2010 Annual Newsletter
CONTENTS
State of the Chemistry Department 2009-2010
Faculty and Staff Update
Seminars and Special Events
Course Enrollments
Declared Majors/Minors
Honors
Student Research Presentations
Midstates Symposia
Beloit College 8th International Symposium, November 18, 2009
Beloit College 34th Annual Student Symposium, April 8, 2010
The Beloit Biologist, Volume 29, 2010
Student Experiences
Majors - Class of 2010
Alumni News and Notes
Email Addresses and Web Pages
Back
The mission of Chemistry and Biochemistry is to provide all students with an understanding of the fundamental concepts and language of chemistry, an understanding of the attitudes, approaches, and limitations of science, and an appreciation of the importance of the acquired knowledge of chemistry when acting responsibly in society. Our mission is also to graduate majors who will eventually become key players (as scientists and/or policy makers) working together in interdisciplinary teams that address important and topical questions and issues in 21st century environmental science, materials science, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and in the health professions. We will achieve our goals through a teaching environment where students learn chemistry by doing what chemists actually do, using sophisticated tools and techniques that practicing chemists use throughout our curriculum.
Our goals and objectives emphasize and mesh well with the goals and objectives endorsed by the College in that they (a) engage the intelligence, imagination, and curiosity of chemistry and biochemistry students, (b) emphasize interdisciplinary perspectives and the integration of knowledge with experience, and (c) allow for close collaboration among peers, professors and staff to equip students to approach the complex problems of the world ethically and thoughtfully.
We have moved from an average of 10 Chemistry and Biochemistry majors graduating each year from 2005 through 2008 to an average of 15.5 graduating in 2009 and 2010 and projected for the next two years (based on declared junior and senior majors). Because of the high proportion of these students who continue on to graduate or professional school, the Biochemistry Program and Chemistry Department are also important for maintaining the College's enviable record as an undergraduate source of Ph.D. degrees. Beloit College currently ranks 31st in the country overall as the baccalaureate origin of Ph.D. degrees in science and engineering fields and 15th among liberal arts colleges (National Science Foundation, Division of Sciences Resources Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 1997-2006, and special tabulations of U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions Survey, 1988-1997, as quoted in NSF Info Brief, Baccalaureate Origins of S&E Doctorate Recipients, NSF 08-311, July 2008).
In the last several years the number of majors has moved to a higher level. (Chemistry and biochemistry graduating majors (2001-2010) and declared majors in the graduating classes of 2011 and 2012 are shown.)
Additionally 80% of chemistry and biochemistry majors between 2005 - 2009 either spent a summer or semester in full-time research or studied abroad. 46% of these majors have completed two or more research or study abroad experiences.
Paralleling the growth in Chemistry and Biochemistry majors, we have seen a similar increase of over 50% in the total number of students enrolled in chemistry courses, as shown in Figure 2. This enrollment increase reflects primarily the significant growth in the number of students electing chemistry courses to support their major or pre-professional preparation, secondarily an increased number of Chemistry and Biochemistry majors taking those courses, plus a modest increase in the number of non-science students taking our 100-level courses.
Total student enrollment in chemistry and biochemistry courses has been increasing.
We refurbished 12 Ocean Optics UV-VIS Diode Array Spectrometers and purchased 14 new Dell laptops to run the instruments. From the fourth year budget of the 5-year Sherman Fairchild grant we purchased a new Nicolet iS10 Mid Infrared FT-IR spectrometer with diamond ATR that makes sampling very easy.
The Department is evaluated approximately every five years by the American Chemical Society. We filed our periodic report with the ACS in 2009, and early in 2010 we were informed that our program earned continued approval for certification. The Department has been continuously certified by the ACS since 1949.
Kevin Braun '99
Visiting Assistant Professor
B.S. (chemistry) and B.A. (anthropology) Beloit College
Ph.D. University of Arizona
At Beloit since 2007
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/classes/braun/index.html
The end of the school year finds me mostly moved into my office with only a few lingering boxes hiding in the cabinets. This year brought with it many challenges though also many rewarding moments.
In the fall, I taught General Chemistry (117) and had the opportunity to teach Biochemistry of Macromolecules (300) for the first time. Though a challenge, Chem/Bio 300 provided me an opportunity to depart from my usual courses and apply my physical/bioanalytical chemistry background to the ever-changing world of biochemistry. The combination of biology, biochemistry, and chemistry students in the course produced some great class and laboratory discussions. The fall also saw Chem 117 take on an overall environmental theme in which we discussed automobile pollution, acid rain, global warming, biofuels, and lighting technology. The biodiesel synthesis from used fryer oil continues to be a big hit; though, I have yet to find a way to get the lingering fry smell out of my clothes.
The spring term found me teaching General Chemistry (117) and a new instrumentation course on Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry (225). Chem 117, as in the fall, continued the environmental theme and provided an opportunity to refine the laboratories and activities. Enrollment for the course continues to be high and has been coupled to an increased interest in the sciences. This semester’s offering of Chem 225 utilized our new Griffin Analytical GC/MS purchased with Chemistry Department and Science Division endowed funds. Highlights for the course included developing a strategy to characterize biodiesel and accelerants found in arson investigations. I also had the opportunity to oversee the department seminar series (380) this semester. Prof. Jonathan Scheerer 01’ from the College of William and Mary presented his group’s research in developing new insecticidal and anti-feedant molecules while also offering a unique perspective of life after Beloit. Additionally, George Lisensky presented his research in nanochemistry and Brock Spencer provided a walking presentation of the ‘green’ features of the new science center.
Two students conducted research with me this year with one working on the capillary electrophoresis (CE) instrument and the other on the application of wavelet transform for denoising electropherograms. Keith Olson 11’ worked to develop an improved optical layout for the CE instrument in addition to writing software to control the high voltage power supply and PMT detector. Tess Jacquez 11’ continued her work on the wavelet project. A collaboration with Bruce Atwood in the math department and Craig A. Aspinwall from the University of Arizona, the project is now transitioning from the developmental phase to the application phase with new data acquired at the University of Arizona arriving for analysis. The new data will allow us to optimize the wavelet type to best reconstruct the original signal and increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Tess presented our research at Beloit’s Student Symposium Day and will look to present at a major conference this upcoming year.
Lastly, I had the opportunity to attend two conferences in the spring term. At the beginning of March, I attended the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy (PittCon) in Orlando, Fl. The conference gave me the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, attend outstanding talks, and best of all, see my Ph.D. advisor, Craig, A. Aspinwall, win the American Chemical Society’s Analytical Chemistry Award for Young Investigators in Separation Science. At the end of the March, along with George Lisensky, Tess Jacquez 11’, and Brock Spencer, I traveled to San Francisco to attend the American Chemical Society’s national meeting. The trip was funded through the NSF-sponsored Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences (CWCS), a program that provides workshops for science faculty. This summer, George Lisensky and I are leading a CWCS workshop at Beloit on how to integrate topics in renewable energy into general chemistry. The ACS conference provided an opportunity to meet other CWCS contributors and discuss how to improve the program.
