he Chemistry andChemical Biology Department made its

presence known in Denver thispast August when it helpedhost two alumni events at the242nd American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meet-ing and Exposition.

A dinner was held on August 30th for Rutgers faculty,students and alumni attendingthe ACS meeting. Those pres-ent worked for companies including Jacobus Pharma-ceutical and Bristol-MyersSquibb. Suresh Damle, an arearesident and Rutgers alumnuswho worked with PPG Indus-tries until his retirement, spokeat the event. Damle, a formerstudent of Professor EmeritusRon Sauers, had been lookingforward to seeing him, as hadthree other of his past stu-dents. Unfortunately, HurricaneIrene’s visit to the East Coastprevented Sauers and severalothers from leaving New Jersey. Thankfully, ProfessorsKathryn Uhrich, SAS Dean ofMathematical and Physical Sciences, and Eric Garfunkel,immediate past chair of thedepartment, were able tomake it to Denver and speakat the dinner. The pleasant

evening resulted in new and renewed connections, and wasenjoyed by all.

The next night, the RutgersClub of the Rockies and the Rutgers University Alumni Asso-ciation co-hosted an event opento all alumni in the greater Denver area. Over 30 attendeeslistened as Uhrich spoke about recent developments at Rutgers,including the search for a newuniversity president. Garfunkelnoted departmental accomplish-ments, including the $30 millionin external funding that it bringsin annually (placing it in the topthree nationally), and the factsthat four of the department’sfaculty members are among thetop 16 obtainers of grants at Rutgers and in the past decadeChemistry generated 250patents and $170 million inventure capital. He also dis-cussed the capital campaignand some of the department’s

exciting new research and development efforts in bioma-terials, energy and chemistry.Professor Charles Dismukeswas also on hand to representthe department and describehis recent transition fromPrinceton University to Rutgers.“It was a great event,” notesUhrich, “and a great way for usto catch up with alumni.”

These events mark the firsttime that Rutgers has hostedalumni events at a nationalmeeting, and they were so successful that the departmentis planning another event at the ACS Fall 2012 meeting inPhiladelphia (August 19–23).Be sure to check the depart-ment’s website, http://chem.rutgers.edu, for more details as they become available. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to catch up with old friends, colleagues and professors.

R U TG E R S , T H E S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N EW J E R S E Y • P I S C ATAWAY

Chemistry & Chemical BiologyNews

WINTER 2012VOLUME 12

This newsletter is published foralumni and friends by the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

610 Taylor RoadPiscataway, NJ 08854

For questions or suggestions,please contact:

Roger JonesDepartment of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Phone: 732/445-1554FAX: 732/445-5312Email: chemchair@rutgers.eduWeb: chem.rutgers.edu

Coordinator: Kristina WetterFaculty Liaison: Kathryn UhrichWriter/Editor: Katherine Wessling

Rutgers in the Rockies

T

New Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry and Chemical Biology!The McCoy family has generously instituted a fellowship for female Ph.D. students in our department who are also takingbusiness courses. More information will be available in the nextissue of Chemistry & Chemical Biology News.

“I am extremelypleased for our research

contributions to be recognized in

this way.”

Chemistry & Chemical Biology P I S C A T A W A Y

2

Ph.D. at The University of Texasat Austin. As a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Universitywas ending, Seidel says he interviewed at ten institutionsand chose Rutgers because itwas “the best match.”

He feels that he made theright choice, saying the chemistrydepartment provides a very sup-portive environment for conduct-ing research. He adds that hewas fortunate to be able to recruit “some very talented andhard-working students,” whohave been integral to his success.

Seidel’s research partly focuses on asymmetric catalysis.“We strive to invent truly practi-cal catalytic enantioselective

ast year was a good one forChemistry and Chemical BiologyAssociate Professor Daniel Seidel. Not only did he receiveRutgers’ SAS Award for Distin -guished Contributions to Under-graduate Education, the AmgenYoung Investigator Award, andthe Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, he was awarded theRutgers Board of Trustees Research Fellowship for ScholarlyExcellence and Presidential Fellowship for Teaching Excel-lence on the same day.

Seidel arrived at Rutgers inJuly 2005, after doing under-graduate work in his native Germany, then coming to theUnited States to obtain his

reactions that enable the prepa-ration of valuable synthetic intermediates,” he explains. Heand his team also research thedevelopment of new reactionsthat can generate complex struc-tures quickly from starting mate-rials, focusing on redox-neutralamine functionalization.

This work was noticed byAmgen: Seidel was one of onlyfour scientists to receive their2011 Young Investigator Award,which is given to those whosescientific contributions and com-mitment to academic excellenceimpact research in the pharma-ceutical and biomedical researchindustry. The Alfred P. SloanFoundation took note as well,recognizing him as an “early-career scientist and scholar ofoutstanding promise” by award-ing him a two-year Research Fellowship. Of the awards Seidelsays, “I am extremely pleased forour research contributions to be recognized in this way.”

The professor has always enjoyed teaching as well as research. Rutgers honored hisskills in this area with the SASAward for Distinguished Contri-butions to Undergraduate Edu-cation, the Board of TrusteesResearch Fellowship for ScholarlyExcellence and the PresidentialFellowship for Teaching Excel-lence. Seidel says that he is “delighted” that “my contribu-tions to teaching are valued bythe university.”

Though it would be hard forSeidel to top last year’s slew ofawards, it appears this year willbe another good one for him—he has already received the CarlDuisberg Memorial Prize fromthe German Chemical Society.

Associate Professor Seidel’s Award-Winning Year

L

Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Daniel Seidel

Courtesy of D

. Seidel

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Chemistry & Chemical BiologyP I S C A T A W A Y

Alumna Founds Environmental Consulting Firmhristina Schwerdtfegercredits the wise words ofa Rutgers teaching assis-

tant with helping set her on the path that led her from Rutgers, where she studiedchemistry as an undergraduate,to Southern California, whereshe founded the environmentalconsulting company, Coto Consulting, Inc.

