Luanne Johnson, Author at The Erlenmeyer Flask

Position Summary:

The Analytical Chemist works as a member of a team at NANO3D SYSTEMS LLC to carry out processes such as Quality Control tests, analytical method development to analyze plating solutions, sample preparation, etc within the analytical function.

Key Responsibilities:

Work in a safe and responsible manner, abiding by the COSHH regulations and maintaining a high level of tidiness.
To carry out and ensure that the following processes are maintained:
1. Perform analysis of plating solutions using UV-VIS, IC/HPLC, CVS, FT-IR and other analytical methods
2. Maintain and perform the regular maintenance UV-VIS, IC/HPLC, CVS, FT-IR and other analytical tools
3. Prepare calibration solutions, reagents and other solutions for chemical analysis.
4. Maintain stocks of chemicals ensuring they are stored under appropriate conditions.
5. Maintain accurate records of chemicals that have been used and bulk stock remaining etc.
6. Maintain stocks of vials, burettes, pipettes and other consumables for chemical analysis.
7. Acquire Quality Control and other solution data as required.
To be familiar with all required QC and analytical techniques through on the job training and external courses where appropriate.
To carry out QC tests within the analytical function. Techniques to include, but not exhaustive: IC/HPLC, FT-IR, UV-Vis, CVS, solubility, surface tension, foaming.
To maintain stocks of solvents, chemicals and consumables within the Analytical Chemistry laboratory.
To perform sample preparation, preparation of laboratory reagents / solutions etc. as and when required.
Work to maximize productivity and meet targets and deadlines.
Maintain a high standard of laboratory work with regard to both practical output and documentation.
All other duties as required.

Specific Competencies:

Hands on experience with UV-VIS, IC/HPLC, CVS, FT-IR etc.
Hands on experience with chemicals handling, storage, solution preparation etc.
Good team working and communication skills.
Ability to manage time to maximize productivity.
Ability to quickly and accurately conduct required Quality Control tests.
Safe and responsible working manner in laboratory areas.
Attention to detail and accuracy of recording information.
Awareness of commercial importance of products and ability to plan and prioritize work accordingly.

Qualification:

BS or MS in chemistry or chemical engineering with minimum 2 years hands on experience in chemical analytical lab.

Work Location:

MBI/ONAMI in Corvallis, Oregon.

Contact information: dubin@nano3dsystems.com

Johnny Hergert has been named one of the Fall 2015 Undergraduates of the Quarter and we couldn’t be more proud. He was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, where he attended Wilson High School, home of the Trojans and graduated in 2012. Johnny says he’s always known that he wanted to be a chemist. In fact, his grandfather, Herbert Hergert received his PhD in Chemistry from OSU and his sister also attended OSU.

“I like the details and problem solving, particularly on the small scale. And how applicable to daily life it is,” he replied when asked why he chose chemistry. He also stated that CH 361 and 362 were his favorite classes because, “the integrated labs are so hands on, and I really liked that.” His favorite instructor so far has been Dr. Christine Pastorek, the integrated lab instructor.

Since Johnny is on the Materials Science track of the Chemistry program, it was only natural he started doing research in Dr. John Simonsen’s lab. During the spring of 2014, Johnny started working on cellulose nanocrystals and polymer composites. More recently, he’s begun 3D printing objects to help with the experiments. He says his favorite research topic, though, is renewable materials.

Upon graduation, Johnny will attend graduate school at the University of Colorado, Boulder where he plans to obtain a PhD in Materials Science. He hasn’t decided yet whether that PhD will take him to academia or industry, but we wish him the best of luck either way.

In his spare time, Johnny is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and experience has says has had a huge impact on his life. He also enjoys hiking, mountain biking and intramural sports.

It is students like Johnny who make us proud to be teaching the next generation of chemists.

