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I N T H I S I S S U E :

Student SpotlightRenovation UpdateWhere are the 2016 Grads?

ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY

UNION RESEARCH IN THE NEWSSince her arrival at Union in 2006, Chemistry Professor Laura MacManus-Spencer and her

students have been studying the properties of a group of environmental contaminants called

perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfon-

ate (PFOS). These PFAAs are known to be persistent in the environment, and they accumulate in

the human bloodstream due to their ability to bind tightly to circulating proteins.

Recently, high levels of PFOA were found in the water supplies of several towns in New York

and Vermont due to contamination from plastics manufacturing facilities. Prof. MacManus-Spen-

cer was interviewed by local media in response to these discoveries and will appear in a docu-

mentary to be released in 2018 about PFOA and related PFAAs in water supplies. “These chemicals

are not known to be acutely toxic,” Prof. MacManus-Spencer said, but “they are so persistent in the

environment” and “they accumulate in people...there is probably not a safe level to ingest on a

daily basis.”

Prof. MacManus-Spencer and her students are working to better understand how PFAAs bind

to proteins in the bloodstream. She is also currently partnering with colleagues at Bennington

College to sample and analyze local residential water supplies. This is a great example of how the

funding of basic and applied research can provide benefits for local communities.

DONATION FROM KURT ’75 AND KATHY HILLIG

In the spring of 2016, we received a dona-

tion from Kurt ’75 and Kathy Hillig. Part of

the donation was used to endow a new

prize for senior biochemistry majors. Most

departmental prizes are focused specifi-

cally on coursework in chemistry. Because

the biochemistry major is relatively new,

there were no prizes for students studying

biochemistry, creating an imbalance. The

Kurt W. Hillig ‘75 Biochemistry Prize goes

annually to “the senior who demonstrates

outstanding work, ability and promise in

biochemistry”. The first annual prize was

awarded to Adam Lewis ‘16 who is current-

ly pursuing a PhD in biochemistry at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The remainder of the donation was placed

in an account that is used to fund student

research and travel expenses.

We are grateful to Kurt and Kathy Hillig

for their support of the Union Chemistry

Department.

*Selected Publications:

Bischel, H. N.; MacManus-Spencer, L. A.;

Zhang, C.; Luthy, R. G. Strong associations

of short-chain perfluoroalkyl acids with se-

rum albumin and investigation of binding

mechanisms. Environmental Toxicology &

Chemistry 2011, 30, 2423–2430.

Hebert, P. C.; MacManus-Spencer, L. A. A

novel fluorescence model for studying the

binding of medium- to long-chain perflu-

oroalkyl acids to human serum albumin.

Analytical Chemistry 2010, 82, 6463-6471.

Andrew Glaser ‘16 using the Department’s LC-MS/MS to conduct research on PFAAs.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:JACK BRAGG AND KIM BOLDUC

KIM BOLDUC: Kim is from Chester, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. She is a senior Chemistry-

English double major currently doing research with Prof. Mike Hagerman for her thesis. Kim chose

Union for its beautiful, symmetrical campus and its strength in both the sciences and the human-

ities. When she came to campus for a tour, she found the chemistry faculty to be very welcoming

and knew that Union was for her. Her research centers around developing low cost, efficient solar

cells. The approach the Hagerman group is taking is to modify quantum dots with polymers. Kim’s

project is focused on developing new synthetic routes to functionalize the polymers so that they

are more soluble in water and can be applied to a substrate using an inkjet printer. Kim’s favorite

classes were CHM 340 (Instrumental Analysis), CHM 351 (Physical Chemistry), and ENG 295 (Prose

Workshop). Outside of the classroom, Kim has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Concordiensis and

the Vice Chair of the College Honor Council. She is also the historian of SDT and is interested in

crocheting and hiking. Kim plans to apply for jobs in the chemical industry in the spring, and even-

tually plans to attend graduate school.

