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Volume VI: 2017/2018
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Over the last year, the department research, and are publishing papers, presenting at
has begun several new initiatives conferences, and winning both awards and pre-doctoral
while building on our established fellowships. We welcomed two new members to the
teaching and research programs. department this fall: Professor Jeremy Feldblyum, a
At the undergraduate level, polymer/materials chemist, and Ms. Stephanie
we adopted a new approach to Waltersdorf, our new department secretary. The faculty
the delivery of General Chemistry continue their excellent work in the classroom and lab. In
(ACHM 120). Beginning last summer, we offered a addition to fulfilling our teaching mission with strong
preparative on-line course, Aleks, an interactive learning, passion and commitment, the faculty are publishing and
outcome-driven program, to newly matriculated students. presenting top-notch research work on a range of diverse
On the first day of the fall term, the 718 students enrolled topics. Overall, we have never been stronger – one piece of
in ACHM 120 were given an assessment test so that we evidence in support of that contention is the improvement
could offer four small sections to 100 freshmen who might in the US News ranking of both the undergraduate and
benefit from the greater attention and help in smaller graduate programs. But, we are resolved to continue to
sections. Although the final exam is not yet complete, the build a better department!
result of this experiment seems positive. Many people are
I hope you enjoy reading about the department’s
involved in this logistically complex effort, but we strongly
activities over the past year. Once again, I thank you for
believe better delivery of this historically difficult, gateway
your past generous donations and contributions. Your
course could significantly improve our freshmen retention
donations and gifts allow us to strengthen and expand our
rate, and their appreciation of chemistry. This fall, we
programs in new and creative ways. We greatly appreciate
admitted another fantastic class of graduate students. The
all continued and new support! Please keep in touch. We
total enrollment in our graduate program has reached a would love to hear from you.
new zenith, 115 students: including 70 doctoral candidates,
31 MS students, 7 BS/MS, 5 Applied MS and 2 non-degree Warmest regards, Li Niu, Professor & Department Chair
students. Our students continue to be actively engaged in
WELCOME NEW GRADUATE STUDENTS
From top left to bottom right: Muqian Deng, Jingheng Zhang, Xinhao Fan,
Kelly Walter, Cheyenne Bowman, Rebecca Huang, Sarthak Patel, Shah Komal,
Mengwen Yan, Audrey Crom, Samadrita Biswas, Tianran Zhai, Amy Osborne,
Shannon Rafferty, Waqas Awan, Megan Chambers, Jessica Emsies,
Selena Casadea, and Shelby Khandasammy
2017 COMMENCEMENT AWARDS
Chemistry Faculty Award: Sarah Farrell
CRC Press Freshman Award: Michelle Kenyon
Derk V. Tieszen Award: Matthew Boll NEWSLETTER EDITORS
Shelton Bank Prize for Excellence in Chemistry: Aimee Capellan Li Niu, Professor & Department Chair
Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research: Muhit Rana Brian Gabriel, Administrative Manager
Larry Snyder Award for Advanced General Chemistry: Jalissa Thomas Jeremy Feldblyum, Assistant Professor
Larry Snyder Award for Organic Chemistry: Nana- Hawwa Abdul- Rahman & Stephanie Waltersdorf, Department Secretary
Chem-E-News: “E” Stands for “Elastomer”
Elastomers are a type of material that’s most easily Elastomers are a subset of molecules called “polymers.”
described as “stretchy.” There are many different kinds of Polymers are formed from the chemical linking of small
stiffness, but you’re quite familiar with elastomers – rubber molecules (called “monomers”) into long chains (called
bands, rubber gloves, silicone rubber cookware (like “polymers”). This linking process is called “polymerization,”
spatulas, for instance), and car tires are all examples of as shown in the image below. After polymerization, the
elastomers. The first elastomers used by humans were polymer formed often has a gooey consistency, somewhat
natural rubbers extracted from rubber trees (Castilla like a plate of slightly overcooked angel hair pasta. To
elastica) and reacted with juice from morning glories produce a useful material, the polymer undergoes a process
(Ipomoea alba) by ancient called “cross-linking,” where
Mesoamericans as early as additional chemical links are
1600 B.C.E. While such formed between polymer
rubber materials were used chains. Cross-linking limits
for various purposes such the ability for chains to slide
as sporting equipment and tool handles, practicing past one another: a little bit of cross-linking produces a
chemists didn’t begin studying them until French scientists material that is so stretchy it doesn’t easily return to its
in the mid-1700’s obtained samples from the Americas. It original shape, whereas a lot of cross-linking results in a
would be a century before robust rubber materials were material that is quite hard and brittle. Most elastomers
made with the advent by Charles Goodyear of contain intermediate amounts of cross-links to fine-tune
vulcanization, a process by which mechanically frail natural their elasticity and hardness. Our chemical understanding
rubber is made robust by reaction with sulfur. However, it of the polymerization and cross-linking processes dates back
would be yet one more century when the properties of to the 1920’s and 1930’s; by the 1950’s, elastomers became
rubber and new synthetic elastomers could be understood nearly as ubiquitous as they are today.
from a molecular perspective.
Department Highlights
The department welcomed 24 graduate students in main office. On the right is another plaque that carries
Fall 2017: 11 master students and 13 doctoral students. the names of all awardees in the past. The Long Award was
endowed recently with the help of our generous alumni,
In the past year the department graduated 7 doctoral
colleagues and our own faculty.
students, 6 master students and 35 undergraduate
students. The annual Life Science Research Symposium was
held in early November 2017. Many graduate students
The plaque for the Arthur O. Long Teaching Award
from Chemistry presented their research results in talks
was made and is now on the wall near the department’s
and posters.
The annual Undergraduate Chemistry Research
Symposium was held in early October in the Life
Science research building (LSRB). Professor Qiang
Zhang co-organized the symposium with Professors Alan
Chen and Gerd Flechsig. Dr. Kelly Virkler was our key
note speaker. We wish to thank Dr. Virkler for giving a
truly inspirational, engaging seminar and speaking
directly with our students afterwards. Dr. Virkler is the
supervisor of the Forensic Services/Toxicology Lab at the
NY State Police Forensic Investigation Center. She did
her doctoral research work in Dr. Igor Lednev’s lab in this
department. We also want to thank Drs. Qiang Zhang,
Alan Chen and Gerd Flechsig for having organized a
successful symposium.
2
Department Highlights continued
T-shirts sporting the label “UALBANY” pieced
together using chemical symbols from the Periodic
Table of Elements continue to be popular items for our
Sarah Farrell (middle) received a Great Dane Award from Provost students. The shirts are for sale and all the proceeds go to
James Stellar (right) and Vice President for student Affairs supporting student activities in the department.
Michael Christakis.