Schwerdtfeger, now 50, explains that in her junior yearat Rutgers she didn’t under-stand that graduate school wasan option for her, since neitherher working class parents norany of their acquaintances knewmuch about it. But that spring,one of her teaching assistantsexplained how it worked, andshe realized that it was a viablepath. “It was a critical turningpoint for me,” she says.

She had loved studying sci-ence since seventh grade, andshe credits Rutgers for helpingher “bloom academically—andsocially.” By the time shereached her final year, whenGreg Herzog advised her on hersenior project, she was set ongraduate school.

After falling in love withSouthern California during avisit, Schwerdtfeger decided toget her Ph.D. in x-ray and neu-tron diffraction studies of transition metal complexes ofrhodium and iridium at the University of Southern Califor-nia. As she neared the end ofher four years there, she askedone of her professors if heknew anyone in industry. Hedid, and before long she wasworking as an analytical chemistat Hughes Aircraft Company.

Part of her job there in-volved analyzing environmentalsamples. “It was really timely

that I got experience in the envi-ronmental sciences,” she says,explaining that during the late1980s, hazardous waste lawswere first being put into effectby Congress. “I was fascinated!”she recalls. “It really ignited thisnew interest for me.”

Next, Schwerdtfeger movedto Northrop Corporation as anenvironmental professional. Her work involved auditing haz-ardous waste disposal facilities,which brought her into contactwith environmental consultants.“I liked the variety of the workthat they did,” she says, “so Iwent to work with environmen-tal consulting companies RadianInternational and CH2M Hill.During her 14 years there, she moved up the ranks andbecame a vice president withregional management responsi-bilities. “I really flourished,” shenotes. “It was a key part of thethread that led me to where I am now.”

Schwerdtfeger’s next stepwas to work for a series ofsmaller companies, which gaveher the experience she neededto start her own business. In2009, she recalls, “I said, ‘I amnow perfectly capable of doingthis myself.’” So she foundedCoto Consulting, which is basedin Coto de Caza, CA, where shelives with her husband, DavidRobinson, and her two teenagesons, Christopher and Peter.

She chose to focus on multi-media compliance for air, waterand hazardous waste, with par-ticular emphasis on greenhousegases and sustainability. Thecompany managed to secureover $150,000 in new projectsin its first four months of opera-tion, and has worked on projectswith Marine Corps Install a tions

West, Lockheed Martin, the Department of the Interior, andthe U.S. Environmental Protec-tion Agency, among others. “The opportunities that havecome my way have been amaz-ing,” she notes. ‘It’s all been really wonderful.”

To raise awareness of hercompany and to share herknowledge, she also decided tostart teaching. She’s now an instructor in the Sustainability Busi-ness Managementand EnvironmentalManagement Certifi-cate Programs at theUniversity of Califor-nia, Irvine, and hastaught MBA studentsat Claremont Gradu-ate University. She isalso affiliated withthe Los Angeles/Orange County Environmental Training Center.

Coto Consultinghas earned many accolades, including awardsfrom the Environmental Business Journal and ClimateChange Business Journal andbeing elected a finalist for theInternational Green Industry Hallof Fame. “But the most impor-tant part for me,” notes Schwerdtfeger, “has been thepositive feedback from my customers and my students.” In particular, she hopes to offercareer and academic advice tostudents who find themselvesin the same kind of situationshe was once in. “I’ll never forget that Rutgers graduate student who gave me that crucial information,” she says. “I hope to be able to fill thatrole for others.”

C

Christina Schwerdtfeger, DC ‘83,Founder and Presidentof Coto Consulting, Inc.

Courtesy of C

. Schwerdtfeger

Department of Chemistry and Chemical BiologyRutgers, The State University of New Jersey610 Taylor RoadPiscataway, NJ 08854

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PAIDNew Brunswick, NJ Permit No. 157

Chemistry & Chemical Biology P I S C A T A W A Y

arking 25 years of funding, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

has renewed the grant for Professor Wilma Olson’s researchproject, Theoretical Aspects ofDNA Supercoiling. This alsomarks the 38th year that theNIH has continuously funded the Mary I. Bunting Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology’s research program.

Olson, who has been at Rutgers since 1972, says thatshe is “excited that our work willcontinue to be supported.” That work involves developingmethodology for modeling longDNA molecules with bound proteins and studying the effectsof these components on long-range communication along genomic sequences. Althoughthe genetic messages in DNAare stored in a linear sequenceof base pairs, the genomes of living species do not function ina linear fashion. Gene expression

is regulated by elements thatoften lie far apart along the DNAbut come close together during genetic processing. The grant willallow Olson to investigate theseprocesses at a three-dimensionallevel, potentially connecting thepositioning of proteins on DNAand their effects on DNA foldingand fluctuations to biologicalfunction.

The scientist’s previous workhas already led to pioneering discoveries regarding thesupramolecular organization ofDNA and the effects of proteinbinding and promises to helpmove molecular studies to thelarger scale.

Olson notes that, “Aside fromthe fundamental importance toan understanding of biology,knowledge of the interplay between local and large-scalebiomolecular structure and genetic function could transformlife-science technologies.”

Even after over 40 years ofresearch, Olson says she is stillintrigued with her work: “To me,the complex interplay of DNAand these different types of pro-teins is one of the most excitingareas of contemporary biology.”

"T his is one of themost exciting areas of contemporary

biology."

Super Funding for Supercoiling

M

Wilma Olson, Mary I. Bunting Professorof Chemistry

Courtesy of W

. Olson