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Department of Chemistry& Molecular BiologyNorth Dakota State University

Biochemistry - IACC Building (3rd fl oor)

Volume 3 Number 1

Chemistry - Ladd Hall

NDSU receives grant for DNA forensics labNDSU has received an additional $1.48 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to develop a forensics laboratory that supports regional law enforcement agencies. NDSU previously received ap-proximately $1.97 million in funding for the laboratory over a two-year period.

The laboratory will be charged with conducting chromosome analysis for regional crime laboratories from nine states associated with the Midwest Forensic Resource Center, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Kansas.

“DNA forensic analysis has become an important tool for criminologists,” said Derek Killilea, professor of chemistry and molecular biology,

who, with chemistry and molecular biology associate professor Robert Sparks, submitted the grant pro-posal. “Originally, only sex offend-ers were typed, but many states are now changing the law to in-clude all felons. This puts increased pressure on the time and resources of the crime labs.”

When completed, the NDSU laboratory will provide nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (mitDNA) analy-sis, as well as research to improve current analytical procedures. Most other laboratories are not equipped to process mitDNA analysis, the testing used when only “ancient” tissue samples such as bone, teeth and hair are available.

According to Killilea, mitDNA analy-sis requires specialized equipment, and plays a major role in identifying

degraded tissue samples that are found at certain crime scenes or as the result of bioterrorism or natural disasters.

Currently, NDSU facilities are being remodeled and instrumentation is arriving. Berch Henry, technical manager, and senior analyst Tom Wahl have joined the laboratory staff. One of the laboratory goals, according to Killilea, is to attain ac-creditation within three years.

The Justice Department grant also will provide start-up funds for a tenure-track faculty member with research interests in the area of DNA forensic analysis and the establishment of a DNA forensic option to NDSU’s biochemistry doctoral program.

It’s Happening at State 10-3-2006

Derek Killilea Robert Sparks Berch Henry Tom Wahl

Spring 2007

The Department of Chemistry & Molecular Biology 2 Spring 2007

Professor Wenfang Sun receives ARL grantDr. Wenfang Sun, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, has received a 3-year Army Research Laboratory Grant. The $410,688 grant supports Dr. Sun’s research in the development and characterization of organic/organometallic hybrid materials for nonlinear optical applications.

Sun, who joined the department in 2001, has focused her research on the synthesis and characterization of organic and organometallic

photonic materials for nonlinear optics, photovoltaics, optical sensor, near infrared emitter, and photodynamic therapy applications.

In addition to the newly awarded ARL grant, her research is currently supported by three other federal grants, including the NSF CAREER Award, NSF NIRT grant, and a USDA grant.

Srivastava receives a 5 year $1.25 million NIH grantD.K. Srivastava, Professor of Chemistry and Molecular Biology received a 5 year $1.25 million grant from National Institute of Health’s National Cancer Institute to investigate “Catalysis and Inhi-bition of Gelatinases.” This NIH funded grant is primarily to investi-gate the enzymological studies of gelatinase- catalyzed reactions from the point of view of understanding their structural-functional relationships as well as their inhibitory features.

Besides their physiological roles in tissue remodeling, wound healing etc., both isoforms of gelatinases (namely, gelatinase-A and gelatinase B) are intimately involved in cancer progression and metastasis. Hence, the rationale design of inhibi-tors against these enzymes and their targeted delivery to cancerous tissues are of signifi cant importance in the area of the cancer research.

Since the mechanism based drug design is one of the hottest areas of biomedical research, Srivastava’s grant proposal received a highly favorable ranking from the National Cancer Institute, even at one of the worst times (in the past 15 years) of the NIH’s funding cycles.

Professor Cook receives NSF Grant Associate Professor Greg Cook, Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, has received a $527,000 grant from the Na-tional Science Foundation. The four year study will investigate new selective organic reactions mediated by indium metal and its salts. Indium metal offers advantages over other catalysis methods for the synthesis of new compounds. The utility of indium metal as a promoter of organic reactions is highly signifi cant due to its low

toxicity and compatibility with environmentally benign solvents. Their work sets the stage for new asymmetric eco-friendly processes for organic synthesis which have potential for broader impacts on society. The ability to utilize indium in new carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions that control the absolute chirality, or handedness, of molecules is an emerging fi eld and Dr. Cook has been a pioneer in this area. In 2005 the Cook Group published the fi rst ever example of an indium-mediated reac-tion to generate chiral amines using a catalytic amount of a chiral additive (Organic Letters, 2005, 7, 2767). Visit cook.chem.ndsu.nodak.edu for more information about research in the Cook Group.

Murray Keynote of 17th Annual Joel W. Broberg Lectureship in Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry& Molecular Biology

North Dakota State UniversityPO Box 5516

Fargo, ND 58105

Phone (701) 231-8694FAX (701) 231-8831

Sharon Hershberger, EditorWendy Leach, Editor

Dr. John Hershberger, Chair

To obtain a copy or submit comments, e-mail:

[email protected]

In April 2005, dis-tinguished scientist and teacher, Royce W. Murray, Ph.D., Kenan Professor of Chemistry at the University of North

Carolina at Chapel Hill, was the keynote speaker for the 17th An-nual Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology’s Distinguished Lectureship Series.

