later”
NH HN
1
Ashlie Walker OK-LSAMP and SW Oklahoma State Univ
NH HN
HCHO
Development and Synthesis of dimethyl and di(15-Crown-5) Cyclam Ligands for
Potential Use of Unique Photochemical and Electrochemical Properties
RCl =
N
N
N
N
2
O
O
O
Cl
O
O
2 RCl
Ashlie Walker, Eric Gouret, Marie-Noelle Collomb, Guy Royal
H
R
N
N
N
N
R
H
Manuscript in preparation
3
NaOH
NaBH4
Me
R
H
N
N
N
N
R
R
N
N
N
N
Me
4
R
H
5
Synthesis of original highly strained cyclam-based metal complexes and
assessment of their photochemical and electrochemical properties.
Carole Duboc University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble France
“teach undergrads to put aside (unavoidable) preconceptions about an international location and instead discover by themselves”
Multifrequency cw-EPR and DFT studies of a dynamic Jahn-Teller effect in a
mononuclear Cu(II) complex
Nikita Hall, Maylis Orio, Christopher Wills, Florian Molton, Malcom A. Halcrow, Carole
Duboc, and Allan Blackman
Inorg. Chem. : under revision
compression
elongation
Sylvie Chardon-Noblat University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble France
Train students to ask immediately when something doesn’t seem right
Manganese(I) Carbonyl Complexes of Substituted Terpyridyls: Syntheses, Crystal Structures, and
Photochemical Properties with a View towards Applications as CO-Releasing Molecules.
Jean-Daniel Compain, Matthew Stanbury, Monica Trejo, and Sylvie Chardon-Noblat
Inorg.Chem. , submitted
2.0
1.5
+
A
1.0
0.5
0
λ / nm
C
O
Marie-Noëlle Collomb, Grenoble, and Aaron Hargrove, Morehouse
Train students to make the most of professional opportunities abroad, their skills in American
Scientific writing can be very useful
Cobalt(III) tetraaza-macrocyclic complexes as efficient catalyst for photoinduced hydrogen production in water: theoretical
investigation of the electronic structure of the reduced species and mechanistic insights .
Robin Gueret, Carmen E. Castillo, Mateusz Rebarz, Fabrice Thomas, Aaron-Albert Hargrove, Jacques Pécaut, Michel Sliwa, Jérôme Fortage,and
Marie-Noëlle Collomb
J Photochem Photobiol B: Biology , submitted
kq = 2.5 x 107 M-1.s-1
HO
HO
O
O
kET = 1.4 x 109 M-1 s-1
H
NaO
OH
2+
N
N
N
N
RuII
N
N
N
N
CoII
N
Ni derivative
no activity
2+
OH2
N
H
OH2
> 1000 TONCat
Table 4 iREU Participants 2013-2015
Name
LSAMP
Minority
Grad School
Pub/Presentation
Location
Stanford
Yes1/No
Grenoble
No/Yes2
Grenoble
Yes3,4/No
Grenoble
No/No
Grenoble
2013
Edgar Campbell
Drew Harding
Aaron Hargrove
Jessica Jones
Rachelle
Richardson
Christopher Wills
CSU-LSAMP
Hispanic
No - LSU
White
Texas A&M
GA LSAMP
Afr Am
St.Louis Pharm.
VA-NC LSAMP
Afr Am
7th
LS-LAMP
Afr Am
Apply grad sch
Yes5/Yes6,7
Grenoble
GA LSAMP
Afr Am
Rice University
Yes8,9/No
Grenoble
Yes10,11/No
Leuven
Apply grad sch
Yes12,13
Lille
Lille
Grade Teach
2014
Dara Bobb-Semple
SUNY LSAMP
Afr Am
Stanford
Jacinto de la Cruz
CSU-LSAMP
Hispanic
Rosalyn Kent
LS-LAMP
Afr Am
Univ Michigan
Yes14,15,16,17
Corey Landry
LS-LAMP
White
Georgia Tech
Yes18,19/Yes20,21
Grenoble
Erika McClain
LS-LAMP
Afr Am
Apply Ph.D/MD
Yes22/Yes23,24
Lille
Yes25,26
Leuven
Manon Raval
No - Illinois
White
Keely Redhage
OK-LSAMP
Nat Am
Mayo Clinic
No
Lille
Dhruv Seshadri
No - CWRU
White
Texas A&M
Yes27/Yes28,29,30,31
Grenoble
Monica Trejo
CSU-LSAMP
Hispanic
Industrial Job
No
Grenoble
Ashlie Walker
OK-LSAMP
Nat Am
Univ of Kansas
Yes32/Yes33,34,35
Grenoble
Still undergrad
No/Yes36
Grenoble
Jonathon Watson
MIT
LS-LAMP
Afr Am
Andres Criado
OK-LSAMP
Hispanic
Still undergrad
Yes37/Yes38,39,40,41
Grenoble
Dakari Franklin
GA LSAMP
Afr Am
Still undergrad
No/Yes42,43,44
Grenoble
CSU-LSAMP
Afr Am
Still undergrad
No/Yes45,46
Toulouse
Apply PhD/MD
No/Yes47,48
Grenoble
Apply PhD/MD
No/Yes49,50,51
Grenoble
Apply Ph.D
Yes52/Yes53,54
Grenoble
2015
Nat Ghebrendrias
Amir Hobson
Anastasia LeBeaud
GA LSAMP
Afr Am
LS-LAMP
White
OK-LSAMP
Hispanic
LS-LAMP
Afr Am
Univ Michigan
Yes55/Yes56,57,58,59,
Grenoble
Alexandra Saxberg
CSU-LSAMP
Hispanic
Still undergrad
No/Yes60,61
Toulouse
Roberto Tovar
CSU-LSAMP
Hispanic
Apply grad sch.
