The Department of Chemistry Times
An Electronic Newsletter of the Department of Chemistry
State University of New York
College at Brockport
Volume 1, No. 4
Brockport, NY 14420
December 2002
The old Department of Biological Sciences,
although diminished in numbers, will retain its
name and will take on an increased emphasis
in the cellular and molecular aspects of
biology under Professor Stephen Chan, its
new chairperson. The department has been
granted permission to search for two new
faculty members this year, a microbiologist
and a physiologist.
“Department of Environmental
Science and Biology” Formed
By Thomas W. Kallen
SUNY Brockport’s Provost and Academic
Vice President Timothy Flanagan announced
the formation of a new science department,
the Department of Environmental Science
and Biology (ES&B), this past summer. The
new department consists of Professors Joe
Makarewicz, Geoffrey Gardner, Jim
Haynes and Chris Norment and is charged
with administering the interdisciplinary
Environmental Science major, a major
program that began accepting students just
last spring. Makarewicz will serve as the
Department’s chairperson.
Both departments share the existing MS in
Biology program.
Greene and Lee Host Workshop
for Elementary School Teachers
By Carolyn J. Greene
On Saturday November 16, 2002, Professor
Carolyn J. Greene and Dawn M. Lee,
Laboratory manager for the Department of
Chemistry, hosted a workshop in the
Department’s laboratories for 19 in-service
elementary school teachers.
The Environmental Science major program
consists of four separate “concentrations”
above a common “core” of introductory
science courses. The “concentrations” are
upper-level courses of study in Aquatic
Ecology, Terrestrial Ecology, Earth Science or
Environmental Chemistry.
The workshop, entitled “Principles of
Chemistry,” consisted of 16 hands-on
activities designed to demonstrate ways of
recognizing when a chemical reaction is taking
place and to highlight factors that may affect
the rate of a reaction. Many of the activities
were chosen because they featured very
colorful chemical changes that would hold the
interest of children and adults, alike. Each of
the activities used common, safe, “household”
material---materials easily obtained from a
supermarket, pharmacy, or hardware store.
The teachers were encouraged to adapt these
activities for use in their elementary school
science classrooms.
The morning-long
An Environmental Science Board consisting
of four members appointed by the Dean of
the School of Letters and Sciences, each
representing a department providing one of
the concentrations, will act as the curriculum
committee for the new department and will
also provide advisement for its students.
Furthermore, members of other science
departments teaching courses in or having
research interests that lie in the area of
environmental science may choose to affiliate
informally with the new department.
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workshop concluded with an “Excitement of
Chemistry” demonstration by Professor
Kenneth D. Schlecht.
Biology, retired from full-time service
effective December 31st. She will continue to
work for the College part-time, ordering and
receiving chemicals and supplies for the five
departments, at least until June 30, 2003, the
end of the current budget year.
The teachers were all members of a graduatelevel Education class taught by Professors
Betsy Balzano and Morris Beers of SUNY
Brockport’s Department of Education and
Human Development. Balzano and Beers
wrote in their “thank you” note to Greene,
Lee and Schlecht, “The teachers truly enjoyed
the activities and demonstrations today. It
will add richness to what they teach in their
science classes. They learned new ideas and
added activities to their repertoire of skills.
You have impacted a large number of
students in the schools, for each of the 19
teachers has a minimum of 25 students in
their classes. This is what professional
development is really all about. Thank you
for being so generous with your time on a
Saturday. The teachers and we thank you”
Marks took advantage of this year’s early
retirement incentive program to retire from
the only full-time job she ever had. She was
hired to take care of the Lennon Hall animal
room and greenhouse right after her
graduation from Brockport High School in
1967 at the tender age of 17. In fact, when
Personnel realized that the person they hired
was not quite 18, they had to chase her right
out to get a work permit! When asked how
her position had changed over the years,
Marks said, “Changed? Hey, my desk only
moved 3 feet in 36 years.”
Everyone in the sciences is happy for Sandy
Marks and is even happier that she will not be
leaving us entirely. She is one of those people
who just can’t be replaced!
ACS Undergraduate Research
Symposium to be Held at SUNY
Brockport in April
Alumni News
By Kenneth D. Schlecht
By Thomas W. Kallen
The 48th Annual Undergraduate Research
Symposium of the Rochester Section of
the American Chemical Society will be held
in the Seymour College Union at SUNY
Brockport on Saturday, April 26, 2003. The
Symposium will feature both poster and oral
presentations by undergraduates participating
in research at Rochester area colleges.