The department received an
Outstanding Service Award from
The department hosted Phi Beta Kappa visiting
the Disability Resource Center. In
scholar Dr. Victor S. Batista from the Department of
addition to the departmental award,
Chemistry at Yale University. Dr. Batista presented a public
Professors Charles Scholes and Paul
lecture entitled The Study of Natural and Artificial
Toscano, Mr. Colin Henck and Mr. Brian
Photosynthesis. Dr. Batista also delivered a guest lecture
Gabriel were individually recognized and
to our graduate students taking Physical Organic
awarded for their outstanding service to
Chemistry II.
the Disability Resource Center and its students. There was
The Graduate Student Club, “Atomic Danes,” invited a nice reception for this award ceremony. A trophy is on
Dr. Luke Roberson to campus as their speaker of choice display in the department’s office.
to present during the Fall 2017 Seminar Series. Dr. Luke
The department gave out 6 Travel Awards
Roberson is a Research Scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space
totaling $3,000 to graduate students in
Center. Dr. Roberson’s talk on “Kennedy Space Center's
2017 to sponsor student attendance, net-
role in NASA's Journey to Mars” was exceptionally well
working, and presentations of their research
received by our students and faculty. Over pizza lunch, Dr.
results at major scientific conferences.
Roberson had a round-table conversation about research
careers in government and advices for our students. Our The department graduated 35 students with BS
students really enjoyed this student-elected speaker event. degrees, 6 MS degrees and 7 Ph.D. degrees for the
class of 2017.
On the last day of the summer recess, the department
hosted its annual back-to-school BBQ to welcome our
faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, including
those undergraduates from
the World of Chemistry and
L-LC (Living and Learning
Community for freshman
Chemistry Majors). All the
new graduate students were
introduced to the department.
Several raffle prizes were
awarded. There was a large
turnout for the event. Brittany Egnot (middle) in
Prof. Jun Wang’s lab received the Mathew Boll received the
Distinguished Senior Leadership 2017 Chancellor’s Award.
Award. On the left, Prof. Jun
Wang; on the right, Provost
James Stellar.
3
Faculty Accomplishments During 2016-2017
Paul Agris was on sabbatical leave at Duke University issued two European patents for inventions regarding heated
Medical School. During that time he collaborated with a electrode arrays and electrochemical DNA sensors.
cardiologist on the function of modified nucleosides in an Jan Halámek’s lab published a review article titled “Trends
mRNA that is specific to addressing cardiac stress and with an in Fingerprint Analysis,” in TrAC (Trends in Analytical Chemistry)
orthopedic surgeon on a new antibiotic to thwart Gram positive in September 2016. The Halámek lab has also published a new
pathogen biofilms appearing on implants. This work had led to use for the Bradford Reagent, traditionally used for protein
two publications in preparation. His lab also published five quantification, as a method for fingerprint analysis. This work
papers during this time. was published in Analytical Chemistry in March 2017. Shortly
Eric Block’s 2009/2010 Royal Society of Chemistry thereafter, in May 2017, a review article entitled “Promises and
monograph, "Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and the Challenges in Continuous Tracking Utilizing Amino Acids in
Science" was translated into Chinese, with the title "Magical Skin Secretions for Active Multi-Factor Biometric
Scallions and Garlics — the Lore and the Science" and Authentication for Cybersecurity,” was published in
published in 2017 by Chemistry Industry Press, Beijing. The ChemPhysChem, earning cover page presentation. Additionally,
English language version was discussed in the cover feature in the Halámek lab developed a novel approach for the ultra-
the Fall 2017 issue of Canadian Chemical News sensitive detection of sweat at a crime scene via lactate which
[http://www.cheminst.ca/magazine/feature-story/hold-your- was published in Talanta in April 2017.
nose]. Eric was the senior author of papers in Chem, Bio Chem Igor Lednev served as a Governing Board member of the
and Phosphorus, Sulfur, Silicon, and Related Elements and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. He spent six weeks at the
review article, “The Role of Metals in Mammalian Olfaction of Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany as a guest
Low Molecular Weight Organosulfur Compounds” in Natural professor. His laboratory published 14 peer reviewed articles in
Products Report [2017, 34, 529] and a coauthor of a Journal of top journals in the field including JACS, Analytical Chemistry,
the American Chemical Society paper [2017, 139(33), 11519]. Eric and Scientific Reports. Their 2016 Forensic Chemistry paper is the
gave seminars at Yale University and the University of Calgary. most cited article of this new Elsevier journal, and 2017
Alan Chen co-published three Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry article was highlighted on
articles on RNA modifications the journal cover. Lednev gave 19 invited talks including three
as part of three separate keynote lectures in Trieste, Italy, Belgrade, Serbia and Awaji
collaborations. The first article on Island, Japan. Ewelina Mistek, a Ph.D. student in the Lednev
geranylated tRNA modifications, laboratory, received a prestigious national award for student
with collaborator Jia Sheng, appeared research. Dr. Dmitry Kurouski, recent Ph.D. graduate, accepted
in ACS Chemical Biology; the second a faculty position at Texas A&M University.
article on the development of a copper paramagnetic probe for Rabi Musah published four articles, including one that was
studying RNA- protein interactions, with Maksim Royzen and selected as an ACS Editor’s Choice, on the identification of
Alex Shekhtman, was published in Inorganic Chemistry; the third necrophagous insect eggs for post mortem interval
article on the use of graphene nanopores to detect modified determination (Anal. Chem., 2017, 89 (14), pp 7719–7726). She
tRNAs was published in Biomolecules with CNSE collaborator presented her research at ten conferences and colloquia,
Thomas Begley. He was an invited speaker at two conferences including the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the
including the Telluride Workshop in RNA Dynamics and the American Society of Mass spectrometry, Pittcon, and SCIX
31st Annual Gibbs Conference in Biothermodynamics. meetings. Her work was recently highlighted in Chemical and
Evgeny Dikarev’s group published five papers. Dr. Dikarev Engineering News, Forensic Science Magazine, Phys.org, and
was an Amadeus Professor at the University of Bordeaux, Brains on, a science podcast for kids. A second article in
France. Analytical Chemistry featured the development of a new mass
spectrometric imaging technique optimized for determination
Daniele Fabris received two NIH grant awards. of the spatial distributions of small molecules (Anal. Chem.,
Gerd-Uwe Flechsig’s group published two articles in 2017, 89 (6), pp 3421–3429). The technology is currently being
Electroanalysis and Electrochimica Acta. He presented two keynote developed, in collaboration with industrial partners, into a
lectures about the recently observed redox-switching of DNA commercial instrument.
layer viscoelasticity and related kinetic isotope effects Li Niu’s group published seven papers on developing small
(1st European/10th German Biosensor Symposium in molecule drug candidates, RNA aptamers, RNA hydrogel, and
Germany and 8th International Workshop on Surface AMPA receptor structure-function studies. One patent has been
Modification for Chemical and Biochemical Sensing in Poland). granted by USPTO; one additional patent has been filed at
Three other lectures were presented at the 14th Matrafured USPTO.
