Congratulations to Catherine Schmidt Patterson (class of 2002) on being named a recipient of a 2013 Rising Star Award by the ACS Women Chemists Committee (WCC). These awards recognize exceptional early- to mid-career women chemists across all areas of chemistry on a national level. Catherine earned a Ph.D. at Northwestern University and is currently at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, California.  Catherine will participate in the WCC symposium at the Spring 2013 ACS National Meeting and present her work entitled “Excellence in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage through the Development of Analytical Techniques.”

Congrats Catherine!

The spring 2013 semester has brought some changes to the chemistry department.  After many years of outstanding service to the department and the university, Dr. Dana Delaware retired at the end of the fall semester.  He’s still around teaching upper level biochemistry this semester, but we will miss seeing him here full-time.

With Dr. Delaware’s retirement, Dr. David McCurdy has been selected to serve as the chemistry department chair.  Best of luck to Dave as he tackles his new duties!

It’s National Chemistry Week! 

Help the ACS celebrate all week by attending the events below!

Monday: Wear lab glasses to class day.  Professors too!
Monday-Wednesday: Periodic Table of Cupcakes sale in MG, 10:00am – 2:00pm
Wednesday: Bonfire at Pi Kapp (Behind Missouri Hall, next to Newman), 7:00-9:00pm
Thursday: Children’s safe drinking water collection on the Quad, 10:30am – 2:00pm
Friday: Chemistry Demos on the Quad, 12:30-2:30pm

For more NCW information check out the national ACS website.

CHEM 475  has been split into CHEM 473 (a 3-credit-hour, lecture-only course) and CHEM 474 (a 1-credit-hour, laboratory course).  Students need to know that 1) they need to register for, and successfully complete (with a C, or better) both courses to fulfill their graduation requirements, no matter which catalog they are following, and 2) their choice of catalog has an effect on what they do after they complete the new courses. Choosing to change catalogs to the newest version would mean that they need do nothing more. However, if they stay with an older catalog, they will need to file a substitution request (that CHEM 473 and CHEM 474 be allowed to substitute for CHEM 475), which would be automatically approved.

Effective Fall 2011, the chemistry department will offer the following courses in biochemistry. The CHEM 421: Biochemistry course will no longer be offered. Check here to see which course(s) fit your needs and to learn how the courses fit in the Chemistry and Biology majors and minors.

CHEM 335: Biochemistry I: Structure and Function (3 cr; lecture)
CHEM 310: Modern Methods in Biochemistry (1 cr; lab)
CHEM 435: Biochemistry II: Metabolism (3 cr; lecture)

Please feel free to email Dr. Nagan mnagan@truman.edu or Dr. Delaware ddelawar@truman.edu if you have any questions about the new BIochemistry courses.

The most recently announced rankings of American Chemical Society (ACS)-certified degrees awarded ties the Truman Chemistry program nationally for 20^th place in the number of degrees awarded (32) in the 2008-2009 time frame.  Analysis of the data reveals even more about the significance of this success.

Truman’s number of certified degrees exceeds all but one (tied) of the Ivy League schools as well as a number of highly regarded liberal arts schools.  Even more telling is the fact that Truman’s program awarded approximately the same number of accredited degrees than the entire rest of the MIAA conference (33), and but two less that the combined total (34) of all four University of Missouri campuses.  Truman’s 32 even exceeds by 5 that of the total number of degrees awarded (certified and non-certified) by the University of Missouri-Columbia campus.

Since Truman’s Chemistry program was listed alongside many very large schools, a comparison based on the ratio of the number of certified degrees awarded to the undergraduate enrollment for each of the top 25 schools seems appropriate (i.e., a “level playing field”).  The outcome of this analysis places Truman’s program at #4 among the ranked schools, trailing only the US Naval Academy, the University of Chicago, and the University of Virginia!  Our Chemistry Department is quite proud of this achievement and strives to continue the success.

To see all the data, go to the August, 23, 2010 issue of Chemical and Engineering News, pages 44-54.

For the second year in a row, and the fourth time in the last five years, Truman’s Student Chapter of the American Chemical Society has been awarded the highest honor available from national ACS — Outstanding Chapter for 2009-2010!  This award recognizes all of the hard work ACS students put into spreading the joy of chemistry on campus, in the local community and beyond!

Truman’s ACS Chapter was also awarded a Green Chemistry Award for 2009-2010 for the great environmentally friendly activities performed during the year.

Some comments from the reviewers:

“The idea of the musical [demo show] was great! The chapter did an exceptional job with outreach efforts to school children and the public at large.”

“The video on You tube is awesome!!”

“Kudos to the president and president-elect for such outstanding ability to recruit speakers!!”

“Good job! The report was prepared with great care and reflects the amount of commitment that students and faculty members have towards the success of the chapter.  I really enjoyed the pictures provided as supporting documentation.”

“Excellent work! Outstanding fund-raising efforts!“

“Kudos to all!”

Interested in joining?  ACS meets every Wednesday at 8:30 pm in MG1096.  See the ACS website for more information.

Beginning Fall 2010 the Chemistry Department will offer a newly redesigned introductory course sequence.

The primary goal of the new three-course sequence is student success in understanding the fundamental principles and processes of chemistry. There is a statistically significant correlation between performance on the American Chemical Society Toledo Exam and success of students in our previous introductory sequence, as measured by a common final examination. Math placement  and ACT math scores, in conjunction with completion of one year of high school chemistry, are additional predictors of success in introductory college chemistry.

Click here for more information!