Chair’s Report

Intellectual Property: From the Bench toUseful Applications

Over the past decades of my career at

GW, I have grown increasingly

aware of the long and distinguished

history of the Institution and of our Department,

in particular. I couldn’t be any prouder to

r ep re sen t

this department as I learn more

about its history and follow the

successes of our students and

faculty. One reason for this reflection

was the news in early July of the

passing of Hans Lineweaver at the

age of 101. Dr. Lineweaver was the

developer of the Lineweaver-Burk

Plot, which was published in 1934

in the Journal of the American

Chemical Society. In an article

written for the June 16, 2003 edition

of Chemical & Engineering News,

the author stated that the 1934

paper, “The Determination of Enzyme

Dissociation Constants” remained

number one in citations from

among it’s top 125 papers! I was

not surprised by the importance of that discovery (We had used a

Lineweaver-Burke plot in Rita Labroo’s doctoral dissertation, and

these double reciprocal plots used for enzyme kinetics* are a

standard in every biochemistry textbook sold today.), but rather

that Dr. Lineweaver was an alumnus of our department, BA in

Chemistry in 1930 and an MA in Physical Chemistry in 1933.

Who knew? The lesson here is that this Newsletter and the informa-

tion we share is a vital record of the work we do and the accom-

plishments we achieve. The history of this Department is amazing

and we need to preserve it better and share our successes more

widely. In that context I am delighted to relate some of the terrific

news of the last year.

On January 20, I joined a throng of guests from the American

Chemical Society and the Washington chemistry community to

greet the new President of the Society and President-elect. Though

the program was principally in honor of the new President, Dr.

Joseph Francisco, I was beaming because the President-Elect was

Dr. Nancy Jackson BS ’79, who will take office in 2011. Also

standing in the receiving line was the Society’s CEO, Madeleine

Jacobs BS ’68, Ph.D. (hon.) ’03. Who could imagine two of the

three highest officers of the world’s largest scientific society would

be alumnae of GW? What an incredible confluence of circumstances

and an amazing moment for our department and the University! I doubt

any chemistry department could claim such a terrific team.

I am delighted to report that we had

another absolutely banner year in

the department. As you will read

further in this newsletter, six of our

exceptional graduate students led an

incredibly successful symposium at

the spring 2009 meeting of the

American Chemical Society entitled

“Naturally Nano.” Eric Fallows,

Jen Herdman, Karah Knope,

Badri Shyam, Nick Deifel, and

Nausheena Baig assembled leading

scholars from across the scientific

spectrum to present talks on biolog-

ical- and nature-inspired nanotech-

nology. Additionally, two of our

doctoral degree recipients received

NRC-Postdoctoral Fellowships to

NIST and NRL respectively, and for

the second year in a row three of our doctoral students were se-

lected to receive ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Stu-

dents) scholarships and fellowships. It was an amazing moment of

pride to watch our three students called forward in the Supreme

Court Chamber to receive their award certificates. We were the

only department in the metropolitan area to be so honored at that

ARCS gathering.

This past year also brought quite a number of successful nomina-

tions for very special prizes and awards. Graduating senior Clare

Rowland was selected to be the College’s Distinguished Scholar in

the Sciences and Humanities, and she addressed the graduates at

the spring Celebration prior to Commencement on the National

Mall. Clare had participated in Undergraduate research since her

freshman year as a Britt and Gamow awardee from GW and as a

Hollings and Goldwater Scholar. After a year as Research Associ-

Prof. King

Volume 28 | Page 1Department of Chemistry

Newsletter Volume 28

Department ofChemistry

Chemistry faculty [left to right, back] C. Dowd, C. Cahill, J. Hilderbrandt,H. Miller, M. Wagner, A. Vertes, D. Ramaker [left to right, front] H. Teng,M. King, S. Licht & S. Gillmor

ate in the Cahill research group she will begin doctoral studies at

Northwestern as an NSF predoctoral awardee. Badri Shyam was

selected as one of only three GTA students in the University to win

the Philip Amsterdam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for this

year. Badri joins Nausheena Baig and Maggie Teliska from our de-

partment as a recipient of this well deserved award. Professor David

Ramaker joined colleagues Martín Zysmilich, Christopher Cahill

and Michael King as the fourth member of the department to re-

ceive a Morton Bender Prize for Teaching Excellence. I am also

delighted to report that alumnus Jay Siegel was selected as the 2009

recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Scholar Award from the Uni-

versity. More about Jay can be found later in this Newsletter.

In spite of the depressed state of research support to granting

agencies for the sciences in recent years, our research program

continued to move forward with two of our colleagues captur-

ing notice with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of

2009 funding. Professor Chris Cahill was a Co-PI on two suc-

cessful Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) proposals.

The first proposal was led by a team from the Carnegie Institu-

tion of Washington, but Chris declined further participation

given the enormity of the other successful award and the limits

on his time and space. The second award, “Material Science of

the Actinides,” or MSA for short, was a pooled effort headed by

the University of Notre Dame and several National labs over

five years began Aug 1. More information on the EFRCs, as

well as the magnitude of DOE’s commitment to these centers

can be found at http://www.er.doe.gov/bes/EFRC.html. The sec-

ond of our one-two punches was a Challenge Grant in Health andScience Research for the NIH award won by Professor Cynthia

Dowd. Dr. Dowd was one of about 200 awardees, from a pool of

more than 20,000 applicants, to win this special ARRA grant. The

NIH has designated $200 million in 2009 and 2010 for the grants.

This NIH Challenge Grant (RC1) was awarded to Dr. Dowd to

develop inhibitors of the TB nonmevalonate pathway using struc-

ture-based design. Professors Dowd and Cahill are part of a pattern

of incredibly creative, young investigators who are bringing new

ideas to significant problems that need to be addressed, as I noted

in a recent GW news story. Like the other members of our faculty,

we are defining the solutions to the problems for the coming decade

of energy and the environment, health, sustainability and security.

These grants and the many other accomplishments, which you will

be reading in this newsletter, show the department’s focus on trans-

lational research or inquiry with a practical application. As noted in

a previous issue of the newsletter, several members of this depart-

ment hold patents, the ultimate of translation from the bench to the

practical world.

While there is more that I have to share, I will let my colleagues tell

you about them in their synopses and the other reports contained

herein. Yes it was a banner year, but frankly every year seems that

way as we all do our part to meet the mission of excellence in teach-

ing and research. As alumni, you have been doing us proud since

your graduation. You have been contributing meaningfully to soci-

ety and supported the efforts of your department to maintain the

legacy of alumni, like Hans Lineweaver and Nancy Jackson, and

faculty, like Benjamin Van Evera and Charles Naeser. We appreci-

ate hearing from everyone and want you to know how grateful we

are for the financial support you provide. Best wishes for more out-

standing years ahead.

*Lineweaver discovered a simple algebratic relationship relating

to the Michaelis-Menton Equation, which describes the fundamen-

tal relationship between the concentration of an enzyme substrate

and the rate at which the enzyme catalyzed reaction occurs. The

double reciprocal plot of Lineweaver's gives those constants. But

even more useful is the double reciprocal plot in the presence of no

inhibitor and then with inhibitor (at several concentrations). De-

pending in the resulting plots, one can determine whether the en-

zyme inhibition is competitive, noncompetitive and uncompetitive.

Department of ChemistryPage 2 | Volume 28

Chair’s Report continued from page 1

Distinguished Scholar Clare Rowland [left] and CCAS DeanPeg Barratt [right]

Badri Shyam [center] wins Philip Amsterdam Award[left] Prof. Ramaker, Research Adviser [right] Prof. King,Chair

We are delighted and proud to report that Professor Jay Siegel was

honored as the University’s Distinguished Alumni Scholar for

2009. Jay Siegel is now the third Distinguished Alumni Scholar

selected from our Department in the past half dozen years! You

may recall that Dr. Emanuel Horowitz was selected for this honor

in 2003 and Professor George Mushrush was selected for this honor

in 2006. What an incredible history and how proud we are of all of

our accomplished alumni. Dr. Siegel has had an incredibly distin-

guished career as a faculty scholar and active researcher in foren-

sic sciences since he received his Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral

degrees in Chemistry from the George Washington University in

1968, 1970 and 1975 respectively. His name caught my attention

when I learned that he had recently retired from the chemistry de-

partment at Michigan State University to take the position of chair

of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Indiana

University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Professor Siegel began his career as a synthetic inorganic chemist

at GW in the early part of the 1970’s, publishing papers with Pro-

fessors Emeritus Perros and Rowley. However his first position fol-

lowing receipt of his doctorate was with the Virginia Bureau of

Forensic Sciences and it was there that he became hooked by the

application of chemistry in the forensic sciences. His training in

chemistry served him well as he moved forward in the next thirty

years from teaching chemistry at a small school in Denver to Michi-

gan State University, where his leadership in the forensic sciences

grew from its position within the chemistry department to a sepa-

rate program in their School of Criminal Justice, which he headed.

