Past Events

2024

  • Head shot of speaker
    Aug 30, 2024 - 1:10 PM
    to , -
    Location
    1352 Gilman Hall

     CO and CO2 Hydrogenation into Fuels and Chemicals in 3D Microreactors 

    Debasish. Kuila

    Department of Chemistry and Applied Sciences and Technology, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411 dkuila@ncat.edu

    Abstract: Catalytic conversion of biomass into fuels, chemical synthons and value-added chemicals  using microchannel microreactors and tubular reactors is one of the main objectives at our NSF-CREST Bioenergy Center. In our previous studies, we investigated the use of silicon (Si) and 3-D printed stainless steel (SS) microreactor to understand metal-support interaction of different catalysts and their stabilities on formation of hydrocarbons at 1 atm and 20 bar.1-4   Mesoporous silica supported catalyst such as Co-Ru-KIT-6 exhibits a long-range ordered structure as evidenced by BET and lower-angle XRD studies, and yielded liquid fuel in SS the microreactor at 20 bar. 5  Our studies with  Fe and Fe-Co catalysts have been extended to supports such as  mixed SiO2-Al2O36 , graphene oxide (GO)7 and also in the presence of metal promoters.  An overview of our ongoing studies on Direct Air Capture of CO2 (DAC) and development of catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation also in the presence of Non-thermal Plasma will be presented. 

    References:  1. R. Y. Abrokwah et al, Molecular Catalysis, 2019, 478, 110566. 2. N. Mohammad et al, (a) Catalysts 2019, 9, 872;  4;  (b) Catalysis Today 2020; 358, 303-315. 3. S. Bepari et al., Applied Cat. A, 2020 (4), 608, 117838.   5) N. Mohammad et al,  Catalysis Today, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2021.09.038, 6) M. Arslan et al, Current Topics in Catalysis, 2023, 66:477–497 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11244-022-01733-z. 7) S. Hassan, et al, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 2024, 67, 1248-1261.

    Biography: Debasish Kuila, previous Chair and Professor of chemistry, is the Research Director of NSF-CREST Bioenergy Center and the PI of the DOE-BES and DOE-EERE projects at North Carolina A&T. He is an affiliate of JSNN and an adjunct professor of Wake Forest School of Medicine.  He spent over 14 years at Hoechst Celanese and Great Lakes Chemical Corporations, Purdue, and Louisiana Tech University. His research interest spans from materials/biomaterials, CO2 capture/conversion, plastics upcycling, cell biology on modified surfaces, to catalysis. He was the 2020 Senior Researcher of the CoST, and received 2019 Chemcon Distinguished Speaker Award at the International Conference on Energy & Environment, Jaipur, India.

     

  • Aug 22, 2024 - 1:00 PM
    to , -

    Title: Coupled Cluster, QUAOs, and Coffee: A Caffeinated Journey into the Depths of Quantum Chemistry

    Link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/97064732098?pwd=bMew9ck2JqlvFaXoQd1zWAh0xtnmGT.1

     

  • Aug 21, 2024 - 3:00 PM
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    Location
    Hach 0203

    Title: Improving Bioanalytical Methods for Nucleic Acids with Chemically Tuned Separations

    Link: https://iastate.webex.com/meet/eitzmann

     

  • Aug 15, 2024 - 9:00 AM
    to Aug 15, 2024 - 11:00 AM

                                                                                   Violent Incident Response Training (VIRT)

                                                                                                  Date: Thursday Aug 15

                                                                                                      Time: 9 – 11 am

                                                                                               Location: 1352 Gilman Hall

     

     

    Presenters: 

    Detective Allison Aitchison, Threat Assessment and Management, Iowa State University Police Department

    Lieutenant David Peterson, Threat Assessment and Management, Iowa State University Police Department

     

    Violent Incident Response Training (VIRT) 

    Your safety is important to Iowa State University and the ISU Police. We offer free training and education to help ensure your safety, including Violent Incident Response Training (VIRT). An options-based response empowers our community to use a flexible set of principles to adapt to any violent encounter: Avoid, Deny, Defend. Preparation is the key for any situation we face in life -- the more prepared we are, the better we perform.