Dr. Murray presented two seminars, “Publishing Chemistry: Process, Ethics, Libraries, and the Web,” and “Chemistry and Electrochemistry of Metal Quantum Dots.”

After the former presentation, which was open to the public, Dr. Kent Rodgers presented Dr. Murray with a commemorative plaque, and a reception in Dr. Murray’s honor was held in Beckwith Recital Hall.

The Broberg Lectureship Series, es-tablished in honor of longtime NDSU professor, Joel W. Broberg, is an opportunity to honor a distinguished colleague and teacher, and a way to invigorate students and faculty.

Royce Murray


New Faculty & Staff

Karla RadkeI earned my Bach-elors degree from NDSU in May of 2004 before heading to the University of Florida for graduate school. I arrived in Gaines-ville, Florida in August

2004, just as Hurricane Charley came plowing through Florida. By the time Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Dennis, and Wilma had done their damage, I was ready to be back in the seemingly-mild blizzards of the Midwest. The subject of my Masters project was hands-on chemistry activities for primary and sec-

Berch HenryIn 2006 Dr. Henry took a position with North Dakota State University in the Department of Chemistry and Molecu-lar Biology as Director of the Forensic DNA Facility. Before joining NDSU he had served in the Las Vegas Metropoli-tan Police Department Forensic Labora-tory as DNA Laboratory Manager and Technical Leader from 1998 to 2006. Previously, from 1996 through 1998 he held the position of Biology Coordinator of the state forensic DNA program for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences and from 1990 to 1996 served in the Forensic Sciences division of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department. During this period he served as an expert witness in numerous jurisdic-tions in several states. From 1985 to 1996 Dr. Henry served on the faculty of the University of Nevada School of Medicine. He joined the faculty of the National Judicial College in 1990 and continues to serve in that capacity. His primary area of interest has been the study of molecular biology with particular emphasis on the develop-ment and uses of DNA technology. Dr. Henry received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in 1979 from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He was awarded NIH and ACS Postdoctoral Fellowships and completed four years of postdoctoral training followed by one year as research associate at the Cancer Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Thomas WahlIn 2006 Thomas Wahl accepted a posi-tion with North Dakota State University in the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology as Senior Forensic DNA Analyst of the Forensic DNA Facil-ity. Mr. Wahl had recently retired from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept. where he was responsible for setting up the DNA Laboratory in 1995 and had performed casework analysis since that time. Previous to that position, Mr. Wahl was employed in the private sector as the Forensic Supervisor of Genelex Corporation, Seattle, Washington from 1993 -1995 and Analytic Genetic Testing Center, Denver, Colorado from 1988-1993. In both capacities Mr. Wahl was responsible for setting up and implementing the new cutting-edge PCR technology for forensic casework applications. During these periods of time he testifi ed as an expert witness numerous times in over 22 U.S. jurisdic-tions and Canada. Mr. Wahl also served as an instructor for various courses sponsored by both companies. Prior to his entrance into the private sector, Mr. Wahl was employed by two other gov-ernment agency forensic laboratories; the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement Tampa Regional Crime Laboratory from 1986-1988 and the Wisconsin State Dept. of Justice Milwaukee Regional Crime Laboratory from 1980-1985 where his forensic career began. Mr. Wahl is certifi ed by the American Board of Criminalistics (ABC) in Molecular Bi-ology and currently holds Fellow status with the ABC.

L to R: Berch Henry and Thomas Wahl.

Sivaguru JayaramanAssistant Professor of Organic Chemistry, Sivaguru Jayaraman, joined the depart-ment of Chemistry and Molecular Biology in August 2006. Prior to arriving in Fargo,

“Siva” lived in New York City where he completed his Postdoctoral stud-ies at Columbia University. He earned his Ph.D. from Tulane University, New Orleans (2003), his M.S. at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India (1998), and his B.S. at St. Joseph’s College, (Bharathidasan University) in Trichy, India (1996). While attending St. Joseph’s Siva achieved College First Rank and in 2003 he won the Closs Award presented by the Inter-American Photochemical Society.

Since arriving in Fargo, Dr. Jayaraman has been busy preparing his laboratory for research, and teaching a physical organic graduate course. He is also adjusting to life as a North Dakotan and foresees sub-zero temperatures and icy driving conditions in his near future.

In his spare time Siva enjoys playing chess and listening to classical Indian music. A history buff, he also enjoys reading history books, visiting places of historical importance and studying ancient architecture.

ondary school students and I had the pleasure of working in various schools around Gainesville. In May of 2006, I earned my Masters in Science Teach-ing in Chemistry from the University of

Florida. I moved back to Fargo in June and am happy to be back at NDSU this fall! - Karla Radke


New Arrivals

It’s a boy! Joshua Alexander Dorsam was born at 6:15 p.m. on May 24, 2006, weighing 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. His parents, Sheri and Glenn Dorsam, were surprised yet excited about his arrival. They thought they were having a girl.

