Chemistry News

Chemistry offers a course called Cutting Edge Chemistry: Research and Career Opportunities. Building upon the foundations of the learning community, this course is designed to get students to start to think about their post-graduation plans.

The course is team taught by Levi Stanley, associate professor in chemistry; Aaron Sadow, professor of chemistry; Joe Burnett, senior lecturer in chemistry; and Terry Kruse, academic adviser in chemistry.

“We want students to be able to connect with the stories,” Burnett said. “We really want the faculty to come in and talk about their career paths, the decisions that they made and to talk about their current research interests.”

The course also brings in scientists from industry settings, career consultants from the American Chemical Society and students who have had research or internship experiences and includes fields trips to nearby businesses that employ chemists such as Ames’ water treatment plant, Hach Chemical, or a student favorite – the state crime lab in Ankeny.

“Chem 110 was very useful for career planning because we heard a variety of speakers who all took different career paths,” said Matthew Ryan (‘20 chemistry). “This made me realize that for a field such as chemistry, there are endless career options to explore and consider.”

In the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 13 students recieved Dean's High Impact Undergraduate Research Awards to support their summer research with faculty. The Department of Chemistry touts three awardees, Katelyn Baumler, Zachary Robole, and Anthony Song.

Baumler is working in the lab of Javier Vela, on synthesizing a semiconductor that could be used in thermoelectric devices, which convert waste heat into useable energy.

Robole is working in the lab of Brett VanVeller, observing boronic acids as a key modulator in controlling the oxidation of catechol (a biorenewable feedstock and a base molecule for many kinds of products).

Song is working in the lab of Jacob Petrich, on determining the parameters for quantifying the amount of grass consumend by cows by looking at chlorophyll specific optical signature of milk.

We wish these undergraduate research all the best in the pursuit of the academic and career goals.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Lecture Series highlights faculty excellence in learning, discovery, and engagement in Iowa State’s largest college. The dean invites LAS faculty of international preeminence to present lectures from their own areas of expertise on topics of interest to the general public, designed to stimulate high-quality, intellectual discussion among faculty, staff, students, and community members.

Lectures are held during the fall and spring semesters during the academic year. Anand was selected to present the Fall 2018 LAS Dean's Lecture, watch the Seminar page for additional details on the date and time as it becomes available.

Science Bound is a program started by Iowa State University to empower Iowa students of color to pursue degrees and careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The program works with middle and high school students from Des Moines, Denison and Marshalltown.

Each summer, the Young Engineers and Scientists (YES) program at Iowa State works with Science Bound students. YES is a six-week paid internship where students work with a faculty mentor on research in STEM disciplines at Iowa State. YES also holds seminars for the students to focus on their academic and professional development.

Emily Smith, professor of chemistry, is among the faculty mentors working with YES this summer. Smith will work with a student to use light to investigate properties of different types of samples. They will focus on the effects of temperature on chemicals that have intriguing but poorly understood properties. The Science Bound students bring a fresh perspective and excitement to the lab.

Javier Vela, associate professor of chemistry, started a local chapter of Project SEED at Iowa State, a summer research program through the American Chemistry Society to give economically disadvantaged students a glimpse of what it’s like to be a chemist.

Vela works with Science Bound to recruit students for the program. This year there were more than 40 applicants. Three students were chosen from Roosevelt and North High School in Des Moines and will work with Vela; Vincenzo Venditti, assistant professor of chemistry; and Jared Anderson, professor of chemistry.

Brett VanVeller is passionate about helping students learn to apply their chemistry knowledge in a logical manner. He helps students connect very basic characteristics of atoms, such as their electronic properties, with how that relates to their structure, then how the structure relates to their activity and so on, building a framework for understanding how all the pieces fit together.

Read more about VanVeller's teaching and research.

Houk devised, demonstrated and improved an experiment called inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). From searching for nuclear weapon activity to monitoring human health, ICP-MS detects what no other instrument can. Houk’s development of ICP-MS changed standards and methods in detecting and monitoring trace elements.

ICP-MS is not the only method for detecting trace elements, but it does provide the most comprehensive picture to date. It can measure 70 or more elements down to 1 part per trillion, providing more information to be seen with fewer samples and in less time.

Finding trace amounts of elements may seem similar to the task of searching for a needle in a haystack. But, thanks to Houk, it is now done with an extremely sensitive, multielement metal detector.