from the chair(s) of chemistry · “any investigation into the syntheses and properties of...

2017 • page 1

FROM THE CHAIR(S) OF CHEMISTRY

Greetings to all friends and family of IC

Chemistry and Biochemistry! This is IC

Chemistry and Biochemistry Year 2017 in

Review – covering the period since January

2017, when the last Alumni Newsletter came out.

In April 2017 a group of IC students with a few

faculty travelled to the National ACS meeting in

San Francisco and successfully presented seven

research talks. Check out an awesome picture of

this group on a catamaran, with the Golden Gate

Bridge on the background - on the last page of

the Newsletter. We are extremely fortunate and

grateful to San Francisco-based ’71 IC Chemistry

Alumna, Dr. Gretchen Rooker-Parenteau for

talking us on this adventure! As always, our

deep gratitude goes to all our sponsors for their generous support through the IC endowed

funds, allowing our students to have the invaluable experiences of doing

summer research and presenting their results at the national conferences.

These help is crucial to the success of the chemistry program at IC.

Here are some new faces who have joined our department.

After an intense national search, as of Fall 2017 we have a new tenure-

track Biochemistry faculty, Dr. Andrew Torelli , who has moved to IC from

the Bowling Green State University. Andy is bringing expertise in copper

protein biochemistry and active funding in educational research on

Visualizing Chemistry with Infrared Imaging. Welcome to IC Chemistry,

Andy! Dr. Andrew Torelli

VERY RECENTLY: IC student team at the 255th National ACS meeting New Orleans in March 2018. Pictured from left

to right are Anthony DiBernardo (19), Jesse Hsu(‘19) Chemical Mole, Kaitlyn Crobar(‘18), Clair Levitt(‘19), Rain

Talosig(‘19), Kito Gilbert-Bass(‘19).

2017 • page 2

In Fall 2017, our 2015-2017 Postdoctoral faculty member

Dr. Greg Smith started a new position teaching Physical

Chemistry at South Oregon University in Ashland, OR.

Happy calculations, Greg! Also, In Fall 2017 a new

Postdoctoral Fellow joined our faculty: Dr. Alexandre

Pinto comes to us with a fresh PhD from the University of

Minnesota in Minneapolis. Alex was born and raised in

Brazil, but is not scared of Ithaca winters after five years

in Minneapolis. Teaching Physical Chemistry takes a

special kind of resilience. Alex’s research is centered in

the exciting area of graphene synthesis and other cool

materials chemistry projects.

We continue having very good luck with our part-time faculty – Dr.

Kristina Hugar (IC ’06, Chief Scientific Officer at Ecolectro, Inc.) enjoys

teaching our students, along with Dr. Celeste Ptak and Dr. Carmella

Calabrese.

Last, but not least – we had a change of leadership in the department. As

of fall 2017, Dr. Janet Hunting took the helm as the new Department

Chair. Dr. Anna Larsen has completed her 3-year Department Chair term

and continues helping as an Assistant Chair.

We had an excellent class of chemistry and biochemistry graduates in

2017 and are looking forward to hearing great things about their

accomplishments in the near future. We also hosted a number of recent

and not-very-recent alumni speakers in our Fall 2017 seminar series, as

well as learning about exciting summer 2017 research that our students

did at IC and other institutions. (Again, see more details about these

events inside the Newsletter).

As always, we look forward to hearing from all our IC Chemistry folks,

so please stay in touch! You can contact us by email at

[email protected], or email any of the faculty or staff.

Janet Hunting, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,

[email protected]

Anna Larsen, Assistant Chair of the Department of Chemistry and

Biochemistry, [email protected]

Dr. Greg Smith

Dr. Alexandre Pinto

Dr. Anna Larsen

Dr. Janet Hunting

2017 • page 3

ANGELICA R. TALOSIG (’19) AWARDED THE LARRY METZGER, M.S.

’87, MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

The Larry Metzger, M.S. ’87, Memorial Scholarship award was established by

Ithaca College in recognition of his many contributions and great dedication to the

College community for over 30 years. The award is given to an outstanding junior

or senior intending to pursue an advanced degree in science.

ANTHONY DIBERNARDO (’19) AWARDED THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL

SOCIETY BOOK AWARD

The American Chemical Society Book Award is given to the top student within a

given chemistry year sequence. The award supports the recipient’s academic

advancement by providing financial assistance for the cost of books related to their

degree studies.