In particular during this period, he developed an innovative

program whereby students could enroll in both the MS in Forensic

Science degree as well as the Chemistry Ph.D. program, completing

both degrees simultaneously. After serving as Professor of Foren-

sic Sciences and Director of the Forensic Science Program he

retired from Michigan State University to take a leadership position

as Professor and Director of the Forensic and Investigative Sciences

Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

He now serves concurrently as Chair of the Department of Chem-

sitry and Chemical Biology at the University.

For the past thirty plus years, Professor Siegel has been an active

scholar and practitioner in the forensic sciences. In addition to serv-

ing as an expert witness more than 200 times in seven states and the

Federal and Military courts, Professor Siegel has written two books,

ten book chapters and published thirty-six papers. He has been the

editor of two major Drug Handbooks used continuously in the

forensic sciences, is a member of the Editorial Board of the Jour-

nal of Forensic Sciences, and has been the Editor in Chief of the En-

cyclopedia of Forensic Science since 2000. During his career, he

has received almost $1 million in grants as the principal investiga-

tor from state and federal agencies and the private sector to sup-

port his research and programs. His current project involves the

analysis of inks using mass spectrometric techniques under a quar-

ter of a million dollar grant from the National Institute of Justice.

This record of scholarship is truly an outstanding accomplishment

for a scientist in any field. As a top performing scholar and leader

in the field, Professor Siegel has also been invited to direct short

courses for the judiciary and appear in major media venues.

Professor Siegel is a Fellow with the American Academy of

Forensic Sciences, and in 2005, he was awarded the Paul Kirk

Award for outstanding service to the Criminalistics section. This

special service award recognizes only individuals whose work

results in marked improvement in the quality, recognition, or ac-

ceptance of criminalistics or forensic science. In 1992-93 he served

as the President of the Council of Forensic Science Educators of

the American Chemical Society. In 1994 he served as the Chief US

Delegate to the International Forensic Science Conference in

Taipei, Taiwan. Other international appointments include two

periods as a Visiting Professor at two Universities in Australia and

a current appointment as a member of an external advisory

committee at Deakin University in Australia. Most recently, he has

served as a member of two National Academy of Sciences

committees: one on the needs of forensic science in the 21st century

and the other on an evaluation of research and development

programs of the National Institute of Justice.

Professor Siegel is an accomplished scholar and leader in his dis-

cipline, whose research is innovative, sharp, and current. His first-

class, pioneering scholarship and distinguished career in the field of

chemistry and forensic sciences is of very practical interest, and he

has been a loyal and committed alumnus of the Chemistry Depart-

ment and The George Washington University.

We are delighted that he has joined the ranks of other chemistry

alumni who have been selected as Distinguished Alumni Scholars.

Department of Chemistry Volume 28 | Page 3

2009 Distinguished Scholar Award

[Left to right] Distinguished Alumnus Jay Siegel, Prof. EmeritusDavid Rowley & Prof. Emeritus Ed Caress

Page 4 | Volume 28 Department of Chemistry

Thirty-eight new multi-year grant proposals totaling almost

$16.8 million were submitted during the year to external

granting agencies and organizations. A bit over $2 million

in new multi-year funding was awarded by the external

sponsors during that cycle, with many proposals still in

review at the close of the academic year. An additional

$260,000 was awarded from internal GW funds for seven

chemistry proposals. As of June 2009, the department

had ten active awards from external sponsors with aggre-

gate budgets totaling about $2.4 million for their lifetime.

Additional resources obtained by competitive proposals in-

cluded supercomputing time, beam time at National Labo-

ratories, access to nanofabrication facilities and some

unrestricted gifts.

Colleagues published

fifty-nine papers, journal

articles, or conference

proceedings during the

last academic year. An

additional three papers

have been accepted, and

nine more were submit-

ted before the end of the

academic year. The year

also saw the publication

of Professor Licht’s new

book and nine book

chapters by colleagues.

In addition, colleagues

gave eighteen con-

tributed talks or posters

at meetings and confer-

ences, and delivered an incredible forty invited or featured

talks at conferences, Universities, and other venues. Re-

markably, six additional patent applications were submit-

ted this past year by four members of the department. A

cover page article Professor Cahill and his colleagues, Dan

de Lill and Mark Frisch, “Homo- and heterometallic coor-

dination polymers from the F elements,” Cryst Eng Comm,

2007, 9, 15, was the most highly cited publication in CrystEng Comm since January 2007. In addition to the myriad

of proposals and articles reviewed by the entire faculty, Pro-

fessors Ramaker and Teng served as journal editors, while

other faculty held leadership positions in Societies, Insti-

tutes and Committees. Professor Licht is on the Executive

Committee for Energy Technology of The Electrochemical

Society; Professor Cahill is a member of the Continuing Ed-

ucation Committee of the American Crystallographic As-

sociation and a member of the United States National Com-

mittee on Crystallography; Professor Miller serves as Chair

of the Eastern States Sections of the Combustion Institute

and is also Secretary of the Executive Committee of the US

Sections of the Combustion Institute; and Professor Vertes

is a member of the News & Features Advisory Panel for the

journal Analytical Chemistry and was a member of the In-

ternational Steering Committee for the 2009 Conference on

Laser Ablation, in Singapore.

We were delighted to see five of our graduate students com-

plete their doctorates during the 2008-2009 academic year.

Four of them continued their studies with postdoctoral fel-

lowships, while the fifth landed a Research Scientist slot at

the Naval Research Laboratories. Our doctoral student pop-

ulation remains at a healthy level with the recruitment of

six new doctoral students for Fall 2009, and an additional

two in the Spring. The number of chemistry majors and mi-

nors likewise continued to grow to a healthy size with a total

of sixty-one major advisees as of this past spring and al-

most seventeen chemistry minors. Total undergraduate en-

rollments in chemistry courses remained steady at almost

2,800, completely saturating all available laboratory spaces.

Summer session registrations also remained high with over-

all summer enrollments remaining at nearly 200.

Our robust seminar schedule continued weekly at a rigorous

pace through the Fall and Spring semesters with an array of

both internal and external speakers. Among the guests were

speakers from Naval Research Laboratory, National

Museum of the American Indian, University of Alabama,

Huntsville, University of Virginia, Johns Hopkins Univer-

sity, Technical University of Darmstadt, Arizona State Uni-

versity, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, ETH Zurich,

Georgetown University, University of Maryland, and

Purdue University. Two capstones for the year were the

seminar presented by Susan Heald BS ’85, Senior Textile

Conservator at the National Museum of the American

Indian, for alumni weekend in the fall titled “From Organic

and Analytical Chemistry to Art Conservation and Indian

Country: An alumna’s career journey in applying her GW

chemistry/anthropology degree” and Professor Jay Siegel,

the Distinguished Alumni Scholar for 2009, who presented

a seminar on “Chemical and Chemometric Analysis of

Trace Evidence: Hair Dyes, Inks and Automotive Paint

Clear Coats” at the close of the Spring semester.

Chemistry by the Numbers

By Karah Knope and Badri Shyam

In Spring 2008, a group of six graduate students in the Department

of Chemistry were selected by the American Chemical Society

(ACS) to organize and host a symposium of their choice at their

237th National Meeting at Salt Lake City, Utah. The goal of the

program, formally known as the Graduate Symposium Planning

Committee (GSSPC) is to offer graduate students an important role

in the ACS National Meetings, give them opportunities to develop

their leadership skills and support them towards making significant

contributions to the technical program. The students were respon-

sible for all aspects of the symposium including theme and topic

selection, selecting speakers,

fundraising, logistics associated

with event planning and organiz-

ing the symposium. The GW

GSSPC group is only the fifth to

be selected since the program

began in 2005. They successfully

raised over $40,000 and took over

a year to plan the event. The sym-

posium was well-attended and

eventually drew over 100-200

researchers over the course of the

entire day. The GW-GSSPC

concluded the symposium with a

reception.

Their symposium, Naturally

Nano, featured talks from leading

scholars in nanotechnology with

the aim of addressing all primary

aspects of nanotechnology research including the commercializa-

tion and widespread impact of nanomaterials, health and safety is-

sues, environmental concerns, education and public outreach and

awareness programs, ethical issues and the responsible develop-

ment of nanotechnology. Dr. Madeleine Jacobs, a GW alumnus and

the current CEO of the ACS gave the opening remarks at the sym-

posium. Dr. Geoffrey Ozin, a pioneer in the field of nanotechnol-

ogy highlighted his recent work with novel display materials and

efforts towards commercialization of these materials through lab-

market initiatives. In the area of safety and environmental issues,

Dr. Howard Fairbrother of Johns Hopkins University gave a talk

on the effects of surface chemistry on the behavior of engineered

nanomaterials in the environment while Dr. Vicki Colvin, a leading

researcher in the field at Rice University also addressed issues re-

lating to the sustainable development of nanotechnology in emerg-

ing economies and further, discussed the feasibility of

manufacturing nanomaterials with low-infrastructure. In the field of

nanotechnology education, Dr. Ira Bennet of the Center for Nan-

otechnology in Society, Arizona State University, presented recent

work carried out with graduate students towards developing nano-

materials and explaining nanoscale phenomena for science centers

and museum exhibits for educating the public and increasing aware-

ness of the potentially revolutionary impact that nanotechnology

will have on society in the 21st century. From the frontiers of nan-

otechnology research, Dr. Lara Estroff of Cornell presented her

group’s efforts towards understanding biogenic nanomaterials and

their amazing properties; Dr. Montemagno of the University of

Cincinnati, recipient of the highly prestigious Feynman Prize for

Nanotechnology and former director of the California Nanosystems

Institute (CNSI) at UCLA, charted a bird’s-eye view of some of the

future avenues of nanotechnology research; Dr. Michael Rubner of

MIT highlighted work into stimuli-responsive coatings which could

open the door to synthetically functionalized living cells with novel

cell tracking, drug delivery and imaging capabilities.

