There were four wonderful and informative talks given by four outstanding finalists, but the judges have awarded the Cotton-Uphaus award this year to Bryan Lampkin. Great job Bryan, and please join me in congratulating all of our finalists!
One of the problems for Javier Vela and the chemists in his Iowa State University research group was that a toxic material worked so well in solar cells.
And so any substitute for the lead-containing perovskites used in some solar cells would have to really perform. But what could they find to replace the perovskite semiconductors that have been so promising and so efficient at converting sunlight into electricity?
Davit Potoyan and his research team have made advancements in the understanding of the nature of embryonic stem cells and how they transition into specific adult cells by using a novel computational methodology. The knowledge could one day lead to advancements in organ growing for transplants, reducing reliance on organ donation.
Terry Kruse has been awarded the LAS Staff ExCYllence Award. His nominator described him as, "a go-to transfer recruiter and relationship builder for the LAS College as we work with Iowa Community Colleges." It takes a fully committed staff to serve students well can we can't thank him enough for the work he does!
He will receive a cartificate of apprecation and a small gift of recognition of his award.
This summer, invest in yourself by taking Chemistry summer courses, enjoy smaller class sizes, fewer distractions and get ahead/stay on track to meet your graduation goals. The 8-week semester allows you to focus on the class, and many students have seen an improvement in their GPA. Best of all, you can enjoy a beautiful summer in Ames.
Chemistry is fun year-round, see the full list of courses at
Summer 2018 courses in Chemistry
Questions? Email isuchemistry@iastate.edu or call 515.294.6352 or visit 1608 Gilman Hall
Samuel Massie, of Little Rock, Arkansas, worked as a chemist at Iowa State University's Ames Laboratory during the Manhattan Project.
Hedgehog spin-vortex crystals
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has discovered a missing piece to enable novel superconductor devices–the hedgehog spin-vortex crystal phase.
UFMAS improves NMR technology. “Many new materials have been developed in the past decade to address needs for energy conversion and storage,” said Aaron Rossini, a scientist at Ames Laboratory, and a professor of chemistry at Iowa State University. “However, there is still a lot we don’t know about how these materials function. We want to change that and bring new information to the table that will be used to optimize these materials.
“Our work could have far-reaching impact on a lot of fields, in electronics, lighting, solar cells, nanoparticle design, materials with a variety of energy applications,” said Rossini. “If we are able to explain how structure and function are related, we can help direct intelligent materials design.”
Winter will build upon his lab’s work with dynamic materials, including organic plastics that reversibly alter their physical state due to environmental changes. Through innovation with free radical building blocks, Winter’s lab may be able to create revolutionary materials that could be used to manufacture glues with switchable adhesion, environmentally-responsive coatings and surfaces, artificial muscles, and self-repairing materials. Similar advancements with metals have yielded commercially viable, advanced materials making future investment from outside sources a strong possibility.
Brett VanVellar is named as one of 24 Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) Cottrell Scholars in 2018. This prestigious award is given to top early career academic scientists.
Ruedenberg, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of chemistry, will receive the 2018 Schrödinger Medal from the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC).
Amrit Venkatesh, a student in Rossini's group, has been selected to receive the Brown Graduate Fellowship for 2018-2019. This $10,000 award is given to students who are helping to advance ISU's research in the areas of science, agriculture and space science. The Brown Graduate Fellowship is to be used to strategically advance ISU research in the areas of study that are governed by the Valentine Hammes Family and Leopold Hammes Brown Family Trust. Venkatesh is one of 13 recipients this year. Congratulations!
For her other major role as the president of the International Career Council (ICC), she is responsible for helping international students at Iowa State to find approaches and solutions regarding internships, co-ops and full time positions.
Wenyu Huang and his research group created, studied and described the multi-layered spheres used to investigate catalytic reactions in nanoconfinement.
Jared Anderson, was named to be on a NAS Committee on a Research Agenda for a new Era in Separations Science. Anderon is one of 10 committee members that will create a report to provide guidance to research sponsors, as well as to the research communities in academia and industry. The report’s recommendations will focus on science needs and priorities rather than specific funding or organizational aspects.
Congratulations to Katherine Woo and Shannon Lee, graduate students in chemistry, who received NASA fellowship grants from the NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) for their research into thermoelectric materials, which can convert a heat gradient into electricity.
Katherine Woo and Shannon Lee, both graduate students in chemistry, synthesize solid state materials useful for thermoelectrics in the lab group of Kirill Kovnir, an associate professor of chemistry.
“Katherine and Shannon are hard-working students who are interested in learning new ideas and creating new compounds,” Kovnir said. “With their dedication and creativity, it is a pleasure to have such students in the group. They also excel in attracting younger generations into the science of chemistry via outreach activities.”
The thermoelectric materials Woo and Lee work with operate much like batteries. In a battery, the flow of charge across a chemical gradient creates electricity. In a thermoelectric material, the flow of charge across a thermal gradient creates electricity. Thermoelectrics are especially useful for powering devices on space missions where batteries may run out and spacecraft or extraterrestrial rover may be too far from the sun to use solar energy. In these scenarios heat generated by the decay of a radioactive isotope can be harnessed by thermoelectric generators to create electricity.
The main obstacle for using thermoelectric materials, especially on Earth where other electricity sources are prevalent, is their efficiency. Thermoelectric materials are currently not as efficient as other electricity sources. In addition to being efficient, thermoelectric materials must be stable, nonhazardous and reasonably low cost.
Woo and Lee synthesize, test and tweak materials searching for optimal thermoelectric properties. They may synthesize a material, test its properties, then add another element into the material or change the crystal structure of the material and test for how the properties changed.
“By changing the structure, you can actually affect the properties,” Lee said.
As gains in efficiency of materials are made, thermoelectrics become more practical for more uses. One way thermoelectrics can be used with existing technology is to pair them with current machines which produce heat as a way to harness some of the lost heat.
“I love chemistry that has a foreseeable application,” Woo said. “Anything that has waste heat: big machines in factories, cars, even computers, we can take this heat and actually turn it to electricity.”
Receiving the NASA grant was inspiring to both Woo and Lee.
“It’s motivational,” Woo said. “It reaffirms that the research I do has future applications.”
