NEWSLETTER Spring 2017 - Louisiana State University · NEWSLETTER Spring 2017 ... History lasses ^just for fun. _ She ompleted a senior honors thesis with ... The leture was

Spring 2017 NEWSLETTER

Safety in Style! 1 Lab coat program for researchers Undergraduate Alumni Spotlight: 2 Liz Lissy, Keystone Preservation Group Graduate Alumni Spotlight: 2 Emanuel Waddell, University of Alabama at Huntsville New Faculty Focus: 3 Welcome to Dr. Tuo Wang Dr. Benjamin P. Boussert 3 Lectureship and stained glass window unveiling Disney Divas 4 Two LSU Chemistry students serve as Professional Interns at Orlando Walt Disney World® For more info visit: lsu.edu/science/chemistry/

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Contents: Safety in Style! In late 2015, Jerry Steward and Jason Lejeune of LSU’s Environmental Health and Safety office initiated a pilot for a lab coat program. For nine months, Risk Management funded the program, providing about 70 lab workers in the Chemistry & Materials Building with two Nomex® lab coats each, with laundering available on a weekly basis. Lab coats are fitted to each researcher and bear an LSU emblem on one lapel and the researcher’s name on the other. Garrett Sternhagen, the graduate student representative on the Department Safety Committee, says that “habitual non-users are now wearing lab coats” as a result of the new program. The researchers in CMB are heavy users of flammable solvents; that’s why they were an obvious choice for the trial and the flame-resistant Nomex® lab coats.

National attention has been focused on safety in academic laboratories since the death of a UCLA lab worker who sustained severe burns in a fire in 2008. Her death might have been prevented if she had been wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

While we have been unable to get an addition to our operating budget for this initiative, we will be continuing the program and expanding to include all research personnel in Chemistry. According to Chair Taylor, “We have negotiated some cost-savings through less frequent, monthly laundering and EHS personnel will be assessing who needs Nomex® and for whom less expensive polycotton will be adequate. We quite simply cannot stop the program; we are nothing, if we are not safe.”

Photo (left to right): Rashanique Quarels, Garrett Sternhagen, Albert Chao and Jessica Simpson.

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Undergraduate Alumni Spotlight

Liz Lissy Associate Conservator, Keystone Preservation Group

Liz Lissy attended Andrew Jackson Fundamental Magnet High School in Chalmette, Louisiana. At LSU, she majored in Chemistry and took Art History classes “just for fun.” She completed a senior honors thesis with Professor David Spivak and served as president of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemistry Society (SAACS). As her senior year began, she decided to look into career paths that could combine chemistry and art history. Following graduation from LSU, she became a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania and did an internship that involved physical restoration and conservation of historic houses owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She earned a Masters degree in Conservation Sciences.

Today, Liz works at Keystone Preservation Group, a small business that focuses on historic preservation and conservation. She specializes in the analysis of historic finishes and enjoys most of her working week looking down a microscope at cross-sectioned paint samples from historic buildings all over the United States. Some of her favorite projects are the ones where she learns the materials and colors used in buildings that date to as early as the 1770s and as recent as the 1970s. Working on the Hill College House in Philadelphia, Liz found 40 different colors of vertical stripes painted on different walls throughout the building. Her largest project-to-date has been studying the historic finishes of the interior of the United States Capitol Dome and Rotunda in Washington, DC. This was part of a complete restoration that was completed in 2016.

Photo: Lissy collecting a paint sample.

GRADUATE ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: DR EMANUEL WADDELL

Emanuel Waddell was born and raised in Bull City, also known as Durham, NC. He obtained a BS in Chemistry from Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA), a MS in Physical Chemistry from the University of Rochester and a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from LSU working with Professor Steve Soper in the development of near infrared time-correlated single photon counting devices. Of his time at LSU, Emanuel says, “I appreciated departmental diversity and student empowerment at LSU.” Following graduate school, he was a National Research Council (NRC) Post-Doctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD, where he became interested in the laser ablation of polymer substrates and its application in microfluidic (lab-on-a-chip) devices. Today, Emanuel serves as the Associate Dean for the College of Science at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, AL. He is a tenured faculty member in the Department of Chemistry. “In my role as Associate Dean, I ensure that critical processes in the College of Science run appropriately … interacting with faculty and staff from the college’s seven departments. In my role as a chemist, I currently advise one graduate student, several undergraduate students and coordinate the LSAMP and minority graduate students.” Photo: Current graduate student, Ashley Taylor, has been “stalking and profiling” LSU alumni for the past year. In November 2016, she met Emanuel Waddell at the NOBCChE Conference in NC.