The panel discussion, which was

hosted by Dr. Houston Miller of

GW’s chemistry department, in-

cluded experts from academia

and industry to discuss issues

relating to the responsible and

sustainable development of

nanotechnology, ethical concerns

with such research initiatives

and the role and responsibility of

the media to serve as a link

between the research community

and the public.

The post-lunch session was

chiefly directed at highlighting

the overlap between nanotechnol-

ogy and medicine. In the field of

diagnostics, Dr. Jeff Wang of

Johns Hopkins presented his work on the development of quantum

dot nanosensors, which could revolutionize medical diagnostics

and therapeutics. In the area of drug delivery, a very active field of

medical research, Dr. Torchilin of Northeastern University outlined

innovative and novel ways of delivering otherwise ‘undeliverable’

drugs while Dr. Joseph DeSimone of University of North Carolina,

Chapel Hill gave the last talk of the symposium. His research into

novel fabrication technologies through the cross-fertilization of

ideas from the microelectronics industry is already revolutionizing

studies in drug delivery. The concluding remarks were given by Dr.

Thomas Lane, current president of the American Chemical Society.

The GW-GSSPC also hosted an inaugural Graduate Student Mixer.

Joseph S. Francisco, president elect of the American Chemical So-

ciety and William E. Moore Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

at Purdue University, and Madeleine Jacobs, GW alumna BS ’68,

Ph.D. (hon.) ’03, showed their commitment to graduate education

by attending the event. Over 150 graduate students from universi-

ties nationally and internationally turned out for the mixer render-

ing the event even more successful than the GW students could

have hoped. In fact, the Younger Chemist Committee (YCC), the

Graduate Education Advisory Board (GEAB) and the Office of

Graduate Education (OGE) have shown interest in making the grad-

uate student mixer a permanent part of future ACS meetings.

Volume 28 | Page 5Department of Chemistry

GW-Graduate Student Symposium Planning Committee Event Summary

Naturally Nano, Spring 2009

[left to right] Nausheena Baig, Nicholas Deifel, Karah Knope, 2009 ACSPresident Joseph Lane, Eric Fallows, Jennifer Herdman & Badri Shyam

One of the marquee features of our program has been our continu-

ing emphasis on the value of undergraduate research as part of the

education of our students. Last year several recent alumni wrote

about their undergraduate research experience and its value to them

during and following their years at GWU. Providing our talented

undergraduate majors with the opportunity to engage in a well-de-

fined research project during some portion of their studies has been

one of the hallmarks of our program, long before such options were

fashionable. A solid research experience complements a program of

study comprised of coursework by integrating the components of

the core curriculum into a unified picture and helps in developing

a spirit of inquiry, fostering a sense of independence, exercising

sound judgment and acquiring an attitude of persistence. In addition

to the potential to earn course credits (Over a dozen students earned

credits in 2008-9.), endowed funds in chemistry set up by the Britt

family in memory of Prof. A.D. Britt, the Naeser family and friends

in honor of Prof. Charles and Mrs. Elma Naeser, and alumna

Madeleine Reines Jacobs provide stipend support for our under-

graduate students in the summer. Last summer we were delighted

to host the following undergraduates on these funds:

Page 6 | Volume 28 Department of Chemistry

Nara Lee.......................... Jacobs Scholar

Jessica Rodriguez............ Naeser Scholar

Cory Antonakos...............Britt Scholar

Arthur Lee....................... Britt Scholar

Eugene Uh....................... Britt Scholar

Prof. Vertes [left] & Eugene Uh [right]

Undergraduate Research

Jessica Rodriguez [left] & Prof. King [right]

Cory Antonakos...............Rice Scholar.....................Cell Function Modulation/Silicon Microstructures

Nara Lee..........................Rice Scholar.....................Effect Reaction Parameters on Gold Nanorods

/Synthesis of Nanorods

Barun Aryal..................... Gamow Scholar............... Tricyclic Drugs and effects on Lipid Vesicles

Jacob Jones...................... Gamow Scholar............... Analysis of a Single Infected Cell

These scholars were joined by other chemistry students who won funding from other University and College offices for Luther Rice and

George Gamow Research Awards:

Professor Cahill is happy to report on some significant sabbatical

activities from the past year. Chris spent the Fall of 2008 studying

lanthanide spectroscopy at Cardiff University (UK) as a Fulbright

Scholar. After some intriguing results, proposal writing and exten-

sive lecturing (including Trinity College-Dublin, Cambridge

University, Sheffield, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Siegen and Queens Uni-

versity-Belfast) he hid out in Argentina for the month of January

2009. There he spent a fair amount of time travelling and explor-

ing the country along with colleague Martín Zysmilich- a local,

yet also on sabbatical. The Spring semester was rather productive

and brought Chris into his first contact with transuranic elements.

Chris was a Visiting Scholar at Argonne National Laboratory and

synthesized a number of neptunium and plutonium bearing com-

pounds. It was indeed a thrill for him to work with these challeng-

ing elements and to discover some new chemistry with them.

Great things are coming from our graduate students as well! Karah

Knope delivered her 60 minute ‘exit’ seminar in October, and she

successfully defended her dissertation this spring. The year has

been rather fruitful for her with one published paper and one cur-

rently in review. Nick Deifel recently advanced to candidacy and

had a paper published in CrystEngComm. Recent arrival Paula

Cantos is up and running on some mixed U-Ln compounds while

Andrew Kerr (a former REU student) has joined us beginning Fall

2009. Lastly, Clare Rowland (B.S. 2009) decided to stick around

DC for another year and has joined the Cahill group as a full-time

technician before heading off to graduate school in 2010. She has

been quite productive in the lab and will have much to show for

this year.

Alumni continue to fly the GW flag proudly- Shannon Morrison

(Ph.D. 2005) is still enjoying working at Southern Clay Products in

Louisville. Lauren Borkowski (Ph. D.

2007) is currently a post-doc at SUNY-

Stony Brook and Mark Frisch (Ph.D.

2008) is a staff researcher at the Naval

Research Lab’s Laboratory for the Struc-

ture of Matter where he works alongside

Isabella and Jerome Karle (Nobel Prize

1985). Dan de Lill (Ph.D. 2008) has been

a post-doc at University of Nevada-Reno,

yet he recently cranked that up a notch by

securing some independent funding. Dan has been named an Amer-

ican Competitiveness in Chemistry Fellow by the NSF. He is now

hard at work on some lanthanide luminescence projects that include

making tutorials for broadcast on YouTube.

The funding situation for the Cahill group is currently at an all time

high. After panicking a bit in 2008 as two awards were drawing to

a close, Prof. Cahill secured two large DOE awards. The first was

a renewal of his single investigator Basic Energy Sciences award

($300K for three years). The second has Cahill as a subawardee to

a Notre Dame led effort- Materials Science of the Actinides. The

collaboration, which includes investigators from UC-Davis, Savan-

nah River National Lab, University of Michigan, Renssalear Poly-

technic Institute, Pacific Northwest and Sandia National Labs, is a

US Department of Energy- Energy Frontier Research Center. These

centers were created in the past year with funding from the Amer-

ican Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The total award is $18 mil-

lion, with $1.2 million slated for Cahill over the next five years.

This funding puts his group on sure footing for the foreseeable fu-

ture and naturally we look forward to some great science.

Volume 28 | Page 7Department of Chemistry

Prof. Cahill

Cahill Research Group

From the class of 2010, Barun Aryal (Biology) and Arthur Lee (Chemistry) have made significant contribu-

tions to the Gillmor lab in their respective projects. Arthur Lee and Mike Kessler (2nd year graduate student)

have investigated cross-linking effects on cell membrane models. Their findings on meta-stable configurations

of lipids have implications in cell membrane heterogeneity. Together with our mathematics collaborators (F.

Baginiski and X. Ren) we will present and publish our findings in this area. Barun Aryal has studied the ther-

modynamic effects of small molecules in lipid bilayers with our new instrument, a differential scanning calorime-

ter. Meanwhile Robin Samuel (1st year graduate student) is testing lipid diffusion using fluorescence bleaching.

These two complimentary methods will reveal how membranes are manipulated via small molecules. Both proj-

ects will be presented at a Symposium this spring (May 1, Frontiers at the Chemistry and Biology Interface) at

John Hopkins. Professor Gillmor continues to teach Physical Chemistry in the fall and now also teaches intro-

ductory chemistry in the spring. She will coordinate a microscopy training program this summer. We congratulate Barun and Arthur as they

finish their degrees and look forward to new students joining the group.

