Tag Archives: May Nyman

Undergraduate of the Quarter – Winter 2015 – Collin Muniz

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Muniz, CollinCollin 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.

Who Am I? Wednesday – May Nyman

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Name: May Nyman

Area of study / position title: Materials Inorganic Chemistry focused on aqueous inorganic clusters/Associate Professor

Why chemistry? (What about it initially interested you, etc.): My father was a naturalist and took us hiking to look at trees, birds, flowers, animals.  But I only cared about the rocks and the sparkly minerals that made up the rocks. We went to the Smithsonian many times and I only wanted to see the gem and mineral collection. This steered me towards geology as an undergrad.  Then I took mineralogy and learned how the arrangement of atoms in minerals control the shape, and how the periodic table controls the color and arrangement of the atoms; I was totally hooked on inorganic chemistry…not organic chemistry:  that was the trees, birds, flowers and animals!

Research focus (in non-science terms) or basic job duties?:  Discovering new ways to make materials from water.  Some materials are simply to understand how molecules and atoms interact with each other in water, and some are help solve global energy and environmental issues.

One thing that you truly love about your job?: Top three things:  I love discovering new chemistry that totally surprises me, I love writing about it to share these discoveries with the scientific community and the world, I love working with young scientist in training, and colleagues from all over the world.

One interesting/strange factoid about yourself.: What really makes me happy and sometimes gets me through those rainy Oregon days is international traditional music and dance.  Now if only I can get the international scientists to dance with me, my circle would be complete.

COS/COP Untenured Faculty Grant Mentorship Program

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Goal: To provide an intensive training environment for constructing a successful grant proposal.
Eligibility: Tenure-stream, untenured faculty (Assistant and Associate Professor only) with a FTE appointment within the College of Science and/or College of Pharmacy.
Expectations of Participant: Individuals selected to participate in this program are expected be actively engaged in the process – including specific writing and reading assignments.

Application Process: Eligible faculty members are asked to submit a 5-page mini-proposal as a PDF file to grant.mentorship@oregonstate.edu (1 inch margins, font size 12 in Times New Roman or larger, line spacing of 14 pt or larger). The title of the email should be “COS/COP Untenured Faculty Grant Mentoring Program.” The first page of the proposal is intended to be a one page summary of the specific aims / project goals for the proposal. Pages 2-5 should include an introduction, scientific approach, significance, innovation, deliverables and broader impacts (science-based and/or NSF-specific types). A timeline for
accomplishing the work would be advisable. The audience for the pre-proposal should be technical in nature for the specialized area; however, it should provide sufficient descriptive text in the introduction and specific aims sections to be accessible by a PhD level scientist in a related area.

Application Deadline for Program: March 24, 2014 at 9 am (PST)

Program Format:

The mentorship program will be structured in four phases.

Phase 1. Funding 101 (Thursdays from noon-1 pm, lunch provided)
• Roundtable Discussion (April 3). Participants share what they would like to get out of the program. Be prepared to share your own stories about grant writing and fund raising.
• The Mechanics of Writing (April 10). Sara Jameson will provide an overview of the mechanics of writing.
• Panel Discussion for Federal Agencies (April 17). Highly successful faculty at OSU will answer questions about their strategies for targeting NSF, NIH etc. Current panel members include: Sastry Pantula (NSF),
Joe Beckman (NIH), Staci Simonich (NIH / Superfund), May Nyman (DOE), Andy Karplus (NIH) Colleges of Science & Pharmacy Oregon State University
• How to Talk to a Program Officer (NOTE Special Date: Tuesday, April 22). Rick Spinrad will provide guidance on how to maximize your interactions with program officers.
• Mini-proposal.v2. (Due April 21, 2014 at 9 am PST) Based on what you have learned from Phase 1, a revised version of your proposal must be submitted to grant.mentorship@oregonstate.edu. Completion of the revised pre-proposal is a requirement to proceed to Phase 2.

Phase 2. Structuring a Proposal with Donn Forbes (May 5-9)
• The Mechanics to Structuring a Winning Proposal. Donn will go over key traits to how to write and structure a proposal.
• Real Time Rewriting of Proposal. Donn will select a subset of the proposals to go over with the group and show how he would recommend modifying.
• Small Group Discussions on Proposal Writing. Small groups will get together to peer review each other’s proposals.
• Mini-proposal.v3. (Due May 26, 2014 at 9 am PST) Based on what you have learned from Phases 1 and 2, a revised version of your proposal must be submitted to grant.mentorship@oregonstate.edu. Completion of
the revised pre-proposal is a requirement to proceed to Phase 3.

Phase 3. Red Team Peer Review by Senior Faculty (June 2014)
• Peer review of Mini-Proposal. Each proposal will receive peer review from two to three senior faculty with written feedback. The reviewers will be expected to provide “real world” (not-sugar coated) feedback to help
the participants hone the scientific aspects and grantsmanship of the proposal.
• Personal Consultation with Reviewer(s). At least one of the reviewers will personally meet with the  participant to answer questions and go over how to interpret the feedback.
• Roundtable Discussion (Late June). Participants will get together to discuss what they have learned from this process and provide feedback on additional aspects to further improve future Grant Mentoring Programs. An anonymous survey will be conducted to gather additional feedback.

Phase 4. Participant Follow-up.
• The participant is asked to provided a one page summary by December 31, 2014 and June 30, 2015 to grant.mentorship@oregonstate.edu on grant writing efforts, successes and learning experiences.

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