International Conference on Electrochemical Sensors in
Hungary, the 68th Annual Meeting of the International Society Marina Petrukhina’s group published seven research
of Electrochemistry in Providence, RI, and the 254th ACS manuscripts, including one in Chem. Sci., one in Dalton. Trans.
National Meeting in Washington, DC. In addition, Gerd was (invited), and two in Angew. Chem. (one featured on the
4
Faculty Accomplishments During 2016-2017 continued
frontispiece of the journal), among others. Marina was invited Charlie Scholes was inducted as a Fellow of the
to give plenary lectures at international conferences held at International EPR/ESR Society at the society’s 2016 meeting
Texas A&M, Stony Brook and Nagoya universities. She in Torino, Italy, Sept. 4-8, 2016. This honor, accompanied by
delivered two invited talks at the spring 2017 ACS National his invited summary lecture, was in recognition of his more than
Meeting in San Francisco, in additions to seminars given at the 40 years of work in the field of Electron Paramagnetic
University of Houston, Technical University at Munich and Resonance (EPR) and its biological applications. He was
Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Mainz, Germany). corresponding author of an invited contribution to the Dalton
She is now in the process of organizing the 2nd Fusion Transactions themed issue entitled “Frontiers in Spectroscopic
international conference on “Carbon-Based Materials” to be Techniques in Inorganic Chemistry” (Dalton Transactions (2017)
held in June 2018. 46, 13263-13272.) He was a contributing author to Prof.
Lednev’s work on Purple Fibrils (J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2017) 139,
Maksim Royzen’s lab published five research articles 9755-9758.) Prof. Scholes retired on Aug. 31, 2017. Scholes now
describing various biomedical applications of the bond-cleaving focuses on his duties as Board President of the 501 (c) 3
bio-orthogonal chemistry. The articles appeared in Chemical fundraising arm of PAZAPA, the Center for Children with
Science, Inorganic Chemistry, Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, Disabilities in Jacmel, Haiti (www.pazapa.org).
Nanoscale and Chemical Communications. Leah Seebald, Royzen
Jun Wang’s group has published a paper in ACS Applied
Lab’s very first Ph.D. student, successfully defended her thesis, Materials & Interfaces and a paper in Analytical Chemistry. He
titled “Development of NMR Probes to Study RNA-Protein gave invited seminars at the University of Rochester and the
Interactions.” Leah will be pursuing postdoctoral work at MIT. Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. His group
Alexander Shekhtman published 7 papers, 6 in members attended the ACS National Meeting in Washington,
collaboration with other labs, in a variety of journals including D.C. A senior undergraduate student, Brittany Egnot, won the
Mol. Microbiology, Biochemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, J. Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence 2017.
Medicinal Chemistry, and Bioinorganic Medicinal Chemistry. Ting Wang’s group published two papers in Organic Letters
Dr. Shekhtman is Editorial Board member of the Nature on visible light photocatalysis. This mild catalytic method could
Scientific Reports. His laboratory is actively involved in be widely used in the synthesis of alkaloids, modified peptides,
developing methodology to analyze protein structures inside and glycopeptides.
live bacterial and human cells with applications in basic biology Zhang Wang’s lab reported a biomimetic total synthesis of
and medicinal chemistry. Dr. Shekhtman received a 2017 fungal metabolite homodimericin A (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2017,
SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and 56, 7886). His group modified the biogenetic proposal for the
Creative Activities. natural product and is currently collaborating with Prof. Clardy
Jia Sheng’s group received two grants from the NSF and at Harvard Medical School for elucidation of more natural
NIH and published eight papers in 2017 for the synthesis, product structures in this system.
structural and functional studies of nucleic acid modifications John Welch presented papers at the 21st International
in a variety of journals including Angew Chem Int Ed Engl., ACS Symposium on Fluorine Chemistry, the 23rd Winter Fluorine
Chemical Biology, Nucleic Acids Research, Chembiochem, and Conference, and the 253rd ACS meeting San Francisco where
Current Protocols in Nucleic Acid Chemistry. Dr. Sheng presented he organized a symposium for the winner of the ACS national
three invited talks in the 44th Middle Atlantic Regional award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry.
Meeting in Riverdale, NY; the 41st Northeast ACS Regional Mehmet Yigit’s lab has published three papers in Chemical
Meeting in Binghamton, NY; and the 6th International Science, one paper in Nanoscale and one Advanced Healthcare
Conference on Nucleic Acid-Protein Chemical and Structural Materials paper which was featured on the journal’s cover. Dr.
Biology in Chengdu, China. He also served as the session chairs Yigit’s EBOLA biosensor work was highlighted in several media
in the latter two conferences. Dr. Sheng also attended news outlets, including the September 2017 printed issue and
and presented his research at the Nucleic Acids Gordon online version of National Geographic magazine. Two recent
Conference. Phensinee Haruehanroengra, a third-year graduate graduates from his lab found research positions: one as a
student from the Sheng lab, received travel awards from the postdoctoral fellow at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center ,
Chemistry department and the RNA Institute to present her and the second as a researcher at Natera, a worldwide genetic
work at the ACS NERM and the 9th International Conference testing and diagnostics company in California.
on Biotechnology, Bio Informatics, Bio Medical sciences and Qiang Zhang presented his research work at two
Stem Cell Applications (B3SC) in Bangkok, Thailand. conferences including a Gordon research conference. He began
Phensinee was also the recipient of the “Best Oral Presentation serving the campus as co-chair of the SUNY-Diversity and
Award” in the 8th Annual Life Sciences Research Symposium Inclusion Consortium Committee (DICC). He has received a
and the recipient of the ”Lawrence and Marie Shore Graduate three-year NSF grant to support his research on protein
Scholarship in Life Sciences 2017-2018.” synthesis.