Prof. Gillmor

Gillmor Research Group

The Dowd lab combines organic synthesis with medicinal and computational chemistries to develop small mol-

ecule inhibitors of important biological processes. Projects in the lab currently center on Mycobacterium tuber-culosis and related organisms. Our research group is comprised of graduate students Emily Jackson (3rd) and

Gail Clements (2nd) and two undergraduate students (Katey Bruno and Eugene Uh). We are currently syn-

thesizing and evaluating novel small molecules against two important mycobacterial enzymes, Dxr and the

Mtb proteasome.

Recent highlights from the last year include: Katey Bruno received a $10,000 scholarship toward GW tuition

from the National Consortium for Measurement and Signatures Intelligence Research (NCMR) Scholars Pro-

gram. Eugene Uh and Jessica Rodriguez were awarded A.D. Britt Memorial and Naeser Scholarships, respectively, from the Chemistry

Department. We hosted Elizabeth Humes of Dickenson College for the summer of 2009. She was a participant in the NSF-funded Re-

search Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at GW. Emily Jackson and her husband David became the proud parents of a

beautiful boy, Zachary. The group presented work at the 2nd annual Frontiers at the Interface of Chemistry and Biology meeting in May,

and several group members participated in the 238th National American Chemistry Society (ACS) meeting held in Washington D.C. in

August 2009.

In September 2009, we were awarded a highly competitive Challenge Grant from NIH. This award, part of the ARRA stimulus package

from the Obama administration, is enabling the expansion of our work in both personnel and instrumentation. Receiving over 20,000 ap-

plications for this initiative, NIH anticipated making 200 awards. We are very fortunate to have received one of these coveted awards.

In addition to providing several pieces of new equipment for the lab, we will be recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to join our group.

This award will be a tremendous boost to our work and our ability to produce scientific results.

Last year, we reported in this newsletter about the capabilities being built into

our work and lab. Our initial focus had been in organic synthesis. The capacity

to synthesize, purify, and characterize novel small molecules occurred very

quickly. We began expression and purification of target proteins via a collabo-

rating lab in Ross Hall (GWUMC). Over the last year, we have purchased equip-

ment and instrumentation to move expression of these proteins into Corcoran

Hall. We now routinely express and purify our own proteins, and then use these

proteins to test the activity of our compounds via a biochemical assay. At the

same time, our compounds are being evaluated against whole cell Mycobac-terium tuberculosis by Dr. Helena Boshoff at NIH (Bethesda, MD). The design

of our compounds is guided by structure-based design. This molecular model-

ing portion of our program was added this year and is already a key component.

This next year will see expansion of the modeling component, synthesis of novel

small molecules in high gear thanks to additional personnel, and increased pu-

rification and analytical capabilities for our work.

Things at GW in the Chemistry Department are really hopping! I look forward to this coming year when our group will make signifi-

cant progress in some key areas of our research. We have a great group of students, both undergraduate and graduate. It’s a ton of fun

and I encourage you to visit if you have a chance. To find out more about our group, please visit http://home.gwu.edu/~cdowd/.

Page 8 | Volume 28 Department of Chemistry

Joan Hilderbrandt serves as the Coordinator for General Chemistry (Chem. 11/12.) Her most recent project

involves teaching Chemistry 23 as a WID (Writing In the Discipline) course. She has stated that this course is

“still under construction”. Professor Hilderbrandt continues as a lecturer in the Chemistry 11 and Chemistry 12

series. She is also the Departmental Advisor for the Graduating Class of 2013.

Professor Joan Hilderbrandt

Prof. Hilderbrandt

Dowd Research Group

Prof. Dowd

[left to right] Katey Bruno, Gail Clements, Eugene Uh, EmilyJackson, and Cynthia Dowd

This has been an exciting first year for the Licht group in the Department of Chemistry at GW. Construction

of the group’s Energy Labs was completed at the VA campus. The lab contains state-of-the-art facilities for solar,

battery and fuel cell research, including unique infrastructure for hybrid solar chemistry studies.

On the theoretical front, we have introduced a new method of solar energy conversion-the STEP Process

[STEP: A solar chemical process to end anthropogenic global warming, J. Phys. Chem., 113, 16283, (2009)].

On the experimental front, the group is making good strides towards demonstrating STEP processes to gener-

ate a wide variety of energetic molecules at high solar energy conversion efficiencies.

In collaboration with Ken Zweibel of the GW Institute for the Analysis of Solar Energy, we have embarked on

our first foray into the economic consequences of our solar chemical research, in which we look at the cost of

generating hydrogen fuel from our STEP process compared to the cost of more conventional hydrogen production methods.

We have also started to probe the storage mechanism of our new boride anode cells [Renewable Highest Capacity VB2/Air Energy Stor-

age, Chemical Communication, 2008, 3257 (2008)], which exhibits among the highest known electrochemical energy storage capacities.

We are making good progress to increase the storage capacities of lithium ion batteries with our unusual super iron, hexavalent cathode

[Enhancement of Reversible Nonaqueous Fe(III/VI) Charge Transfer, J. Phys. Chem., 113, 9884, (2009)].

The research group is comprised of enthusiastic researchers sharing a commitment to opportunities of a renewable energy future. Un-

dergraduates researchers in the group are Harry Bergman, Andrew Dick, Olivia Chityat, and Justin Fink. Doctoral students include

Hina Ayub and Adam Lentscher, who has recently started a rotation with the group. Dr. Susanta Ghosh, Dr. Dianlu Jiang, and Dr.

Boahui Wang comprise the senior staff in the research group. The group enjoyed a one month visit from French graduate engineering

students Dimitri and Nabila.

Other 2008/9 Licht group studies and publications include,

a book:

• The Solar Generation of H2: Towards a Renewable Energy Fu-

ture, Wiley, (2008), including Chapter 1: “The Hydrogen Econ-

omy,” and Chapter 5: “Thermochemical and Thermal/Photo

Hybrid Solar Water Splitting”.

Articles:

• “Stabilized Alkaline Fe(VI) Charge Transfer: Zirconia Coating

Stabilized Super-Iron Alkaline Batteries,” J. ElectrochemicalSociety, 155, A1 (2008).

• “A Novel High Capacity Environmentally Benign Energy Stor-

age System: Super-Iron Boride Battery,” J. Power Sources, 179,

407 (2008).

• “The Super-Iron Boride Battery,” J. Electrochemical Society,

155, A297 (2008).

• “Recent Advances in Synthesis and Analysis of Fe(VI) Cath-

odes,” J. Solid State Electrochemistry, Vol. 12, No.12 1523-1540

(2008).

• “Chemistry of the Super-iron Boride Battery,” Electrochemical Society Transactions, 11, 187 (2008).

• “Advances in Electrochemical Fe(VI) Synthesis and Analysis,” J. Appl. Electrochemistry, 38, 731 (2008).

• “Photoelectrochemical Storage Cells,” Chapter 5, in monograph: Photochemical and Photoelectrochemical Approaches to Solar En-ergy Conversion, World Scientific Pub Co, (2008).

• In Ferrates Synthesis, Properties and Applications in Water and Wastewater Treatment, American Chemical Society Symposium Vol.

985 (2008):

-Chapter: “Recent Advances in Fe(VI) Charge Storage & Super-iron Batteries,”

-Chapter: “Fe(VI) Water Purification and Remediation,”

-Chapter: “Recent Advances in Fe(VI) Synthesis.”

Volume 28 | Page 9Department of Chemistry

Licht Research Group

Prof. Licht

Instead of using solar energy to generate electricity, the STEP process uses

solar energy to directly generate the chemical products needed by society. This

original process is derived for the solar generation of energetically rich chem-

icals, including chlorine, iron, aluminum, magnesium, hydrogen and lithium,

and to proactively convert anthropogenic CO2 generated in burning fossil fuels.

The STEP process distinguishes radiation that is energy sufficient to drive pho-

tovoltaic charge transfer, and applies all excess energy to decrease the energy

of a wide variety of electrosynthesetic reactions.

Prof. Miller’s research is focused on the

development and interpretation of diag-

nostics based on solid-state laser tech-

nologies for a broad range of

applications in atmospheric and indus-

trial sensing, combustion chemistry, and

biology. In addition, his lab has per-

formed theoretical studies aimed at the

complex problem of the growth of

carbonaceous materials (including

fullerenes, nanotubes, polynuclear aro-

matic hydrocarbons, and soot particulate) in flames. In addition to

publishing more than 100 technical papers, Miller is an inventor

for five patents or patent applications. Technology based on some

of these patents has been licensed from GW and is the basis of

a new line of ultrasensitive optical sensors that will be applied

to problems in a wide range of atmospheric and industrial markets.

In addition to his appointment at GW, Miller is a Visiting Profes-

sor in the Chemical Engineering Department of Cambridge Uni-

versity and is a Bye Fellow of Robinson College, also in

Cambridge, England.

