Archives
Atik Faysal, recent PhD graduate, and others from the Gramlich research group, published a paper in the Journal of Polymer Chemistry, “Pathway to fully-renewable biobased Polyesters derived from HMF and phenols.” The image below is from his abstract.
Chemistry Welcomes New Staff
Welcome to Dr. Karl Bishop, who has been hired as Instrumentation Specialist/Research Associate effective July 17, 2023. Karl is well known to the department because he teaches our Quantitative Analysis course every fall for many years as an adjunct professor. We look forward to Karl continuing in the role as instructor for the Quantitative Analysis class as well as his new full time opportunities maintaining all of our scientific equipment.
Chemistry Welcomes Two New Faculty
Alessia Battigelli – After starting her independent career at the University of Oslo in Norway, Alessia joins UMaine as an assistant professor of Chemistry, where her research activity is focused on biomimetic self-assembled nanomaterials with applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering. Prior to joining UMaine, she obtained her PhD from the University of Trieste and the University of Strasbourg in 2012. She then joined the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she investigated self-assembled peptoid-based nanomaterials. In 2016, she moved to Brown University to develop new polymeric hydrogels for stem-cell therapy. In 2018, she received the ACS PMSE Future Faculty Scholars award.
Tomas Marangoni – Dr. Marangoni joined UMaine as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and FIRST, where his research activity is focused on developing new organic materials for sensing and electronic applications. After receiving his PhD from the University of Trieste in 2012, he moved to the University of California-Berkeley where he worked on the synthesis of atomtically precise Graphene Nanoribbons (GNRs). In 2016, he joined DuPont E&I developing high-performance electronic materials for commercial applications. In 2020 he received the Excellence in Science Award from DuPont E&I for his outstanding contributions in the field.
Student Spotlight 2023
Recently recognized in the Annual College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Award Banquet were the following students:
George Horvat (CLAS Outstanding Graduating Senior)
Robin Hurst (CLAS Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research & Creative Activity)
Kassidy Parkman – Stevens Scholarship for Outstanding Juniors
Senior, Mary Milligan, is featured in a student spotlight feed on the CUGR webpage. See story here.
Senior, Abigail Mulligan, of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada is the Outstanding Graduating International Student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Mulligan is an Honors College student triple-majoring in chemistry with a pre-med concentration; in food science and human nutrition, with a concentration in dietetics; and in zoology. She is minoring in psychology, sustainable food systems and neuroscience. Among her numerous honors is the Charles A. Brautlecht Scholarship, the S.P. Livermore Award, and the Dr. Melanie Gershman-Tewksbury ’77 Scholarship. Her honors thesis is: “The Development of Sustainable, Flax-Integrated, Plastic Composite.” Mulligan has been a student researcher in professor William Gramlich’s laboratory, studying the development of sustainable, flax-integrated biocomposites. She is president of the Nutrition Club, secretary of the UMaine chapter of Kappa Omicron Nu and a 4-H STEM Ambassador. Mulligan also has been a member of the UMaine Swimming and Diving team and was a peer tutor. She plans to attend medical school to pursue a career in pediatric neurosurgery. (story credit to UMaine Marketing)
Recent PhD graduate Duwage Charitha Perera and Emeritus Professor Jay Rasaiah published a paper entitled ‘Exchange Functional and Basis Sets for Density Functional Theory Studies of Water Splittings on Selected ZnO Nanoclusters” in the journal ACSOmega (https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c05666). The image is from the Table of Contents (TOC) of the journal issue in which the paper appeared
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Grant Awarded
Professor MacKenzie Stetzer (Physics and Astronomy) and Professor Mitchell Bruce (Chemistry) together with collaborating PIs and co-PIs from North Dakota State University, Penn State Greater Allegheny, and the University of North Florida have received a five-year, $2M award from the National Science Foundation for “Developing, Testing, and Disseminating Reasoning Chain Construction Tools for Use in Physics and Chemistry”.
Outstanding Lecturer Award 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Lindahl who is this year’s recipient for the CLAS Outstanding Lecturer Award for 2022. Sarah received the award at this year’s CLAS Awards Ceremony on April 26, 2022.