JASON WEBB (’17) AWARDED THE NM MORRIS FAMILY FOUNDATION

SCHOLARSHIP

The NM Morris Family Foundation Scholarship is given to a student majoring in

biochemistry, biology, chemistry, or physics based on academic excellence and

faculty nominations.

ERIN HIGGINS (’18) AWARDED THE GLENN C. VOGEL AND MARJORIE

R. CHELLY ’94 SCHOLARSHIP

The Glenn Vogel and Marjorie Chelly Chemistry Education Fund award is given to

a student that embodies Dr. Chelly’s tremendous work ethic and has achieved

excellence through extraordinary effort.

Chemistry & Biochemistry Student Scholarships & Awards

NOAH BUDIN ('18) AWARDED THE RUSSELL DRAGO CHEMISTRY

AWARD

Awarded to seniors based on academic achievement, laboratory skills, promise in

the field of chemistry.

2017 • page 4

Ithaca College Student

External Summer Research

Noah Budin (Chemistry, ’18) Trapping the Excited Twisted Intermediate of α-Methylstilbene Florida State University

Erin Higgins (Biochemistry, ’18) Ketogenesis and the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disease Gladstone Institute, San Francisco, CA and Buck Institute in Novato, CA Samantha Hilston (Biochemistry, ’18) Optimization of Co3-xMnxO4 Supercapacitor Performance Through Oxidation Time Cornell University Jesse Hsu (Chemistry ’19) Surface-Crosslinked Polymer Nanoparticles as Vessels for MRI Contrast Agents Georgetown University

Noah Budin

Erin Higgins

Samantha Hilston

Jesse Hsu

See details on student summer research 2017 at Ithaca College

inside the News from the Faculty Labs section!!

2017 • page 5

Alumni News

Dr. Philip Byers (CHEMISTRY ‘08) is a tenure

track assistant professor at Farmingdale State

College. On September 5th 2017 Phil presented a

talk on the topic of

“Any Investigation into the Syntheses and Properties

of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons” as part of the IC

Chemistry Department Seminar Series.

Kathleen Sampson (CHEMISTRY ‘13) is currently a PhD Candidate

at Bender Lab in the department of Chemical Engineering & Applied

Chemistry at University of Toronto. On October 24th 2017 Kathleen

presented a talk on the topic

“From Chemistry to Engineering: New Materials for Organic Solar Cells”

Kathleen says: One of the greatest potential sources for renewable energy is the sun;

more energy from the sun strikes the Earth than the world consumes in one year.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are a type of solar energy technology that convert sunlight

into electricity using Earth-abundant, carbon-based materials and cheaper

manufacturing processes compared to current commercially available solar

technology. In addition, OSCs are low in weight and can be printed onto flexible

materials similar to an inkjet printer. In the Bender Lab at University of Toronto, our

research is focused on a class of materials called boron subphthalocyanines

(BsubPcs) as they can absorb large amounts of light in the visible energy spectrum –

a strong indication of its capability of harvesting sunlight and

converting it into current. As well, its properties can be tuned

by altering the substituents on the BsubPc using the vastness

of organic chemistry. They have shown great potential in

OSCs as small molecules as well as when incorporated in

polymers. My project focuses on altering the electronic and

solubility properties of small molecule and polymer BsubPcs in

order to solution-process high-performance OSCs. Solution

processed OSCs are at the cusp of mass production due to

their promise as a cheaper alternative with high efficiencies.

Dr. Phillip Byers

Kathleen Sampson

2017 • page 6

Alumni News Dr. Amanda Kowalsick Kern (CHEMISTRY ‘13) is

a Practice leader at Tufts University, MA

Sensory and Science Center. On December 5th

2017 she presented a talk on “Analytical variations in

the chemical composition of natural products, foods and

beverages.”

Here is an excerpt form Amanda’s abstract for this talk:

Hop-derived flavor characteristics play a major role in how

consumers perceive the quality of beer, directly impacting

their overall liking and consumption habits. To better understand consumer

preferences for hop-led beers, we conducted Product Attribute Elicitation Method

(PEM) sessions with craft beer drinkers. PEM is our unique testing process that

allows us to unbundle and prioritize specific flavor characteristics that drive consumer

satisfaction.

