Luanne Johnson, Author at The Erlenmeyer Flask

Name: Staci Simonich

Area of Study / Position Title: Analytical Environmental Chemistry, Professor

Why chemistry? (What about it initially interested you?): My love of the outdoors and aptitude for chemistry. Growing up near the Great Lakes and near papermills.

Research focus (in non-science terms) or basic job duties? Conduct research in analytical environmental chemistry that educates students and influences policy.

One thing you truly love about your job? My students and travel.

One interesting/strange factoid about yourself. I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, have two children, and love to surf, paddle board, bike and horseback ride!

The Office of Academic Affairs has two temporary positions currently open: the Director of Undergraduate Academic Program Reviews (.50 FTE) and the Director of Assessment (.30 FTE). As you may know, Stefani Dawn’s last day as the Director of Academic Programs, Assessment and Accreditation is June 30, 2015. These two positions will take on many of the duties that Stefani is currently responsible for. These are expedited, internal searches and we ask for your assistance in getting this information to those interested in applying. Position descriptions for each are attached.

To apply, go to http://oregonstate.edu/jobs/; posting numbers are:
· Interim Director of Assessment – (0.3 FTE), 12-month, Posting #0014835.
· Interim Director of Undergraduate Academic Program Reviews – (0.5 FTE), 12-month, Posting #0014833.
Please forward this information broadly. The deadline for applications is June 12, 2015.

The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.

Senior Scientist Mentor Program

Application Deadline: September 10, 2015

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation supports emeritus faculty who maintain active research programs with undergraduates in the chemical sciences. The Senior Scientist Mentor Program provides an award of $20,000 over two years for undergraduate stipends and modest research support.

Complete program details and application information may be viewed at: http://dreyfus.org/awards/senior_scientist_mentor.shtml.

Thank you,

Debbie

Debbie Delmore
Executive Assistant to Rich Holdren, Associate Vice President for Research

Research Office
Oregon State University

A312 Kerr Administration Building
Corvallis, OR 97331-2140
Phone: 541-737-8390
Fax: 541-737-9041
debbie.delmore@oregonstate.edu
http://research.oregonstate.edu/

Collin Muniz was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, home of The Crimson Tide, but quickly moved to LA, then on to Oregon where he attended Beaverton High School. His sophomore year at Beaverton High, he took his first Chemistry class. He fondly remembers his instructor, Patrick Cripey, performing an acid-based reaction in which he dissolved a penny and decided then and there, that Chemistry was pure magic; a type of magic that he wanted to explore further.

When it came time to apply to colleges, Collin applied to many and did his due diligence in visiting each one. He said it was an easy decision to choose OSU. Upon matriculation, he was originally a Chemical Engineering major, but quickly discovered there wasn’t enough chemistry in that major, so switched to a dual degree in Chemistry and Physics. He says his first professor was also his favorite professor, Dr. May Nyman. He reports greatly enjoying the teaching methods and classes of Dr.’s Daniel Myles and Paul Blakemore as well, but Dr. Nyman was the one who really gave him his start. Shortly after starting her class, Collin went to her office hours and “prodded” her for information about her science. He said, at first, she was slow to open up, not wanting to confuse him, but his excitement for the subject was infectious and she was soon writing structures on the white board and discussing her research with him. Several weeks later, she contacted him and offered him an undergraduate research position with her lab. An opportunity he jumped on with great enthusiasm and has never looked back.

Collin plans on attending graduate school in the future, whichever graduate school, he says, will help him pursue his dreams to the best of his ability. After that, he wants to find work in a National Lab. “I want to work in the sort of environment where there’s a lot of pressure to get your final product and where you need to be very innovative to accomplish that,” Collin stated. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer and studying, a fact which he says, makes him boring. We here in the Chemistry Department think that makes him a wonderful new addition to our Undergraduates of the Quarter.

Originally published by OSU Advantage

Sometimes, the best inventions happen when you’re looking for something else. This was the case for Oregon State University professor Mas Subramanian and his team, who were researching new materials for electronics applications when they accidentally produced a bright blue pigment.

After mixing manganese oxide (which is black in color) with other chemicals and heating them in a furnace at almost 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, one of their samples turned out to be a vivid blue. Graduate student Andrew Smith initially made these samples to study their electrical properties.

“It was serendipity, actually; a happy accidental discovery,” Subramanian says. Read more…

Training for OSU employees will be offered from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 27, in the Oak Creek Building, room 201. This safety training is required for all OSU employees who are not lab employees but may need to enter a lab in the course of their work. Examples include trade workers, IT workers or administrative personnel. The course assists personnel to become familiar with lab hazards, lab warning signs and labels and general and specific protective measures. Refresher training is required every three years. Pre-registration is encouraged: submit name and OSU ID number to radiationsafety@oregonstate.edu.

Name: Larry Nelson

Area of Study / Position Title: development engineer / machinest

Why chemistry? (What about it initially interested you?):this is Chemistry?

Research focus (in non-science terms) or basic job duties? design and build custom parts from vacuum chamber systems to Batterys and everything in between, a wide variety of materials and projects.