5
The 2017 World of Chemistry L-LC
This year, nine highly enthusiastic UAlbany freshman (senior staff scientist, the RNA Institute) and Mike Bradley,
were chosen to participate in this year’s World of Chemistry Ph.D (principle biochemist, Syros Pharmaceuticals). Several
(WoC) Learning-Living Community. WoC members live in faculty from our own department also presented overviews
the same residence hall, take core academic courses together, of their research to encourage L-LC students to consider
and attend a weekly seminar led by Prof. Alan Chen. Out- doing research in their labs including Dan Fabris, Ting
of-classroom activities such as study breaks, community Wang, Jan Halámek, and Jeremy Feldblyum. A hearty thanks
service trips, and social events are coordinated by to all the speakers who generously took time out of their busy
Community Assistant Rebecca Huang, herself a former schedules to share their experiences and advice!
member of the inaugural World of Chemistry L-LC (2013-
14). Students also attend a weekly luncheon with Prof. Chen
and meet invited guests ranging from former L-LC students
to scientific professionals from industries that employ
chemists, as well as members of our own faculty potentially
looking to take on new undergraduate researchers. All
L-LC students participated in the annual Chemistry
Undergraduate Research Symposium, where they saw
firsthand what impressive work our undergraduate From Left to Right: Nick Campos, Antonio Alford, Patrick Foley, Lucas
researchers have been able to accomplish during their time Davison, Anthony (AJ) Silvestro, Lillie Carnell, Nadia Peralta-Lopez,
at UAlbany. They also greatly enjoyed hearing from keynote Cassandra Murrell, and Marcielo Ortega Rojas.
speaker (and UAlbany alum) Dr. Kelly Virkler, who spoke
As this is the fourth year that that Prof. Chen has led the
about her career trajectory that ultimately resulted in getting
WoC L-LC, this brought with it the gratifying result that
her dream job as a supervisor in the NYS Police Forensic lab.
students in the 2014-15 WoC-LLC are currently among our
The major goal of the WoC is to encourage active strongest graduating seniors. They were very glad to be able
exploration of different careers in the chemical sciences. to share their experiences and advice to our new L-LC class
The WoC exposes students to internship and research as well as serve as peer mentors and role models. These
opportunities as early as possible in order to actively motivate graduating seniors have been instrumental in inspiring this
their education at UAlbany by steering them to address year’s L-LC class to get actively involved in their training as
pressing, real-world problems when they graduate and enter future scientists, which is already evident in that nearly half
the workforce. Guest speakers are invited from a wide range of this year’s class have volunteered for undergraduate
of chemical professions to talk about what they do in their research by the middle of their first semester! We expect
jobs and how they got to where they are today. External guest great things from all of them, and hopefully in the coming
speakers this year included: Kyla Frohlich, Ph.D (Biological year they will be able to give back to future L-LC classes in
Q/C supervisor, Regeneron), Nicolas Peterson (forensic the same way.
scientist, NYS Police crime lab), Ken Halvorsen, Ph.D — Contributed by Professor Alan Chen
New York State Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP)
This past summer, the Chemistry Department hosted a group of research students from the University of Albany
section of the New York State Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) College Overview and Research Experiment
(CORE) program. This program enables rising seniors from historically underrepresented or economically disadvantaged
backgrounds to participate in research and enhance their academic skills. A group of three students participated in a forensic
chemistry research project mentored by Dr. Lori Ana Bromberg, a Forensic Chemist
from the New York State Police, and assisted by Rebecca Huang, a recent graduate
of our BS program and a current MS student. Chemistry department staff member
Katie Saxton provided lab set up and instrumental support. The student’s research
culminated in a symposium presentation to their summer institute cohort, mentors,
and other invited guests. This semester, several students are continuing their
research projects and plan to present a poster at the state-wide STEP conference
in spring 2018. The department looks forward to continued involvement with the
University of Albany STEP program.
— Contributed by Kathleen Saxton
6
Chemistry Third Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
This year, our department hosted the third annual
Chemistry Undergraduate Research Symposium, co-
organized by Professors Gerd-Uwe Flechsig, Alan Chen
and Qiang Zhang. The goals of this symposium were to
provide our undergraduate researchers an opportunity
to formally present their research and be recognized for
their hard work by the entire Chemistry community.
Undergraduates who have not yet worked in a research lab
were inspired to get involved in as soon as possible. There
were a total of 65 registered undergraduate participants
from UAlbany and SUNY Plattsburgh. Many of our presented by our undergraduate researchers. Prizes for the
department’s faculty, graduate students, staff, and post-docs best presentations were awarded to Nicola Breen, Allix
were also in attendance. All students in the 2017 World of Coon, Aimee Capellan and Adham Sabra. We also gave out
Chemistry attended as well. We wanted these students to prestigious departmental awards to excellent undergraduate
hear how getting involved with research can jumpstart their students: Lawrence Snyder Award for Advanced General
careers, which was also the theme of the opening remarks Chemistry to Jalissa Thomas, Lawrence Snyder Award for
by Dr. Jeanette Altarriba, Vice Provost & Dean, Office of Organic Chemistry to Nana Hawwa Abdul-Rahman, and
Undergraduate Education and Dr. James Dias, Vice the Shelton Bank Prize for Excellence in Chemistry to
President for Research. Dr. Edelgard Wulfert, the Dean of Aimee Capellan. Professor Larry Snyder joined Dr. Niu in
the College of Arts and Sciences, could not attend the presenting the Snyder Awards to our students. Dr. David
symposium but offered her best wishes to our students. Krick, a distinguished alum, also joined Dr. Niu in
Erica Brunelle, a Ph.D. student in Chemistry and NIJ presenting the Shelton Bank Prize to Aimee Capellan. Dr.
graduate fellow, shared her personal experience on how Niu thanked Dr. Krick who took a day off from his work
to get involved in research. We also heard excellent and drove from New Jersey to attend the Symposium.
presentations from our undergraduate students. A
captivating and informative keynote lecture "My Journey All in all, following the success of the previous
from Forensic Scientist Undergrad to Technical Supervisor symposium, the third year symposium brought out a high
of a Forensic Toxicology Lab" was given by Dr. Kelly level of engagement and interaction for research among our
Virkler from Forensic Services/Toxicology NYSP Forensic undergraduate students. We look forward to hosting
Investigation Center who was a graduate student here many another symposium next year! Thanks to all who
years ago. We also had the honor to invite scientists Dr. participated and helped make this important symposium a
Stacey Helming and Alexander Steeles from Regeneron to big success!
discuss scientific careers and opportunities at Regeneron.
During lunch, faculty and graduate students talked with all — Contributed by Gerd-Uwe Flechsig, Alan Chen,
participating undergraduate students and visited posters and Qiang Zhang
7
Graduate Student Activities, Accomplishments and Awards
Doctoral Students, Ewelina Mistek (left) and Kristen Fowble (right),
were each awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship from the National
Institute of Justice. Congratulations!