JACK BRAGG: Jack is from Ridgewood in northern New Jersey. He is a senior Biochemistry major

who chose Union because if its location between his home and the Adirondacks. As a lover of

the outdoors, proximity to the Adirondacks was attractive. He also liked the people he met on

his on-campus visit. Jack is currently doing his thesis in Prof. Margot Paulick’s lab where they are

working to modify sugars to allow them to better diffuse into cells in order to protect them from

freezing, drying, etc. His role in the project is to incubate the compounds they have synthesized

with cells and then use LC-MS/MS to determine whether or not the sugars are present intracellu-

larly. Jack plans to take a gap year working for Americorps or doing research in a lab. After that he

hopes to attend medical school. Jack’s favorite classes were Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Outside of the classroom, he rows on the crew team, and is also a Minerva Mentor, a tourguide, and

a member of DKE. He also enjoys skiing and hiking in the Adirondacks.

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Kim Bolduc ‘17

Chemistry Major

Jack Bragg ‘17 Biochemistry Major

MARY CARROLL-ACS FELLOWProfessor Mary Carroll ‘86 has been selected

as a member of the 2016 class of fellows

by the American Chemical Society. Mary

is among 57 scientists nominated by their

peers who have demonstrated oustanding

accomplishments in chemistry and made

important contributions to ACS, the world’s

largest scientific society.

KATHY RYAN RETIRING

Our long-time Stockroom Supervisor,

Kathleen Ryan, is retiring as of January.

Kathy has been with the department since

August of 1989. Her work in the stockroom,

in preparing supplies and reagents for our

teaching labs, and countless other duties

have helped the department run smoothly.

We thank her for many years of dedicated

service.

FACULTY AND STAFF

Faculty

James Adrian, Jr., Janet Anderson, Mary

Carroll, Kristin Fox (Department Chair),

Michael Hagerman, Andrew Huisman,

Joanne Kehlbeck, Karen Lou, Laura Mac-

Manus-Spencer, James McGarrah, Margot

Paulick, Vijay Ramalingam, Laurie Tyler

Administrative Assistant

Marilyn (Meg) Howley

Stockroom Supervisor

Kathleen Ryan

JOIN US ON LINKED IN

We have a LinkedIn group called “Union

College Chemistry Department”. We hope

to use this to help current students net-

work with all of our accomplished alumni.

Please join us!

RENOVATION UPDATEPlans for the renovated S&E are almost complete. The Chemistry Department will be housed

almost entirely on the second floor of partially new and partially renovated space. This will put the

entire department adjacent to the Biochemistry facilities on the second floor of the Wold Science

Center. We will share the second floor with Mechanical Engineering, Biology will be on the floor

above, and Physics, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science on the floors below. The new

space will provide better integration of teaching and research labs. This will help to foster collab-

orations among faculty, and allow us to more effectively share equipment between teaching and

research uses. The adjacencies will also allow us to host more summer research students because

they can spill over into the teaching areas, which are not heavily used outside of the academic

year. Both the teaching and research labs will have immediately adjacent “dry” spaces where pre-

lab lectures and data workup can take place. There will also be study spaces scattered throughout

the building that will provide a bright, airy place for students to do their work in proximity to fac-

ulty offices and labs. This arrangement has been very popular in the Wold Center, and encourages

students to ask the faculty questions and also to work together. The modern facilities will also

be more open with glass walls allowing our students to see science in action and promoting the

study of chemistry to younger students.