     

    Purpose of training

    The goal is to begin mental preparation for recognizing, assessing, and responding to threats. Avoid, Deny, Defend is taught around the country to law enforcement, college campuses, K-12 schools, private businesses, and other social organizations.

     

    We are trained to react to fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and other types of disasters. This program is no different. By studying previous violent incidents around the world, it has been found that certain techniques work and others don’t.

     

    The training is not designed to scare you into thinking there is a violent situation lurking around every corner. Instead, it provides you with options for violent situations.

     

  • Jun 26, 2024 - 10:00 AM
    to , -
    Location
    1652 Gilman Hall

    Title: Design, Synthesis, and Characterization of Photocage Molecules for Light-Activated Release: Applications in Polymer Chemistry and Phototherapeutics

    Link: https://iastate.webex.com/meet/atreyee09

     

  • Jun 13, 2024 - 1:00 PM
    to , -
    Location
    Gilman 1652

    Title: Exploration of novel Cu-containing semiconductors and their applications in the field of alternate energy

    Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m1d774360b792d7fa9b212b36968fe0e1

  • Jun 12, 2024 - 2:00 PM
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    Location
    Gilman Hall 1652

    Title: Investigating the utility of personalized learning experiences for chemistry students through technological classroom integrations

    Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m808a44b53ffafe58fc91f401a4372287

  • Jun 5, 2024 - 9:00 AM
    to , -
    Location
    Hach 0203

    Title: Light-Driven Activation: Developing Photocages for Synthesis and Biomedical Applications

    Link: https://iastate.webex.com/meet/komadhie

  • Jun 3, 2024 - 12:30 PM
    to Jun 3, 2024 - 2:00 PM
    Location
    Hach 2140
  • May 22, 2024 - 2:00 PM
    to , -
    Location
    Gilman 1652

    Title: Development of Analytical Tools and Functional Materials for Cellular Analysis in Microscale Chambers

    Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m5a9ebe50de56906b7c18ff1c9b5708f7

  • May 9, 2024 - 10:00 AM
    to , -
    Location
    Hach Hach 1221

    Title: Electrokinetic modification of in-droplet ionic composition for microscale bioanalysis and sample preparation

    Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=m6d5d09a451c6bc2e894095c42ac389a7

  • May 8, 2024 - 9:00 AM
    to , -

    Title: Tuning chemical properties of heterobimetallic complexes and transition metal dichalcogenides

    Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/j.php?MTID=md9722f3629f1b7f4db4a151eecd2c9cc

  • Speaker head shot
    May 3, 2024 - 3:20 PM
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    Location
    1352 Gilman

    Karena Chapman

    Stony Brook University

    Inorganic/Physical

    Hosted by: Aaron Rossini

    Abstract:

    X-ray visions: Insights into functional energy materials

    Abstract:   Our need for clean energy drive widespread materials research, from energy storage in lithium-ion batteries to efficient catalytic conversions of chemical fuels to  the capture of CO2 from the air. Breakthroughs can be driven by discoveries of new materials or advances in the tools that we use to understand how these materials function and fail. We exploit advanced characterization tools to probe the atomic structure of energy materials in situ, as they function or react. This allows us to identify how their functional behaviors are governed by their structure and chemistry. These fundamental insights serve as a road map towards next-generation clean energy solutions. This presentation will describe recent insights into the structure-function relationship in energy-relevant materials derived from operando high energy synchrotron X-ray scattering and pair distribution function analysis. 