Shane S. Galley (CHEMISTRY ‘13) had recently defended PhD in

Nuclear chemistry at Florida State University and has joined the

Purdue University Chemistry department as a Postdoctoral fellow. On

October 31st 2017 Shane presented a talk on “Transuranic Non-Aqueous

Coordination Complexes for Understanding f-orbital Participation in Bonding”

Here is excerpt from Shane’s abstract for this talk:

As of 2014, there is an expected 69,000 metric tons of nuclear waste sitting in

storage in the U.S. Little efforts have been made to deal with the radiotoxicity of the

spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The problem arises from the

complex mixture of the SNF and highly radioactive actinides.

Due to the high radioactivity of the minor actinides (Pu-Cm),

there is a lack of understanding the fundamental chemistry of

the actinides. The focus of this work is to prepare

coordination complexes that can be used as probes for

elucidating changes in the structure and bonding across the

actinides series

Shane Galley

Dr. Amanda Kowalsick Kern

2017 • page 7

Dr. Nora Radu (CHEMISTRY ‘90) is a Principal

Investigator at DuPont, Inc. On September 26th

2017 Nora presented a talk on “Design of materials for

Organic Light-Emitting Diode Displays”

Here is and excerpt from Nora’s abstract for this talk:

Organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology enables for

more vivid color, higher contrast, faster response, thinner

panels, a wider viewing angle and lower power consumption

than traditional liquid crystal displays. I will present our recent

progress in designing small molecule and polymeric materials that will enable display

manufacturers to deliver superior OLED device performance with lower

manufacturing costs for large-format displays.

Dr. Nora Radu

Alumni News

Carina Chittim (CHEMISTRY ’14) is a PhD Candidate at Harvard

University. On November 28th 2017 Carina presented a talk on

“Discovery of a gut bacterial phospholipase D that supports disease-associated

choline metabolism”.

The planet Earth is home to trillions of microbes that play key roles in maintaining

homeostasis of a diverse set of ecosystems. Of those diverse ecosystems, the

human gut harbors an important microbial community that contributes to the overall

health of the host. Bacteria produce small molecule metabolites that allow them to

interact with host cells. Dietary choline is an essential nutrient that is required for

various processes including neurotransmission, cell membrane maintenance, and

liver function and its degradation by gut microbes has been connected with several

diseases. The majority of dietary choline is present in the form of phosphatidylcholine

(PC), and is currently unknown how gut microbes obtain

free choline from this substrate. We have characterized the

biochemical activity of this enzyme as well as its essential

role in PC degradation in a variety of human isolates. This

bacterial activity represents a novel role for this enzyme

family in the provision of a carbon source for survival.

Targeting this enzyme may provide a new approach for

modulating TMA production and therefore disease risk.

2017 • page 8

Alumni News Samantha Schrell (Cary) (CHEMISTRY ‘12)

In 2016, I joined Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as an

Agnew National Security postdoctoral fellow under the guidance of

Stosh A. Kozimor. In January 2017 I received the Marie Curie

distinguished postdoctoral fellowship at LANL. My current research

efforts can be broadly described in terms of actinide separations,

coordination chemistry, solid-state synthesis, and superconductivity.

In the future I hope to stay at LANL as a staff scientist and contribute

to the labs mission of “solving national security challenges through

scientific excellence”. I have authored 25 manuscripts, which have been cited over

100 times. Previously, in 2012-2015 Samantha completed PhD in Chemistry in Dr.

Thomas Albrecht-Schmitt laboratory in Florida State University.

Samantha Schrell IC

Ruth Munie (BIOCHEMISTRY ‘12)

Ruth recently received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Western

New England University and is currently a licensed pharmacist in Idaho

and Maryland. Pictured with another IC Chemistry graduate and twin

sister – Sarah Munie ’12 – also a licensed pharmacist now!!

Shawn Eady (CHEMISTRY ‘10)

Currently a research and development engineer at Sironix

Renewables, developing environmentally friendly and safe chemicals

from plants to be used for industrial consumer products. Developed

catalyst and flow reactor systems for CO2 hydrogenation as a

postdoctoral fellow in chemical engineering at University of Michigan.

Started a project designing semiconductor-immobilized electrocatalysts for solar-

driven hydrogen production as a Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan.

