Mark Chen Despite research challenges, the Chen Lab managed to maintain productivity through the pandemic by advancing their science, and importantly, being awarded two new research grants in Fall 2020: one from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and one from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF). Prof. Chen was a recipient of a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award for the group’s work in developing new optoelectronic organic materials through the exploitation of air-stable, open-shell molecules. The group was also awarded an ACS-PRF New Directions grant for their proposal to study conjugated molecules as materials for singlet oxygen sensitization, binding, and release. Preliminary work in this project by graduate student Muhammad Imran has already resulted in a manuscript that is currently under peer-review. Caleb Wehrmann’s final paper in the group, with support from Prof. Fredin, is soon to be submitted and describes new organic materials that can generate amorphous, transparent, conductive films. In collaboration with Prof. Young and Prof. Fredin of Chemistry, and Prof. Biaggio of Physics, the Chen Lab was also awarded a Lehigh Accelerator Grant for their proposal to look at molecular materials for photonics and optoelectronics. In the absence of in-person conferences, Caleb and Imran each presented a virtual talk at the Spring 2021 ACS National Meeting. The Chen Lab has grown in the past year with new member additions of Fatema Amin (graduate) and Nick Bowers (undergraduate). Nick joined the group in February, 2021 and won a CAS Undergraduate Research Grant Award that funded his summer research efforts. This past summer is also when 2nd year graduate student Gisselle Rojas passed her general exam to enter Ph.D. candidacy. Imran’s papers have gained him recognition--and he was selected as a finalist in the 2021 Merck Research Award for Underrepresented Chemists of Color and as a student speaker at the Graduate Research Symposium hosted by the ACS Organic Division held at the University of New Mexico in November 2021. Finally, this past academic year marked a milestone for the group as the first Chen Lab graduate student, Caleb Wehrmann, defended and graduated (Dec. 2020). Caleb earned a rare distinction upon graduating as he won the CAS Dean’s Dissertation Award. Though we are sad to see him go, we are excited for the science Caleb will do (but may never have the appropriate security clearance to hear about) since he started this fall as a research engineer at the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Greg Ferguson In comings and goings since our last newsletter, Tarannuma Ferdous Manny joined the research group, and Kiran Khadka successfully defended his dissertation. Tarannuma is currently working on a novel synthetic route to porous metal films, and Kiran is enjoying his job at Versum Materials. We are delighted that Zahed Ghelichkhah's pandemic research project was published this year in the Journal of Electrochemical Society (see reference below), and Kiran’s paper describing the angle of inclination required for liquid droplets to roll off of a surface should be the next one to appear. Professor Ferguson gave a seminar this year at the University of British Columbia (by Zoom!) on the group’s work on the formation and decomposition of gold oxide. Ghelichkhah, Z.; Ferguson, G.S.; Macdonald, D.D. and Sharifi-As, S. "Point Defect Model Description of the Formation of Anodic Gold Oxide in H2SO4 Solution" J. Electrochem. Soc. 2021, 168, 041506. Faculty News Oriana Fisher During the past year, the Fisher lab has continued its studies of bacterial copper homeostasis and enzymes implicated in the bacterial stress response. Last fall, the group welcomed two new members who are pursuing this work: Chemistry graduate student Aarshi Singh and undergraduate Biochemistry major Jing Guo. Jing participated in Lehigh’s STEM-Summer Institute which culminated with a poster presentation on her research. In May, Prof. Fisher gave an invited seminar (virtual) at the University of Maryland—Baltimore County. In more recent news, the group published their findings in September: Damle, M.S.; Singh, A.N., Peters, S.C.; Szalai, V.A. and Fisher, O.S. "The Ycnl Protein from Bacillus subtilis Contains a CopperBinding Doman" Journal of Biological Chemistry 2021, 297, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101078. Department of Chemistry · Page 7
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0OTQ5OA==