2020 Badger Chemist

Three undergraduate students in the Blackwell group (pictured above), Michael Kuehne, Rebecca Gillis, and Akshith Mandepally, participated in the 17th annual Research in the Rotunda, hosted by the University of Wisconsin System. Claire Evensen (not pictured) from the Record group also participated. During the event they presented posters and their research to visitors and members of the state legislature.

Graduate student news: Hanming Yang gave an oral presentation at the Chicago Area NMR Discussion Group Conference in November 2019. Miranda Mecha received a Robert C. Doban Mentorship Award for mentoring Natalie Feider on molecular chaperone research. Meranda Masse received the 2020 Straka Award, which is given annually to one graduate student at UW–Madison, a travel award by the Biophysical Society to present her research at the annual meeting in February 2020 in San Diego, CA and a research poster presentation award by the Biophysical Society. Rachel Hutchinson received a Graduate Research Fellowship from the UW–Madison TEAM Science Training Program. Justin Dang joined the Cavagnero group as a graduate student in November 2019. In other news, visiting scientist Valeria Guzman Luna gave an oral presentation at the 25th Annual Stress Response and Molecular Chaperone Meeting at Northwestern University in January 2020. Find our other award winners in the awards listing on page 29.

In November, Mark Ediger presented the Birnbaum Award Lecture at the University of Illinois (pictured above). The graphic on the award plaque illustrates vapor deposition.

Researchers in the Ge and Jin labs developed a method, called nanoproteomics, to capture and measure different forms of cardiac troponin I, a biomarker of heart damage currently used to help diagnose heart attacks and other heart diseases. The scientists hope it will lead to more accurate diagnostic tests. The research was published in Nature Communications. Read the full story here.

The Gilbert group was recently featured at news.wisc.edu for research on coral reef formation. The researchers observed reef-forming corals to identify how they create their skeletons. The results suggest that corals can resist ocean acidification caused by rising carbon dioxide levels, and that controlling water temperature, not acidity, is crucial to mitigating loss and restoring reefs. Read the full article here.

The GSFLC Community Building Subcommittee held a Halloween costume contest through which participants submitted photos from home. The winners, chosen by a department vote, are John Wright, Katie Kruszynski and Alicia Tripp, and AJ Boydston.

The GSFLC Climate Survey Team (CST) implemented the third iteration of its biennial climate survey December 2019 to January 2020 for graduate students and postdocs. The CST presented results of the survey in a department-wide virtual seminar in July. 96 graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff attended to listen to the results and recommendations reported during the event. Four major themes emerged from survey responses: Clarity of PI/Advisor Expectations; Mentorship and Other Training; Diversity and Bias; Teaching. Learn more in the story on page 7.

The Jin group published an article on twisting two-dimensional (2D) materials research in the journal Science. They discovered a way to directly grow twisting, microscopic spirals of 2D materials on curved surfaces. The ability to rationally control the interlayer twists in 2D layers can allow scientists to study quantum physics on the nanoscale. Read the full story here.

Shannon Stahl and Mohammad Rafiee will teach an Organic Electrochemistry Short Course, from January 13-15, 2021. With the pandemic continuing to limit in-person contact, the course will be offered in a virtual format. The presentations will take place from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. CST each day, and will be followed by a one hour question-and-answer/discussion session each day of lectures. There will be short lab tutorial videos included in some of the lectures. More information about the topics to be covered in the course and a link to the registration website may be accessed on the course website: https://stahl.chem.wisc.edu/organic-electrochemistry-virtual-course
We hope you will be able to join us.
Graduate student Chase Salazar led a team of researchers to develop palladium catalysts for “C–H oxidation reactions” that can streamline the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. This work, recently reported in Science (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/recent), significantly reduces the amount of palladium catalyst needed and allows oxygen gas to be used as the oxidant.

TCI awarded Prof. Sharon Hammes-Schiffer the 2020-21 Joseph O. Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry. Hammes-Schiffer is a physical chemist who contributed to theoretical and computational chemistry. She is currently the John Gamble Kirkwood Professor of Chemistry at Yale University. TCI at UW–Madison established the award in 1991 in response to a generous bequest from Prof. Joseph O. Hirschfelder (1911-90) and his widow, Dr. Elizabeth S. Hirschfelder. Over the course of his 40-year career, Prof. Hirschfelder established himself as a leader in teaching, research, and public service at the university and in the broader research community. The award commemorates his role as a pioneering member of the theoretical chemistry field, beginning in the late 1930s.

The Weix and Yoon groups have each secured $50,000 in funding from ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable awards. UW–Madison was the only institution with two projects funded. The Weix group received the award for “Metal-Mediated Electrochemistry: A New Frontier for Surfactants,” which aims to decrease the environmental impact of synthetic electrochemistry by running the reactions in water/surfactant mixtures instead of pure organic solvents. While great advancements have been made in electrochemistry recently, there is usually a need for dipolar aprotic solvents that are less desirable to use on a larger scale. This grant leverages the expertise of UW–Madison in electrochemistry with the Weix group’s expertise in transition-metal catalysis.

The Wickens group collaborated with artists Ingrid Kallick and Peter Krsko as part of the Science to Street Art project through the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery – and the result of that collaboration is being installed at Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant, near a bike path and school. Wickens and his students worked with local artists on the project theme – a Molecular Structure Mural, which includes how water interacts with nature.

After 48 years at Wisconsin, John Wright became an emeritus professor in May, but John is not retiring. He will become a full-time researcher. He expects that his research program will expand, not contract. John’s research program was motivated by attending a symposium on lasers in 1972 that included all of the most famous laser scientists. There was great excitement over all the things that a laser could do because of its coherence. It was seen as the key to an optical analogue of NMR. The panel discussion that followed concluded with the presenters answering the final question, “What is the most important application of lasers?” The answer from each of them was, “Chemistry.” The follow-up question was, “Why aren’t chemists using lasers?” The answer was, “They don’t know how to use lasers.” That answer made it clear that John would seek a position in chemistry. Seeking an optical analogue of NMR formed the basis for his research program. He has worked on that goal throughout his career and just now, it is becoming a reality. John intends to push this technology as far as it will go into all the areas of science where spectroscopy is used so it can attain the original promise of a true optical analogue of NMR that is useful to all chemists.

The Yoon and Weix groups have each secured $50,000 in funding from ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable awards. UW–Madison was the only institution with two projects funded. The Yoon group received the award for “Oxidative C–N Cross-Coupling Enabled by Iron Photochemistry”. The central goal of this project is to develop an innovative and sustainable new paradigm for oxidative C–N, C–C, and C–O cross-coupling reactions. This conceptually novel strategy uses non-toxic, earth-abundant iron salts as both photocatalysts and terminal oxidants.