Jason Diaz (BIOCHEMSITRY ‘09)

Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 2014

Penn-PORT Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, 2014-2017

Assistant Professor, Integrated Science, Business, and Technology

Program, La Salle University, 2017-present

Shawn Eady IC ‘10

Ruth & Sarah

Jason Diaz IC ‘09

2017 • page 9

Alumni News

Ryan Wibby (CHEMISTRY ‘07)

Current: Co-Founder / Brewmaster Wibby Brewing,

Est 2015- MULTIPLE AWARDS and

RECOGNITIONS!!

Career Path: May ’07 – Aug ’07 – Taproom

Assistant and bottling line assistant, Ithaca Beer

Co., Ithaca, NY; Aug ’07 – Nov ’07 – Bottling line

assistant, Flying Fish Brewery, Cherry Hill, NJ; Nov

’07 – Apr ’09 – Assistant Brewer, Iron Hill Brewery

and Restaurant, Lancaster, PA; Apr ’09 – Dec ’10 –

Brewer, Ithaca Beer Co., Ithaca, NY; Jan ’11 – June

’11 – Certified Brewmaster

Course, VLB-Berlin, Berlin,

Germany; July ’11 – Oct ’11

– Intern, VLB-Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Jan ’12 – Jan ’14 –

Level 3 Brewer, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR; Sept ’15 –

Present – Co-Founder / Brewmaster, Wibby Brewing,

Longmont, CO.

Anne Ruminski (CHEMISTRY ‘03)

MS and Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of

California, San Diego (UCSD)

Currently: Senior Engineer at Matrix Industries. At Matrix we

are developing thermoelectric materials to power wearable

devices with your body heat. Our first product, a smart watch,

will be shipped later this fall 2017.

Previously: At UCSD I studied electrochemical etching of

porous silicon photonic crystals and surface chemistry

functionalization for environmental sensor applications. After

graduation I went to the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

There I synthesized doped metal nanoparticle – polymer composite materials for

hydrogen gas storage.

Ryan Wibby IC ‘07

Anne Ruminski IC ‘o3

2017 • page 10

Class of 2017: Where Are They Now?

Erika G. Bravo

Major: Biochemistry B.S.

Currently: Forensic Science

John Jay University , New

York

Matthew C. Bixby

Major: Chemistry B.S.

Currently: Executive

Assistant in Production

NBC News, New York

Justin A. Bird


Currently: Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Buffalo, NY

Khalil Castillo-Aponte


Currently: In Ph.D program in Astrochemistry in UK

Omar A. Chaarawi


Currently: Gap year before Ph.D program

Matthew P. Finegan


Currently: Environmental

Laboratory Ithaca

Wasterwater Treatment

Facility Ithaca, NY

Matthew Chiriboga


Currently: Research Technician at Naval Research Labs (NRL), Washington DC

Ryan T. Murtagh


Currently: Chemical

Engineer Premier Water &

Energy Technology, Inc.

Kayla J. Plummer


Currently: Preparing for Law School

Adriana M. Morales


Currently: Laboratory Technician Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Joshua M. Speer


Currently: PhD UC Santa Barbara

Name: Angela R. Asala Major: Chemistry B.S.

Name: Allan A. Bowen Major: Biochemistry B.S.

Name: Kristen C. Keene Major: Biochemistry B.S.

Name: Philip D. Monka Major: Biochemistry B.S.

Name: Chan Hee Shin Major: Biochemistry B.S.

Not Pictured:

2017 • page 11

News From Faculty Labs News from Akiko Fillinger’s Lab

The biggest news of Fillinger’s Lab is that our

third publication on Cu2O is finally out

(Deposition of Nickel on Electrodeposited Cu2O at

Potential More Positive than the Nernst Potential

of Ni2+/Ni0, Journal of the Electrochemical

Society, 164, H615-H620, 2017). The key idea of

the paper took place in 2009. Then, a total of ten

Ithaca College undergraduate research students got

involved in this research project. After many

defeats, twists, and turns the findings were

published with four IC student coauthors --

Kaitlyn DeHority (’16), Noah Budin (’18),

Samantha Hilston (’18), and Yongqian (Kelly)

Zhang (’14). So far we have focused on

photoelectric catalysis of water reduction (H2 fuel

production from water) on Cu2O surface. As a

next step we will explore photoelectric catalysis of CO2 reduction to formic acid and methanol on Cu2O

surface -- photoelectric synthesis of fuels from a greenhouse gas!

Prior to the publication, Samantha Hilston and Noah Budin (coauthors of the paper) presented their

poster on the Cu2O project at the ACS National Meeting in San Francisco, CA in March 2017.