Promotion & Tenure
Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Brichacek for receiving promotion and tenure to Associate Professor with tenure at the March 2022 Board of Trustees Meeting. The full news article is published here. The Department of Chemistry is very proud of its faculty and their accomplishments.
Kirsten Dennen receives the George C. Marshall Army ROTC Cadet Award
U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Black Bear Battalion Cadet Kirsten Dennen of Scarborough has been named the George C. Marshall Award winner from the University of Maine.
Only the top 275 cadets out of over 6,000 nationwide receive this annual award. The award is named in honor of Army General George C. Marshall, who served as the chief of staff of the Army, and secretary of both state and defense. He was the author of the restorative Marshall Plan and was the only career soldier to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
Cadet Dennen was selected for her professional excellence, leadership, personal integrity, and selfless service to the nation.
“Cadet Dennen is a superior example of the character, competence, and commitment that Army ROTC inspires and instills in future military officers,” says Dallas Meachum, assistant professor of military science, UMaine Army ROTC.
Dennen is a 2018 graduate of Scarborough High School and a UMaine chemistry major. She will be commissioned on May 6, 2022, as an armor officer and will be assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia, for training.
Jinyoung Park ’22
Jinyoung Park of Seongnam-si, South Korea is the Outstanding Graduating International Student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Park, a chemistry major, has received International Presidential Scholarships and the Charles A. Brautlecht Scholarship, and a Center for Undergraduate Research Fellowship. For the past three semesters, Park has been collaborating with professor Matthew Brichacek on research to isolate and analyze large carbohydrate molecules called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) using TEAB auxiliary. She is president of the International Student Association and a leader in Operation H.E.A.R.T.S., and has served as a Maine learning assistant in three chemistry courses. Park will attend Dalhousie University Dental School.
A full Q&A with Park is online.
Chemistry professor Mitchell Bruce and a team of faculty, graduate students and staff recently published a paper in the Journal of Chemical Education, “Designing a Remote,
Synchronous, Hands-On General Chemistry Lab Course“. The course featured chemistry kits, which provided 800 students the opportunity to conduct hands-on experiments at home or in their dorm room during the pandemic. The journal cover art was designed by one of the co-authors, Ahmad Ahmad, a graduate student in the Chemistry Department.
Mohsen Farshad, C. Duwage Perera and Professor Jay Rasaiah have published a paper entitled “Theoretical study of the stability, structure, and optical spectra of small silver clusters and their formation using density functional theory” in a recent issue ” Physics Chemistry Chemical Physics” 2021,23,25507 published by the Royal Institute of Chemistry in the United Kingdom. They were invited to contribute to the inside cover. The cover was designed by Mohsen Farshad and Charitha Perera and is shown on this page.
Ahmad Ahmad, a graduate student in the Bruce Research group is a coauthor on an invited feature article that was recently published in Langmuir. Ahmad also designed the artwork for a journal cover which was selected for publication as a supplementary cover.
Ahmad A. L. Ahmad,1 Javad Basil Marutheri Parambath,2 Pavel S. Postnikov,3 Olga Guselnikova,3 Mohamed Mehdi Chehimi,4 Mitchell R. M. Bruce,1 Alice E. Bruce,1,* Ahmed A. Mohamed2, “Conceptual Developments of Aryldiazonium Salts as Modifiers for Gold Colloids and Surfaces” Langmuir, 2021, 37, 8897-8907.
Recent graduates from Professor Jay Rasaiah’s research group, Dr. Mohsen Farshad and Dr. Dylan Suvlu have taken postdoctoral positions. Mohsen has joined the research group of Professor Michael L. Klein at Temple University and Dylan is a postdoctoral fellow at MIT with Professor Adam Willard. Their recent publications are listed below.
- M.Farshad and J.C.Rasaiah, “Light-nucleotide versus Ion-nucleotide interactions for single nucleotide resolution”,Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2021, 125, 11, 2863–2870
- D. Suvlu, D. Thirumalai, and J. C. Rasaiah “Water-Mediated Interactions Determine Helix Formation of Peptides in Open Nanotubes”, J Physical Chemistry B.2021, 125, 3, 817–824.