Overall, it was a busy year, though quite rewarding. With increased enrollment and interest in the sciences, combined with a new science center, it is an exciting time to be at Beloit!
Rongping Deng
Science Division Instrument and Research Specialist
B.S. Xinjiang University
M.S. Fudan University, University of New Hampshire
Ph.D. University of New Hampshire
At Beloit since 2007
Rongping has been collaborating with groups at the Beijing Institute of Technology and the University of California-Riverside in research on alcohol reactions on metal surfaces, using molecular mono-layers on single crystal surfaces to model reaction mechanisms for heterogeneous catalysis. This year they published "Formation of an Oxametallacycle Surface Intermediate via Thermal Activation of 1-Chloro-2-methyl-2-propanol on Ni(100)" by Q. Zhao, R. Deng, and F. Zaera, J. Phys. Chem. C 2010, 114, 7913-7919.
This fall, Rongping has a large group of students taking his Chem 225 Topics in Instrumental Analysis course where they will be learning to use the Scanning Electron Microscope and the new Scanning Tunneling Microscope/Atomic Force Microscope.
George Lisensky
Professor
B.A. Earlham College
Ph.D. California Institute of Technology
At Beloit since 1980
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/classes/lisensky/index.html
Last summer George and Jamie Eversage ’12 worked with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Materials Science Research and Engineering Center (MRSEC) on Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces to develop laboratory experiments for teaching. See <http://mrsec.wisc.edu/edetc/nanolabs>. George organized and taught a week-long workshop at Beloit for college chemistry faculty from around the country on Materials Science and Nanotechnology as part of the NSF-funded Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences administered by Georgia State University. See <http://chemistry.beloit.edu/classes/cwcs/index.html>. He also participated in the Gordon Research Conference on “Visualization in Science and Education,” in Oxford, England in July, 2009. After the meeting George and Carol traveled through Scotland, revisiting places they knew from Beloit’s former environmental seminar.
In the fall of 2009 George taught Solid State Chemistry (250) and an FYI seminar on Nanotechnology. He organized the eighth annual International Student Symposium at Beloit. During Homecoming he gave a talk on Nanotechnology. He was invited to and participated in the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network annual meeting in San Francisco. (This is an organization of science museums working on how to present nanotechnology in their setting.) He gave a workshop on the science of LEDs at the NSTA meeting in Minneapolis. George took a group of students to the Midstates Consortium for Math and Science Undergraduate Research Symposium at The University of Chicago where Jamie Eversage ’12, who worked with him last summer, presented her work on Superhydrophobic Polystyrene Nanotube Sheets.
In the spring of 2009 George taught Environmental, Analytical and Geochemistry (Chem 220), Nanochemistry (Chem 150) and Scientific Glassblowing. He attended the American Chemical Society Meeting in San Francisco. Brynson Lehmkul ’10, who worked with George on a special project, presented Synthesis of Nanosized Pores in Aluminum Foil at Beloit’s Student Symposium. This spring George also taught and called two contra dances in Pearsons.
George’s youngest daughter will be a senior in high school next year. She got her driver’s license in December and is currently being flooded with mail from admissions offices. His family hosted a high school AFS student from Sweden this year.
George received this year’s Beloit College Kang Prize for Innovation in Teaching with Technology for the software packages he wrote for Chem 220. Kplot calculates logarithmic concentration, distribution, and titration plots for acid/base, solubility, metal/ligand and redox equilibria using properly formatted chemical formulas. It runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux computers, and students have their own copies. The program allows students to focus more on understanding the chemistry in complex environmental, geological, and biological systems and less on algebraic manipulations. In LabReporter, students enter their lab data and their calculation results over the internet to a database. A dynamic web page then immediately compares the data and the calculated results and reports to the student for each calculated result whether the calculated result is consistent with the entered data. This feedback allows students to interpret actual results rather than calculation errors when making conclusions from their lab work. George previously won this prize in 2002 for development of web-based video materials.
This summer Tess Jacquez ’11 is working with George in the lab. In July, he and Kevin organized and taught a week-long workshop on Renewable Energy at Beloit for college chemistry faculty from around the country as part of the NSF-funded Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences administered by Georgia State University. See http://chemistry.beloit.edu/classes/cwcs_energy/index.html.
Posters
• Multiple Representations of Chemical Models, Gordon Research Conference on “Visualization in Science and Education,” in Oxford, England in July, 2009
Workshops
• Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs): Recent Advances, Green Applications, and Cutting-Edge Science, NSTA Area Conference on Science Education, Minneapolis, MN, October 31, 2009.
• Middle and High School Nanoscience, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, Danville, KY, June 23, 2009.
Alfred "Roc" Bram Ordman
Professor
B.A. Carleton College
Ph. D. Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison
At Beloit since 1977
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/Ordman/index.html
I find my interests always moving to future challenges in science appropriate for Beloit students to explore. Some alumni will remember when I did my first sabbatical doing cancer research with alumus Roz Boutwell '39. I went from there to aging research, which quickly led to nutrition, still an exciting area. I teach a fall course where students develop research posters reviewing the latest developments, which can be seen at the posters link at my home page (above). This year we began producing videotapes on the nutrition topics, which are likely soon to be produced for youtube.
I believe the slogan "Be conscious of what you put in your body" is the key to excellent nutrition. Nutrition research must then include exercise, social interactions, and finally consciousness, my latest area of deep interest. Consciousness is the "last great mystery of science" - Richard Dawkins (author of The Selfish Gene). In my nerve signaling course we meditate on consciousness. We study neurochemistry, and build neurons using circuit boards. In the spring, I offered a new IDST on consciousness. The class began trying to define this yet-to-be resolved function of our minds, and you are welcome to read and contribute to our ongoing discussion on the web. The class begins with a disclaimer from the outstanding text by Susan Blackwell, "Studying consciousness can be very disturbing". Many of my alumni will recall discussions about the biochemistry of free will - that it is unlikely to exist. But I had the delightful realization during class discussion this IDST that I can think of no reason for consciousness to have evolved unless we have to evaluate the choices that we can make, which means we must have free will to choose! Thus arose a new signature to my emails "I am conscious, therefore I have free will."
In research I have so many projects. I attended a conference at the Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) where I presented a " Review of Evidence for Determining Your Vitamin C Dosage." That led to my publication reviewing the many recent discoveries about vitamin C, in press for Health coming out in August, 2010, ""Vitamin C Twice a Day Enhances Health". At the AGE meeting on brain aging I presented a study of what supplements nutrition experts consume. Though surprised to find there is no consensus, I was pleased to discover that the Director of the NIH Center of Nutrition at LPI consumes almost exactly what I do. Email ordman@beloit.edu, subject: send nutrition newsletter, to get bimonthly summaries of the latest peer-reviewed nutrition research.