Highlights for Calendar Year 2009 include:Several manuscripts were accepted or submitted for publication in-

cluding (current or former Miller lab authors in Bold Type):

• “Development of a Multiple Gas Analyzer using Cavity Ring-

down Spectroscopy for use in Advanced Fire Detection” by Eric

Fallows and J. Houston Miller was published in Applied Optics.

• “An efficient calibration method for broadband cavity enhanced

absorption spectroscopy performed with supercontinuum radia-

tion.” by Toni Laurila, Iain Burns, Johan Hult, J. Houston Miller,

and Clemens Kaminski was submitted to Applied Physics B.

Other highlights:

Esra Yonel is using Confocal Microscopy and Transmission Elec-

tron Microscopy (TEM) to analyze engineered silica-coated

gold/silver nanoparticles and to explore the interactions between

fluorophore-doped, silica coated gold/silver nanoparticles and plant

cells. These will be used in our continuing collaboration with MD

Anderson Cancer Center which will look at the internalization of

fluorophore-doped, silica coated siver nanoparticles into live cells.

Jennifer D. Herdman’s research is focused on developing a spec-

troscopic method to study the morphology of thermophoretically-

sampled soot from a variety of well-characterized flames. Until

now, there has been a gap in the understanding of how the fractal

structure of soot is produced from modestly sized polynuclear aro-

matic hydrocarbons that have been formed in the flame. Jennifer is

employing Raman spectroscopy as a means of analyzing graphitic

morphology. Raman proves to be a useful technique in the study of

carbonaceous material because of overlapping bands that are iden-

tified as the graphite or “G” band, near »1580 cm-1 and a series of

bands due to graphitic defects collectively known as the “D” bands

with the most prominent, “D1”, appearing in the upper 1350 cm-1.

While the study of these materials using Raman techniques is a rel-

atively new field, there is promise in analyzing peak ratios and full-

width half-maximums of the peaks to elucidate graphitic order.

Until now, this technique has only been employed on industrial

samples. Using it to view the structural changes in a flame will be

ground-breaking. In a similar study, Jennifer has built a Raman mi-

croscope that allows a user to obtain a wide field image of a sam-

ple as well as a Raman spectrum. Currently, uranyl crystals from

Prof. Cahill’s Lab are being analyzed. Jennifer is looking to publish

results from both as these studies and graduate by the end of 2010.

Anice Mathew uses Cavity Enhanced Spectroscopic techniques to

analyze combustion intermediates that play significant roles in soot

formation and NOx production processes in laminar non-premixed

flames. She is also the recipient of Benjamin Van Evera Memorial

Prize for the most effective graduate teaching assistant in chem-

istry for the year.

Miller Research Group

Prof. Miller

Page 10 | Volume 28 Department of Chemistry

Licht Research Group continued from page 9

Patents:

• “Process for Generation of Electrolysis Products Incorporating Recovered Heat as

Secondary Heat Source,” US provisional patent application 61/152,215, filed Feb.

12, 2009.

• “Process for electrosynthesis of energetic molecules,” US provisional patent appli-

cation 61/152,215, filed Oct. 26, 2009.

Artist’s conception of the STEP generation of hydrogenfor fuel cell vehicles.

Volume 28 | Page 11Department of Chemistry

The National Science Foundation is funding a grant entitled, “Soot Formation in

Time-Varying Nonpremixed Flames” a collaborative research project with Yale

University.

Houston Miller will continue to spend 4-6 weeks of each year in residence at

Cambridge University working with colleagues Dr. Clemens Kaminski on the de-

velopment of laser-based analytical tools and Dr. Markus Kraft performing exper-

imental and modeling studies of molecular growth chemistry in flames.

Houston Miller is the co-inventor on a patent entitled, “Methods And Composi-

tions Related To Phage-Nanoparticle Assemblies”, which has been licensed to

Nano3D Biosciences. GW Alumni Glauco Souza (B.S. 1992, Ph.D. 2001) and

Carly Levin (B.S. 2002) are CTO and Senior Scientist, respectively, of this Hous-

ton, TX start-up. (see http://www.n3dbio.com/pages/)

Analytical Technology Incorporated of Collegeville, PA will unveil their new

SpectraSens CRS gas sensor based on technology developed in the Miller Lab at the 2010 Pittsburgh Conference.

Liesl Baumann is the newest member to join the Miller Lab. She is picking up on the research project that is in collaboration with the

Wagner group in developing a new approach to the synthesis of single walled carbon nanotubes for applications in fuel cell catalysis. The

CNTs will be synthesized in an underventilated flame reactor, which will allow for a certain amount of control over the structure and mor-

phology of the catalyst crystals, temperature of the system, time spent for growth, and chemical composition of the CNTs. Iron, cobalt,

and nickel nanoparticles approximately 1-5 nm in size will be synthesized by the Wagner group and characterized using electron mi-

croscopy, electron spectroscopy, x-ray spectroscopy, s-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, and SQUID. These catalysts will then be intro-

duced into a rich, combustion environment via the flame reactor, inducing the growth of carbon nanontubes. Characterization will take

place both in the gas phase combustion environment throughout the region of CNT growth and after extraction and separation of the cat-

alysts and CNTs. Techniques employed will include Raman spectroscopy, optical spectroscopic methods, and mass spectrometry.

A paper entitled “Raman Spectra of Carbonaceous Materials Thermophoretically Sampled From Non-premixed Flames” by J.D.

Herdman and J.H. Miller was presented at the 6th US National Combustion Meeting at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

in May 2009.

The “Naturally Nano” Graduate Student Symposium was presented at the Spring 2009 American Chemical Society National Meeting in

Salt Lake City, UT. It was organized by J.D. Herdman, K.E. Knope, E.A. Fallows, N. Baig, B. Shaym, and N. Deifel.

“Rapid Molecular Imaging using Attenuated Total Internal Reflection Planar Array Infrared Spectroscopy for the Analysis of Counter-

feit Pharmaceutical Tablets” by A. Lanzarotta, L.C. Baumann, G.M. Story, M.R. Witkowski, F. Khan, A. Sommers, A.J. Sommer has been

published in Applied Spectroscopy. (Published in September 2009 from undergraduate work at Miami University in Oxford, OH).

Eric Fallows and Maria Puccio defended their dissertations in 2009. Eric is a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the

Naval Research Laboratory. Maria is pursuing teaching positions.

Miller Research Group continued from page 10

Spectra-Sens CRS, patented Cavity Ring-down Monitorproduced by ATI Analytical Technology

Summer ice cream social [left to right] Clare Rowland,Nausheena Baig, Jessica Rodriguez, Erikka Gleckel & Elizabeth Hume

Holiday party at McFadden’s [left to right] Gail Clements,Stephanie McCartney & Mike Kessler

2008-2009 is marked by a number of events that are

both exciting and programmatic. Exciting in that we

successfully completed in May the DOE project that

investigates the effect of defects on crystallization and

dissolution. The success was demonstrated by DOE’s

approval of our new grant, also sponsored by the Of-

fice of Basic Energy Science, which started on July 1.

The new grant, in collaboration with Dr. Huifang Xu

of University of Wisconsin, will examine the substrate

effect on carbonate mineral formation. This direction

is exciting because it applies directly to in situ mineral carbon se-

questration, at the storage site. When CO2 is injected underground,

it will eventually interact with divalent metal cations in the ground

water to form carbonate minerals, and this mineralization process

is facilitated by the presence of mineral substrate. The new grant

has secured a salary for a post doctoral research scientist beginning

in 2010. Henry has started the interviewing process, and he ex-

pects the position to be filled as planned.

We had a visiting scholar, Dr. Bin Lian, from the Institute of Geo-

chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, who worked with us for

the spring semester. Dr. Lian is a microbiologist and intended to

explore research opportunities in geomicrobiology during his visit

to GW. It was a good trip in the sense that he learned some geo-

chemistry. However, success in geomicrobiological research was

limited, because we didn’t have the necessary infra-

structure. On a different front, things did not work out

well for Hina Ayub who joined us last fall from the

Physics department, because our collaborator at Los

Alamos National Laboratory was looking for an ex-

perimental geochemist instead of a modeler. The good

news is that Hina was able to move on to work with

Dr. Stuart Licht in solar energy research where she can

utilize her physics background.

Our collaboration with Chinese colleagues at Nanjing University is

as strong as ever. We are close to securing two large grants (¥ 5

million each) from two governmental funding agencies for carbon

sequestration research. One from the Ministry of Science and Tech-

nology will focus on lab research of mineral sequestration, and the

other from the Ministry of Land and Resources will be toward a

field-oriented geological survey of available resources (e.g. brine

aquifers, mafic and ultramafic rocks) for geological sequestration.

Henry had a UFF grant from CCAS that allowed him to work at

Nanjing University over the summer on the lab research project.

Results from his work in the summer were submitted to the Jour-

nal of Environmental Science & Technology and were just accepted

for publication.

Teng Research Group

Prof. Teng

Prof. Ramaker and his group continued work this year

on the utilization of x-ray absorption spectra (XAS) to

study operating fuel cells. Special events this year in-

clude the following:

Danny Gatewood completed his dissertation work and

graduated with his PhD in May 2009. He has accepted

an ASME postdoctoral position at the Naval Research

Lab here in Washington DC where he will work in the

Theoretical Chemistry Section modeling solid oxide fuel

cells and other systems.