n/r
Toulouse
Nick Means
Lydia Mensah
84% students of color
~10 pubs (first 2 yrs)
11 students extended their stay
The Bologna Process
Voluntary creation of comparable higher education
standards across Europe
Common framework of comparable degrees
Three level system UG/Grad/Doctoral
Enhanced mobility
ETCS-compatible credit system
Equivalence of European Master’s degree.
“One goal of this REU is to enable participants to extend their authentic research experience abroad and/or
have the opportunity to do some or all of their graduate studies in an international location.”
Extend REU students to six months (summer plus semester)
Corroborating support letter from European mentor
Obtain the “local” equivalence of the “M2” year after completion of their US Bachelor’s degree.
The equivalence will be documented in a cosigned letter.
Erasmus Plus award between Univ Joseph Fourier and LSU
Funds 24 faculty visits – mostly 1 month, in 2016 and 2017
Introducing several $5,000 “Collaborative Research Initiation” awards for US mentors of iREU participants
Based on the demonstrated potential for ongoing collaboration between the LSAMP and European groups
Investing in our mentors will deepen interactions focused on a given REU project to increase its long-term
impact and value.
Nick Means (2015 Grenoble) 6 month research project implantable
biofuel cells.
Nick functionalized and used electrochemical methods to refine
anodes working with mentor Dr Alan Le Goff
Meanwhile and aided by Nick’s weekly reports, Gopan Krishnan, his
US mentor and Oklahoma State Asst Chemistry Prof, refined flexible
Bucky paper-based cathodes.
Gopan
(OK-LSAMP)
Midway through Nick’s REU experience, the cathodes were sent to
Grenoble and work started on optimizing the resulting “transatlantic”
biofuel cell which Nick was able to see in operation before he
returned.
Dr. Krishnan hopes to incorporate this international collaboration in
his own 2016 NSF CAREER proposal.
Back in Oklahoma now, Nick is collaboratively writing the
publication and will participate in a fall 2015 panel on publishing
internationally as part of the NSF LSMCE meeting.
Nick
Alain
Grenoble
Leuven, Belgium
Leuven, Belgium, performs research in nanoelectronics and
bio-nano science
Grenoble
Grenoble houses one of the largest sets of science and technology centers in Europe; GIANT (Grenoble
Innovation for Advanced New Technologies) innovation campus serves as an umbrella organization.
Toulouse
The University of Toulouse was founded in 1229, and along with those of Bologna, Oxford, the
Sorbonne and Salamanca, is one of the oldest in Europe.
Now in the shadows of one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the world (Airbus), it conducts
the chemistry and materials research that complements and informs industrial needs.
Bordeaux
The University of Bordeaux dates back to 1441. Ranked
among the top universities in France, and among the top
200 for Chemistry in the Shanghai ranking, it is an
international, multi-disciplinary, research-focused institution.
A number of translational science efforts are active with
one example being the Laboratory of Future (LOF), a joint
venture between CNRS, UBx and Solvay chemicals.
No application (!!!) nomination only
National recruiting especially from LSAMP institutions.
Formal nomination method, whereby a list of several dozen potential European mentors, each with
citations to a few recent publications, is disseminated
LSAMP directors or faculty mentors submit their nominations. We attempt to limit to two nominations per
LSAMP to encourage broad-based recruiting
The nomination dossier includes several key components and a number of informational items
e.g., unofficial transcripts. For this renewal we propose to adopt LinkedIn,
Most valuable to the entire process is a statement by the mentor which speaks to the student’s research skills
and motivations with a recommendation of a specific “top choice” European mentor and why that research
group is a best fit for the nominee and the LSAMP mentor.
A final key element is a previous research summary. Nominees summarize research accomplishments
and skills at obtaining publication-quality results.