Kenneth Stout has been selected as one of the Chemistry Department’s Fall 2015 Undergraduates of the Quarter. Kenneth was born in San Diego, California but recently moved to Tualatin, Oregon with his family after his father accepted a job at Intel. He attended Mount Carmel High School and chose Oregon State University for his higher education. His decision to attend OSU was partially based on cost, but he was also swayed by the fact that he had family in Washington and Oregon and that OSU accepted his high school AP credits.

Kenneth is currently a junior, dual majoring in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. He finds both of these complementary subjects to be interesting and enjoys the academic challenges they pose.

His favorite class at OSU has been CH 471 – Advanced Organic Chemistry with Dr. Chris Beaudry. It was this class that made him get involved with research and he’s been working in Dr. Beaudry’s lab ever since. He says, “taking this class got me really interested in Organic Chemistry. It’s motivated me to take more Organic classes.” Dr. Beaudry stated, “Kenneth is the best classroom student I’ve ever seen, period. He was in the top few students in O-Chem as a freshman: a class of 125+ sophomores. He took my advanced organic class (CH471) and was the top student in a class of 10 “superachievers”. He’s doing independent work in our laboratory investigating a reaction of a carbon-centered radical that we invented. He’s basically running his own show in the lab like a 2nd or 3rd year graduate student.”

Outside academics, Kenneth says he’s been inundated with opportunities to get involved with campus life. He says his favorite memories are working for a year as a Resident Assistant and spending time in the campus craft center. He says he appreciates that everything at OSU is so accessible.

Upon graduation, Kenneth plans on attending Graduate School and studying more Organic Chemistry. He’s considering post graduate work in either academia or a biotech company, but he says, “it’s early and I’m keeping my options open.”

Our first December Focus on Ecampus interview is with Lilly Lawrence-Briggs, who is currently applying to Vet Med schools (including OSU). She discusses how helpful she found the lecture videos that some of our instructors incorporate into their online courses.

How did you find out about our online chemistry courses? What did you like best about them?

My Grandfather, Jack Briggs, is an alumnus of Oregon State University. He also used to teach Biology at the Corvallis campus. A few years ago, while I was getting my Bachelor’s degree in Business Psychology, I started having some interest in going to Veterinary school. My grandfather recommended OSU. I was living in California at the time, and needed something that was taught online. I found out about Dr. Barth’s general chemistry series and signed up. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be capable of completing any college chemistry sequences. I’m not your typical “science student,” anyway. I was homeschooled all through high school and had *extremely* limited knowledge of anything scientific. I also have a diagnosed learning disability, an eye convergence issue, that’s always put me at a slight disadvantage in the brick and mortar classroom setting. Taking classes online better suited my disability, and it also allowed me to hide behind the computer screen and not make a fool out of myself in front of the smart students!

To my shock, I was able to get through the general chemistry sequence with all “A”s. I also graduated with my Bachelor’s degree at this time and was looking for that “next step” in my life. I started considering vet school much more seriously. I applied to OSU as a post-Bacc student, got accepted, and moved to Bend to study at OSU’s Cascade campus.

The first Organic chemistry class I took (331) was actually taught by Dr. Gautschi. He was teaching it on campus but, of course, I opted to take it online. I’d heard nightmare stories from students about organic chemistry and was way too chicken to sit in the live class. Oh, how I wish I knew about Dr. Myles then! Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Dr. Gautschi! However, his online course had no lecture videos. I can’t emphasize how key those lecture videos were to my success in O-Chem. Furthermore, I almost failed Dr. Gautschi’s class and was feeling terrible. By doing a lot of hard work, meeting with tutors, and making one-on-one appointments with Dr. Gautschi, I was able to get by with a “B.” That was when he recommended Dr. Myles to me. I immediately went onto the Ecampus Chemistry website, looked up Dr. Myles’s email, and asked him if his organic course would include lecture videos. I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was when he said that it would! All of Dr. Barth’s general chemistry classes included lecture videos as well. I’m being 100% honest when I say that those videos are the reason for my success in both general and organic chemistry online. I was actually able to earn an “A” in Organic this time around. Being able to hit the pause button, take notes, re-watch worked problems, and review old recorded lectures was amazing! Obviously, students can’t hit the “pause button” on their live lecturing teachers. And, if you’re like me, you’re too embarrassed to speak-up in class.