Beatriz Bolivar presented her work at the Keystone differentiating human and animal blood donors using
Conferences for SIRT6 and Host Response in Tuberculosis. Raman spectroscopy. Kyle also gave oral presentations at
Beatriz published the first of her papers on the enzymology the 2017 Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists
of SIRT6 in CHemBioChem. Kelly Bonetti was funded to meeting and the 2017 CAS Life Sciences Research
participate in the NSF ICorps Program to explore the Symposium. Cristina Dubcec received 2017 CAS
commercialization of her prospective electron beam Distinguished Dissertation Award, University at Albany,
nanolithographic resists. Erica Brunelle was awarded the NY. Marisia Fikiet presented a poster and an invited talk
2016-2017 Lawrence and Marie Shore Graduate at SciX 2017 in Reno NV. Meghan Fogerty was first
Scholarship. She also published a first author paper in author on a publication in the Society for Wildlife Forensic
Analytical Chemistry and was co-author on a manuscript Science Newsletter. Kristen Fowble was awarded a
published in Talanta. Erica gave an oral presentation at the National Institute of Justice Graduate Research Fellowship
69th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Academy and was first author on an article published in Analytical
of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) in New Orleans, Louisiana as Chemistry. Kristen presented her work on ambient mass
well as presenting posters at the ACS National meeting in spectrometry imaging during an oral presentation at the
San Francisco, California. In addition, Erica received a Life Science Research Symposium and also presented a
Travel Grant from Cayman Chemical Company to present poster at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry
a poster at the 21st Triennial Meeting of the International annual conference. Sarasi Galagedera presented two
Association of Forensic Science (IAFS) in Toronto, Canada. posters and two conferences, the International Conference
Sonivette Colon-Rodriguez presented a poster at the on Electrochemical Sensors in Matrafured, Hungary (June
68th Annual Meeting of the International Society of 2017) and the 68th annual meeting of the International
Electrochemistry in Providence, RI. She was also accepted Society of Electrochemistry in Providence, Rhode Island
to present a poster at the Surface Modification for (August 2017). Presented was the topic of the effect of
Chemical and Biochemical Sensing (SMCBS) on Nov 3rd- heavy water on the interactions of Hexammine
7th in Poland. Rebecca D’Esposito presented an oral Ruthenium(III) and Hexammine Cobalt(III) with self-
presentation at the 65th annual American Society of Mass assembled monolayers of DNA. Justine Giffen was first
Spectrometry (ASMS) in Indianapolis. She was elected author for a manuscript published in Analytical Chemistry.
president of Atomic Danes (Chemistry Graduate Student The paper was selected as an ACS Editors’ Choice, an
Organization) and was a contributing author to a paper honor reserved for articles that feature research that
published in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics earlier this “exemplifies the [American Chemical Society’s]
year. Kyle Doty has continued work in the second year of commitment to improving people’s lives through the
his National Institute of Justice Graduate Research transforming power of chemistry.” The work was featured
Fellowship, which will culminate in December 2017. He is in Forensics Magazine, Chemical & Engineering News and
the first author on a submitted review article about the Scientific American’s 60-Second Podcast. Justine also
applications of Raman spectroscopy for forensic serology presented a poster at the 65th Annual Meeting for the
and gunshot residue analysis and a scientific manuscript for American Society of Mass Spectrometry in Indianapolis,
8
Graduate Student Activities, Accomplishments and Awards continued
received the Spring 2017 Chemistry Graduate Student
Travel Award and was nominated by the Chair of the
Department for the AAAS/Science Program for Excellence
in Science. Tatiana Quinones-Ruiz published a first-
author paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society
and co-authored a paper published in ACS Catalysis.
Additionally, she presented a poster at the Society of
Applied Spectroscopy Meeting, University at Albany.
Nicole Ralbovsky was the recipient of the Harry L. Frisch
Memorial Scholarship in Chemistry from the school. He
also presented a poster at the Life Sciences Research
Symposium at SUNY Albany in November. Jason Seeley
explored multiphoton spectroscopy at Brookhaven
Indiana. Mindy Hair was awarded the Fall 2017 Graduate National Laboratory and stochastic optical reconstruction
Student Travel Award. Phensinee Haruehanroengra was microscopy at Cornell of his peptidic optical antennas.
awarded the Lawrence and Marie Shore Graduate Vibhav Valsangkar, a third-year Ph.D. student in Jia
Scholarship in the Life Sciences 2017-2018. She published Sheng's lab, won the “Best Oral Presentation Award” at the
a research paper in ACS Chemical Biology and coauthored 9th annual Life Sciences Research Symposium. Wei Wen
three research papers in Angewandte Chemie International published a first-author paper in Scientific Reports and co-
Edition, Nucleic Acid Research, and Journal of Materials authored five papers in the Journal of Biological Chemistry,
Chemistry B. She also authored a protocol paper on how to Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, Biomacromolecules, RNA &
synthesis of geranyl-2-thiouridine modified RNA in Disease, and ACS Chemical Neuroscience, respectively. She
Current Protocols in Nucleic Acid Chemistry. Phensinee gave also presented her work on RNA editing in AMPA
oral presentations at the 9th International Conference on receptors at the 8th Annual Life Science Research
Biotechnology, Bio Informatics, Bio Medical sciences and Symposium at SUNY Albany. Linbin Zhong was funded
Stem Cell Applications (B3SC) and the 8th Annual Life to participate in the NSF ICorps Program to explore the
Sciences Research Symposium (where she won the special commercialization of her prospective electron beam
oral presentation award). She presented her poster in 4th nanolithographic resists. Zheng Zhou co-authored a paper
annual RNA symposium epitranscriptomics and Northeast published in Angewandte Chemie, International Edition. He
Regional Meeting (NERM) during Fall, 2016 as well. also published one first author paper in Acta
Mustafa Salih Hizir was the first author on a publication Crystallographica, Section C: Structural Chemistry. Bill
in the RSC journal Chemical Science. Cameron Longo Jaremko published two first-author papers, one in Journal
presented his work at both the American Society for Mass of Biological Chemistry and the other in RNA & Disease.
Spectrometry (ASMS) and the Northeastern Association of
Forensic Science (NEAFS) annual meetings. He also
coauthored a paper in Analytical Chemistry, which was
selected as an ACS Editor's Choice. Johnsi Mathivanan
presented a poster titled “Consecutive reaction Kinetics on
Paracetamol Electrochemistry -Studied on Directly Heated
and Rotating Disk Electrodes” at the 68th Annual Meeting
of the ISE (International society of Electrochemistry ) 2017
in Providence, Rhode Island in August. Ewelina Mistek
received the National Institute of Justice Graduate
Research Fellowship in STEM and the International
Coblentz Student Award. She gave an invited talk at the
national conference SciX 2017, in Reno, NV, and presented
posters at the SciX 2017 conference and 2017 Green
Mountain DNA Conference, Burlington, VT. She also 2017 March for Science Fair –
presented at the 8th Annual Life Sciences Research Graduate student Neil Robertson
Symposium. She was the lead author of one paper and co- is working with kids during the
authored another paper submitted for publication; she also Fair at the University Hall.