    Bio:

    Karena Chapman is the Endowed Chair in Materials Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University. Before moving the Stony Brook University, she was a chemist at Argonne National Laboratory, building first dedicated Pair Distribution Function instrument at the Advanced Photon Source. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her research focuses on understanding the coupling of structure and reactivity in energy-relevant materials for which she develops new operando characterization tools and analytics. She is currently engaged in projects on nanoporous materials for catalysis and CO2 capture and advanced materials synthesis. Her work has been recognized as one of American Chemical Society's Talented 12 in 2016, was awarded the 2015 MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award and the 2023 Hanawalt Award. She has served as a main editor of the Journal of Applied Crystallography and is currently an Associate Editor for ACS Energy Letters.

  • May 2, 2024 - 2:00 PM
    to , -
    Location
    0312 Gilman Hall

    Title: Ion concentration polarization at a packed bed of microbeads for high-throughput preconcentration and label-free electrochemical detection of charged analytes

    In-person only

  • Apr 26, 2024 - 3:20 PM
    to , -
    Location
    1352 Gilman

    Paul Robustelli

    Dartmouth College

    Hosted by: Vincenzo Venditti

    **BioPhysical Seminar**

    Targeting Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Biomolecular Condensates with Small Molecule Drugs

    Abstract:

    Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which represent ~40% of the human proteome, play crucial roles in a variety of biological pathways and biomolecular assemblies and have been implicated in many human diseases. IDPs do not fold into a well-defined three-dimensional structure under physiological conditions. Instead, they populate a dynamic conformational ensemble of rapidly interconverting structures. As a result, IDPs are extremely difficult to experimentally characterize and are largely considered “undruggable” by conventional structure-based drug design methods.  Our laboratory utilizes a combination of computational and biophysical methods to characterize the molecular recognition mechanisms of intrinsically disordered proteins in atomic detail.  Here I will discuss recent progress in our efforts to characterize the interactions of IDPs with small molecule drugs, understand molecular mechanisms that drive the formation of biomolecular condensate, and understand how small molecule drugs modulate biomolecular condensate stability. 

    Bio:

    Paul Robustelli, PhD. is an assistant professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, where his research focuses on the integration of computational and experimental methods to study dynamic and disordered proteins. Dr. Robustelli utilizes computer simulations and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to model the conformational ensembles of intrinsically disordered proteins at atomic resolution to understand how small molecule drugs bind and inhibit disordered proteins and rationally design novel disordered protein inhibitors. Dr. Robustelli has made contributions to the development of physical models (“force fields”) that enable accurate simulations of disordered proteins and computational methods to integrate NMR data as restraints in molecular simulations.

    Dr. Robustelli earned his B.A. in chemistry from Pomona College and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cambridge in the laboratory of Michele Vendruscolo.  Before joining the chemistry faculty at Dartmouth, Paul worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in the laboratory of Arthur Palmer III and as a scientist at D.E. Shaw Research.

  • Apr 19, 2024 - 3:20 PM
    to , -
    Location
    1352 Gilman

    Boone M. Prentice, Ph.D.

    Assistant Professor

    University of Florida

    Hosted by: Young-Jin Lee

    Abstract

    Imaging with high chemical and spatial resolutions using mass spectrometry

    Imaging mass spectrometry is a powerful analytical technique for analyzing the spatial lipidome. This technology enables the visualization of molecular pathology directly in tissues by combining the specificity of mass spectrometry with the spatial fidelity of microscopic imaging. This label-free methodology has proven exceptionally useful in research areas such as cancer diagnosis, diabetes, and infectious disease. However, state-of-the-art experiments stress the limits of current analytical technologies, necessitating improvements in molecular specificity and sensitivity in order to answer increasingly complicated biological and clinical hypotheses. Especially when studying lipids, many isobaric (i.e., same nominal mass) and isomeric (i.e., same exact mass) compounds exist that complicate spectral analysis, with each structure having a potentially unique cellular function. The Prentice Lab develops instrumentation and novel gas-phase reactions to provide unparalleled levels of chemical resolution. These gas-phase transformations are fast, efficient, and specific, making them ideally suited for implementation into imaging mass spectrometry workflows. For example, these workflows have enabled the identification of multiple sn-positional phosphatidylcholine isomers, the separation of isobaric phosphatidylserines and sulfatides, and the identification of fatty acid double bond isomers using a variety of charge transfer and covalent ion/ion reactions as well as ion/electron and ion/photon reactions. Working with biologists and clinicians, we then leverage these novel imaging technologies to understand the molecular events associated with important problems in human health, including infectious disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases.