Shout out to Dr. Myles:

It’s hard to choose just one thing I liked about Dr. Myles. His lecture videos were so clear and made learning the tricky O-Chem concepts much easier—I dare say even fun! ? He was also so nice, patient, and encouraging whenever I spoke with him via e-mail.

Advice for OSU Ecampus:

The only advice I could give would be to ask that all of OSU’s online courses have recorded lectures! For instance, I’m currently taking a genetics class online through OSU Ecampus. The professor is great, but she has no lecture videos… Honestly, that class would be so much more enjoyable if it had recordings like Dr. Myles’s class did. If you can’t tell, I’m very passionate about those online lecture videos! My disability slows me down in class and I always fall behind. The videos are my saving grace; they allow me to keep up.

What’s next for you?

I just finished all of my vet school applications. I applied to eight schools (including OSU) and will hopefully be hearing from them come January. As you know, O-Chem is a required course for all vet schools.

My passion to become a vet stems from my childhood. I was fortunate to grow up on a 40-acre farm in Northern CA. I was constantly watching my mom rescue animals, breed them, and train them. My mom is my ultimate motivator!

Do you have a hobby you’d like to tell us about?

In my spare time, you can find me riding & jumping horses. Below is a picture of me jumping my horse, Sublime. Interesting side note: this mare is pregnant and will have a foal next year! I actually bred her at Bend Equine Medical Center & Small Animal Division. Dr. Wayne Schmotzer, the clinic’s owner, used to teach at OSU’s College of Vet Med. Small world, right?

As we coming to a close for the Fall Term, I thought it would be an excellent time to formally recognize the 2015-2016 ESTEME@OSU Action Research Fellows from our Department. You can read more about this wonderful program at http://stem.oregonstate.edu/esteme/action-research-fellows

Michael Burand and Margie Haak for “Investigating New Group- and Invidually-Based Pedagogies in a Hybrid General Chemistry Course”

Richard Nafshun for “Pre-test Based Curriculum Time Allotments”

Paula Weiss for “Changes in Student Study Habits and Their Relation to Course Assignments”

Kristin Ziebart for “Promoting Conceptual Understanding of General Chemistry with Short Writing Tasks”

Congrats to all FIVE of our Action Research Fellows – A well-deserved honor!

Scaled Grants (up to $100,000)
Scaled Grants will be awarded to multi-departmental teams at the OSU Corvallis campus who are launching new initiatives or expanding existing ones. Co-contributed resources of staff time and/or funds are expected, and a sustainability plan for maintaining the initiative should be included with the proposal. Deans need to review and actively support the project. Projects should directly contribute to student learning and experience: although research may be conducted on a funded project, the grant funds are not intended to support research itself.

Phase One project descriptions for Scaled Grants are due February 12. Phase Two full proposals are due March 11. Applicants must complete both phases of the proposal to be eligible.

The website with more information and links to the Winter 2016 application will be available beginning December 11. For more information about the Scaled Grants, please visit this url: http://leadership.oregonstate.edu/information/tech-funding/innovation-grant/scaled

An information session will be held in mid-January. Meanwhile, please feel free to contact Robin Pappas with questions at robin.pappas@oregonstate.edu

Just a reminder that NE/RHP 599 – Introduction to Nuclear Forensic Analysis will be offered in Winter 2016. This class was created as a result of a Department of Homeland Security funded Nuclear Forensics Education Award received by our department in 2014. It was offered last year and taught by Dr. Camille Palmer. It is a very good overview of technical material related to both pre-detonation and post-detonation forensics, and is one of very small number of these courses available anywhere in the world. The course is appropriate for NEs, RHPs, students in Chemistry, Materials Science and is geared toward an interdisciplinary audience. We hope you’ll consider registering for this course next term, and mention it to other interested parties.