- M. Farshad, J.C. Rasaiah, “Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study of Transverse and Longitudal Ionic Currents in Solid-State Nanopore DNA Sequencing“, ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2020, 3, 2, 1438-1447.
- D. Suvlu, M. Farshad, and J.C. Rasaiah, “Nanocluster Growth and Coalescence Modulated by Ligands“, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2020, 124, 31, 17340-17346
- M. Farshad, and J. C. Rasaiah “Reverse Translocation of Nucleotides through a Carbon Nanotube” Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2020, 21, 124(6):937-943.
- M. Farshad, D. Suvlu, J.C. Rasaiah, “Ligand-Mediated Nanocluster Formation with Autocatalytic and Classical Growth“, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2019, 123 (49), 29954-29963.
Ms. Charitha Perera, a graduate student in Professor Jay Rasaiah’s research group has recently published a paper. She has also been invited to speak on her research at Saint Amselm College in NH on Friday April 9th. The title of her talk will be “A Density Functional Study of Water Splitting Reaction Pathway on ZnO Nanoclusters.”
- D C. Perera, J. Hewage and J.C.Rasaiah, “AceticAcid and PropionicAcid decarboxylation on Mg(OH)2 clusters: a density functional theory study“, J.Mater Sci 2020, 55:16914-16927.
The Department of Chemistry wishes to extend sincere congratulations to Dr. Natalie Machamer for receiving the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Outstanding Lecturer Award for 2021. CLAS celebrated its faculty achievement awards at a virtual ceremony on May 6th.
Congratulations Natalie!
Department Student Awards/Student Symposium 2021
Peng Cheng, a senior double major in CHY and Math, won the UMaine Student Symposium 2021 Undergraduate Award for the Physical and Mathematical Sciences category in a virtual ceremony on April 16th. Peng’s presentation was entitled, “Surface Modification of Cellulose Nanofibrils Using Water Soluble Monomers and Subsequent Surface Polymer Characterization.” Peng is advised by Dr. William Gramlich.
Chelsea Sainsbury, senior in the Gramlich group, was recognized as the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Outstanding Senior Award for the Department of Chemistry in a virtual awards ceremony on April 19th.
Pradnya Rao, a Ph.D. in the Tripp research group, was the winner in the graduate division for Physical Sciences. Her presentation was entitled, “Colloidal Interactions to Generate Latex Coated Pigment for Paper Coating Applications.”
Faculty Mentor Award
It is with great pleasure that we announce that Dr. Jay Rasaiah has been selected by the Graduate Student Government (GSG) as one the recipients of the 2020-2021 Graduate Faculty Mentor Award! The Graduate Faculty Mentor Awards are given each year to outstanding mentors of graduate students at the University of Maine. This is an opportunity for graduate students to help recognize their mentor for their support and advice. The award was presented at a virtual ceremony on April 28, 2021.
Dr. Brian Frederick was awarded a Faculty Mentor Impact Award during Maine Impact Week April 12-16, 2021. Students were asked to nominate faculty members who had an important impact on them and Dr. Frederick was nominated by a senior, Sam Bonnevie. Congratulations Brian!
The Grand Challenge – Remote Chemistry Labs for 1,000 UMaine students.
Chemistry is an experimental science, which is best taught by doing Chemical hazards and specialized equipment tether chemistry lab courses taught at the University of Maine to sophisticated teaching labs in highly supervised, well ventilated environments. When COVID-19 hit last spring, it prompted a grand challenge: could the introductory general and organic chemistry lab courses be shifted online, in a cost effective, safe manner, while preserving an active, hands-on experimental approach?
Click here for the UMaine news article.
Department mourns long-time Professor, mentor, and friend.
It is with deep sadness that the Department of Chemistry mourns the loss of long-time colleague, Dr. Raymond Fort Jr. His obituary is here. Memorial contributions in his name can be made here.
Meet the Class of 2021