I was involved this fall with Richie Davidson, who directs the NIH Center devoted to consciousness and health at UW-Madison. He is collaborating with the Dalai Lama to understand how meditation and consciousness contribute to health. I am presenting a poster at AGE this summer on a blood protocol to evaluate how nutritional and conscious stress contribute to inflammation and illness. Matt Watson '00, my telomere expert now post-docing in Austria, skyped with Chem 380 this fall. We were discussing research that demonstrated that both emotional and nutritional stress may shorten telomeres. Consuming multivitamins and vitamin C and E may maintain longer telomeres.
Last fall I also worked with my alumni email family to try to increase the percentage of alumni giving to Beloit. As % alumni giving is very important to the College's reputation, and giving has decreased in recent years, my friends - you- made a major push to do better. Though Roc's alumni beat the campus rate significantly, I hope we can do even better this year. Please donate at least a dollar now - it's the % that matters. You can do it here: https://www.beloit.edu/giving/beloitfund/
Laura E. Parmentier
Professor and Chair
B.S. Northland College
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin - Madison
At Beloit since 1991
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/classes/parmentier/index.html
We had a record number of students enrolled in organic chemistry courses this past year and ended up offering two class and three lab sections of Chem 230 in the fall and two class and two lab sections of Chem 235 in the spring. It’s great to see so much interest. We continue to make the most of the new lab and instrument space. It is not at all uncommon to have students working on the NMR and also the IR, GC, GC-MS, and XRD in the instrument suite all at the same time. In the spring we also had George’s glassblowing students at the glass bench in the mix. The labs on the 4th floor are busy and vibrant! Many thanks to the great group of organic TAs that keep the program running, including graduating seniors Theresa Lamb, Brynson Lehmkuhl, and Katie Schurr.
I had the opportunity to work with a great group of chemists at the Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) meeting this spring. The guided inquiry organic chemistry materials I have been using in classes since 2001 came out of this group. There are new materials developed for biochemistry courses that I am particularly interested in now.
The long days of summer, when we could slip into the lab to watch a bit of World Cup action on Tess Jacquez’s computer (Chemistry ’11, working with George on renewable energy and nanotechnology projects), are drawing to a close. New students arrive in Beloit at the end of this week. Please drop by to see us or send a note to say hello.
Brock Spencer
Kohnstamm Professor of Chemistry
B.A. Carleton College
Ph. D. Univ. California-Berkeley
At Beloit since 1965
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/classes/spencer/index.html
Brock has been working with Kevin Braun this year to modify Chemistry 117 so that, while maintaining its approach of "teaching chemistry in context," the context is now largely environmental. This evolution in the course parallels a project underway this summer to convert the ChemConnections topical modules for general chemistry into a set of stand-alone activities that can be used with any general chemistry course, which will be published by W. W. Norton. The project brings Sharon Anthony (Northland College) and Heather Mernitz (Alverno College), both part of the original ChemLinks project at Beloit, back together to take the lead, with an intensive workshop this summer at Beloit to produce draft materials.
Following his earlier building-centered courses for the Environmental Studies program, "Sustainable Buildings" and "Buildings as Teachers," Brock taught an Environmental Studies course on "Sustainable Research" this past spring. The goal was for students to establish projects and data bases that could serve to guide future sustainability initiatives on campus. One example involved setting up a procedure for doing energy audits on college-owned houses, including a preliminary survey with a new infrared imaging system to select likely candidates for early retrofits. Another project updated our system for tracking campus trash and recycling streams under a new single-stream system for recycling and identifying ways to reduce total output and increase the percent recycled.
Last fall, Brock took a group of students to a Midstates Science and Mathematics Consortium workshop on Campus Sustainability at St. Olaf College and attended the first national meeting of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) in Madison. This spring, he joined other members of the department at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco, where one of the symposia focused on the chemistry involved in new energy technologies. In May, he attended Greening the Heartland, the annual regional meeting of the U.S. Green Building Council, in Minneapolis. This summer he is one of those representing Beloit at an Associated Colleges of the Midwest workshop at Luther College in Iowa on Integrating Sustainability into the Undergraduate Curriculum and also attended the second AESS meeting at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
This past year brought significant recognition for the Center for the Sciences. The final evaluation of the building by the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification yielded a Platinum award, the highest level and one of only a few thus far awarded nationally to a science building. The Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects gave an Interior Design Award to the project, which was also recognized for an award by the Wisconsin Contractors Association. Brock has been averaging several tours of the building per week, not only with alumni and campus visit days for prospective students and their parents, but also with groups interested in green buildings and other schools starting the process of planning for a new science building. He has also done some consulting with other schools on science building plans and how to integrate active and collaborative approaches into their design.
The fourth year of our 5-year instrument grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation has brought us a new Thermo Scientific Nicolet iS10 fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer, which will replace our vintage Mattson FT-IR. The new system will provide increased sensitivity and resolution, as well as rapid scan quantitative analysis capabilities, plus enhanced software for spectral data base searching and the analysis of multi-component samples. Addition of a diamond attenuated total reflectance (ATR) sample stage will greatly enhance the ease and speed of liquid and solid sample preparation. With the ATR and two computers, one for obtaining spectra and the other for spectral analysis, the number of samples that can be run and interpreted during a lab period will be significantly increased. While evaluating the instrument for purchase, we were also able to visit the production line for the instruments, since they are manufactured in Madison. The other instrument purchase under the grant this year is a new Nikon petrographic microscope suite for Geology, which will permit projecting the image from any of the 9 microscopes for class discussion and analysis.
Rama Viswanathan
Professor
B.S. Bombay University
M.S. Indian Inst. of Technology (I. I. T.), Kanpur
Ph.D. University of Oregon
At Beloit since 1983
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/classes/rama/index.html
This was a routine year for me as I, along with other faculty, students, and staff, settled into the rhythms of classes, labs, and building use associated with our unique and beautiful new home-the Science Center-and the new all-campus class schedule. The Molecular Visualization, Modeling, and Computational Chemistry (CHEM 245) class that I taught in fall was interesting in that it included two students taking it to satisfy requirements for the Computational Visualization and Modeling (CVM) minor that I have established at the college. In the spring, I had the largest Thermodynamics and Kinetics (CHEM 240) class in a decade, with 12 students enrolled.
Just three years after the CVM minor was established, we had the first "crop" of five students graduate in May with the minor, bringing the total to eight since the inception of the minor in fall 2007. All this leads me to think that science majors (especially biology, chemistry, and biochemistry) are realizing the importance of data visualization, computer modeling, and simulation in twenty-first century science. It is my hope that every science major will consider adding a CVM minor to her academic goals.