The Center for the Humanities is now accepting applications for the 2016-2017 Resident Research Fellowship Program. The deadline to submit proposals is Thursday Jan. 14, 2016, at 5 p.m. Application forms and information about awards can be found online at http://oregonstate.edu/dept/humanities/fellowship-program.

Nominations for classified or professional faculty to receive a monthly Merit Award are now being accepted. The award recognizes and encourages outstanding performance in the work place. The nominator may be anyone from the campus community. Potential qualities include great working attitude, cooperation, courtesy, creativity, flexibility, professionalism, quality of work, sense of humor, and other qualities the nominee admires. Nominations are due by Dec. 15. For more information: http://oregonstate.edu/aop/awards-recognition. November awardee’s were Debi Furay of Hatfield Marine Science Center (Newport) and Sharon Betterton of College of Science.

December 4, 2015, By: Debbie Farris, COS

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University chemistry professor Walter D. Loveland has been elected a 2015 Fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and a publisher of peer-reviewed journals, including Science.

Election as a Fellow of AAAS is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers. The distinction recognizes notable work to advance science or its applications in areas such as research, teaching, technology, industry, government in addition to communicating and interpreting science to the public.

Loveland was recognized for his pioneering contributions to nuclear chemistry, radioactive beams and heavy residues as well as for service to the profession and for mentoring future leaders in science. He joins more than 23 colleagues across Oregon State, who have also held this honor since 1965. Nationwide, the 2015 cohort includes 347 new Fellows, honored for their contributions to innovation, education, and scientific leadership.

The accomplishments of the new Fellows will be celebrated February 13 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Since joining OSU’s College of Science in 1968, Loveland has spent his career studying large-scale nuclear collective motion, through observations of heavy ion fusion, other ways of preparing hot heavy nuclei and studies of the fission process. Through his work as a chemist at a reactor lab, Loveland used activation analysis to study meteorites, particulate air pollution and stable activable tracers. His systematic study of the nuclear reactions that create superheavy elements has provided powerful tools for scientists.

“I am thrilled to see our faculty being recognized nationally for their excellence in research, teaching and service to the profession and the public,” said College of Science Dean Sastry G. Pantula. “This is another feather in Walt’s cap, to add to the wonderful Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry.”

Loveland received the 2014 Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry, the American Chemistry Society’s top honor. He was honored for his pioneering work on the use of radioactive beams for producing neutron-rich nuclei and his investigations of heavy residues in nuclear reactions. Prior to the 1980s, scientists had mostly collided stable isotopes together in their quest to create new elements. Loveland devised ways to use radioactive isotopes as projectiles, thus greatly expanding the range of nuclear reactions possible.

Loveland has received national recognition for his achievements and research. He was elected into the ASE Mentor Hall of Fame and has been recognized by the Sigma Xi, the American Physical Society and others. He has also made a significant impact on nuclear chemistry education through The Living Textbook of Nuclear Chemistry, The Elements Beyond Uranium and as coauthor of Modern Nuclear Chemistry.

Loveland earned his bachelor’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he discovered his passion for nuclear and radiochemistry and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington where he studied nuclear fission. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory, the first science and engineering research national laboratory in the United States.

Click here to read the full list of 2015 AAAS Fellows.

The Erlenmeyer Flask

Where Real Chemistry Happens…

Author Archives: Luanne Johnson

Analytical Chemist Position Available at NANO3D Systems LLC

Undergraduate of the Quarter – Fall 2015 – Johnny Hergert

Undergraduate of the Quarter – Fall 2015 – Kenneth Stout

Focus on ECampus – Lilly Lawrence-Briggs

2015-16 ESTEME@OSU Action Research Fellows

Call for Proposals: Winter 2016 Learning Innovation Grant Scaled Grants

NE/RHP 599 – Intro to Nuclear Forensic Analysis

Research Fellowship

Merit Award Nominations

Oregon State chemist elected to world’s largest scientific society

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