Prof. Ramaker took a sabbatical in Fall 2009 where he spent most

of his time in Europe. This includes working with Prof. Diek Kon-

ingsberger in France and also presenting two talks at the Electro-

chemical Society Meeting in Vienna, Austria. He presented a

tutorial at the Materials Research Society meeting in Boston from

Nov. 29 – Dec. 3 on using his developed Delta XANES technique

on fuel cell materials.

Another of his students, Anna Korovina, spent one month at the

Technical University of Darmstadt, where she prepared Pt particles

supported on various Nb oxides electrodes and then took XAS data

on these at the HASYLAB in Germany. She also presented a talk

on her work at the International EXAFS meeting in

Camerino, Italy.

Dr. Kah Chun Lau, a Ph.D. graduate of Michigan

Tech. University, continued his postdoctoral work, but

now has accepted a new position at Argonne National

Lab and will be leaving early in 2010.

Prof. Christina Roth from the Technical University of

Darmstadt spent a three month sabbatical with our

group, and Julia Melke from the Fraunhofer-Institute for

Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany spent one month.

During these periods Profs. Roth and Ramaker worked on two in-

vited book chapters, and Melke and Ramaker on a paper now sub-

mitted to J. Physical Chemistry.

This year Prof. Ramaker and his group published five papers in

such high impact journals as the Journal of Physical Chemistry and

Journal of the Electrochemical Society, and authored or coauthored

ten presentations at conferences such as at the American Vacuum

Society meeting in Boston and the Joint Electrochemical Societies

of American and Japan in Honolulu, Hawaii. He also obtained new

funding from NRL in a three year contract totaling over $430,000.

Ramaker Research Group

Prof. Ramaker

Page 12 | Volume 28 Department of Chemistry

Volume 28 | Page 13Department of Chemistry

Research interests in the lab spanned from fundamental studies in analytical and physical chemistry to the de-

velopment of new technologies for biomedical analysis and energy research. During the past year the work in

the Vertes lab intensified in three areas.

Using the laser ablation electrospray ionization (LAESI) technique, discovered last year, Peter Nemes, a sen-

ior graduate student in the lab, demonstrated three dimensional mass spectrometric imaging of plant tissue. To

broaden the variety of applications for LAESI, in collaboration with Amina Woods from the NIH, he imaged

the metabolite and lipid distributions in rat brain sections. These results open up the possibility to follow meta-

bolic changes in response to genetic and environmental effects in animal models. Peter has successfully de-

fended his dissertation and moved on to a postdoctoral position at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Bennett Walker and Jessica Stolee, with collaborators from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, explored the effect of morphology pa-

rameters on laser desorption ionization from silicon nanopost arrays (NAPA). They found a unique resonant behavior at certain post as-

pect ratios. These results offer new insight into this promising analytical platform.

Bindesh Shrestha continued his success with the analysis of single cells. His paper on this topic appeared in the journal Analytical Chem-istry and also made it to the cover. This is his second cover page article as a graduate student in the group.

Our research was featured by several media outlets. For example, in the Re-

search Highlights section of Nature Nanotechnology (March, 2009) Michael

Segal wrote an article about our collaboration with Protea Biosciences Inc. on

laser-induced silicon microcolumn arrays entitled “Change of Direction.” In the

Lab Tools section of The Scientist (March, 2009) Jeffrey M. Perkel wrote an ar-

ticle featuring LAESI entitled “Mass Spectacle” and in the News section of An-alytical Chemistry (July, 2008) Christine Piggee wrote an article about the

discovery of LAESI entitled “In vivo molecular imaging by LAESI MS.”

Numerous awards were received by graduate and undergraduate students in the

group. Of the graduate students, Peter Nemes received the Student Presentation

Award at the 12th International Workshop on Desorption Induced by Electronic

Transitions (DIET) and the 2008 Washington-Baltimore Mass Spectrometry

Discussion Group Young Investigator Travel Award. Bennett Walker and Jessica

Stolee were the recipients of the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists

(ARCS) Award. As a consequence their names were read into the U. S. Senate records. Bindesh Shrestha received the American Soci-

ety for Mass Spectrometry Sanibel Meeting Travel Award. Among the students participating in undergraduate research in the group,

Jennifer Day won the Eastern Analytical Symposium Student Research Award, Cory Antonakos received the Luther Rice Fellowship

and the A.D. Britt Scholarship, and Jacob Jones won the 2009-2010 Gamow Research Fellowship.

The productivity of the group was reflected in six journal publications, seven conference proceedings and ten invited talks at national

and international meetings. This year also witnessed a sharp rise in our efforts to protect the intellectual property developed in the lab.

We filed five patent applications and one of them, the LAESI technology, developed by Prof. Vertes and graduate student Peter Nemes,

was licensed by Protea Biosciences, Inc. Commercialization of this technology by the company is underway.

In recognition of our sustained contributions to the field of analytical chemistry, Prof. Vertes was selected as a member of the News &

Features Advisory Panel for the journal Analytical Chemistry.

Prof. Vertes

Vertes Research Group

[left to right] Prof. Vertes, Eric Dorris, Bindesh Shrestha,Bennett Walkr, Hehua Huang & Jessica Stolee

Prof. Zysmilich is responsible for the chemistry pro-

gram for non-science majors and, as such, he has been

teaching Contemporary Science for Non-Science Ma-

jors (Chem003 and 004) for a number of years. The

continuous updating of the curriculum and the use of

the state-of-the-art teaching technologies have kept

these two courses the most sought-after science

courses among GW undergraduates. He is also a fac-

ulty member of the University Honors Program,

teaching the highly praised Honors General Chem-

istry I and II courses. In the academic year 2008-2009 Professor Zysmilich was

on sabbatical leave. During that time he wrote the first draft of a textbook on me-

dicinal chemistry concepts for non-science majors. A preliminary (GW only)

edition of this work will be released for adoption in the spring 2010 Chem004

class. Other sabbatical activities included: keynote speaker and guest facilitator

at “Expedición Docencia” (Teaching Expedition), a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) workshop for prospective science high-school teach-

ers in Argentina; faculty guide for GW alumni and guest lecturer during and an expedition to Antarctica; scientific and teaching coun-

selor at “Expedición Ciencia ‘09” (Science Expedition ‘09), a science camp organized by a non-profit organization whose objective is

to provide high school students with an exceptional opportunity to experience science outside the classroom in communion with a unique

natural environment.

Upon his return to GW professor Zysmilich has resumed his responsibilities as academic advisor for chemistry majors and first-year grad-

uate students.

Professor Martín G. Zysmilich

Prof. Zysmilich

Prof. Zysmilich [right] and alumna Willo Pequegnat [left]

Page 14 | Volume 28 Department of Chemistry

Dr. Michael Wagner. This past year has been an outstanding one for our group members. Five graduate stu-

dents, Olivera Zivkovic, Cliff Cook, Chao Yan (Jerry), Jonathan Cox and Sumin Li continued their stud-

ies here. Olivera finished her Ph.D. research this winter, studying ferroelectric nanorods, water splitting catalysts

and nanocrystalline phosphors for field effect display technology, potentially a “next generation” replacement

for LCD displays. Cliff should also finish his thesis reporting on his development of membranes that enable

the use of lithium/water batteries. Jerry has done particularly innovative research, investigating a way to alter

the shape and size of the nanomaterials made by alkalide reduction in a simple one step process to make

nanorods (with control of length and excellent uniformity), nanospheres, nanospindles, nanotubes and even

nanosheets. We are quite excited by the possibilities this opens up for our research. We have applied for a

patent with our industrial partner, FSI Inc, for Jonathan’s nanomaterial lithium ion battery that can charge and discharge at extremely high

rates (22% charge in 8 s!). We have also shown that these batteries operate exceedingly well at very low temperature, opening up the

possibility of automotive application. Sumin has been very successful in synthesizing magnetoresistive nanaomaterials. On a personal

note, my wife and I had our second child, a boy we have named Caivs James Wagner who is growing up fast.

Wagner Research Group

Prof. Wagner

Over the past year, the Sadtchenko group has continued research into molecular kinetics and reactions within

the condensed molecular phases. It is widely accepted that the mechanism to form glassy (non-crystalline)

solids represents one of the deepest and most important unsolved problems in the field of physical chemistry.

Thus, the current focus of the research projects in our laboratory is on chemical and physical phenomena in su-

percooled molecular liquids at temperatures where they undergo the transition to a solid-like glassy state. Using

a new Fast Scanning Calorimetry technique, Deepanjan Bhattacharya (a new graduate student), has completed

a series of investigations of glass transition phenomena in vapor-deposited films of complex alcohols. The re-

sults of these studies, along with our past investigations of glass transition phenomena in water, contribute sig-

nificantly to the development of a comprehensive theory of supercooled liquids.