This summer I decided to take a time-out

from summer research because the following

fall semester is my sabbatical leave. I

enjoyed a long relaxing summer here in

Ithaca, NY and Oregon. One of the

highlights during the vacation in Oregon is

having a good time over dinner with one of

the former IC research students, Cliff Engel

(’10) and his wife, Jane, in Hillsboro, OR,

where Cliff works at Intel as an R & D

scientist. The other highlight is experiencing

97 – 98 % solar eclipse in La Pine, OR. The

photo was taken in the Ochoco National

Forest near Prineville, OR by my husband,

Chris, who ventured out to the wilderness to

experience the “total” solar eclipse in a

spiritual surrounding (or at least away from

the crowds) and endured many hours in the car in the post eclipse traffic jam. Did you hear that the next

total solar eclipse is in Rochester-Syracuse, NY and 97-98 % solar eclipse in Ithaca, NY on April 8,

2024?

Samantha Hilston and Noah Budin at the ACS National

Meeting at San Francisco, CA.

Total Solar Eclipse taken by Chris Fillinger in the Ochoco National

Forest near Prineville, OR.

2017 • page 12

Alex Pinto Group

Our group was formed very recently upon my

arrival to IC as the new Post-Doctoral Teaching

Fellow in Fall 2017. We have started our research

with junior student Julian Kellner-Rogers who has

joined the group and and is focusing his study on

solid liquid adsorption kinetics using the natural

polymer chitosan adsorbent to eliminate textile and

food dyes from the water. From that research we

hope to determine the best temperature condition to

lead to an optimum removal of these dyes. In

parallel to Julian’s research, I have been working

on preparation of two different materials. The first

one is graphene oxide, which is an intermediate

material in graphene production. It is very highly

relevant research since graphene is a very

frequently applied material in emergent technologies. One of the areas we will be investing time in is

trying to find more sustainable ways to convert the graphene oxide to graphene, because the traditional

routes for that utilize hydrazine, which is a very harmful chemical. The second material is the

semiconductor zinc oxide (ZnO); In that case we aim to study how the shape of the ZnO particles in the

nano (10-9) meters scale can impact different properties of this materials, such as photocatalysis and

catalysis of some organic reactions. In addition to the research activities, this Fall 2017 I have been

teaching the Thermodynamics and Kinetics course. I also taught a half-semester Senior Elective course on

characterization techniques for the solid state chemistry, in order to give the Chemistry and Biochemistry

students a little taste of some common characterization techniques they might frequently use in their

careers after graduation. More details about our Research and Teaching activities and updates can be

found on our official website:

www.alexpintogroup.com, and also at our twitter

profile: @AlexPintoGroup.

News from Andrew Torelli's Lab

Dr. Andrew (Andy) Torelli joined the Chemistry

Department in August, 2017 as an Assistant

Professor. Andy is a native of the central NY area,

and completed his graduate degree at the University

of Rochester. After a postdoctoral appointment at

Cornell University, Andy took a faculty position at

Bowling Green State University in Ohio where his

research interests expanded to include multiple

News From Faculty Labs

Dr. Alex Pinto (left) and Junior Student Julian Kellner-Rogers

(right) in the lab, before setting up an experiment.

Kaitlyn Crobar and Professor Andrew Torelli

2017 • page 13

undergraduate research projects related to

protein biochemistry, citizen science, and

chemistry education. Andy is thrilled to

begin at I.C. where his teaching and research

interests complement other chemistry and

biochemistry faculty in the department. His

new lab is adjacent to the Protein Purification

laboratory, which is also used by the Ellis

and Ulrich labs. Currently there is one

student working on research in the Torelli

lab. Kaitlyn Crobar is a senior student

working towards a dual degree in Politics and

Chemistry, and she is completing her

Capstone Research on a project that

combines her interests in teaching and chemistry. Specifically, Kaitlyn is developing new curricular units

based on the use of newly-affordable infrared imaging technologies to teach important concepts in

undergraduate biochemistry laboratory courses. This work is part of a grant awarded to Dr. Torelli by the

National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education. Other research projects that will

continue in the Torelli lab include characterizing a novel family of blue copper proteins that support

ammonia oxidation by microorganisms in the environment, and development of broadly accessible

technologies that enable citizen scientists to collect reliable data.