Interim Director of the Materials Characterization Center, Hongshan He, along with his wife, Li Zhong, are proud to announce the arrival of their son, Yipeng Ryan He. Yipeng Ryan joins a sister, Yixuan He, at home. Born: September 19, 2006 at 3:33 am; Weight: 8 lbs 2 oz; Length: 20 inches

Graduate student, Shamus Funk, brought his newborn son, Charles Ross, to school one day so that mom, Christy, could take her fi nals. Charles, born April 27, 2006, is welcomed to the family by his sister, Baela Reese, who turned three in September 2006.

Chemistry Librarian Welcomes New AdditionLogan Heger, son of Chemistry Librarian, Heather and her husband Brian Heger, welcomes brother, Sawyer James, who was born September 5th, 2006, and weighed in at a strapping 11 pounds, 9 ounces!

Two Years Later, Glenn and Sheri Dorsam Happily SettledFrom the Golden State to the Peace Garden State

Although it seems like it could not pos-sibly have been two years ago, it was in the summer of 2004 that Glenn and Sheri Dorsam, with their three cats, made the fi ve-day journey from San Francisco, California to Fargo, North Dakota. Glenn offi cially joined the department in August 2004. He brought a 5-year KO1 NIH grant with him from UCSF and has joined the Center for Protease Research as a co-PI on the COBRE grant renewal. He performed his post-doctoral research at the Uni-versity of California at San Francisco, and received his Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University in biochem-istry. Glenn’s scientifi c background is in the areas of biochemistry and molecu-lar immunology and his research focus is on the heterochromatin recruitment of the transcription factor, Ikaros, in T lymphocytes. His laboratory is located in rooms 310 and 314 of the IACC building, and not long after settling there, Glenn remarked, “I am very ex-cited to be at NDSU and to fi nally have my laboratory and animal room set up and running. I have four students work-ing with me now and am ready to make some real research progress. Now, I have all of the resources I need to be happy and successful.”

In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Dorsam has established an inter-disciplinary course on scientifi c integ-rity—and as of May 2006, he added the role of fatherhood to his daily sched-ule! Glenn, who is originally from the Boston area, enjoys martial arts, weight lifting, chess, golf and spending family time with his wife Sheri, and their son, Joshua.

Sheri Dorsam—wife of Glenn and Mom to Joshua—joined the department in October 2004 as the Director of the Core Biology Facility. She also com-pleted her post-doctoral studies at the University of California at San Francis-co, and received her Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University in microbiol-ogy and immunology. Her training is in the areas of cellular/molecular biology

and cancer research. Her research interests are transcriptional regulation and hematology. Sheri is from Virginia and enjoys photography, crafts and traveling.

Both Glenn and Sheri have enjoyed the transition to living in North Dakota. While the biggest adjustment has been the noticeable decrease in population density (from San Francisco to Fargo), as new parents and homeowners, they

certainly have not minded the decrease in the cost of living. After their arrival at NDSU, Sheri commented that both she and Glenn were very grateful for the warm welcome they received from the faculty, staff and students. Two years later, the sentiment remains. “Moving to Fargo has been very pleasant, and we really enjoy working in this department. Everyone has been so helpful and friendly, which has been terrifi c since our closest friends and family mem-bers are on the East or West Coast.” Now, however, Sheri confi rms that things have changed proximity wise. In the past two years this engaging and friendly couple have made many friends right here in the F-M area with little Joshua on the scene, friends and relatives, near and far, won’t be able to resist visiting the Dorsam home!

Sheri Dorsam Glenn Dorsam


NDSU Chemistry Club: On Campus and in the Community By Adam Wohl

the world around them. Attending national meetings allows for members to network with colleagues and to develop professionally. In the coming year, the Chemistry Club will strive to continue to educate and excite both members and the community.

Last year was another exciting year for the NDSU Chem-istry Club with a great group of students participating in a wide variety of activities. The members came from majors as diverse as chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology, phar-macy, biology and business. As always, the club activities were focused around community service and outreach, attending the national American Chemical Society meeting and fundraising.

One of the most important parts of the Chemistry Club is the opportunity to introduce young kids to chemistry. School visits are a chance to teach basic chemical con-cepts such as gas laws and acid/base chemistry through hands-on demonstrations. Thanks to the work of Dave Schultz, our presentations were greatly expanded, and the success of his efforts showed by the enjoyment of the children’s faces and the chemistry club members! In addi-tion to school visits, many of the members were involved in other math and science related community service, such as volunteering at Science Olympiad, science fairs, math fairs, and Boy Scout demonstrations.