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New Faculty Focus: Dr Tuo Wang

Assistant Professor Tuo Wang

Physical Chemistry

Tuo received his BS in Chemistry from Nankai University in Tianjin, China. He came to the USA for

graduate school, commencing studies at Iowa State University and moving to MIT with his advisor,

Professor Mei Hong. Wang’s research program involves the development and application of solid-state

nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to

investigate the structure, dynamics and interactions of

insoluble macromolecules in various biological systems

such as membrane proteins and plant cell walls. For

example, varying mixing times can reveal the spatial

relationships between carbohydrates, revealing the

architecture of native hydrated plant cell walls at the

molecular level with chemical resolution (Figure).

Legacy of Dr. Benjamin P. Boussert

On Friday, September 23rd, 2016, the generous gifts of family and friends of the late Dr. Benjamin Pierre Boussert enabled two momentous events. Professor Delia Milliron delivered the 2016 Dr. Benjamin Pierre Boussert Lecture, titled, “Plasmons in Metal Oxide Nanocrystals: Fundamentals and Smart Windows.” Milliron is the Fellow of the Henry Beckman Professorship in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas, Austin. She was a fellow graduate student with Ben Boussert in the Alivisatos Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley in the early 2000s. She talked about the design, synthesis and “spectral window” of the materials she is developing. The lecture was followed by a presentation from renowned local artist, Mary Ann Caffery, on the inspirations for her artwork designed to commemorate the life and science of Ben Boussert. A reception followed, with the unveiling of the stained glass window known as “Benjamin’s World,” located on the Highland Road side of the Dr. Benjamin Pierre Boussert Conference Room on the first floor of the Chemistry and Materials Building. The event was well attended by LSU science and engineering folks, with a number of special guests (relationship to Ben in parentheses): Mr Christian and Mrs Anne Boussert (parents), Mr Joel, Dr Kelly and Ms Margot Boussert (brother, sister-in-law, niece), Ms Gayle Smitherman (aunt), Dr Emory Chan (friend) and his father, Professor Emeritus Lai-Him Chan, Dr CJ Dubois (friend) and his son Benjamin, Drs Christine Micheel and Steve Damo (friends) and their son Benjamin.

Photo (above): Friends of Benjamin P. Boussert (left to right): Steve Damo, Christine Micheel (holding Benjamin), CJ Dubois (holding Benjamin), Delia Milliron and Emory Chan. The stained glass window behind them is “Benjamin’s World.”

Photo (left): Christian Boussert and Mary Ann

Caffery discuss aesthetics.

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A significant measure of a great university is the support it receives from its alumni. Join us as we work on the leading edge of discovery and innovation to educate the next generation of scientists. If you would like to support LSU Chemistry, regardless of the amount, we would be most appreciative. All donations are tax deductible and qualify for Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF) points.

To make your gift online, go to www.lsufoundation.org/givetoscience. Click ‘Designations’ and choose ‘Chemistry Development Fund’.

To send your gift by mail, make your check payable to “LSU Foundation,” note “Chemistry Development Fund” on the memo line and mail your check to: LSU Foundation, 3838 West Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808

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Disney Divas

In December 2016, Heidi Olivier and Cody Leegwater both graduated BS from LSU with a

major in Chemistry. They are spending Spring 2017 in Florida, as roommates, where they are

Chemistry Professional Interns at Orlando Walt Disney World under the direction of Kent

Semmen in the Department of Water Science. Their training in instrumental analysis, a

strength of LSU’s undergraduate program, will serve them well as they collect samples from

animal exhibits and then analyze and treat the water according to their findings.

There were three internships open; that two were filled by LSU Chemistry majors is notable.

As well as completing their coursework requirements in Chemistry, both students have a

range of impressive experiences that made their applications stand out.

Cody performed research in the laboratory of Professor Jayne Garno, using atomic force

microscopy (AFM) to study proteins on surfaces. She spent the 2014-15 academic year at

Philipps Marburg University, as a participant in a study abroad program. She was an intern at

the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternative in Summer 2014 as part of

an HHMI program and at Motiva Enterprises in Summer 2016. She was certified as a

Distinguished Communicator at LSU and also served as a University Hearing Panelist.

Heidi specialized in Environmental Chemistry working with Professor Robert Cook at LSU, and

she performed research at the LSU Aquaculture Center for two and a half years. She was a

valuable student worker of the Chemistry Undergraduate Office. She also participated in two

study abroad programs – one in England and the other in Grenoble, France. She was an

inspired president and leader of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society. Photo: LSU in Orlando — Cody Leegwater (left) and Heidi Olivier (right)