In the fall 2017 semester, Andy is teaching Biochemistry – Protein Structure & Function, as well as a

Selected Topics elective on basic theory and practical skills for analyzing protein X-ray crystallographic

data. He will continue in the spring 2018 semester teaching the first block of Biochemistry Lab, as well as

Principles of Chemistry.

News from Anna Larsen’s Lab: 2016/2017

In the past school year we had five research group members all together! At times it was pretty hectic

around the lab. Ben Morse (’17) has completed his senior research Thesis on Rhodium Pincer Complexes

Chemistry in December 2016 (with Honors distinction). Shortly after that Ben was hired by Ecolectro,

Inc. – a start-up specialty chemical company researching polymers for fuel cell applications - where he

now works under the supervisor of another IC alumna, Kristina Hugar (IC ‘06). Sounds like this was a

great match both for Ecolectro and Ben. Green energy future is in good hands of IC graduates!

Josh Speer and Kayla Plummer (‘17) carried out their senior research in our laboratory in 2016-17

academic year, on synthesis and NMR studies of reactive Rhodium PNSi complexes with various

nucleophilic substrates (continuing Ben Morse’s research). After lots of work and many drafts their

Theses were presented and accepted as part of our very new Chemistry graduation requirements.

Congratulations to both!! Josh is now enjoying good weather in Chemistry PhD program in UC Santa


2017 • page 14

Barbara, while Kayla is working towards joining Law

School next year, with plans to specialize in intellectual

property laws.

Melissa Raymond (‘17) and Rain Talosig (‘18)

presented their Ionic Liquids work at the ACS meeting

in San Francisco in Spring 2017 and continued on to

Summer 2017 research internship in our lab. Melissa is

planning to defend her honors Research Thesis in

chemistry this coming spring, continuing with the ionic

liquids theme. Rain has moved on to rhodium

organometallics and has gotten a lot of NMR done past

summer, along with exciting X-ray structure solved, for

a novel PNSi pincer complex with a bridging hydride.

We also have tried few photochemical experiments with

these complexes, using the 1970 photo-reactor - which still works fine!! (Related to this - in July 2017

Anna has attended an International Symposium on Photospectroscopy and Photochemistry of

Coordinating Compounds in Oxford, UK, presenting our data and learning quite a bit about the field of

photochemistry in very short few days.)

This Fall we were also lucky to be visited by several Larsen laboratory Alumni: Megan Wirth (‘14)

stopped by to tell us how her work in Boston Children’s hospital is going. Megan is steadily working

towards Genetics Counseling graduate program and is convinced more than ever that this is a great choice

of career for her. Jason Diaz (2008) visited also, - now in his first year biochemistry professor position at

Las Salle university (after PhD and Postdoc in UPenn). And very recently we had a pleasure of hosting a

seminar for Dr. Shane Galley (2013) – who just defended his very speedy PhD in Nuclear Chemistry at

Florida State U and is joining Purdue University as a postdoctoral fellow very shortly. Last but not least –

we connected with Dr. Jesse Kleingardner (‘05) during ACS meeting in San Francisco. Jesse is in his 2nd

year of tenure-track professor position in Messiah College and brought his own students to the meeting!

It is always such a pleasure to see our graduates.

Jamie Ellis’s Lab

The Ellis Lab had many exciting goings-on this year.

Our work on plant transcription factors continues to

expand—into more biology, more spectroscopy, and

more computational science. Margaret Carroll (Biology

'18) joined the lab to work on the DNA binding

domain. She has already added a large component of

genomic analysis to really understand where in the

genome our proteins may be binding. She was joined

by two new lab members during our summer research.


Melissa Raymond and Rain Talosig presenting their

respective projects at November 2017 H&S Summer

Research Highlights Open House in IC.

Reid, Maggie, and Colton after summer research

2017 • page 15

Colton Garelli (Biochemistry '18) is jumping in

to studying our intrinsically disordered proteins

domain. Specifically, he is expanding our

library of proteins. Reid Garner (Biochemistry

'18) is improving our NMR data quality in

order to study a small protein:protein

interaction domains. Cailin Harro (Biology '17)

came up from the lab of Andrew Smith in

Biology for some cloning and protein work

during her Honors Thesis last year as well.