During the year, fundraising efforts are constantly ongo-ing in order to raise funds to support the annual trip to the spring national ACS meeting. The majority of the money is earned by working a concession booth at the FargoDome and selling practice exams and goggles to incoming fresh-man. Some of this money provides supplies for school visit demonstrations and supplies for the Broberg room (the un-dergraduate study lounge), but most of the money raised is used to help defray the costs of attending the national ACS meeting. This year, 12 undergraduate students were able to attend the national meeting in Atlanta, GA. While attending the conference, all of the students presented a poster on their research, the chemistry club, or chemistry education. Also, the club received an “honorable mention” award from the ACS for the 2004-2005 school year activi-ties, making it the fi fth year in a row that NDSU has won an ACS award.

The NDSU Chemistry Club is an integral part of the cam-pus and community. The club’s efforts reach to educate and excite children and young adults about chemistry and

L to R: Adam Wohl and David Schultz.

Dr. Melvin Morris Still on the Job Helping Students

Professor Emeritus, Dr. Mel-vin Morris, has proven time and again (fi ve days a week for the past eleven years) that the Meritorious Service Award he received in 2003 was well deserved. Since his retirement from full-time teaching in 1995,

Morris has provided free tutoring to students who need extra help in Chemistry. On any given day the number of tutees may vary from one or two individuals who can be tutored in his offi ce, to twenty or more, which necessitates moving the session to a larger room. Dr. Morris is available on a walk-in basis, Monday through Friday, from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.


Rasmussen Lab NewsBy Christopher Heth

The Rasmussen group has undergone many changes since last report. The group increased its research space with the addition of a lab located in the basement of Dunbar Hall. Some familiar faces are now gone, and new members have taken their places. Katsu Ogawa defended his Ph. D. disserta-tion in August of 2005 and is currently holding a postdoctoral fellowship with Kirk Shawnze at the University of Florida. Don Kenning defended his M.S. thesis in December of 2005. Karla Radke completed her undergraduate work and moved on to the Univer-sity of Florida where she completed her M.S. work in chemical education. She is now back at NDSU employed as a lecturer.

Current group members include Scott Rothstein who is completing his M.S. work, Li Wen (third year graduate student), Chad Amb (third year graduate student and former Hamilton lab member), Chris Heth (second year graduate student), Adam Wohl (senior undergraduate starting his third year with the group), Hong Mo (postdoc who joined the lab June 2005), Kelli Jo Syltie and Anna Baskerville (fresh-man undergraduate chemistry majors who joined the group in January of 2006). The newest addition to the group is Sean Evenson, a graduate student who began working in the lab summer 2006.

The Rasmussen Lab has been active presenting its results at conferences throughout the country and world. The group presented four posters at the 2005 Spring ACS national meeting in San Diego and four

posters at the 2006 Spring ACS national meeting in Atlanta, three of which were selected for Sci-Mix. Ad-ditionally, Seth Rasmussen co-organized (along with David Lewis of UW-Eau Claire) a symposium entitled Science History and its Applications to Chemical Education at the Atlanta meeting. More recently, Seth, Chris, Li, and Chad presented talks at the Great Lakes Regional ACS meeting in Milwaukee in June of this year, with Adam and Hong presenting posters there as well. In July, Seth and Chris (along with Dr. Dennis Tall-man and his postdoc JaeHoon Huh) attended the 2006 International Conference on Synthetic Metals in Dublin, Ireland, where all presented.

A lot of progress as been made recently toward pub-lications from the group, with two papers published in 2005 and an additional two papers published so far in 2006. Several more manuscripts are either cur-rently under review or being prepared for submission. Throughout the last year, Seth was also invited to prepare review chapters for two upcoming handbooks. Seth, Katsu, and Scott worked together to contribute a chapter entitled “Synthetic Approaches to Band Gap Control in Conjugated Polymeric Materials” for the Handbook of Organic Electronics and Photon-ics, which was published in July. The second chapter entitled “Low Band Gap Conducting Polymers” was a collaboration between Seth and Martin Pomerantz (UT-Arlington), which will appear in the latest edition of the Handbook of Conductive Polymers, to be published in December.

Sitting in front row: Li Wen; L to R: Jon Nietfeld, Dr. Seth Rasmussen, Hong Mo, Kelli Jo Syltie, Chris Heth, Chad Amb, Adam Wohl, and Sean Evenson.


News from the Rodgers Group

Burghaus NewsBy Uwe Burghaus

Our surface chemistry projects are related to heterogeneous catalysis and materi-als science which are subtopics of physical chemistry. That is, our research is quite close to industrial applications which are relevant for our daily lives. The classes of materials we are looking at are ubiquitous in our modern technological world, fi nding use in applications as disparate as components of biocompatible implants to photo-catalysis. Besides the scientifi c challenges we face, the tools we are using are relevant for many important industrial processes such as molecular beam epitaxy,

sensor design, coating, and in principle for all kind of (ultra) high vacuum applications ranging from vacuum wrapping of food to the design of parts for earth orbiters. Well, I hope I could convince you that it is fun and worthwhile to work on surface chem-istry topics. The surface chemistry group consists currently of Shamus Funk, John Goering, Brian Hokkanen, Dr. Evgueni Kadossov, and Tarik Nurkic.