Finally, I am looking forward to my sabbatical in fall 2010, working on a number of interesting projects in the Science Center ranging from Scanning Probe Microscopy to Solar-Powered Computers. Stay tuned as I report on the results in the next annual newsletter!
Jonathan R. Scheerer '01, Assistant Professor of Chemistry - College of William and Mary, presented a research talk, "Synthesis and Biosynthesis of Natural Products. Studies Directed Toward the Loline Alkaloids, a Family of Insecticidal and Insect Anti-feedant Molecules," and discussed careers with students.
As part of the Weissberg Chair events in March 2010, a group of Beloit alumni science majors from the class of 2004 returned to campus to talk about their experiences in medical school, nursing school, and beyond and to answer questions from students interested in the health professions.
Ashley Neils is a third year medical student at the University of Texas Houston. She earned an MPH at Tulane School of Public Health. Ashley was an Integrative Biology major.
Geni Werner is a fourth year medical student at Mayo University School of Medicine. Geni will start a residency in Family Practice in July. She worked in community health in Rockford for 2 years before going to medical school. Geni had a self-designed Health and Society major.
John Miura is a fourth year medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He worked as a laboratory researcher at New York University for 2 years before medical school. John was a biochemistry major.
Nancy Nguyen Schultz graduated from University of Wisconsin Medical School in 2008 and is in her second year of family practice residency in Milwaukee. She was a biochemistry major.
Tawna Remly is a Nurse Practitioner at John Hopkins Hospital, where she received her RN and MPH. She has worked in a variety of setting in the US and in other countries. Tawna was a psychology major at Beloit.
As a special seminar at the end of the Spring Semester, the Department took a large group of majors and faculty to Rockford for an extended tour of the lab and production facilities of ProChem, an inorganic specialty chemicals company founded by Reno Novak '83. The tour included presentations by employees Erica Severson Zimolzak '95 and Justin Severson '04.
2009-2010
| 117 | Chemistry | 68 |
| 127 | Biochemical Issues: Nutrition | 14 |
| 127 | Biochemical Issues: Neurochemistry of Consciousness | 12 |
| 225 | Instrumental: NMR & IR | 12 |
| 230 | Organic Chemistry I | 58 |
| 245 | Molecular Modeling/Visualization | 14 |
| 250 | Solid State Chemistry | 14 |
| 300 | Biochemistry of Macromolecules | 12 |
| 380 | Chemistry Seminar | 9 |
| 385 | Senior Thesis | 6 |
| 390 | Special Projects | 3 |
| 395 | Teaching Assistant | 6 |
| Total | 228 |
SPRING
| 117 | Chemistry | 57 | |
| 127 | Biochemical Issues: Nutrition | 19 | |
| 150 | Nanochemistry | 13 | |
| 220 | Environmental, Analytical, & Geochemistry | 32 | |
| 225 | Instrumental Analysis: GC/MS | 7 | |
| 235 | Organic Chemistry II | 35 | |
| 240 | Thermodynamics and Kinetics | 12 | |
| 260 | Biometabolism | 19 | |
| 280 |
|
35 | |
| 370 |
|
13 | |
| 380 |
|
8 | |
| 385 | Senior Thesis | 6 | |
| 390 | Special Projects | 2 | |
| 395 | Teaching Assistant | 1 | |
| Total | 259 |
DECLARED MAJORS IN
CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY
Fall 2010
| David | Cavanagh | 2013 | Biochemistry | Beloit, Wisconsin | |
| Mike | Collis | 2013 | Biochemistry | Willowbrook, Illinois | |
| Catherine | Cooper | 2011 | Chemistry | Providence, Rhode Island | |
| Benjamin | Dahl | 2011 | Environmental Chemistry | Lambertville, New Jersey | |
| Tommy | Davis | 2013 | Chemistry (Minor) | Westminster, Maryland | |
| Adilene | Dominguez | 2012 | Biochemistry | Waukegan, Illinois | |
| Mary | Evans | 2011 | Biochemistry | Beloit, Wisconsin | |
| Jennifer | Gilbertson | 2012 | Chemistry | Novato, California | |
| Matt | Hackbart | 2012 | Biochemistry | Woodstock, Illinois | |
| Kiera | Hayes | 2011 | Biochemistry | Seattle, Washington | |
| MacKenzie | Hilliard | 2012 | Biological Chemistry | Monticello, Wisconsin | |
| Allie | Hunter | 2012 | Chemistry | Stevens Point, Wisconsin | |
| Savannah | Huston | 2012 | Biochemistry | Roscoe, Illinois | |
| Ari | Jacobs | 2012 | Chemistry | Mequon, Wisconsin | |
| Tess | Jacquez | 2011 | Chemistry | Pescadero, California | |
| Elizabeth | Jenkins | 2012 | Chemistry | Beloit, Wisconsin | |
| Faith | Jones | 2012 | Biochemistry | Elburn, Illinois | |
| Christopher | Juels | 2011 | Applied Chemistry | Atalissa, Iowa | |
| Kayla | Kengslein | 2012 | Chemistry | Beloit, Wisconsin | |
| Kourtney | Kingslein | 2012 | Chemistry | Beloit, Wisconsin | |
| Will | Ksander | 2013 | Chemistry | Amherst, New Hampshire | |
| Colbert | Miller | 2013 | Chemistry | Galloway, Ohio | |
| Roald | Morris | 2012 | Chemistry | San Jose, California | |
| Kelsey | Morse | 2011 | Chemistry | Carlinville, Illinois | |
| Adam | Nicholas | 2012 | Chemistry | Mount Prospect, Illinois | |
| Nicholas | O'Block | 2011 | Biochemistry | Highland Park, Illinois | |
| Keith | Olson | 2011 | Biochemistry | Elmhurst, Illinois | |
| Jourdan | Posner | 2012 | Biochemistry | Honolulu, Hawaii | |
| John | Rindfleisch | 2011 | Biochemistry | Clinton, Wisconsin | |
| Gregory | Schalla | 2013 | Biochemistry | West Bend, Wisconsin | |
| Darrell | Scott | 2013 | Biochemistry | Chicago, Illinois | |
| Li | Shen | 2012 | Chemistry | Shanghai, China | |
| Corey | Schircliff | 2012 | Biochemistry | Louisville, Kentucky | |
| Diana | Sopkowicz | 2011 | Biochemistry | West Bend, Indiana | |
| Sarah | Stariah | 2012 | Chemistry | LaSalle, Illinois | |
| Mike | Underwood | 2011 | Chemistry | Jacksonville, Illinois | |
| Elise | Wall | 2011 | Biochemistry | Altadena, California | |
| Julia | Win | 2011 | Chemistry (Minor) | Willow Springs, Illinois |
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE HOOD (Recognizing the graduating senior with the highest academic ranking) |
Theresa Lamb |
| SUMMA CUM LAUDE | Dana Dieringer |
| MAGNA CUM LAUDE | Tanishka Armbrister |
| CUM LAUDE | Shanna Dell |
| DEPARTMENTAL HONORS | Tanishka Armbrister - Biochemistry |
| Phi Beta Kappa | Karen Baumann |
| Mortar Board | Tanishka Armbrister |
Alpha Sigma Lambda |
Geethika Fernando |
CRC PRESS FIRST YEAR CHEMISTRY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
recognizes outstanding work by a first-year student and consists of a copy of
the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics.