Shelby Johnston (Biochemistry '19) and Jeff

Taylor (Chemistry '19) finished out the

academic year research completing some more

construct design and direct testing of

heterodimers and oligomers in our

protein:protein interaction studies. Both Allan

Bowen (Biochemistry '17) and Matt Chiriboga (Biochemistry '17) were able to confirm and expand

fluorescence studies before graduating in the Spring. Matt began research at the Naval Research Lab over

the summer and is hoping to pursue a PhD after a year or two of research. Allan is attending a master's

program at George Washington University.

The lab group traveled widely this year to present at conferences. Matt traveled to San Francisco to

present his research poster at the 253rd American Chemical Society National Meeting in March 2017

while Allan represented the lab at the NCUR meeting in April 2017. Shelby presented her novel construct

design and first association tests at the Ithaca College Whalen Symposium. Both Maggie and I traveled to

Washington D.C. for the 254th American Chemical Society National Meeting in August. Maggie and

Allan also presented their Biochemistry 390

research to the Biology and Chemistry

departments.

We've had a lot of fun as a group as well. In the

Fall, the group made Ukrainian eggs again. We

celebrated the end of the year and graduation with

games and food in the Spring. Over the summer,

we brewed beer with other Chemistry summer

research scholars over the summer (and came up

with the fantastic beer name: 3rd Floor Wit). We

even made waffles for the Biology department

Happy Hour.

We are looking forward to biophysical

characterization of our transcription factors as

Maggie, Colton, and Reid are joined by Natalie


Maggie, Matt, Jamie, and Allan at the Bio Banquet

Ellis Lab making Ukrainian Eggs

2017 • page 16

George (Biochemistry '19) in the Fall. Natalie George will continue work on the DNA binding domain

testing our hypotheses on movement of these proteins using fluorescence while Maggie is working on a

senior honors research thesis. Colton has also added a computational component to his project to better

quantify sequence bias this category of intrinsically disordered proteins. He will initiate a collaboration

with faculty in Computer Science on this new off-shoot project.

Hunting Lab

Graduating seniors Kayla Plummer (’17), Joshua

Speer (’17), and Matthew Bixby (’17) finished their

IC chemistry careers in May. We miss them very

much, and we wish them happy, productive futures.

It was another very enjoyable year in the Hunting

research lab. Anthony DiBernardo (Chemistry ’19)

and Claire Levitt (Biochemistry ’19) joined Kito

Gilbert-Bass (Chemistry ’19) for research during the

summer and fall of 2017, and Cory Davis (Chemistry

’21) and Nicole Hultquist (Chemistry/Anthropology

’21) joined us for the new year.

Kito is researching new ternary and quaternary

nitride compounds. His work particularly focuses on

lithium/calcium-containing transition metal nitrides;

he has synthesized many of these using reactions

under pressure in sealed niobium tubes. (Besides his many research talents, Kito also has excellent

instrument repair abilities, repairing both the arc furnace and the box furnace). Kito will be presenting his

research at the 255th National American Chemical Society meeting in March in New Orleans, Louisiana.

His research poster is entitled: Synthesis and Characterization of New Lithium Calcium Transition Metal

Quaternary Nitrides

Claire Levitt continued work begun by Matt

Bixby (Chem. ’17) working with inorganic

pigments. Through doping of yttrium indium

manganese oxides, an increase in the near-IR

reflectance region was discovered by

Subramanian et al. at Oregon State perhaps

leading to new pigment applications for energy

-efficient roofs, cars, and buildings. Claire

worked on synthesizing new versions of these

pigments: YIn1-xMnxO3 (x = 0.1 – 0.8), please

see the figure. Synthesized products were


Summer 2017 research (Janet, Anthony, Kito and Claire)

2017 • page 17

analyzed using our powder X-ray diffractometer. Claire will be presenting her research at the New

Orleans ACS national meeting: Doping of YIn1-xMnxO3 to Form New Inorganic Pigments.

Anthony continued the research begun by Connor Shea studying a new class of photovoltaic materials

with great potential in the realm of solar energy conversion. The foundational material,

methylammonium lead iodide, is a hybrid organic-inorganic material adopting the versatile perovskite

crystal structure. Among other research activities, Anthony has also done excellent work using our

single crystal X-ray diffractometer. Anthony will be presenting his research at the ACS meeting in New

Orleans this March as well. His research poster is entitled: Sol-gel Synthesis and Characterization of

Methylammonium Perovskite Compounds.