    Bio

    Boone Prentice is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Longwood University (Farmville, VA), and completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN) under the mentorship of Prof. Scott McLuckey studying gas-phase ion/ion reactions and ion trap instrumentation. He then completed his postdoctoral work in the Department of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) as an NIH NRSA fellow under the guidance of Prof. Richard Caprioli before joining the faculty at UF in 2018. He was awarded an NIH Focused Technology Research and Development R01 grant in 2020 and a JDRF Innovation Award in 2023 to support his research developing gas-phase reactions and imaging mass spectrometry technologies to study the molecular pathology of diabetes, infectious disease, neurodegeneration, and neuropharmacology. He was also awarded the 2022 Young Investigator Award from Eli Lilly and Company, which is an unsolicited award given annually by Eli Lilly’s Analytical Chemistry Academic Contacts Committee to recognize a “rising star” in analytical chemistry, and was highlighted as a 2023 Emerging Investigator by the Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and as a 2023 Young Investigator in (Bio-)Analytical Chemistry by Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry.

  • Apr 19, 2024 - 1:10 PM
    to , -
    Location
    1352 Gilman

    Professor Jason Chen

    Scripps Research - Former ISU Professor (2011-2016)

    Hosted by: Wenyu Huang, Levi Stanley and Brett VanVeller

    Abstract:

    Beyond the Round Bottom: Transforming Academic Synthesis

    The Automated Synthesis Facility at Scripps Research provides hardware, software, and services in
    support of data-rich synthetic organic chemistry. Founded in 2017, the facility operates $7 million in
    equipment in support of diverse projects including reaction discovery, kinetics studies, and natural
    products total synthesis. The facility helps scientists to speed up research and improve data quality with
    the long-term goal of enabling innovative projects and transforming organic synthesis research. Towards
    these ends, the facility staff works with Scripps chemists to develop project-specific solutions and with
    instrument vendors to deliver enabling technologies. Vignettes illustrating how the facility works towards
    these goals will include examples from chiral reaction development, DNA-encoded library research,
    isotopic labeling studies, and chemistry involving gaseous reagents.

    Bio:

    Dr. Chen participated in International Chemistry Olympiad in high school, 2nd place in 1997. He
    received his undergrad and master’s at Harvard with Matthew Shair. Dr. Chen then worked two
    years at Enanta Pharmaceuticals as a medicinal chemist working on analogs of the
    immunosuppressant cyclosporin A, mostly by olefin metathesis. He then obtained his Ph.D. from
    The Scripps Research Institute with K.C. Nicolaou including postdoctoral studies, with work
    including total synthesis of uncialamycin (route used by BMS in antibody-drug conjugate
    program), asymmetric dichlorination, and co-authorship of the book Classics in Total Synthesis
    III. Dr. Chen then went to Iowa State University as an Assistant Professor working on reaction
    development, total synthesis, and biorenewable materials research, where he received an NSF
    CAREER and an ISU honors program teaching award. Dr. Chen then returned to Scripps
    Research where he built the Automated Synthesis Facility from scratch and obtained an NIH S10
    equipment grant. He is now the Senior Director overseeing the collective core facilities at
    Scripps Research.

  • Thiel Atrium Dedication
    Apr 17, 2024 - 5:00 PM
    to Apr 17, 2024 - 6:00 PM
    Location
    Thiel Atrium in Hach Hall
  • Graduate Student Awards Ceremony
    Apr 17, 2024 - 3:45 PM
    to Apr 17, 2024 - 5:00 PM
    Location
    1352 Gilman Hall, Iowa State University
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