Osgun Kilic '13
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
sponsored by the Division of Polymer Chemistry recognizes outstanding work in
the introductory organic chemistry course.
Jamie Eversage '12, Caitlin McDonough '12
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY AWARD
sponsored
by the Division of Analytical Chemistry, recognizes a student who displays
an aptitude for analytical chemistry.
Catherine Cooper '11
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN INORGANIC
CHEMISTRY
sponsored by the Division of Inorganic Chemistry, recognizes undergraduate
achievement in inorganic chemistry.
Adam Nicholas '12
WILLIAM J. TRAUTMAN AWARD IN PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
recognizes chemistry majors for outstanding performance in physical chemistry.
Professor Trautman taught chemistry at Beloit College from 1921 to 1947.
Ari Jacobs '11, Clare Loxterkamp '10
EDWARD C. FULLER AWARD in CHEMICAL EDUCATION
was established by the majors of the Class of 1982 in honor of Professor Fuller
and is given to a junior or senior who has done outstanding work as a teaching
assistant.
Theresa Lamb '10, Brynson Lehmkuhl '10, Kathleen Schurr '10
FREE RADICAL AWARD
established by chemistry majors in the classes of 1986-1988,
this award is given only occasionally to recognize academic achievement and
particularly unusual “social spirit,” as is fitting for the catalytic
effect of chemical free radicals.
Brynson Lehmkuhl '10
JOHN H. NAIR AWARD
honors an alumnus (Class of 1915) and
provides membership in an appropriate professional society.
Anny Nguyen '10, Darren Pilcher '10
DAVID A. NORRIS RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
encourages and supports student research by providing funds for research expenses and travel to present research results. Established in honor of David A. Norris, class of 1992.
Keith Olson '11
ANDREW H. WHITEFORD AWARD (Anthropology Department) given to a junior or senior anthropology major who has demonstrated academic achievement and contributed significantly to the life of the department.
Kathleen Schurr '10
ANN M. VERVILLE SCHOLAR’S AWARD (Biology Department)
presented to an upper class biology major chosen by the biology department faculty as the outstanding student of the year.
Theresa Lamb '10, Anny Nguyen '10
GERTRUDE E. SWEET AWARD (Biology Department)
presented to a biology student who is committed to serving others and demonstrates leadership in societal issues related to the life sciences.
Shannal Dell '10, Theresa Lamb '10, Jessica Panks '09
J. CARL WELTY HONOR AWARD (Biology Department) awarded to students whose services or accomplishments most enhance the department each year.
Rachel Fischer '10
GUY ALLEN TAWMNEY PRIZE (Psychology Department) is awarded to a rising junior who has achieved academic excellence in the psychology field of study and contributed to the life of the department. The prize was established in 1989 by the department in honor of Professor Tawney, Beloit's first psychologist, who taught mental and moral science from 1897 to 1907.
Jamie Eversage '12
FERWERDA MERIT SCHOLARSHIPS are awarded to science majors who have established a record of academic excellence in their chosen field. The James R. Ferwerda Endowed Science Scholarship Fund was established in 1978 by Dr. James Ferwerda, a member of the class of 1953 and a Beloit College trustee, and his wife, Connie.
Catherine Cooper '11, Matthew Hackbart '12, Allie Hunter '12, Diana Sopkowicz '11
2009-2010 Athletic Honors
Blanket Awards, the highest honor for a Beloit College student-athlete and signifying the “Best of the Best.”
Bo Wilkins '10
Ed DeGeorge Service and Scholar-Athlete Award, given to a male and female student-athlete, recognizing outstanding academic and athletic performance along with a commitment to service
Tanishka Armbrister '10
Pat Dawson Award, given to a male student-athlete who best exemplifies the qualities of an athlete, scholar and leader.
Bo Wilkins '10
Donald “Red” Janssen Award, given to a male and female student-athlete who have completed and excelled through three seasons of participation in their respective sports.
Tess Jacquez '11
All-Midwest Conference Teams
Tess Jacquez '11 - Volleyball - Second Team
Brian Maunze '10 - Soccer - Second Team
Katie Schurr '10 - Soccer - Second Team
Sarah Stariha '12 - Softball - North Division First Team
Bo Wilkins '10 - Soccer - First Team
National Soccer Coaches Association of America
NCAA Division III All-North Region Second Team
Bo Wilkins '10
Academic All-Midwest Conference First Teams
Tanishka Armbrister '10 - Cross Country, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track
Karen Baumann '10 - Cross Country, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track
Mary Evans '11 - Basketball
Rachel Fischer '10 - Swimming and Diving
Matt Hackbart '12 - Basketball
Kiera Hayes '11 - Soccer
Chris Juels '10 - Football
Clare Loxterkamp '10- Soccer, Indoor Track
Keith Olson '12 - Swimming
Jessica Panks '09 - Swimming
Darren Pilcher '10 - Baseball
Katie Schurr '10 - Soccer, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track
Diana Sopkowicz '11 - Basketball
Sarah Stariha '12 - Basketball, Softball
Alisha Takahashi '10 - Soccer, Indoor Track
2009 Midstates Science and Math Consortium Undergraduate Symposium in the Physical Sciences
November 6-8, 2009, University of Chicago
Jamie Eversage '12 - " Superhydrophobic Polystyrene Nanotube Sheets" - based on work done at Beloit College with George Lisensky in the summer of 2009.
Michael Mandel '09 Honors Term - "Circular Hydraulic Jump" - based on work done at Beloit College in Physics with Paul Stanley.
Li Shen '12 - "Colloidal Gold Nanoparticles: Dependence of Surface Plasmon Band Energy on Size via Citrate Reduction" - based on work done at the National Institutes of Health in the summer of 2009.
Beloit College International Symposium
November 18, 2009
Geethika Fernando '10 - "MANOSHI - Improving Maternal and Infant Health in Urban Slums of Bangladesh through Community Based Health" - based on work done during an internship in Bangladesh during the summer of 2009.
Darren Pilcher '10 - "Improvement of a Continuous Equilibration Method for Trace Gas Analysis of Baltic Seawater at Kiel, Germany" - based on work done in the summer of 2009 in the DAAD RISE (Research Internships in Science and Engineering) program at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at Kiel University in Kiel, Germany.