The Sadtchenko group is proud to announce that Stephanie McCartney successfully completed and defended

her dissertation, “Fast Scanning Calorimetry Studies of Amorphous Solid Water.” Dr. McCartney now holds a teaching position at South-

ern Polytechnic State University. We also welcome a new undergraduate student, Candace Payne to our group.

Sadtchenko Research Group

Prof. Sadtchenko

Volume 28 | Page 15Department of Chemistry

At the May 17, 2009 GW commencement ceremony on the National Mall, we were priv-

ileged to witness the award of a Doctor of Science honoris causa to Jeanne Narum, whom

we had nominated for this seminal recognition in the fall. Jeanne Narum has transformed

the conversations about learning and teaching in the sciences, technology, engineering and

mathematics (STEM) on the campuses of our colleges and universities, and she has shown

us that the facilities which make that learning environment possible can be transformative.

As the head of the Independent Colleges Office and Project Kaleidoscope, she has been

an ardent spokesperson for the sciences and the liberal arts. Though now retired as head

of Project Kaleidoscope, she nonetheless continues to consult with institutions, as she has

been doing at GW, while we go through the rigorous process of developing new science

and engineering facilities. At a national level, this planning process has been totally trans-

formed under her guidance, and it has resulted in exciting learning and research spaces for

science and engineering. Jeanne Narum’s legacy at PKAL and ICO is one of professional

and scholarly achievement, and by changing the way in which science and engineering are

being taught, she has contributed significantly to the public good. Under her guidance,

PKAL has become an influential and effective national force in this important endeavor.

At the commencement celebration, Dr. Narum reminded the graduates of a few simple

ABCs to guide them as they move forward in their lives. “Aim high, and have high am-

bitions,” “build bridges,” and “cross boundaries between disciplines, between the aca-

demic and the real world, boundaries between what is and what might be…Twenty years ago it seemed daunting to aspire to transforming

the undergraduate learning environment in math, science, and engineering, but we had high aspirations, persisted, and succeeded…

I leave with you the challenge of aiming high, of having big ambitions, and hope that each of you aim to be a boundary crossing agent

in some part of the world where your skills and passions can make a difference. All our communities, local, regional, and global, need

you.” It was a thought-provoking moment from an inspiring personality.

GW Honorary Degree Bestowed on Jeanne Narum

Prof. King (left), Dr. Narum (right)

Ryan Brennan

Ph.D., Spring 2009

National Research Council post doctoral associate at Naval

Research Laboratory.

Eric Fallows

Ph.D., Spring 2009

National Research Council post doctoral associate at Naval

Research Laboratory.

Daniel Gatewood

Ph.D., Spring 2009

Post doctoral fellow at Naval Research Laboratory.

Stephanie McCartney

Ph.D., Summer 2009

Laboratory Coordinator for the Dept. of Biology, Chemistry,

& Physics at Southern Polytechnic State University.

Peter Nemes

Ph.D., Spring 2009

Post doctoral position at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Graduate Students

Graduation 2009

Newly hooded Ph.D.’s & faculty [back, left to right] Prof. Miller, Prof. Ramaker[front, left to right] Prof. King, Eric Fallows, Daniel Gatewood & Ryan Brennan

Yuliya Allakhverdiyeva

Graduate program at the University of New South Wales.

Alexis Barton

No information at this time.

Christopher Bryan

Planning to start graduate program in physical chemistry.

Shauna Butler

Medical school at GW.

Scott Crawford

Working at the GW Hospital ER and GW’s Medical Faculty

Associates.

Elizabeth Hirst

Graduate program in chemistry at Boston University.

Zachary Horne

Medical school at GW.

Najmeh Izadpanah

Working as a medical scribe in the Inova Fair Oaks Emergency

Department, and applying to medical schools.

Rebecca Jacobson

No information at this time.

Nicholas Keech

Commisioned as an officer in U.S. Navy and attending nuclear

power school in Goose Creek, SC.

Marni Lapin

Graduate program at the University of Florida.

Fritz L'Esperance

No information at this time.

Alison Nordstrom

No information at this time.

Manan Patel

Medical school at GW.

Clare Rowland

One year research position in the Cahill lab, then graduate

studies at Northwestern University.

Christine Spell

Working in the technology lab of a mining company in

Las Vegas, where she studies Lanthanides.

Anthony Sutter

Working.

Maliha Syed

Working as a Research and Development Chemist at Avlon

Industries and plans to get Ph.D. in polymer science.

Undergraduate Students

Department of ChemistryPage 16 | Volume 28

2009 Graduates & Faculty [back, left to right] Prof. Dowd, Prof.Vertes, Shauna Butler, Prof. Ramaker, Prof. Licht, Prof. Miller [front,left to right] Prof. Cahill, Elizabeth Hirst, Clare Rowland, ChristineSpell, Sean Wilson, Christopher Bryan & Prof. Gillmor.

Graduation continued from page 15

Clare Rowland [right] and her family

Sean Wilson

Graduate program in Chemistry at UC Davis.

Yazeed Yabroudi

Working at Dubai Aluminum Company and part of their

Graduate Training program.

Volume 28 | Page 17Department of Chemistry

Alpha Chi Sigma:

Awarded to the graduating senior with the highest academic record in chemistry

courses (with at least 16 hours at GW): Clare Rowland

American Chemical Society:

Awarded to a student completing his or her junior year and who has demonstrated

excellence in Analytical Chemistry: Jennifer Day

American Institute of Chemists:

Awarded to a senior graduate student and graduating senior majoring in

chemistry, who excel in scholarship, integrity and leadership. Undergraduate: Sean Wilson, Graduate: Peter Nemes

A. D. Britt, Charles R. & Elma M. Naeser, and Madeleine Reines Jacobs Funds:

Awarded to one or more outstanding junior or senior undergraduate majors to carry out research in the summer:

A.D. Britt: Cory Antonakos, Arthur Lee, and Eugene Uh

Madeleine Reines Jacobs: Nara Lee

Charles R. & Elma M. Naeser: Jessica Rodriguez

Chemical Society of Washington Prize:

Awarded to the outstanding junior majoring in chemistry: Jennifer Day

Byrne Thurtell Burns Memorial Prize:

Awarded to the graduating chemistry major who has shown the greatest

proficiency in organic chemistry as demonstrated by a written examination:

Elizabeth Hirst

William E. Fitch Prize:

Awarded to the graduating chemistry major with the best written compre-

hensive examination in chemistry: Christopher Bryan and Sean Wilson

Chemical Rubber Company Freshman Chemistry

Achievement Award:

Awarded to one or more freshmen who have achieved the highest records in their respective sections of Introductory Chem-

istry: Rajdeep Kapoor, Heaton Kath, Julia Lister, and Meera Mehta

Benjamin D. Van Evera Memorial Prize:

Awarded to the most effective Graduate Teaching Assistants in Chemistry: Anice Mathew

Anice Mathew [left] and Peter Nemes [right]

Prof. Vertes [left] and Elizabeth Hirst [right]

Sean Wilson

Chemistry Department

Prizes and Awards 2009

Page 18 | Volume 28 Department of Chemistry

Ameer Ameer Al-Bayati, Ph.D. ’86, has

been living in Dubai since 2005, and recently

started a new job there. He is currently the

Dean of Student Affairs and an Associate

Professor at Al Ghurair University.

Elias Barghash, B.S. ’07, is applying to

graduate schools in psychology, focusing

on clinical and counseling programs. He

writes that his goal is to work in a one-on-

one counseling setting, and later down the

line, obtain a Psy.D.

Cara Battistella received her B.S. in

Chemistry and Criminal Justice in 2006.

She is living in Atlanta now, where she

works for Maloy Jenkins Parker as a legal

assistant. Cara says that she is part personal

assistant, part office manager, part book-

keeper, part paralegal, and she loves it.

Alumnus Deepak Chander, B.S. ’06, has

been attending graduate school at Louisiana

State University. He expects to receive his

Ph.D in 2011, and he will get his MD

in 2013.

Scott Dantley, B.S. ’92, is now an Associ-

ate Vice President for Planning and Assess-

ment at Coppin State University.

Alumnus Mark Dexter, B.S. ’05, attended

graduate school at Georgetown University.

He is currently pursuing a degree at Eastern

Virginia Medical School, which he expects

to complete in 2011.

Stephen Elkind, B.S. ’08, is pursuing a

Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry at the Univer-

sity of California, Berkeley. He is also

doing research at the Lawrence Livermore

National Laboratory.

Lauren Gassman, B.S. ’06, received a

Master of Arts in teaching from Monmouth

University. She is currently working as a

high school chemistry teacher.

We are sad to report the passing of Doren

Indritz, B.A. ’73. He is survived by his

wife, Miriam.

Heather Jameson, B.S. ’06, is applying to

graduate schools.

Malika Jeffries-El, Ph.D. ’01, Assistant

Professor at Iowa State University, reports

that she is now on the ballot as a Member

at Large of the American Chemical Soci-

ety’s Organic Division.

Alumna April Jewell, B.S. ’01, is pleased to

report that she has received an NSF Gradu-

ate Research Fellowship. She is under the di-

rection of Charles Sykes at Tufts University.