designed the cover art for two published articles. She
9
Undergraduate Research Experience
Nicola Breen, undergraduate student, on her own experience in undergraduate research
I first began my research career in earned me a summer internship at the Max-Planck-Insitut
the first semester of my junior year für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim, Germany. I spent the
here at SUNY Albany. I had initially entire summer before my senior year living and doing
decided to try and join a research lab research in Germany for Professor Tobias Ritter, one of the
after several graduate students told me directors of the institute. That summer I was introduced to
sophomore year about how valuable scientists from all over the world, all of whom were willing
doing undergraduate research can be. to listen to my research and offer suggestions to improve
After reading several faculty members’ reactions or try new reactions to see what kind of results I
research websites, Professor Welch’s could produce. Although the research was not always easy
research on fluorine chemistry stood or successful, I came back to Albany in the fall with a
out to me. I spoke to him at the very end of my sophomore motivation I had never experienced before. I sat down with
year, and we agreed that I would start as soon as school Professor Welch my first day back and we outlined what I
started up again in the fall. I was excited to begin doing would work on in my final year. Being able to talk with him
research because I had always wanted to be involved in a about what I wanted to try made the research more
laboratory and just did not know how to begin. That fall, I interesting to me, and gave me the motivation to keep
learned so much about organic chemistry and organic lab working on it until I saw the results I wanted.
technique from my postdoc mentor, the graduate students in
the lab, and of course from Professor Welch. By the time my Working hard in the lab and showing your interest is
second semester of junior year started, I could not believe always noticed by your superiors. My hard work over the
how much I had learned in just four months. summer and at Albany paid off. October of my senior year, I
was accepted as a Ph.D. student at the Max-Planck-Institut
Learning new chemistry and improving my technique für Kohlenforschung. In September 2018, I will be back in
did not go unrewarded. In April of 2017 I attended the Germany as a full time graduate student. Knowing your work
American Chemical Society’s National Conference, and was has paid off is a great feeling; I strongly encourage
introduced to fluorine chemists from many different undergraduates to begin doing research as early as possible.
universities in several different countries. Being able to It is definitely a great way to learn about what interests you
listen to their lectures on their current research and discuss as a scientist and provides valuable learning opportunities, as
what I was doing with them was one of the most incredible well as an excellent way to make new friends who share
experiences of my undergraduate career and a great common interests with you.
networking opportunity. My research experience also
— Contributed by Nicola Breen
New Faculty and Staff Appointments
We warmly welcome Dr. Jeremy Feldblyum and Stephanie Waltersdorf, who joined the department in 2017.
We warmly welcome Dr. Jeremy We are pleased to welcome
Feldblyum as the latest member of the Stephanie Waltersdorf to the
faculty in the Department of Chemistry. University at Albany and to the
Dr. Feldblyum began work as a faculty Department of Chemistry. Stephanie
member after postdoctoral research at joined the department in August 2017.
Stanford University and graduate studies Stephanie has over three years of New
at the University of Michigan, Ann York State service, including the New
Arbor. His research focuses on using York State Comptroller’s Office where
coordination chemistry to develop new materials for she worked in Human Resources. She recently received
electronics and energy-efficient separations, and his her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. Stephanie provides
teaching contributions will focus on the department’s administrative support to the faculty, staff and students. We
offerings in Physical and Polymer Chemistry. are delighted to have her as part of our team.
10Chemistry’s New Graduate & Undergraduate Student Groups
The Atomic Danes & The UAlbany Chemistry Club (UCC)
The Atomic Danes is the graduate student organization
involved in professional development, science outreach Danes hosted a Trivia Night in August which allowed new
and social activities for graduate students in the Chemistry students to get to know current graduate students during
Department. The group has organized several social and graduate student orientation. A new event, the Chemistry
professional development events each semester since its Graduate Halloween Party, was held at the end of October,
inception. In Spring 2017, the Atomic Danes organized was well attended, and gave some much needed stress relief
students for Albany’s March for Science, the local march after midterms! Most recently, the Atomic Danes hosted
which represented the non-partisan movement to Dr. Luke Roberson, a senior principal investigator at
celebrate science and the role it plays in everyday life. The NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, who gave a seminar titled
goals of the movement are to emphasize that science “Kennedy Space Center’s Role in NASA’s Journey to
upholds the common good and to call for evidence-based Mars” which was extremely well-received by both students
policies in the public interest. In addition, the Atomic and faculty alike. In December, the Atomic Danes will host
Danes also organized a Symposium of Alternative Careers their semi-annual Bowling night to celebrate the end of
for Women in STEM, hosting three accomplished women the fall semester.
of science that have assumed different career paths within
In August, the Atomic Danes held elections for all
STEM Fields: Summer Ash, the director of outreach for
executive board positions. Rebecca D’Esposito and Leah
Columbia University’s Department of Astronomy (also a
Seebald held co-president positions, Erica Brunelle and
freelance science writer and communicator); Lori Ana
Tom Kenderdine co-vice president positions, and Neil
Bromberg, a forensic scientist with the NYS Police
Robertson and Nidhi Nandu co- treasurer positions. In
Forensic Investigation Center; and Teri Quinn Grey, a
addition, the Atomic Danes expanded their club roster to
Technology Manager with Dupont Performance
12 members and plan to have events in 2018 to recruit
Materials, known for her service on the ACS Women
more members.
Chemists Committee. To welcome incoming graduates
students into the Department of Chemistry, the Atomic — Contributed by Rebecca D’Esposito
11Recent Funding Highlights
Evgeny Dikarev received a grant from CRDF Global to continue his work on
protective coating of industrial cathode materials of rechargeable batteries. He also
received a three-year grant for beamtime at Argonne National Laboratory.
Jan Halamek, the PI of the project, was awarded a 3-year $235,000 grant from the
National Institute of Justice for “research and development in forensic science for
criminal justice purposes.” Crystal Huynh, a Ph.D. student from the Halámek lab, was
also awarded a Graduate Fellowship from NIJ. These grants will support the group in
furthering their research in the novel analyses of various biological samples for use in
the forensic field. Ph.D. student Erica Brunelle was awarded the 2017-2018 Lawrence
and Marie Shore Graduate Scholarship in the Life Science as was as the Fall 2016
Graduate Student Travel Award.
Igor Lednev renewed his research grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
for developing a new method for body fluid trace identification (2010-2020
continuous funding). Additional support received for gunshot residue analysis brings
the total NIJ funding in Lednev laboratory to $1.34M in the years 2017-2020.
Rabi Musah received a 3-year NSF grant for $484,000.00 for the study of the
chemical kinetics of plant-emitted volatiles with environmentally relevant free radicals,
and a 3-year grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) for the development of
rapid approaches to determine the structures of novel opioids for the benefit of crime
laboratories. She also is principle investigator on a NSF and New York State grant for
$714,000.00 for the acquisition of a 500 MHz NMR instrument with a cryoprobe for
the Chemistry Department. She serves as Co-PI on a grant from the NIJ for the
development of a new mass spectrometry-based small molecule imaging technique
(laser ablation DART imaging-mass spectrometry—LADI-MS).