American Chemical Society National Meeting
San Francisco - March 22, 201
Tess Jacquez '11 - "Synthesis of pellynol analogs as potential anti-tumor agents" - based on work done in the NSF REU program at Syracuse University in the summer of 2009. Tess also received an NSF REU National Leadership Grant to provide support to attend the meeting.
Beloit College 34th Annual Student Symposium
April 8, 2010
Tess Jacquez '11 - " Denoising Fast Hadamard Transform Capillary Electrophoresis Signals using Wavelet Transforms" - based at work done at Beloit College with Kevin Braun.
Brynson Lehmuhl '10 - "Synthesis of Nanosized Pores in Aluminum Foil" - based on work done at Beloit with George Lisenksy.
Brian Maunze '10 - "Characterization of Biofilm Components in Vibrio fischeri"
John Rindfleisch '11 - "Selection for Hexagonal Shape in Cells and Other Topological Data" - based on work done at Beloit College with John Jungck.
Julia Win '11 - "Thiodoxin Glutathione Reductase (TGR): A Novel Drug Target in Combating Schistosomiasis Infection" - based on work done at Rush University Medical Center with support from the Schweppe Foundation.
The Beloit Biologist, Volume 29, 2010
Dana Dieringer '10 - "Lymphoid tissue-specific expression of IgG3 in isolator piglets" - based on work done in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine.
Tanishka Armbrister '10 - "Identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms that may account for population differences in sensitivity to chemotherapy" - based on work done in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Chicago.
Shanna Dell '10 - "ADCC activity as a factor in sex differences in HIV-1 disease progression" - based on work done in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Rush University Medical College.
Anny Nguyen '10 - "Identification of SNPs within the cytochrome b5 and cytochrome b5 reductase promotor regions in human breast tissue" - based on work done in the Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Center for Molecular and Environmental Toxicology, at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Geethika Fernando '10 - "Activation of human eosinophils by cytokines and immobilized immunoglobulin G (IGG)" - based on work done at Beloit College.
Catherine Cooper '12 will be working this summer with Kevin Braun and the faculty at Brown University to conduct research at the Jowkowski Institute for Archaeology and Chemistry with support from Beloit's Stutz Student Grant Fund (alumni endowed).
Geethika Fernando '10 spent the summer of 2009 in Bangladesh in an internship with BRAC, the largest NGO in Bangladesh. She was working with BRAC's maternal, neonatal, and child health program in the slums of Dhaka.
Jenny Gilbertson '12 spent the spring semester of 2010 in Martinique at the Université des Antilles et de la Guyane where, in addition to her course work, she was investigating the reemergence of non-traditional medicine and the medicinal uses of native plants. She is spending the summer doing research on the Beloit College Summer Scholars Program in Chicago.
Kiera Hayes '11, combining her Biochemistry and Anthropology majors, spent the spring semester in rural South Africa studying the interaction between Western medical practitioners and Traditional Healers to understand the cultural conceptions of disease in Zulu culture. This summer, she is again be at the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute working to knock out and tag genes as part of the development of Malaria vaccines.
Allie Hunter '12 has a summer position at Southern Illinois University in their NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program doing NMR research.
Ari Jacobs '12 received an internship at the UW-Madison hospital for the summer and is working with Dr. William Burlingham on research in transplant surgery, specifically the effect that regulatory T cells have on suppressing immunological response.
Tess Jacquez '11 is doing nanotechnology research at Beloit with George Lisensky this summer.
Ro Morris '11 has a summer internship at Nextest Systems, a subsidiary of Teradyne, in San Jose, California, working on memory and electronics test systems.
Kelsey Morse '11 is in the NNIN-REU summer research program at the Stanford University Nanofabrication Facility working on nanoparticles in cancer therapy.
Keith Olson '11 is working in the bioenergy program at UW-Madison this summer, modifying bacteria to synthesize molecules for energy use.
John Rindfleisch '11 is working with John Jungck in Biology this summer, looking at the shapes that cells maintain when they become more compressed in an area
Katie Schurr '10 is working with Katie Johnson in Biology this summer to determine the physiological mechanisms of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) based therapies for the treatment of diabetes
Diana Sopkowicz '11 is doing research this summer with. Dr. Ed Barker at Rush University in Chicago under the Beloit College Summer Scholars Program. She will be working on the anti-tumor role of natural killer (NK) cells.
Sarah Stariha '12 has a summer research internship at Argonne National Laboratory working on coatings for hydrogen fuel cells.
Elise Wall '11 has a research position for the summer at Argonne National Laboratory in the Biosciences Division working on the proteomic response of soil bacteria under metal reducing conditions.
Tanishka Armbrister - Nassau, Bahamas
Biochemistry Major, Health and Society Minor
Tanishka has complete four internships while at Beloit. She worked at the Beloit Area Community Health Center as a Duffy intern, a clinical biochemistry lab in her hometown, completed summer research at the University of Chicago, and also worked as a pharmacy technician at a public hospital in her home country. In addition to her academic success at Beloit, Tanishka is a four-year letter winner as a member of the Track and Field Team and holds records in the indoor 4x400m relay and, most recently, the outdoor 200m. As Head Resident Assistant and President of Mortar Board National Honor Society, Tanishka has organized a number of campus community services events, which has afforded her the 2010 Edward DeGeorge Service and Scholar Athlete Award. She will continue her studies at The American University of Antigua School of Medicine in September.
Karen Baumann - Chicago, Illinois
Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biology; Chemistry Minor
Karen has spent her four years leading a double life as a biology student and a varsity cross-country/track & field athlete. During the summer of 2008, she did microbiology research at the REU program at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA, creating a cDNA library for the marine worm Pectinaria gouldii. Her spring semester of 2009 was spent abroad in Madagascar in an Ecology & Conservation program, where she conducted an independent project studying sea turtle nesting beaches and conservation efforts on the islands of Nosy Be. She came back to present at the International Symposium on "The Concept of Fady in Malagasy Society and Its Impact on Conservation in Madagascar." This summer Karen is moving to St. Paul with Jared Wynne '10, where she has an internship with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources snorkeling and SCUBA diving to survey mussel populations across the state.
Shanna Dell - Madison, Wisconsin
Biochemistry Major, Health and Society Minor
Shanna switched from a cellular and molecular biology major to a biochemistry major after taking organic chemistry. In the summer of 2008, she was granted a Schewppe Biomedical Research Fellowship to work at Rush University Medical Center with Dr. Linda Baum studying the difference in ADCC activity in HIV-1 disease progression between sexes. She also participated in the Duffy Community Partnership class where she interned in the analytical R&D lab at Kerry Ingredients. In addition, she has been a TA for multiple biology classes and was an assistant editor for Marion Fass's global health text book. She also enjoyed being one of the coordinators for Girls and Women in Science and participating in many other aspects of Beloit. This summer Shanna is an intern in the Washington, DC office of the NSF-funded project Science Education for New Civic Engagement (SENCER).