Haaf Lab

Work in the realm of organic polymer chemistry

continued in the Haaf lab this year, with projects

involving the synthesis of several interesting classes

of polymers, including polymers of intrinsic

microporosity (PIMs), self-healing polymers,

fluorescent polymers, and network polymers used for

trapping small-molecule organic pollutants. Two

seniors presented their work at the national ACS

meeting in San Francisco this year. Omar Charaawi

(`17) presented his superb work on photoswitchable

polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs), and Erika

Bravo (`17) presented data on her extensive study of

the removal of organic micropollutants with a porous

network polymer. Both students did make beautiful

posters summarizing their excellent and thorough

work. Congratulations to you both! As always, it was

bittersweet to wave goodbye to the graduating seniors

Omar, Erika, and Ryan Murtagh, as they left to

pursue future endeavors.

This fall, we have an enthusiastic bunch of

researchers, including lab veteran Jesse Hsu (`19),

and several new folks, Jaina Sharma (`18), Otto

Euller (`18), and Ethan Cramer (`18). It’s been a

fantastic group, and everyone has made good

progress on their projects thus far. In just a few

weeks, the team has collectively synthesized about 6

brand new compounds!


Haaf Lab (Lto R) Ethan Cramer(`18), Jaina Sharma (`18), Jesse Hsu (`19), Otto Euller (`18),

Professor Mike Haaf (`94)

2017 • page 18

The Class of 2018 ~ Good Luck!

Colton Garelli Biochemistry

Joshua Goodman Biochemistry

Alexandra Goralski Biochemistry

Erin Higgens Biochemistry

Noah Budin Chemistry

Kaitlyn Crobar Chemistry

Marli Cain Biochemistry

Rebecca DiFabio Biochemistry

Eric Eichelberger Biochemistry

Carl Euller Biochemistry

Dallas Fonseca Biochemistry

Lauren Hodkinson Biochemistry

Melissa Raymond Biochemistry

Megan Stratman Biochemistry

Anna Tarren Biochemistry

Flora Tierney Biochemistry

Zachary Mota Biochemistry

Samantha Hilston Biochemistry

Ethan Cramer Biochemistry

2017 • page 19

In Memory It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the

sudden passing of our friend and colleague Professor

Steve Russo, who died at home on Saturday, April 7.

Professor Russo worked as an Assistant Professor at

Ithaca College since 2008, but has over four decades of

teaching experience at the undergraduate level. Steve’s

area of specialization was chemical education, and his

enthusiasm for teaching was transparent.

Professor Russo earned his B.S. in chemistry from St. Francis College in New

York City and his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1979, winning both the

DuPont and Clark awards as an outstanding teaching assistant. He served as the

associate coordinator for freshman chemistry at Indiana University for over a dec-

ade. While there, he designed and implemented a state-of-the-art computer re-

source center for the undergraduate chemistry curriculum and once again, he was

recognized with a distinguished teaching award in recognition of his devotion and

skill in the craft. Steve then returned to Cornell University in 1992 as coordinator

of the freshman chemistry program until 2008, at which point he joined the faculty

here at IC. Professor Russo co-authored several papers in peer-reviewed journals

on his research in chemistry and chemical education, and published a popular text-

book on Introductory Chemistry, now in its fifth edition.

Steve was a passionate, knowledgeable, and caring teacher, and a valued colleague

in the chemistry department. We will all miss his enthusiasm for science, his in-

spiring dedication to teaching, and his great sense of humor and collegiality.

Please join us in keeping Steve’s family and friends in our thoughts during this

difficult time.

Professor Steven Russo

2017 • page 20

Ithaca College students and faculty at the ACS meeting in San Francisco in April'17, during the boat tour of the San

Francisco Bay. It was such an awesome trip - huge thank you to Dr. Gretchen Rooker-Parenteau for inviting us!!

(Pictured left to right: Samanta Hilston ('18), Noah Budin ('18) , Mike Haaf, Janet Hunting, Melissa Raymond ('18) ,

Rain Talosig ('19), Erika Bravo ('17), Matt Chiriboga (17'), Matt Bixby ('17) , Erin Higgins ('18) , Ben Morse ('17) ,

Gretchen Rooker-Parenteau ('71) , Sandy Haaf, Anna Larsen, with Golden Gate Bridge on the background.)

from the chair(s) of chemistry · “any investigation into the syntheses and properties of...

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