Marina Petrukhina was named August-Wilhelm Scheer Visiting Professor and
Honorary Fellow of TUM (Technical University of Munich) Institute for Advanced
Study and received a fellowship for conducting research at TUM in Germany in
summer of 2017.
Maksim Royzen received a 3-year $390,000 grant from the NSF to develop new
synthetic tools for making RNA oligonucleotides.
Jia Sheng received a 3-year $500,000 NSF grant from Division of Molecular and
Cellular Bioscience (MCB), 09/2017-08/2020, entitled “Synthetic Biology
Approaches to Elucidate and Exploit Nature's Selection of Lipid Modified RNA” to
study the biosynthetic pathway of tRNA geranylation, a recently discovered lipid
modification on bacterial tRNA. He also received a 3-year $443,197 R15 grant from
NIH as the PI in collaboration with Prof. Thomas Begley (SUNY CNSE), entitled
“Environmental Epitrascriptomic Studies and Tools Focused on the Wobble Uridine”
to study stress-induced RNA modifications and translational regulation, which will
be used to develop new antibiotics.
Qiang Zhang received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation as
the PI.
12OUR FACULTY
Li Niu Igor Lednev Lawrence Snyder
Professor & Chair Professor & Director, Forensics Institute Professor Emeritus
Paul Agris Rabi Musah Paul Toscano
Professor & Director, RNA Institute Associate Professor Associate Professor & Director of
Eric Block Jayanti Pande Undergraduate Studies
Carla Rizzo Delray Distinguished Professor Associate Professor Jun Wang
Alan Chen Marina Petrukhina Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor Professor Ting Wang
Evgeny Dikarev Maksim Royzen Assistant Professor
Professor Assistant Professor Zhang Wang
Dan Fabris Charles Scholes Assistant Professor
Professor Professor John Welch
Jeremy Feldblyum Alexander Shekhtman Professor
Assistant Professor Professor & Director, Graduate Studies Mehmet Yigit
Gerd-Uwe Flechsig Jia Sheng Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Qiang Zhang
Jan Halamek Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
OUR STAFF
Brian A. Gabriel Colin Henck Lan Huynh
Administrative Manager Undergraduate Laboratory Coordinator Instructional Support Technician
Stephanie Waltersdorf David S. Burz Katie Saxton
Department Secretary Instructional Support Specialist Instructional Support Technician
Tim Muzio
Instructional Support Technician
HONOR ROLL OF DONORS
The Department of Chemistry thanks all of the donors for their generous support.
The following donors have contributed to The University at Albany’s Department of Chemistry from September 1, 2016 to November 1, 2017
TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
Mr. Oliver C. Boomhower Mr. Chunhong He Ms. Kathleen M. Pappalardo
Richard C. Bopp, Ph.D. Sharon R. Kantor, Ph.D., Esq. Mr. George W. Parker
Mr. Christopher J. Brunelle Mr. George M. Lein Ms. Patricia M. Scensny
Zhefei Chen, Ph.D. Ms. Maria A. Lein Mr. Elbert J. Schermerhorn
Ms. Ashley L. Colvin Jian Lin, Ph.D. Schwab Charitable Fund
Mr. Gary C. Davis Mr. Christopher M. Manzino Prof. Lawrence C. Snyder, Ph.D.
Ms. Kathleen Davis Mr. Edward Messer Dr. Leslie H. Sultan
Ms. Jennifer E. De Rose Mr. Drake M. Michno Mr. Gregory van Buskirk, Ph.D.
Mr. Michael A. Eissenstat Ms. Melissa S. Myers Mr. J.R. Vargas
Ms. Ann M. Grumet Ms. Lisa Ng
Dennis S. Hackett, Ph.D. Prof. Li Niu, Ph.D.
13Faculty Retirements
Reflections on 50 years in Academia Eric Block, Carla Rizzo Delray Distinguished Professor
As I vacate my office and labs and olfaction, and election as a Fellow of the ACS and AAAS. I’m also
prepare to move part-time to California, I look proud of my mentoring activities for UAlbany faculty colleagues
back with nostalgia on my years in Albany. I as well as 70 former members of my research group, most
remember arriving after a cross-country drive gainfully employed in academia, government and industry. I
from St. Louis in the summer of 1981 with my fondly recall how some of my group members, as they were
wife Judy and two young children, David and completing their doctoral or postdoctoral studies with me, met
Melinda. Thirty-seven years later I will be their spouses and married, or became parents. There were
re-marrying after Judy’s untimely passing in 2015. With my fiancé certainly many happy milestones to celebrate over the years with
Shellie, we will have a blended family of five adult children, their my talented partners in research!
spouses and seven grandchildren – quite a lot of birthdays I enjoyed serving as Department Chair for six years, despite
to remember! shrinking resources and loss of faculty, such as Kenneth Karlin
The Department and University today are dramatically and Jon Zubieta, to other institutions. With my colleagues, I
different than they were when John Welch and I first arrived. recruited Frank Hauser and Charles Scholes, hosted chemical
Larry Snyder was Chair of the all-male, modestly equipped meetings on campus, and brought in money to the Department
Department, confined to the original chemistry building with its from local companies. Other career highlights included
1960’s fume hoods. Luckily, we had a core of excellent faculty who sabbaticals in Italy, the UK, Israel and China, teaching stints at
we still celebrate today, like Arthur Long, Henry Kuivila and Harvard and the University of Bologna, 24 years (and counting)
Sheldon Bank, as well as a Department glassblower and artist as an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Agricultural and
(ChemDraw didn’t exist so chemical structures were hand drawn). Food Chemistry, and publication of four books, including English
To prepare manuscripts we relied on a typing pool of three and Chinese language editions of my book on garlic and onions,
secretaries and their Selectric typewriters with typing balls and with forewords by Corey for both editions. It was especially
correcting tape, mimeograph and spirit duplicators for exams, and gratifying that the New York Times published a half-page review
projected slides supplementing chalk for seminars, with yardsticks of my garlic book, leading to a live studio interview with Ira
as pointers. I brought with me from my 14-year teaching position Flatow on NPR’s Science Friday, and an ACS Webcast.
at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, and my graduate school At age 75 I am not truly retiring from my 50 years of
years with E.J. Corey at Harvard, my collection of plastic Fieser professional life since in 2018 I will join the Department of
molecular models, all-glass molecular stills for purifying small Chemistry at UCLA as a Visiting Scholar and 2018 Christopher
samples, a collection of stinky chemicals, and stacks of index cards S. Foote Lecturer. I will also give seminars at UC Berkeley, Santa
summarizing useful information on organic reactions. Barbara and San Diego, next summer will travel to Japan to give
While by today’s standards those times seemed somewhat invited lectures at two different international meetings, and will
primitive, with my talented coworkers, I generated sufficient continue with my writing. In my spare time, I hope to bicycle with
publications in JACS (44) and elsewhere to secure continued NSF my family by the ocean in Santa Monica, pursue photography
funding, which I fortunately still have today! A Guggenheim in scenic areas of the West Coast, and with Shellie, spend more
Fellowship (1984) and Scientific American (1985) and Angewandte time our family and friends. We will return during summers to
Chemie (1992) review articles on garlic and onions, now each with Albany, reconnecting with our many University and community
more than 1000 citations, helped me successfully compete for friends here.