Name
Location Research Area
#UG
Pubs
Name
Location
Research Area
3,4
Mihaela
Magnetic
Atomic layer
Leuven
5+
nanoparticles
Popovici
deposition of SrRuO3
Sebastian
SupramoleDario 5,6 Bassani Bordeaux
Leuven Neurochemistry
5+ Haesler7
cular materials
Claudia 10,11
3D chemical analysis
Chem in superCyril 8,9 Aymonier Bordeaux
Leuven
heterogeneous mat.
Fleischmann
critical fluids
0
Colloidal quan-tum
Interfacial
Erik 14,15,16,17
Reiko Oda12,13
Toulouse plasmonics,
Bordeaux
chemistry
2 Dujardin
interfaces
Thierry
Rodolphe Clerac
Magnetic
TOFSIMS-AFM 3D
Bordeaux
Leuven
3 Conard20,21
18,19
Materials
chemical analysis
Olivier Sandre1,2 Bordeaux
22,23
Henri
Bordeaux
Cramail
25,26
Nathan
Bordeaux
McClenaghan
28,29
Sébastien
Bordeaux
Lecommandoux
31,32
Mona
Bordeaux
Tréguer
Polymer
synthesis
Optical probe
synthesis
Micellar polymer materials
Plasmonic
nanoparticles
JeanBaptiste
Salmon34,35
Bordeaux Microfluidics
Etienne Grau37,38
Green
Bordeaux
chemistry
Dimiter
Prodanov
Kuntheak
4
Kheng27
Pascale
5+
Chenevier
Serge
5
Cosnier
24
4
30
33
Reduin
Borsali36
Christophe39,
Mireille
BlanchardDesce42,43
Liesbet
Lagae46,47,48
Stefan De
Gendt50,51,52
Bordeaux
Leuven
Leuven
Christoph
Leuven
Aldemann 54,55,56
Non-linear
optics probes
Functional
nanoparticles
2D material
growth
ALD/CVD/PVD
/MBE film
deposition
40
5
Tenailleau41
Christelle
HureauSabater44,45
Didier
5+
Boturyn49
Didier
5+
Gasparutto53
Gwénaël
5+ Rapenne57,58,
5+
59
Nanomaterial
biosafety
Ultrafast
Grenoble
spectroscopy
d
Functionalizing
Grenoble
carbon nanotubes
Immunosensors and
Grenoble
DNA sensors
Leuven
5+
Grenoble
Self-assembly of
biopolymers
#UG
Pubs
1
0
2
1
1
0
5
5
Figure 6. Predeparture meeting in Washington DC, 2014. Clockwise from top left 3 Xavier
participants at NSF building, entire REU group – note Dr Errol Levy joined the event and made
a presentation representing the European Union, Ashlie Walker with French Embassy Science
Counsel Dr Minh-Ha Pham, who also addressed the group, Keeley Redhage at her poster with
Dr Art Hicks, who directs the LSAMP program at NSF.
5+
2
Preparation/characToulouse terization of oxide
materials for Energy
2
Toulouse Metals and peptides
1
1
Chemselective
ligations
Chemical analysis of
Grenoble
DNA damage
Synthesis. of
Toulouse molecular machines
and motors
Grenoble
5+
5+
5+
“Nano-thermometers with thermo-sensitive polymer grafted USPIOs behaving as positive contrast
agents in low-field MRI” A. Hannecart, D. Stanicki, L. Vander Elst, R. N. Muller, S.
Lecommandoux, J. Thévenot, C. Bonduelle, A. Trotier, P. Massot, S. Miraux, O. Sandre, and S.
Laurent, Nanoscale 7 3754-3767 (2015)
2
“Magnetic Responsive Polymer Composite Materials” J. Thévenot, H. Oliveira, O. Sandre, and S.
Lecommandoux, Chemical Society Reviews 42 7099-7116 (2013)
3
“High-k dielectrics for future generation memory devices (Invited Paper)” Kittl, JA; Opsomer, K;
Popovici, M; Menou, N; Kaczer, B; Wang, XP; Adelmann, C; Pawlak, MA; Tomida, K; Rothschild,
A; Govoreanu, B; Degraeve, R; Schaekers, M; Zahid, M; Delabie, A; Meersschaut, J; Polspoel,
Finding
Opportunities
Attributes that enhance
successResearch
in an international
setting
Technical skills
Demonstrated work ethic, reliability, dedication
Adaptable, Good Personality, team player
Creative/Fearless
Good communicator
Others that might be less obvious
Time management
Independence
Represents themselves well - not “fussy”
Embraces “norms” in another country
Mindful of personal security
Professional Etiquette
rduran@lsu.edu
Acknowledgements
CHE 1263336
The US/France/Belgium iREU Site
in Translational Chemistry
External Factors mentors may miss
Family constraints, “helicopter” parents, illness, student’s academic status