Category Archives: Seminars

Seminars and presentations pertaining to the Chemistry Department

Chemistry Seminars (November 2nd – 6th)

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Tuesday, November 3rd
Debra Rolison
US Naval Research Laboratory
LPSC 402 4pm
Controlling rates within electrochemical environments through architectural design on the nanoscale

Wednesday, November 4th
Dean’s Distinguished Lecture
Karen Wooley
Texas A&M University
Learning Innovation Center (LInC) 200 5pm
Advanced Applications for Sophisticated Nanoscopic Devices

Thursday, November 5th
Chemistry Undergraduate Research & Professional Empowerment Poster Session
Linus Pauling Science Center Student Street 3pm

Thursday, November 5th
Karen Wooley
Texas A&M University
LPSC 402 5pm
Polymers: A Special Emphasis Toward (Degradable) Materials for Orthopedic, Drug Delivery and Other Applications

Friday, November 6, 2015
Chong Fang
Promotion and Tenure Seminar
LPSC 402 4pm
Capturing Molecular Movies for Functionality with Tunable Femtosecond Raman Spectroscopy

2014 Linus Pauling Award Symposium

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2014 Pauling Medalist:
Prof. Stephen L. Buchwald,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Stephen L. Buchwald, the Camille Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been awarded the 2014 Linus Pauling Medal Award, for “outstanding contributions to chemistry meriting national and international recognition.” Buchwald will be honored at a symposium and banquet on October 11th, 2014 at Western Washington University. The Linus Pauling Medal Award has been given annually since 1966 by the ACS Puget Sound,  Oregon, and Portland Sections of the American Chemical Society. The award is named after its first winner Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, a native of the Pacific Northwest.

SYMPOSIUM:
October 11, 2014
1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Viking Union Building – Multipurpose Room

Speakers:
Prof. Melanie Sanford, University of Michigan
Prof. Phil Baran, The Scripps Research Institute
Prof. David Nicewicz, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Prof. Stephen L. Buchwald, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

BANQUET RECEPTION & RESEARCH POSTER SESSION:
October 11, 2014
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Viking Union Building – Multipurpose Room

BANQUET:
October 11, 2014
6:00 – 11:00 p.m.
Viking Union Building – Multipurpose Room

The symposium, sponsored by these ACS sections, and hosted by the Puget Sound Section and Western Washington University, is free and open to the public (no registration required). The Award Banquet requires semi-formal/business-informal attire, registration and the purchase of a banquet ticket. The deadline for registration is October 3, 2014.

Non-student banquet tickets are $30 each.
Student banquet tickets are $15 each. The first 50 student banquet tickets are $5 each!

The link to registration is HERE.

Award Chair

Dr. David L. Patrick
Dept. of Chemistry
Western Washington University
david.patrick@wwu.edu

Symposium Chairs

Dr. John D. Gilbertson
Dept. of Chemistry
Western Washington University
john.gilbertson@wwu.edu

Dr. David A. Rider
Dept. of Chemistry
Western Washington University
david.rider@wwu.edu

CSMC Webinar

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“Postgraduate Career Strategies: Academia”

Join us for a Webinar on October 2

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/970758119

The Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry (CSMC) will host a webinar titled: “Postgraduate Career Strategies: Academia” as part of the ongoing series of Innovation Webinars. Panelists from academia will discuss the current landscape of a universities and the transition from working as a graduate student/post doc or in industry to working in an academic position. Panelists will be available to answer questions regarding current expectations for recent graduates, points to consider when searching for jobs as well as alternative non-research opportunities within academia. Panelists include John Conley (Oregon State Univeristy), Thuy Tran (Oregon State University), Shanti Deemyad University of Utah). Blake Hammann (Washington University, St. Louis) will moderate the panel.

Title:

“Postgraduate Career Strategies: Academia”

Date:

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Time:

12:00 PM – 1:00 AM PDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 8, 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Mac®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.6 or newer

Mobile attendees
Required: iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phone or Android tablet

Success GTAs: What Are They and Why Do We Need Them

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Instructors Margie Haak and Paula Weiss will give a seminar titled, “Success GTAs: What Are They and Why Do We Need Them” at the 2014 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, August 3-7 2014 at Grand Valley University in Michigan.

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In Fall term 2013 we created the Success GTA position as part of a larger university-wide pilot program focused on increasing student success in first-year courses that historically have high percentages of students earning grades of D or F, or withdrawing from the course (DFW rates).  The fall term enrollment in our three different general chemistry courses (science majors, engineering majors, and majors other than physical sciences) range from 750 to 1200 students and each course has between 3 and 7 lecture sections.

The Success GTAs had several roles in the courses.  They all taught at least one recitation or lab section in their assigned course, half the load of a regular GTA .  In addition they were responsible for identifying and contacting students who were doing poorly in some aspect of the course: not registered for Mastering Chemistry or not completing the Mastering Chemistry assignments, exams scores well below the class median, not attending recitations or labs.  They were also part of the CH 199 courses that were offered to provide extra support to students struggling in general chemistry.

We will present results showing the impact of the Success GTA interventions, discuss the training Success GTAs received prior to the start of fall term classes, and lessons learned from the first year of this program.