L to R: Brian Hokkanen, Dr. Evgueni Kadossov, John Goering and Dr. Uwe Burghaus.

Dr. Doug Linder, a Ph.D. graduate of Prof. Mike Page’s group in our Depart-ment, was a postdoctoral researcher in our group from the spring of 2002 until last summer. At the end of the sum-mer, Doug, his wife Jodi, and son Alex, packed up and moved to Weatherford, OK. In August, Doug began his inde-pendent academic career as a profes-sor of physical chemistry at Southwest-ern Oklahoma State University. We wish Doug and his family the best of fortune during this exciting time.

Dr. Graeme Wyllie, a postdoctoral re-search associate since the fall of 2003, has also taken on a new job. Graeme is the instrumentation specialist and labo-ratory coordinator in the Department of Chemistry at Concordia College. For those who know Graeme, it will come as no surprise that he is still doing his “Idiot Joy” radio show at Radio Free Fargo on Fridays at Midnight. We wish all the best to Graeme as he becomes part of the wonderful Concordia Depart-ment of Chemistry.

Darci Block is now a third year graduate student and passed her comprehensive exam early in the fall 2006 semester. Hence, she is offi cially a candidate for the Ph.D. in chemistry. Darci was awarded a GraSUS Fellowship for this year. As a GraSUS Fellow, she is work-ing with chemistry teachers and their high school classes at Fargo South High School. Darci was chosen to rep-resent the NDSU GraSUS-II program at this year’s GK-12 Conference at NSF, in March of this year. Additionally, Darci was one of 29 fellows chosen to pres-ent a poster on their thesis research.

Last summer, Kent traveled to Rome to attend the Fourth International Conference on Porphyrins and Phtha-locyanines, where he gave an invited talk on the group’s recent results in the area of heme acquisition by bacterial pathogens. During the conference, Italy won the semifi nal World Cup soccer match...what a party! During the fi rst three weeks of November, Kent spent three weeks in Japan as a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of

Science. His seven-lecture tour took him from Sapporo in Japan’s northern-most prefecture of Hokkaido to Naha City in the southern-most prefecture of Okinawa where he gave an invited lecture at a joint meeting of the East Asian Biophysical Society and the Bio-physical Society of Japan. The trip was a wonderful blend of scientifi c, cultural, historical, and culinary experiences. In May, Kent will travel to Parry Sound, Ontario on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, site of the 1st Georgian Bay International Conference on Bioinor-ganic Chemistry. During the conference he will give invited talks on two heme protein projects that are ongoing in the lab.

Darci Block with her NSF poster.

Himeji Castle, one of the few feudal castles still in its original state, located west of Tokyo, Japan.

L to R: Darci Block, Dr. Kent Rodgers and Dr. Gudrun Lukat-Rodgers.


Heth Participates in International Science ConferenceBy Ginny Heth, The Standard, Westhope, North Dakota, Volume 106 Issue 41, Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Malahyde Castle

A small-town North Dakota man found himself on the campus of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland in the beginning of July… He was there to take part in the Interna-tional Conference on Science and Tech-nology of Synthetic Metals – now there’s a mouthful! That small-town guy happens to have graduated from Westhope High School in 1995 and he happens to be our son, Christopher Heth. Chris is working on his Doctorate degree in Chemistry at North Dakota State University in Fargo. His research project is developing and studying new synthetic metals. As part of those studies, he was chosen to attend the conference in Dublin. This conference is held every two years in various places around the world. In 2008 it will be held in Brazil and in 2010 in Kyoto, Japan. There were over 1000 people in attendance from around the world at Trinity College. Those attending are a mix of professors, students and people from industry.

At the Opening Ceremonies, one of the speakers was Alan G. MacDiarmid, the 2000 Nobel prize winner in Chemistry “for the discovery and development of conductive polymers.” MacDiarmid is from the United States and New Zealand.

The conference consisted of talks throughout the day, some from invited speakers and some submitted. Chris’ NDSU Chemistry Advisor, Prof. Seth Rasmussen, gave one of the submitted talks. Others from NDSU who attended the conference were Professor Dennis Tallman, Chris’ co-advisor and JaeHoon Huh, a postdoctoral scholar at NDSU, who is originally from Korea. Some of the sessions were on such topics as LEDs, nanostructures and photovoltaics. Each day there were also a couple of keynote speakers discussing their own research, as well as poster sessions featuring the 800 submitted posters. JaeHoon and Chris both presented posters – meaning they stayed by the posters they’d made to take along and talked with people about their research.

Some evenings were spent at social events that were arranged by the confer-ence. Other times the evenings were

spent seeing the sights and sounds of Dublin.

Monday was “Irish Night.” The group attended a reception at the State Apart-ments of Dublin Castle where they were met by a woman playing a full sized harp. After the reception, they continued on to a local restaurant where there were bands playing Irish music as well as a meal and Irish dancers.

