New Paltz Chemistry Students at Undergraduate Research Conferences
05/12/2008
The students of the New Paltz Chemistry Department have been busy presenting the results of their research done collaboratively with faculty at various conferences, including the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans, the Undergraduate Research Symposium of the Mid-Hudson Section of the American Chemical Society, and the SUNY New Paltz Student Research Symposium. Overall, 13 students majoring in Chemistry, Environmental Geochemical Science, and Biology worked on 9 projects with 5 different chemistry faculty.
SYNTHESIS OF SKELETALLY MODIFIED A-PINENE DERIVATIVES Cynthia Colon, John Menendez, Daniel Cohen (Chemistry), Faculty Mentor: Preeti Dhar
BIOSURFACTANT PRODUCTION BY P. PUTIDA Kerri Degroat (Enviromental Geochemical Science), Faculty Mentor: Megan Ferguson
TRANSFER HYDROGENATION OF ACETOPHENONE CATALYZED BY RUTHENIUM-ARENE COMPLEXES WITH β-KETOIMINATE LIGANDS Liza Valdivia (Chemistry), Faculty Mentor: Daniel Freedman
THERMODYNAMIC STUDIES OF LNA IN DNA HAIRPINS Corinne Szewcyk (Chemistry), Faculty Mentor: Pamela St. John
PHOTOTOXITY OF HERACLEUM & PSORALEA FRACTIONS Ingrid Walfish, Alisha Philip (Chemistry), Faculty Mentor: Preeti Dhar
CHLORIDE IONIZATION AND UV-Vis SPECTROSCOPY OF [(p-cym)Ru(curcumin)Cl] AND [(p-cym)Ru(acac)Cl] Kenneth Hassler (Chemistry), Faculty Mentor: Daniel Freedman
EFFECTS ON TYROSINASE ACTIVITY FROM PLANT EXTRACTS Igor Gembitsky (Biology, undergraduate) Faculty Mentors: Preeti Dhar (Chemistry), Maureen Morrow (Biology)
HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURES OF NATURAL ACELLULAR POLYM Kseniya Orlik (Biology) Faculty Mentor: John P. Harrington
PREPARATION, CHARACTERIZATION, AND KINETIC STUDIES OF RUTHENIUM-THIOCYANATO LINKAGE ISOMERS Lucas Vandenburgh and Nancy Nazzaro (Chemistry), Faculty Mentor: Daniel A. Freedman
Real World Samples in Instrumental Methods of Analysis
04/17/2008
After learning how to use a variety of chemical instrumentation throughout the first two thirds of the course, Instrumental Chemistry students tackle more elaborate, open-ended problems. Students design their own sample preparation methods and chose which instruments were best suited to give them the information they needed. The instructor, Dr. Megan Ferguson, is expert in the trace analysis of environmental pollutants.
Students Kate Landi and Darren Ceckanowicz prepare samples to determine whether washing peaches before eating (or testing for pesticides using a gas chromatograph / mass spectrometer!) removes significant quantities of pesticides.
Jason Simmons and Nancy Nazarro weigh out sediment samples prior to analyzing the samples for heavy metals. They compared sediment collected from the Wallkill River to soil collected at a gas station.
Alumni Profile – Matthew McLaughlin
04/07/2008
Matt graduated with a B.A. in Chemistry from New Paltz in May of 2006 and is now in the Ph.D. program in chemistry at the University of Rochester working in Dr. Pat Holland’s research group. He works in the area of bioinorganic chemistry where the goal is to understand and model the role of transition metals in biological systems.
Matt’s Research
“The focus of my research is the reduction of N2 to NH3, which provides “fixed” nitrogen for biosynthesis of nucleic acids and proteins. The N-N triple bond is cleaved in nature by the “iron-molybdenum cofactor” of the enzyme nitrogenase (shown below). Inspired by the low-coordinate iron sites in the cofactor, I am attempting to prepare a 3-coordinate iron protein that can bind and weaken the N2 bond.”
Contact Information
Department of Chemistry
Coykendall Science Building (CSB) 105
SUNY New Paltz
1 Hawk Drive
New Paltz, NY 12561
Phone: (845) 257-3790
Fax: (845) 257-3791