Michael Devine - Winnebago, Illinois
Biochemistry Major
Michael helped with Micho Gravis' research at Beloit College in the summer of 2009. The research focused on the interaction of CREB and the cyclin gene family. He was also a member of TKE fraternity, a TA for Biometrics, and a volunteer with Girls and Women in Science. Outside of Beloit College, Michael is a member of the USA Gymnastics National Team where he competes in Trampoline. He has competed at Nationals, World Cups, World Championships, and Olympic Trials. He plans to continue competing in Trampoline for a few more years after graduation and then apply to medical school.
Dana Dieringer - Marshfield, Wisconsin
Biochemistry Major, Women's and Gender Studies Minor
Geethika Fernando - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Biochemistry Major, Health and Society Minor
Rachel Fischer - Waukesha, Wisconsin
Integrative and Medical Biology Major, Chemistry Minor
Kyle Hansgen - Sebring, Florida
Chemistry Major
Kyle decided to set his focus on chemistry after taking organic chemistry. This will help with application to the College of Pharmacy on his quest to becoming a pharmacist. He was also a member of TKE fraternity as well as a member of the Buccaneer Football Team. He is a four-year letter winner with a Second Team All Conference vote in 2009. He will also finish second on the Career Sack List.
Zeke Hess - Halstad, Minnesota
Applied Chemistry Major, Theatre Arts - Dance Major
Although originally planning to be a mathematical biology major, Zeke discovered an interest in both Chemistry and Dance during his first year at Beloit College. After declaring a double major in both fields, he found himself intensely interested in both subjects, being especially passionate toward dance. In light of his dance interest, Zeke became an Applied Chemistry major, allowing him to take additional courses in anatomy and physiology to supplement his kinesiologically-based dance education. During the summer he plans on welding for a performance company in Fargo, ND for 2 months and competing in a local hip hop/breaking competition. Afterward, Zeke is auditioning for dance companies in Minneapolis, Seattle and Madison, with the ultimate goal of a graduate education in dance choreography/performance at NIU.
Theresa Lamb - Milton, Wisconsin
Biochemistry Major
In the summer of 2008 Theresa did clinical observations in the public and private hospitals of Santiago, Chile. During this program she also took classes that focused on the health care system of Chile and medical terminology in Spanish. At Beloit, Theresa helped coordinate the Girls and Women in Science Conferences of 2009 and 2010.
Brynson Lehmkuhl - South Elgin, Illinois
Biological Chemistry Major
Brynson transferred into Beloit College as junior with the intent of gaining the requirements to go to med school, but switched to graduate school after taking organic and inorgranic chemistry. She spent the summer of 2009 as a Schweppe scholar at Rush Medical University working with Dr. Larry Thomas (Beloit '68) studying the effects of arginase on the degradation of nitric oxide in neutrophils. During her senior year she was a TA for organic chemistry and worked as stockroom assistant with David Gordon. Brynson also completed a research project with Prof. George Lisensky that investigated creating nano pores on aluminum foil through anodization. She has accepted a position with the specialty inorganics company ProChem in Rockford, joining Beloit chemistry alumni Reno Novak '83, Erica Severson Zimolzak '95, and Justin Severson '04.
Brian Liewergen - Elk Grove Village, Illinois
Business Administration Major, Chemistry Minor
Clare Loxterkamp - Belfast, Maine
Applied Chemistry Major, French Major
Clare arrived at Beloit with a passion for foreign language but was quickly convinced that Division I was where she needed to be. With an interest in medicine, she wrote her thesis on the challenges of opioid addiction and directions for the future. Having spent one semester abroad in France, Clare hopes to return there before committing to a future in Dermatology. Currently, she is studying for the MCATs in her beautiful hometown and continuing her passion for Soccer.
Brian Maunze - Harare, Zimbabwe
Biochemistry Major, Computational Visualization and Modeling Minor
Brian worked for BioQuest all 4years under the mentorship of John Jungck, working on the analysis and design of mathematical and computational biology models. In the summer of 2009, he interned in the microbiology and immunology department of Loyola University Chicago through the Schweppe scholars program, where he did work on characterizing of biofilm components in the aquatic bacterium Vibrio fischeri. He presented this work at the Student Research Symposium. He was a TA for microbiology class during the spring 2007. Brian played varsity soccer all four years and was part of the team that won the conference title in 2006 and then part of the team that made it to the conference championship final after beating the number 15 ranked team in the country (Carol University) in fall 2010. Brian will be taking a year off and seeking employment as a research assistant.
Anny Nguyen - Beloit, Wisconsin
Biochemistry Major
Anny’s participated in two summer research programs, the Beloit College McNair Scholars Program and the UW-Madison Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Program. Her first research project explored the level of knowledge that diabetics held about the disease and what changes could be made to improve diabetes education programs. She spent her second summer isolating, amplifying, and analyzing the promoter regions of cytochrome b5 and cytochrome b5 reductase, two enzymes involved in the detoxification of carcinogens, for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Her research was a stepping stone in a larger study aimed at understanding whether these SNPs affected the expression or activity of these proteins and may be helpful in future molecular epidemiologic studies of breast cancer risk. She presented this research at the National McNair Scholars Research Conference. She also interned at the Beloit Area Community Health Center (BACHC) for a semester during her sophomore year. She learned a great deal about the health disparities present within the Beloit community and the obstacles that arise within patient-physician relationships. This experience solidified in her mind why she wants to one day be an excellent doctor, just like the doctors at BACHC. In addition, Anny also tutored and mentored middle school students from the Beloit community through the Beloit College Help Yourself Program; she was actively involved in this program for 13 years - 9 years as a student (4th-12th grade) and 4 years as a mentor (all four years of college). She also headed the “Murder in Chamberlain” lab for Girls and Women in Science and was active in intramural soccer. During her third year, she was elected Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board. After graduating, she will be volunteering at a free clinic in Milwaukee, WI and will start medical school in the fall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jessica Panks - Issaquah, Washington
Biochemistry Major
Jessie spent the summer of 2008 in Chicago researching the activation of the innate immune response by adenovirus at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. She was in Glasgow, UK in the fall of her junior year where she studied Scottish literature, sociology and bagpiping. Some of her favorite Beloit activities were swim team, Theta Pi Gamma, and ultimate frisbee. She is currently applying to medical school.
Darren Pilcher - Phoenix, Arizona
Chemistry Major, History Minor
The summer after his junior year, Darren participated in the DAAD-RISE (Research Internships in Science and Engineering) program as an intern in Kiel, Germany. In Kiel, as part of the biogeochemistry research group at IFM-GEOMAR, he worked on a project to improve a continuous equilibration device for trace gas analysis of seawater. After graduation, he is enrolling in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He will be joining the McKinley Ocean Biogeochemistry Research Group and will be working on modeling the carbon balance of Lake Superior. Darren also played baseball all four years at Beloit, which included the highlight of being part of the team that won Beloit's first Midwest Conference baseball championship last year.