This reporter found the time to interview
several alumni in between plates of pasta,
sauce and meatballs, at the 11th Annual
Harvard House Spaghetti Dinner.
The
Spaghetti Dinner was held, as tradition
dictates, in the Physics laboratories of Smith
Hall on the Friday before Thanksgiving,
November 22, 2002.
The organizers of this year’s Symposium are
Professor Margaret E. Logan and Professor
Kenneth D. Schlecht of the Department of
Chemistry at SUNY Brockport. Abstracts of
student papers should be submitted on or
before April 15, 2003.
By Thomas w. Kallen
Linda Richiuso (’95), in her seventh year at
the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester,
has advanced to the level of Senior
Technician in the Polymer Science
Technology Laboratory of the Imaging
Materials Division. Richiuso reports that she
“just got a notice of allowance for my sixth
patent here at Kodak---only 19 more until I
make the Distinguished Inventors Gallery.”
Sandy Marks, Senior Stores Clerk for the
Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Earth
Science, Biological Sciences, and the new
Department of Environmental Science and
Richiuso is married to Bob Franklin (’96),
who has a BS in Accounting from SUNY
Geneseo and a BS in Chemistry and Biology
from SUNY Brockport.
Franklin is
Sandy Marks Retires
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Controller of Coordinated Care Services,
Inc. in Rochester and is working toward
completion of an MPA in Information
Management from SUNY Brockport.
doing antigen-antibody tests. Hess, who did
her undergraduate research under Professor
Margaret E. Logan, has discovered that
everyone she works with either worked for or
with Professor Logan while she worked at
Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics.
Franklin and Richiuso live in Chili NY and
have two daughters, one a high school junior
and the other a freshman Dance major at
SUNY Buffalo.
Hess has plans to pursue a MS, either in
Biochemistry or Immunology.
Yvonne Williams (’92, Math and Education;
’97, Chemistry) received her doctorate in
Optometry (OD) from the New England
College of Optometry in Boston, MA in
2001.
Williams completed her clinical
experience in Boston, in Florida, and finally at
the VA Hospital in Northampton, MA in
2002. She is currently working for Empire
Vision of Rochester and the Oak Orchard
Community Health Center in Brockport..
She has plans for the not-too-distant future
that include opening a private practice in
Monroe County as a “mobile optometrist.”
Jason Salter (’02) reports that he is working
as a laboratory technician studying calcium
transport and manganese toxicity in rat liver
and chicken hearts under biochemist and
molecular biologist Dr. Tom Gunter at the
University of Rochester.
Mark your 2003 calendar for next year’s feast--4:30 PM on the Friday before Thanksgiving.
No invitation is necessary, although you will
get one if you are on our E-mail address list.
Just send us an E-mail message to let us know
you are coming!
Sarah DiLorenzo (’00) wasn’t able to attend
the fall spaghetti dinner but instead expressed
her “regrets” by E-mail. She wrote, “ Dear
Phyllis, Thank you so very much for inviting
me to the fall spaghetti dinner, although I
regret to say that I will not be able to come. I
will not be able to get home to New York
until late Saturday night. I do not know if
anyone will be around the week of
Thanksgiving. If not, be sure to say hello for
me. I am doing very well here in Iowa. I am
working for a company called Integrated
DNA Tech. We synthesize half DNA strands
for research and pharmaceutical companies.
My department purifies the product using RP,
IE and IP HPLC. I really love working here
and am on my way to a manager’s position. I
really lucked out finding this job. I miss seeing
everyone and I hope all is going well for the
Chemistry department. Take care and please
keep in touch. Thanks again, Sarah C.
DiLorenzo.”
If you have news about yourself that you wish
to have included in the “Alumni News”
section of The Department of Chemistry
Times, please send it by e-mail to the editor,
Tom Kallen, at tkallen@brockport.edu.
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 Professor Kallen at tkallen@brockport.edu.
Stacey Hess (’02), a Biology major and
Chemistry minor while at Brockport, is now
employed by Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics in
Rochester. She reports that she is working in
assay development and runs ELIZA all day,
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