Tuesday night was a Literary Pub Crawl. The group had an extended supper at an Italian restaurant and then visited a cou-ple of pubs. There were two actors with a love of history who entertained at the pubs, talking about the history of the pub they were in and also acted as characters (i.e. Oscar Wilde or an Irish `working girl`). There was music in most pubs on most nights, some being Irish music and some not. “About every third building was a pub in downtown Dublin,” reported Chris. “Ev-ery 6th one was a church or cathedral!”

The place to fi nd the more traditional Irish foods was at the pubs where fi sh & chips were served, as well as Irish stew (con-sisting of lamb and vegetables), smoked cod, and a tasty pork & mushroom pie! Guiness, a dark Irish beer, is on tap at all the pubs.

Chris especially enjoyed a tour of the Jameson (Irish whiskey) brewery where he learned to make Irish coffee – the Irish way!

Other sights that were within walking distance of Trinity College included Christ Church, which has a lot of gorgeous stat-ues and down in the crypt, the treasury was on display and St. Patrick’s Cathe-dral, whose architecture was amazing. “There were statues everywhere. There’s hardly a building without them. In fact, you can’t stand anywhere without seeing a statue!” commented Chris. Another local tourist sight is Malahyde Castle, which is located just outside of Dublin where the Talbott family resided for 800 years. The outside of the castle was just as you’d picture a castle to be, but the inside was more modern with a recorded tour telling about the furniture and paintings that were mostly from the 1800’s.

Chris’ favorite sight was the Book of Kells, which is on display at Trinity College. No pictures are allowed, but he tells us the book, which was produced around 800 A.D. has fabulous calligraphy!

“It was a great experience, both from the standpoint of being a really cool trip and from the standpoint of getting to present my research at the International Confer-ence,” said Chris. It’s wonderful to talk with so many people who are all either experts or students in the fi eld.”

The trip was funded in part by the Na-tional Science Foundation and the United States Air Force.

Harpist entertaining at Dublin Castle.


The Return of

Ladd’s PortraitSeth C. Rasmussen

On August 20, 1890, Edwin Fremont Ladd was hired as the second faculty member of the newly established North Dakota Agricultural College (NDAC) and appointed Professor of Chemistry. Ladd, born December 13th, 1859 in Starks, Maine, was a graduate of Maine College and had served as chemist for six years at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York. In addition to chemistry, Ladd initially taught English, geology, and astronomy. As the founding member of the Chemistry Department, Ladd was its guiding spirit from 1890 until his advancement to University President in 1916. During this time, Chemistry also included Pharmacy, Nutrition, and Agricultural Biochemistry. Ladd continued to serve as University President until 1921, at which time he was elected United States Senator of North Dakota. Ladd died in offi ce June 22, 1925.

In honor of his service to the Chemistry Department and NDAC, the Chemistry building was rededicated on June 2, 1952 as Ladd Hall. In attendance for the rededication were Ladd’s widow, Rizpah Sprogle Ladd, and his son D. Milton

Final result: full color oil painting which hangs in the Chemistry

offi ce, Ladd Hall.

Original black and white

photograph.

Ladd. As part of the rededication, a bronze plaque was installed on the west entrance of the building and a large illuminated oil painting of Ladd was placed on the northwest wall of the fi rst fl oor hallway. The portrait was painted by Frances Thune of Thune Studio, Fargo, from a photograph of Ladd taken in the 1920s. The portrait was prepared by fi rst enlarging the original black and white photo and then the full color oil painting was then added directly over the enlarged photo. In order to add color to the black and white original, some artistic liberties were taken during the production, thus resulting in the fi nal portrait of Professor Ladd in a navy suit and red tie.

At some point (most likely during renovations in the 1970s), the painting of Ladd was removed and was thought to reside in the University Archives. However, this last summer the painting was discovered in the attic storage of Ladd Hall and it was decided to restore the painting to its rightful place of honor as part of a recent departmental renovation. After a professional cleaning and reframing, the portrait is now hanging on the south wall of the departmental offi ce.


Gary StolzenbergOn August 21, 2006, the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology held a retirement reception in honor of Dr. Gary Stolzenberg, whose 38 year association with North Dakota State University, most recently included 10 years as a Lecturer in the De-

partment of Chemistry and Molecular Biology.

Dr. Stolzenberg, a New York native, attended the Rensse-laer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and received his B.S. degree in Chemistry there in 1962. Working at an agri-cultural experiment station stimulated his interest in plant biology and agricultural chemicals and he went on to get his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Kansas State University in 1968. He then took a position with U.S.D.A. on the NDSU campus in Fargo, primarily working at their Biosciences Research Laboratory (formerly the Metabolism and Radia-tion Research Lab) doing pesticide degradation studies, organic structure analysis, occupational safety and radia-tion protection.