Annemarie Rini - Valparaiso, Indiana
Environmental Chemistry Major
Continuing her work with a food cart in Madison last summer, Annmarie is now a chef at a Costa Rican restaurant in Madison.
Kathleen Schurr - Canal Winchester, Ohio
Anthropology Major, Chemistry Minor
Though her love of chemistry was found late in her career at Beloit, Katie made the most of it. Majoring in anthropology, she studied abroad in Chile her freshman year and participated in a NSF-REU program at the University of Notre Dame her junior year, where she studied subadult remains from the Early Bronze Age site of Bab edh-Dhra’. Her senior year, she was a teaching assistant as well as a tutor for organic chemistry and osteology. While at Beloit, Katie was a 4-year letter winner on the Soccer and Track & Field Teams. She also was an active member in the Beloit Athletic Advisory Committee, dedicated to Special Olympics, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, and Girls and Women in Science. She will be back in the fall of 2010 to complete an Honors term with Professor Katie Johnson, TA organic chemistry, and help coach the soccer team before heading to medical school where she hopes to pursue a career in orthopedic surgery.
Alisha Takahashi - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Applied Chemistry Major, Mathematics Minor, Health and Society Minor
Alisha has spent her four years as a chemistry student, a Health and Society student, a varsity women's soccer athlete, and a student assistant to the Athletic Trainers. The summer of 2008 was occupied by an internship as a camp counselor at Camp Holiday Trails (CHT), a camp for children with chronic illnesses and special health needs in Charlottesville, VA. She went abroad the spring semester of 2009 to Australia where she took a variety of courses including marine biology where she was able to do field studies on the Great Barrier Reef. She was able to go backpacking in New Zealand, become an open water certified diver, and go bungee swinging across canyons. In the summer of 2009 she returned to CHT for a second summer. This past spring '10, Alisha took on a volunteering internship at Mercy Beloit Clinic to assist in her decision to continue with Physical Therapy after graduation. This summer Alisha is again taking part in CHT and will be applying to graduate schools for the following year. Taking a break from academia for a year, Alisha is planning on doing more PT shadowing in the fall and trying her hand at sustainable organic farming in the oncoming year.
Robert (Bo) Wilkins - Helena, Montana
Environmental Chemistry Major
*Past issues of Beloit College Magazine can be accessed on-line and downloaded in PDF format at https://www.beloit.edu/belmag/.
Ray Hoff '56 has had a book published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Handbook of Transition Metal Polymerization Catalysts is an edited volume with Robert T. Mathers featuring contributions from leading researchers in the design and synthesis of catalysts and their applications in the synthesis of polymers.
James M. Bilderback '58, died in Williamsburg, VA on Sept. 15, 2009.
Alan J. Rocke '69, Bourne Professor of History at Case Western Reserve University, has recently published his fourth book, Image and Reality: Kekule, Kopp, and the Scientific Imagination (University of Chicago Press). In the preface he says: "I remember here with filial gratitude those Wisconsinites who first engendered my love for chemistry: William Brown, Bernard Saxe [Beloit College faculty], and Harlan Goering…".
Michael Wirt '85 is Regimental Surgeon, 502 Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), in Fort Campbell, KY.
Krista Van Vleet '87, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Bowdoin College, is spending the 2009-10 academic year in Cusco, Peru where she is starting up a new research project on child fosterage and adoption, and the impact of religious orphanages.
Christopher Smith '90 is still in New York where he is pastor of a church in Harlem and is active in a HRSA federally sponsored research pilot program in uncontrolled organ donation outside the hospital setting. He also recently assumed the responsibility of being the Academic Dean of the Alfred Adler Institute of New York.
Aline Schimmel '92 is a Senior Associate in the Chicago office of WeissComm Partners, a public relations firm specializing in healthcare.
Mark Brockman '95 has moved from Boston to Vancouver, BC where he is Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University.
Tori (Ziemann) Forbes '01 is completing a post doc at the University of California-Davis in the Nanomaterials in the Environment, Agriculture, and Technology Organized Research Unit (NEAT-ORU) where she works on metal-organic frameworks, carbonates, and x-ray diffraction in the Peter A. Rock Thermochemistry Laboratory. In the fall she will be starting as a faculty member in chemistry at the University of Iowa next fall.
Camille (Fox) Lefere '02 is a harvest enologist/assistant winemaker at Peter Michael Winery in Livingston, Montana.
John Miura '04 is doing his residency in surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where he completed his M.D.
Nancy Nguyen Schultz '04 is starting her final year of residency in family practice at Aurora Health Systems in Milwaukee.
Chiemi Riedel '05 worked with AmeriCorps as a program assistant at Hudson River Community Health for two years after she graduated. She then went into finance for a year as an analyst at Shinkin Central Bank. She's now an Assistant Property Manager at Newmark Knight Frank, managing an office building in Manhattan.
Chip Schumacher '06 is in his final year of medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Xiaoyue Ma '07 is doing an internship inequity research in San Francisco, where she is also teaching accounting at a local university.
Elise Marquie '08 at North Carolina State University has completed certification to teach middle school/ high school science and is doing her clinical work at the Watts School of Nursing, working toward completing her RN in 2011.
Daniel Murphy '08 will be starting in the Ph.D. program in Chemistry at the University of Illinois - Chicago this fall. He has been working as an Associate Research Specialist in the Biochemistry Department's National Magnetic Resonance Facility at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Jill Beamon '09 is a research technician at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Leah Kelly '09 is a graduate student in the Chemistry Department at the University of Arizona, where she is working on photoelectron spectroscopy for her research.
Michael Mandel '09 will be starting graduate school this fall in Applied Science at the University of California - Davis, where he is doing research in biophotonics this summer.
Laurel Purdy '09 has been teaching English at a Hungarian primary school for the past year.
Hilary Schwafel '09 will be attending Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine starting this coming fall.
Our alumni email network has been tremendously helpful to our present students for finding mentors, summer research positions, and post-graduate opportunities. The Beloit College Alumni office now maintains an email directory that can be accessed at http://alumni.beloit.edu/. Please send email addresses and changes to alumni@beloit.edu.
Chemistry faculty
braunk@beloit.edu
lisensky@beloit.edu
ordman@beloit.edu
parmentr@beloit.edu
spencer@beloit.edu
ramav@beloit.edu
Department Web page
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/classes/index.html
(Previous issues of the Annual Newsletter dating back to 1993 are available on-line via the home page!)
ALUMNI, PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH!! Please send your news and notes to any of the Chemistry faculty.