One thing you truly love about your job? Helping my customers succeed with their projects and giving them what they didnt even know they needed yet.

One interesting/strange factoid about yourself. i grow Giant pumpkins for contests, personal best so far is 1468 lbs.

VadientOptics, an MBI tenant company that fabricates freeform gradient index nanocomposite optical elements, will present “Printing High Quality Optics” on Friday, May 29 as part of MBI’s noon seminar series.

Printing High Quality Optics
Metolius Room, Microproducts Breakthrough Institute
1110 NE Circle Blvd. – HP Corvallis Campus
(Directions to MBI)

Abstract
VadientOptics, a Voxtel company, is doing research in Corvallis in lab and office space at the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute (MBI). We have developed materials and processes under DARPA and NASA research contracts to develop the volumetric index of refraction gradient optics (VIRGO) process, using nanoparticles in polymers to print optics. This has involved the development of materials, equipment, and algorithms that produce a final, useful product. We will give an overview of this research in this seminar.

Speakers
Four members of the Vadient team will speak:
Dr. Sang-Ki Park
Dr. Charles Dupuy
Dr. Ngoc Nguyen
Paul Harmon

See MBI’s Announcements for speaker bios.

OSU online Chemistry’s student Kirk Denti is currently working as an RN in an ICU, but is working toward becoming a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). Kirk tells us that our CH 140, General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, will help him to meet the prerequisite requirements of CRNA school. Kirk shares his story below–

Please share your background so we can get to know you better—how did you end up where you are on this journey?

Long story, but I used to be a Respiratory Therapist up until 2 1/2 years ago. I have worked in Vancouver, Canada for about 5 years and about 12 years in Texas. I have always appreciated the role of the CRNA, as some of what they do, professionally, blends into what we did as RTs (airway and ventilator management). I left the bedside in 2007 and went to work for a disease management company, and it was there that a coworker had applied to RN school and got in. This inspired me to move forward and apply for RN school myself. My thoughts were simply that time is going to pass, so why not study while it happens and accomplish something at the same time. I started RN school in 2009 and finished in 2011 and have been working as an RN in an ICU for 2 1/2 years.

What inspired you to choose the career path you are working towards?

In my Respiratory Therapy program in Canada, we had to take an anesthesia class. Canada has an anesthesia profession, similar to CRNA, designed for RTs to go into, and this particular class gave me a taste of it. I really enjoyed it and really enjoyed my O.R. rotations. At the time, I wanted to be an RT, but that class held a spot in my mind. When I came to the States and learned about the CRNA profession and how much more involved it was than what was offered in Canada, I knew I had to pursue it. And besides, the pay is pretty good too!

How will your OSU online classes help you to accomplish your career goals?

Organic and Biochemistry are prerequisites for some CRNA programs (one or the other, not both) and this class, Chem 140, fits nicely into my plans. Without it, I would have to have taken one year of General Chemistry and then Organic Chemistry. With this class, I don’t have to do that, and I can do it from home…can’t beat that. (Be sure to check with any professional program you are targeting to be sure they will accept the class you plan to take).

Do you have any advice for other online students?

Be sure that you discipline yourself to stay focused and on target with study objectives and don’t fall behind. If you can get a study partner, that would help, so that you can push and support one another. It’s very easy to let a day here and there slide by without studying.

What is next for you?

My next step is to apply at a few CRNA programs around the nation and hope for the best. I don’t know where I will end up, but I don’t really mind as long as I get accepted somewhere.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like being with my wife and kids–just hanging out with them. I also enjoy playing my acoustic guitar, which I find relaxing. I am married and have been for 25 years; we have 6 children, aged 15 to 23.

Alec Kagele was born in Roseburg, Oregon and had never taken a Chemistry class until coming to OSU. He bounced around various Engineering and Science degrees before landing in his first Chemistry class and fell in love. Alec took General Chemistry from Margie Haak; long before she developed the flip classroom environment. He was not as enamored with Organic Chemistry until he took the final term of the sequence from Dr. Chris Beaudry.

This course led him to doing Undergraduate Research, also in Dr. Beaudry’s lab. He has been working there for nearly a year. In addition to his coursework and an additional part time job at Woodstock’s Pizza, he works in the Mole Hole, a tutoring center for General Chemistry students and TA’s for Paula Weiss who teaches the 12X level General Chemistry. Alec is an incredibly busy student.

While he’s still not completely set on his plans for the future, he’s leaning towards a Master’s degree and a job in industry. We’re proud to have students like Alec Kagele in the Department of Chemistry.

The Erlenmeyer Flask

Where Real Chemistry Happens…

Author Archives: Luanne Johnson

Who Am I? Wednesday – Staci Simonich

Interim Director Positions Open

Funding Opportunity – Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc

Undergraduate of the Quarter – Winter 2015 – Collin Muniz

Brilliance by accident: Oregon State chemists’ new blue pigment now being commercialized

Lab Hazard Awareness Training

Who Am I? Wednesday – Larry Nelson

Printing High Quality Optics

Focus on ECampus – Kirk Denti

Undergraduate of the Quarter – Winter 2015 – Alec Kagele

Contact Info