In 1995, Dr. Stolzenberg retired from the USDA. He held some short-term positions with Northwest Technical Col-lege (East Grand Forks) & NDSU-Entomology. Then, in 1996, he joined the Chemistry Department at NDSU as Lecturer working mostly in the undergraduate organic lab program. He also participated in some outreach work, especially on an N.I.H. grant for the Tribal Colleges in ND to improve chemistry instruction for Native Americans preparing for biomedical careers. Dr. Stolzenberg states that he has enjoyed working with the majors and non-ma-jor students enrolled in these labs and has been pleased to watch them move on at NDSU and elsewhere. In his opinion, the working environment at NDSU has been great and he will miss us.

Although, Dr. Stolzenberg claims to be retiring, he will actu-ally continue working on a part-time basis with the radia-tion safety program administered by the NDSU University Police & Safety staff. Gary and his wife, Rosa, plan to remain in the area as his wife continues to work with the USDA Northern Crop Science Lab as a microbiologist. His retirement will allow them to spend more time at the lake in the Park Rapids, MN area. To keep busy, Gary plans to volunteer on environmental and natural resources projects and to spend time at their tree farm land.

Roy GarveyOn August 9, 2006, a retirement reception was held in honor of Dr. Roy Garvey for his forty years of service in the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at NDSU.

Dr. Garvey came to NDSU in 1966, after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of

Utah. He has taught chemistry courses and labs at all levels, and has participated in a raft of professional and service activities, from judging regional science fairs to participating in NDSU’s Science Olympiad.

As a much sought-after consultant, Dr. Garvey has ad-vised on literally dozens of projects including consulting for several publishing companies and editing materials for use in Chemistry text books. He has served on the membership committee of Sigma Xi, and is a member of the American Crystallographic Association. Dr. Garvey is past Chairman of the Red River Valley Section of the American Chemistry Society; his involvement with ACS was singularly instrumental in keeping the society active in this area.

Dr. Garvey has the distinction of being perhaps the only NDSU employee to have walked 3.5 miles from his home in south Fargo, to the NDSU campus and back, for the past 40 years. He is an avid reader, an excellent gardener and somewhat of a computer expert. His contributions to students, the C&MB department, to NDSU and the Fargo community at large exceed description in this short space. He will be greatly missed by the department.

Retirements

Cook Visits China

Prof. Greg Cook in Shanghai, China. Dr. Cook spent two weeks visiting nine universities in Beijing, Tianjin, Hefei and Shanghai last March (2006) to present his research results.


Alumni News

Eppler at Wyeth Consumer HealthcareAfter 4 years of research at the FDA, An-gela Eppler, (2000), graduated last spring from the University of Cincinnati with a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science, special-izing in Cosmetic Science. After gradua-tion, she accepted a position as an R&D Scientist at Wyeth Consumer Healthcare located in Richmond, VA. Eppler is cur-rently working on new product develop-ment as a formulator in the Personal Care Division.

Knell Supervisor in Crime LabJohn Knell (1993) received his MS degree in chemistry from Arizona State University in 1999, concurrent with begin-ning a career with the Phoenix Police Department Crime Lab. Knell has worked in the crime lab since 1995 and is cur-rently supervisor of the Firearm Examina-tion and Trace Evidence sections of the laboratory. He and his wife of ten years, Shannon Wallace-Knell reside in Cave Creek, Arizona.

Where are they now?(Thanks to the following alumni for answering our survey.)

Ioana Annis (’94) Employed in industry, Mundelein, ILRenee Beeton [Peterson] (’02) Complet-ing Ph.D. in Chemistry Education, University of Northern, COSeok-Bong Choi, Ph.D. (‘98) Senior Research Scientist, CNSE (Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering) North Dakota State University, Fargo, NDAngela Eppler, (‘00), Scientist, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare David Fouquette (’96) Employed in industry, Foley, MN Jaime Grunlan (‘97) Assistant Professor at Texas A&M UniversityBryan Jarabek, MD (’98) Medical Doctor, Rochester, MNUruthira Kalapathy, Ph.D (’93) UniversityJohn Knell (’93) Forensic Science Section Supervisor, Phoenix Police Department, Laboratory Services BureauRandy Lambrecht (’98) Self-employed, Fitchburg, WISteven Kloos, Ph.D. (“05) Employed in industry in Shanghai, ChinaChelsy Marty, MD (’97) Dermatologist, private practice, Fargo, NDDavid Nale (’97) R & D Manager, Newburgh, INLarry G. Oien (’90) Employed in industry, Ogden, IAMatthew Oseto (’93) Orthopedic Surgery Resident, Texas Tech University Health Science Center, Lubbock, TXAmy Richter (’04) Ph.D. candidate attending graduate school at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Allen Skaja, PhD. (’00) Chemistry (’05) Chemis-try with Polymers and Coatings option, Government Bureau of Reclamation, Lakewood, ColoradoKoryn Smith (’01) Employed in industry, Houston, TXSteven Thompson (’92) Employed in industry, Plainfi eld, ILMichelle Wiest (’01) Statistician at Biotech Company and working on Ph.D. in Epidemiology at UC, DavisShaobing Wu (’98) Employed in industry, Jamestown, NC

We want to hear from you! If you would like to share news about your career, family, interests, etc., please contact Wendy Leach at [email protected]. or write to Chem News, NDSU, Department of Chem-istry and Molecular Biology, 1301 Albrecht Boulevard, Ladd 104A, Fargo, ND 58105.