Design and Implementation of General Chemistry Support Course

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Instructors Paula Weiss and Margie Haak will give a seminar titled, “Design and Implementation of General Chemistry Support Course” at the 2014 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, August 3-7, 2014 at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

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We will discuss the design and implementation of a full-year support course to  increase student success in General Chemistry. The course provides support for developing problem-solving skills, effective study skills for chemistry courses, math review, and additional exposure to the chemistry concepts covered in General Chemistry.  In the classroom students are engaged in problem-solving with other students, with guidance from general chemistry faculty and graduate teaching assistants. This presentation will focus on lessons learned in our first year of offering the course and plans for future implementations.

Less Class Time, More Learning

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Instructors Margie Haak and Michael Burand will give a lecture on Less Class Time, More Learning at the 2014 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, August 3-7 at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

A hybrid-format general chemistry course for science-majors was implemented in the winter term of 2014. Two sections of approximately 160 students each were included. This course was a “trailer” course insomuch as students began the sequence in the second 10-week term of the academic year. Students in trailer courses have historically been more at risk for poor academic performance.

The format of the course included short, topical videos which were custom-made for this course and were made available to students online. Students were assigned to groups of approximately four for the duration of the term and biweekly class meetings consisted almost exclusively of students working on solving problems within their groups. Generally two faculty members and four teaching assistants were present to assist student groups. Typically some time was reserved at the end of the class periods for student groups (selected at random) to come before the class and present their solution to a problem.

Preliminary data show that students in this hybrid course performed significantly better on exams than historical averages for the traditional lecture format. This result is especially noteworthy given that the students in the hybrid course have only 60% of the class time compared to students in the traditional version of the course. A survey of students’ views regarding this hybrid course format was also conducted and will be discussed.

James White Honorary Symposium Hugely Successful

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Prof. Paul Blakemore presenting plaque to Dr. Dale Boger
Prof. Paul Blakemore presenting plaque to Dr. Dale Boger

This year’s James D White Lecturer was Professor Dale Boger from the Scripps Research Institute.  He is a world-renown synthetic organic and medicinal chemist who has successfully taken multiple compounds into advanced clinical trials.  His talk was on the important anticancer compound vinblastine. Professor Boger’s lab has developed an amazing (and short) synthetic approach to make this compound.  Equally impressive, they have discovered an analogue that is active in vinblastine resistant cell lines. The afternoon before the seminar, we had a wonderful gathering at Jim’s house where all the students got to interact with Dale in a casual setting over some great food.  Dale is a wonderful, engaging individual and was a great choice for this event!

Dr. Dale Boger presenting his seminar at the White Honorary Symposium
Dr. Dale Boger presenting his seminar at the White Honorary Symposium

Letter Writing: A Pathway to Better Laboratory Comprehension

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Instructor Michael Burand will give a presentation titled, “Letter Writing: A Pathway to Better Laboratory Comprehension” at the 2014 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, August 3-7 at Grand Valley State University.

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General chemistry students in honors and majors-only laboratory courses are required to write a letter in lieu of a traditional laboratory report for one of their laboratory projects. The students use the letter to explain their results to a recipient whom they are told does not necessarily have background in science. This requirement to explain their laboratory results in nonscientific terms causes the students to think more thoroughly about the underlying concepts involved. Indeed, survey results indicate that 94% of the laboratory students polled felt they had gained a deeper understanding when they wrote the letter as opposed to a traditional laboratory report. The details of the assignment will be discussed along with students’ survey responses.

The laboratory activity chosen for this letter-writing project involved testing for lead contamination in urban soils via atomic absorption spectroscopy. This provided a viable means of incorporating a service-learning aspect into the project. Students indicated that they put forth a more substantial effort in writing the letter knowing it would be sent to an actual recipient, not only the student’s TA and/or laboratory instructor. Thus, this project combines the nontraditional laboratory pedagogical approach of letter writing with a service-learning component. How this leads to students attaining a deeper understanding and facilitates better student engagement and ownership will be discussed.

CSMC Webinar “Postgraduate Career Strategies: Start-up”

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CSMC Webinar “Postgraduate Career Strategies: Start-up”
Join us for a Webinar on May 1
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/432548911
Today’s graduate students have a valuable set of both technical and creative skills suited for many technological industries. There are many avenues in this area for graduate students to consider and pursue when entering the work force and start-up companies can be the ideal setting. However, marketing one’s self to companies, developing networking skills, and choosing the right company with which to pursue a career pose challenges.

What are the pros/and cons of working in a startup?  What are the right strategies to find, network, and land a job at a company?

The Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry (CSMC) will host a webinar titled: “Postgraduate Career Strategies: Start-up” as part of the ongoing series of Innovation Webinars. Panelists from start-up companies will discuss the current landscape of a start-up and the transition from working in an academic lab setting to working in a start-up company. Panelists will be available to answer questions regarding current expectations for recent graduates, points to consider when searching for jobs as well as alternative non-research opportunities within a start-up company.

Join our panelists, Dr. Bastiaan Driehuys (Duke University), Dr. Sean Muir (Amorphyx) and Dr. Calden Carroll (SupraSensor) as they discuss this important topic in a round table discussion.

 

Title: CSMC Webinar “Postgraduate Career Strategies: Start-up”
Date: Thursday, May 1, 2014
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PDT

 

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

 

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 8, 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Mac®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.6 or newer
Mobile attendees
Required: iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phone or Android tablet