ACS national awards. I’m particularly proud of the 2016 Ernest
Guenther Award for my career-long research on alliums and
Historical Perspective of My Time at the University and in the Chemistry Department (1973-2017)
Charles Scholes, Prof. Emeritus, Chemistry
I started at the university in 1973 at and I can remember many an afternoon as they looked on
age 30 and was in the Physics Department nervously while I polluted their lab. In those days the university
for the first 17 years of my tenure here. was exceedingly frugal with startup funds; I received $10K of
For four years I shared an electron startup. However, it was easier to obtain major funding, and
paramagnetic resonance (EPR) apparatus, with my NIH funding starting in 1974, I purchased my own
which I modified and rebuilt, with senior EPR equipment that served well for the next 35 years. When
faculty Prof. James Corbett. The it became obvious that I would have a fundable research
Chemistry Department was right next door, because that’s program, the university finally got around in 1978 to
where, thanks to the generosity of Prof. Yash Myer and later constructing my downstairs lab in the basement between
Tsoo King, I did most of my in-house chemical preparations. Physics and Chemistry, a lab which was re-renovated for new
Jayanti and Ajay Pande were graduate students in Yash’s lab, faculty member Jeremy Feldblyum in 2017.
14Faculty Retirements continued
I had good collegial interaction with my fellow faculty in In the mid 1990’s the Chemistry Department went through
Physics and continue to have it to this day. Still, my area of a low point in number of faculty, research activity, and morale.
biophysical/biochemical research was quite different from the The clouds started to lift and the sun to shine when Rabi Musah
major focus of the Physics Department. So, when the Chemistry joined the department in 1998. Morale continued to improve
Department needed to replace research active faculty in 1990, when John Welch became Chairman, the department added
Chairman Block asked me to join the Chemistry Department. highly research-active faculty: Marina Petrukhina, Evgeny
My lab continued to be in the same place, but gradually the Dikarev, Igor Lednev, Li Niu, Alex Shekhtman, and Jayanti
emphasis of my lab shifted to subjects like protein folding and Pande. The direction started by Prof. Welch has continued
RNA-DNA stem loops. It was fun and a challenge to learn and under Chairman Li so that the number of faculty is now back
develop techniques that were new and necessary, like site- up to what it was in the early 1970’s. I wish I were 20 years
directed mutagenesis and RNA-DNA gels which were more in younger to enjoy the renaissance of the Chemistry Department.
line with what the Chemistry Department does.
Alumni News
Matthew Platz, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, University of Hawaii at Hilo, B.Sc. SUNY Albany, 1973
I was born in the Bronx, graduated from Far In my junior and senior years I benefitted from more
Rockaway High School in Queens and arrived outstanding teachers like Professors Laurezi and Herriott.
at what was then called the State University of
I moved from Albany to new Haven and obtained a Ph.D. in
NY at Albany in August of 1969.
chemistry from Yale University in 1977 studying with Professor
Those were tumultuous times. The NYC Jerome Berson. Following a post-doctoral year at the University
teachers were on strike during my senior year in of Chicago with Professor Gerhard Closs, I joined the faculty of
High School and many school days were lost. The country was The Ohio State University as an assistant professor of chemistry
reeling from the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, in 1978 and was promoted to associate professor in 1984, to full
Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. The professor in 1990 and served as department chair from 1994-1999.
Vietnam War was raging, Nixon was president and the country There were university awards for distinguished teaching and
was, like now, painfully divided along lines of class and race. research, and in 2001 I was named Distinguished University
Tensions turned to violence during the spring semester of my Professor of Chemistry. I served Ohio State as a Vice Provost and
freshmen year with student deaths at Kent State and Jackson State Dean and as Director of the Division of Chemistry of the National
Universities. Protests led to a campus shutdown and Albany Science Foundation from September 2010-January 2013. At the
students were sent home early. Professors gave students pass/fail NSF I worked to develop the SUSCHEM and INFEWS
grades based on the work completed to date. programs and a partnership with the EPA.
My first two chemistry professors were Arthur Long and After retiring from the Ohio State University in January 2013
Henry Kuivila. They were both outstanding teachers and I moved to the University of Hawaii Hilo as Vice Chancellor for
confirmed and strengthened my interest in pursuing a B.Sc. degree Academic Affairs. I returned to the faculty ranks in Hilo on August
in chemistry. I still have my notes from their classes and refer to 1, 2017 to pursue my love of teaching and to putter around a
them as I prepare my own classes. One of my proudest moments lab again.
was to return to Albany and give the Kuivila Lecture. I was a The Platz laboratory at Ohio State enjoyed funding from the
product of a special chemistry major curriculum in existence then National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health
that has served me well. I was so fortunate to learn chemistry in a and the private sector. Our laboratory has been recognized by the
small class with dedicated faulty. James Flack Norris Award, the Cope Scholar award of the
I was taught by Professors Bank and Frost during my American Chemical Society, the Remsen Award and the 2017
Oesper Award of the University of Cincinnati (http://www.artsci.
sophomore year. I played football and lacrosse that year and made
uc.edu/content/dam/artsci/departments/chemistry/Docs/Matthew
the decision to spend the summer of 1971 in Albany living,
Platz.pdf).
working and working out with a couple of other athletes. That was
a pivotal summer in my life as I met Joan Horn, the love of my life In my career I have mentored well over a hundred
(still going strong after 47 years) and started research in the undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral research students,
laboratory of Professor Bank. Shelley was a gregarious, fun loving published over 300 peer reviewed papers, edited three books,
mentor and also a Bronx native. He was a truly inspiring mentor delivered over 200 invited lectures and holds over a dozen patents
and my time with him was pivotal in convincing me to pursue a in the use of photochemistry to eradicate pathogens present in
Ph.D. and an academic career. I have spent my professional life transfusable blood products. I am most proud of course of my three
trying to emulate him as a teacher and physical-organic chemist. adult children and most enamored of my grandkids.
15You can also read