Jay Johnson, B.S. ’06, moved home to the

Boston area, and he is currently working as

a process chemist in the Instrument Re-

search Group at Waters Corporation. His

project focuses on developing and refining

one of Waters new technology platforms,

TRIZAIC™ UPLC®, an easy to use mi-

crofluidic lab-on-a-chip style separation de-

vice for proteomics. Jay is also applying to

a part time graduate program for profession-

als in analytical chemistry.

Mike Kuhne, B.S. ’01, M.D. ’05, is cur-

rently living in Portland, OR.

Rebekah Kushner, B.S. ’05, writes that

she is nearing completion of her Ph.D. in

biochemistry, cell and developmental biol-

ogy at Emory University. She is investigat-

ing the role of GALT in D. melanogasterdevelopment and homeostasis.

Congratulations to alumna Carly Levin, B.S.

’03, who successfully defended her disserta-

tion in nanophotonics at Rice University.

Since receiving his Ph.D. in 2008, Daniel

de Lill, has been working as a post doctoral

research associate at the University of Ne-

vada in Reno. He recently accepted an As-

sistant Professorship at Florida Atlantic

University, and he is looking forward to the

sunny weather!

In addition to her new job at Southern Poly-

technic State University, Stephanie Mc-

Cartney, Ph.D. ’09, and her husband Travis

are expecting their first child in May. Best

of luck to you both!

Alumna Kristine Merriman, B.S. ’08, has

completed her master’s thesis in Archaeo-

logical Science at the University of Oxford,

and she is remaining to complete her D.Phil.

Kristine’s project will analyze organic

residues on Bronze Age ceramics from the

Eastern Mediterranean, relating this to per-

ceptions of economic and political systems.

Karl Miller, B.S. ’98, writes that he is still

with the Secret Service, but he anticipates a

career change in the near future.

Alan Nadel, B.S. ’71, J.D. ’76, fondly re-

calls his first GW chemistry lecture, which

was taught by Prof. Naeser. He’ll never for-

get the legendary Halloween lectures,

which were always filled to capacity.

Alumnus Charles Phillips, B.S. ’86, M.D.

’90, writes that he is currently a research

physician on staff at Oregon Health and Sci-

ence University in Portland, Oregon. He

specializes in critical care, as well as doing

research in acute lung injury. Charles points

to his GW experience as being fundamental

in shaping who he is today.

Prof. Emeritus Ed Caress sent us an update

on Ira Rosenberg, Ph.D. ’70, who retired

from Bristol Meyers Squibb after 35 years.

Ira has started a small internet company

which will allow voice and image interfaces

with Blackboard.

Salar Samii, B.S. ’07, is a research chemist

at Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc. He is

eager to help out fellow GW grads, so if you

are interested in working there, you can

email him at salar.samii@gmail.com.

Since receiving his Ph.D. in 1999, Terrence

Schull, has spent most of his career as a re-

search chemist at NRL. He’s done some

moving around in the last couple years. He

Alumni News

Volume 28 | Page 19Department of Chemistry

worked on the CARA mission for the US Army 20th Support Com-

mand. On this project, he trained for war fighter protection using

near real-time analysis of chemical and biological warfare agents in

the field through GC/MS, LC/MS, XRD, XRF, FT-IR, and Raman

spectroscopy. Most recently, Teri has been working in the Advanced

Materials group at BAE Systems doing sensor integration research.

From 1996 to 2001, Joel Shulman, B.S. ’65, was Manager of Ex-

ternal Relations and Associate Director of Corporate Research at

P&G, with responsibilities for bringing new technical capabilities

into the company. Included in his department were doctoral recruit-

ing, university relations, interactions with government laboratories,

and technology acquisition from Russia and China. Upon his re-

tirement from P&G in 2001, he joined the faculty at the University

of Cincinnati, where he manages the Department of Chemistry’s

Industrial Affiliates Program, teaches a course called “Life After

Graduate School,” and serves as a resource for graduate students

preparing for the work force. Joel is a consultant to the ACS Office

of Graduate Education and a workshop presenter for the ACS De-

partment of Career Management and Development.

Stan Seelig, BA ’77, runs a consulting firm which holds many

patents in applied chemistry.

We are delighted to hear that Gunjan Shah, B.S. ’04, finished med-

ical school at Temple University, and we look forward to learning

where he will do his residency.

Lee Silverberg, B.S. ’86, has spent most of his career in industry,

but he decided to change career paths. He recently accepted a one-

year position at Penn State Schuykill campus, and he will be teach-

ing general and organic chemistry.

Glauco Souza, B.S. ’92, Ph.D. ’01, is now the Chief Scientific Of-

ficer for Nano3D Biosciences, Inc. in Houston.

Congratulations to Christine Spell, B.S. ’09! In addition to her new

job and the move to Las Vegas, she has gotten married, and she

now goes by Christine Monell.

Maggie Teliska, Ph.D. ’04, writes that she received a promotion,

and it keeps her busy with lots of travel. She also gave her first in-

terview, which is available online at http://www.cleveland.com/au-

tomotive/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/zau15/1231456510242420.x

ml&coll=2

Renee Verdecchio, B.S. ’07, is working for BASF, Fuel Cell Inc.

as a staff scientist.

After receiving his B.S. in 2009, Sean Wilson, started a graduate

program in chemistry at the University of California, Davis.

Julia Lee Yi, B.S. ’06, is keeping busy. She spent a year doing a

post-bac at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and she is now

in pharmacy school there. Julia is also a Core Member at her

church, and she writes that the high school kids there are her life.

Alumni News continued from page 18

2009 Department Fall Retreat at Alpine Lake Resort, WV

A nice way to support the department would be to endow the annual departmental retreat.

Chemistry Department GiftsJuly 2008-June 2009

We are deeply appreciative of the gifts from our alumni to the Department. Each gift, whatever the amount, allows us to further

our research and educational goals. If your check is made out to the Chemistry Department, the money’s earmarked for our

use. If not, it goes into the general fund. So please remember to cite the Chemistry Department E&R Account on any gift. Many

thanks to each of you for your thoughtfulness, and a special thanks to donors who gave $1000 or more.

Mr. Sotirios and Mrs. Sara Antonakas*

Mr. Garet A. and Mrs. Ann Bornstein

Mr. Robert J. Bowen*

Dr. Benjamin F. Calvo*

Dr. Mary Widmark Carrabba*

Dr. Roy S. Clarke, Jr.***

Dr. Courtland H. and Ms. Carrie Davis*

Alicia I. Edler, PhD*

Mr. Richard J. Evans*

Ms. Katherine Ann Fedor*

Dr. Nelson Lawrence Ferreira*

Dr. David and Mrs. Berdie Firestone*

Mrs. Maragret G. Funkhouser*

Mr. James Wilson Gladden, IV

Dr. David E. Goldberg*

Dr. Forest and Mrs. Julia Harris

Dr. and Mrs. Lee S. Harrow

Dr. John C. Hoffsommer

Prof. Emanuel Horowitz*

Dr. Charles R. Hurt*

Ms. Miriam Minz Indritz, in honor of her late husband*

Mr. Andrew T. Kerr**

Drs. Charles and Carolyn Knobler*

Dr. Stuart Kornfield***

Mrs. Maria Respeita Manzano

Mr. and Mrs. Harry D. McCament, Jr.*

Charalambos Evripidou Menelaou, M.D.*

Dr. Julian M. Menter, in honor of Nicolae Filipecu*

Dr. M. Diana Metzger*

Mr. Alan and Mrs. Marcy Nadel, Esq.***

Ms. Ellen D. Nesheim

Dr. Marriner Krumm Norr

Dr. James H. O’Mara**

Mr. Eddie Lee Perkins

Dr. Elliot Perlin

Dr. Theodore P. Perros***

Mrs. Stephanie Czech Rader*

Dr. David E. Ramaker**

Dr. Richard L. Reeves*

Mitchell Neal Ross, M.D.*

Mrs. Pamela L. Russ

Dr. Terence L. Schull*

Dr. Joel and Mrs. Marion Selbin, in honor of Professor Naeser

and Elma Naeser*

Dr. Joel and Mrs. Ann Shulman*

Dr. Karen J. Skinner*

Dr. Jere B. and Ms. Carol Stern

Mrs. Shirley M. Stuntz*

Paul A. Thomas, M.D.*

Mr. Charles P. Wales*

Ms. Li Zhong

American Endowment Foundation, on behalf of The Jacobs

Family Charitable Fund***

H.J. Heinz Company*

Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies*

The Proctor and Gamble Fund**

Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving on behalf of Dr. Thomas M.

Hall Charitable Fund***

Volume 28 | Page 20Department of Chemistry

* = $100 or more ** = $500 or more *** = $1000 or more

Department of Chemistry

725 21st Street, NW

Washington, DC 20052

Phone: 202-994-6121

Fax: 202-994-5873

email: gwchem@gwu.edu

www.gwu.edu/~gwchem

Newsletter publications and editing-

Michael King and Shanna Roth

Corcoran Hall, Home of the Chemistry Department

Dr. Michael M. King, Chairman