NDSU Alum Receives Prestigious Teaching AwardBy Jody Mattern

ByungHee Han, a 1977 graduate of North Da-kota State University, was awarded the 2003 Out-standing Teaching Award from Chungnam National University in Daejeon, South Korea. Dr. Han was

one of seven professors selected for the award from over 800 faculty members. This prestigious award is based on stu-dent evaluations. Han received a 24K gold medal and a plaque in commemoration of this honor.

Han majored in organic chemistry at NDSU, also earning his Master’s degree here in 1980 and his Ph.D. in 1983. He became an assistant professor in the chemistry department at Chungham Na-tional University in 1983 and was promot-ed to full professor in 1992, serving as the department chairman from 1987 to 1989.

Han has proven to be a prolifi c research-er, publishing 80 articles over the span of his career. In 1983, a paper he wrote with Dr. Philip Boudjouk, now NDSU’s Vice President of Research, Creative Activities and Technology Transfer, introduced a groundbreaking method of using ultrason-ic waves to speed up chemical reactions. In 1984, The American Chemical Society cited this work as one of the twenty most signifi cant developments in chemistry, worldwide, for the two-year period 1982-1983.

Besides his teaching duties, Han serves as the Director of Housing at Chun-gnam where he is responsible for 1,700

students and 46 employees. In the fi rst year of this appointment, Han renovated the dormitory cafeteria similar to one at NDSU, modernized cooking utilities and upgraded the sanitary system.

Oien joins Becker Underwood

Larry Oien (1990) was named the National R&D Manager for Landscape Coatings with Becker Underwood in Ames, IA. Becker Underwood pro-duces specialty products for the landscape, seed,

agricultural, turf and horticultural markets. The landscape coatings division produces products and equipment for use in the coloration of mulch, sand, aggregates, rubber and other landscape products. Previously, Oien worked for Flint Ink as a technology sourcing manager and senior research chemist. He also spent 12 years with the E.I. DuPont Company perfor-mance coatings division as a new product development chemist. Oien graduated in 1990 with a BS degree in chemistry with a polymer and coating option. He wrote, “NDSU P&C Program is number 1 in the world and has served as the solid foundation for my career advancement. I recommend this program to everyone, and when they fi nd out I am a graduate of this program they are excited to have me as a team member.”

North Dakota State University Department of Chemistry & Molecular Biology P. O. Box 5516 Fargo, ND 58105-5516

Non-Profi t OrgU. S. Postage Paid

Permit No. 818Fargo, ND 58105

Greetings from the ChairThis is a very busy and exciting time in the department. With multiple faculty and staff searches ongoing, we are looking forward to some new faces joining us very soon.

I would like to extend a hearty wel-come to several new people who joined the department recently. Firstly, Dr. Sivagura Jayaraman joined the faculty in August 2006 as an assis-tant professor. Dr. Jayaraman brings new capabilities in physical organic

Several instrumentation additions have taken place recently. The data workstations for the NMR instruments were upgrad-ed, helping to keep our NMR facility among the fi nest in the region. Other recent acquisitions include a time-of-fl ight mass spectrometer, a liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometer, and circular dichroism spectrometer, and a scanning tunneling microscope for upper division teaching labs.

A new activity in the department is the creation of a DNA forensics testing laboratory, with funding from the US Depart-ment of Justice. The facility is housed in the third fl oor of the IACC building, and is expected to provide a valuable service to the state and national forensics community. Dr. Berch Henry has been hired, as of March 2006, to set up and direct the lab. Tom Wahl was hired in summer 2006 as a staff technician for the lab. We are looking forward to this lab’s certifi cation in the near future.

Several remodeling projects have taken place in the depart-ment over the last few years. The Dunbar Hall conference room and the main department offi ce were extensively remod-eled in 2005. We just completed a partial renovation of one of the synthetic chemistry laboratories to prepare it for one of our new faculty members.

Dr. John Hershberger, Chair

chemistry to the department. Siva’s research includes organic photochemistry, host-guest chemistry, and organic materials chemistry. We also welcomed a new lecturer, Karla Radke. In addition to general chemistry lecture duties, Karla directs the sophomore organic teaching laboratories. She replaced Dr. Gary Stolzenberg, who retired last summer. Good-bye was also said to Dr. Roy Garvey, who retired after 40 years of ser-vice to NDSU. Jeff Scholl, Computer Technician, and Wendy Leach, Administrative Secretary, both began working full time in February 2007. As a result of ongoing faculty searches, two new faculty have been hired and will begin in August 2007: Dr. Guodong Liu, analytical chemistry, and Dr. Pinjing Zhao, inorganic chemistry.

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