TERMS ABROAD

Chemistry and Biochemistry majors frequently participate in terms abroad. Of the current seniors, 13

out of 20 will have participated in a Union term abroad by the time they graduate. The most common

term is the joint Union-Hobart trip to Australia. This is a popular term abroad for science majors because

it involves studying ecology and doing a research project on the Great Barrier Reef. Students also

traveled to Athens, Greece; York, England; Spain; London, England; Vietnam; and Italy. The students in

Italy do research at a national research institute. The other terms don’t involve studying science. Instead

students study the local culture, the language and travel to see historic sites. During the academic year

2015-2016, Prof. Laurie Tyler co-directed the term abroad to Australia and Prof. Kristin Fox participated

in a faculty study tour to China. There is plenty of room in the curriculum for any student to take a term

off to live in a different culture and we strongly encourage students to take advantage of this

opportunity! Many Union Chemistry alumni can certainly vouch for the value of the term abroad expe-

rience.

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Students and faculty on the Australia term

abroad, Fall 2015.

WHERE ARE THE 2016 GRADS?The class of 2016 included ten chemistry majors and thirteen biochemistry majors pursuing

a wide variety of careers. Seven graduates are enrolled in Ph.D. programs: Nate Hawthorne

(Chemistry) at Texas A&M, Austin Bannister (Biochemistry) at Brandeis, Yixin Hu (Chemistry) at

Penn State, Bisi Fashemi (Biochemistry) at Washington University-St. Louis, Zak Tobin (Chemistry)

at UConn, Adam Lewis (Biochemistry) at U. Wisconsin-Madison, and Andrew Tysoe (Chemistry) at

U. Buffalo. One graduate, Stan Soroka, is pursuing an M.D.-Ph.D. at SUNY Downstate. Aude Bechu

is completing a Fullbright fellowship in Switzerland before beginning her Ph.D. studies at McGill.

Grace Miralles is pursing an M.S. (Cell and Molec. Biology) at Albany Medical College.

Sammy Kleinberg and Andrew Glaser are working at small industrial firms. Danielle Proper

(Rochester) and Rosie Lima (Boston) are working at hospitals in clinical activities. Brandon Jones

is working in a research lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. We wish the class of 2016 all the best in

their future endeavors!

ALUMNA SPOTLIGHT: Lisa MarziLLi ‘89

Starting off as a pre-med student majoring in biology at Union, Lisa gradually made her way to

study at the interface of biology and chemistry, receiving her B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1989.

She spent the next few years earning her Masters in the Art of Teaching (MAT) from Boston

University, and credits her three years as a high school chemistry teacher for developing her love

of general chemistry and honing her communication and presentation skills. She left high school

teaching to earn a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 1999, from Northeastern University working

with Dr. Paul Vouros to develop mass-spectrometry based methods for oligonucleotide charac-

terization. Lisa completed postdoctoral studies with Dr. Robert Cotter at Johns Hopkins Medical

School in Baltimore and transitioned to protein characterization by mass spectrometry. Lisa

recently celebrated her 16th year at Pfizer, Inc. in Andover, Massachusetts. She is currently a Group

Leader and Associate Research Fellow in the Mass Spectrometry and Biophysical Characterization

Group focused on early- and late-stage product characterization and regulatory submissions, as

well as development of MS-based methods for protein therapeutics. Her group is currently devel-

oping biotherapeutics for treatments in oncology and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). At

Homecoming this fall Lisa visited the Union Chemistry Department to give a seminar on her work

that was of great interest to both students and faculty.

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VIBRANT SUMMER RESEARCH

During the summer of 2016, the depart-

ment was buzzing with 21 students doing

research with 8 different faculty members.

Students worked on a wide variety of

projects, among them: developing better

solar cells, determining the structure of

insect pheremones, understanding the

function of proteins involved in cell death,

synthesizing molecules that can aid in cell

preservation, developing new aerogel

materials, and analyzing the binding of

perfluorochemicals. One student also did

research off campus at UT Southwestern.

Our ability to provide research oppor-

tunities for students in the summer is

enhanced by the generosity of our alumni

and friends. These donations allow us to

fund fellowships within the department in

addition to those funded by the College.

http://muse.union.edu/chemistry/

Chemistry and Biochemistry Majors on Graduation Day in

June 2016, at the fieldhouse showing off their shiny-new

diplomas.