NSF Scholarship to attend Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference

Apply Now for the 2014 NSF Student Scholarships!     The ACS Green Chemistry Institute®, through a generous grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), is making available scholarship opportunities for students to attend the 18th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference (GC&E) in North Bethesda, Maryland, June 17-19, 2014 and the GC&E Student Workshop on Monday, June 16, 2014 in Washington, DC.   The NSF Scholars program will reimburse students for travel, accommodations, and registrations fee, up to a maximum of $1000. Eligibility includes undergraduate, graduate or postdoctoral students registered in an accredited U.S. college or university. Limited scholarships are available so apply now!    Take advantage of this opportunity to enhance your understanding of sustainable and green chemistry and engineering!   Application Instructions and Further Details     The GC&E Student Workshop – Monday, June 16, 2014 – Located at the American Chemical Society headquarters in Washington DC, this hands on workshop will help students understand how to evaluate the impact of chemicals and syntheses and choose greener options for their own research or labs. The workshop will be led by Dr. Marty Mulvihill (University of California - Berkeley) along with Dr. Marie Bourgeois (Professor, University of South Florida), Dr. Douglas Raynie (Professor, South Dakota State University), and Dr. David Constable (ACS GCI).    The 18th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference – June 17-19, 2014 – Students will learn about the innovations and applications of green chemistry and engineering that are contributing towards designing a more sustainable world. The conference program includes over 30 technical sessions, daily keynotes, a careers workshop, a student poster competition, and opportunity to network at the opening night reception.       We hope to see you there! The ACS Green Chemistry Institute® Team

MPCA Summer Student Worker for Green Chemistry Projects

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is seeking a student worker to support green chemistry projects this summer and possibly into the fall depending on scheduling and funding.

The job posting and application procedure is available at https://statejobs.doer.state.mn.us/JobPosting/890af31bb1489abbd6578a96dec0bc0a/View.

You must have a resume on file at the My State Job Search site before you can apply.

Applications will be accepted through May 14, 2014.

UMN and ACS to honor legacy of Professor Izaak M. Kolthoff - 12/13 Sep 2014 - Save the Date

Join us as we honor the legacy of legendary chemistry Professor Izaak M. Kolthoff

University of Minnesota Professor Izaak M. Kolthoff's (1894-1993) work in establishing the field of analytical chemistry as a scientific discipline has received the prestigious honor of being named a 2014 American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmark. This news coincides with a celebration of the centennial of Smith Hall, the classic chemistry building on the University's Northrop Mall named after Lee Irvin Smith, a professor and administrator in the Department of Chemistry from 1920-1960. Mark your calendar now to celebrate with us!

Public Ceremony
Landmark Designation and Smith Hall Centennial
Friday, Sept. 12, 2014
4 p.m.
Smith Hall, University of Minnesota
207 Pleasant St. SE, Minneapolis

The ceremony includes a plaque unveiling and public dedication in Kolthoff's honor. Speakers will represent the University of Minnesota and the American Chemical Society. The event also includes tours and a reception.

Research Symposium 
Honoring Kolthoff's Scientific Legacy
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014
8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Smith Hall, University of Minnesota
207 Pleasant St. SE, Minneapolis

The symposium will feature National Academy of Sciences members:

• Professor Allen Bard, University of Texas at Austin
• Professor Harry Gray, California Institute of Technology
• Professor Laura Kiessling, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Professor Judith Klinman, University of California, Berkeley
• Professor Richard Zare, Stanford University

Event sponsors include:

• University of Minnesota Department of Chemistry
• University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering
• Minnesota Section of the American Chemical Society

For more information, visit the event web page or send an email tochemnhld@umn.edu. More information and registration details will be available in June.

Sincerely,

William B. Tolman
Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Chair
Department of Chemistry

College of Science and Engineering
University of Minnesota

Late Addition to Chem Seminar Schedule!

Marcus Trygstad, Ole class of 1978, will be speaking this afternoon on

From Beakers to Barrels and Power Points to Patents: Applying Chemistry to Automate Industry

Trygstad is a Business Development Manager at Advanced Analytical Solutions in Houston, Texas. RNS 310, 3:00 treats, 3:15 seminar

"Big Data" Science Symposium Schedule

Chemistry majors can earn seminar credits for each talk on Friday.  Look for a faculty member with seminar cards as you enter the room.  

Thursday, April 10

7 p.m. Panel Discussion

Getting Started With Big Data: A Conversation with Four Innovators

Many of us don’t have a clue what “Big Data” really means, but fortunately we have four innovators in the field of Big Data who can help us learn more about it. The panel discussion will be moderated by Professor of Computer Science Dick Brown.

Panelists

• Katherine Yelick, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California–Berkeley and Associate Laboratory Director for Computing Sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• George Djorgovski, Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology
• Stephanie Hampton, Director of the Washington State University Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach (CEREO) and Professor, School of the Environment, Washington State University
• Francis Harvey, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota

Friday, April 11

2:45 p.m. Music by Musika Nova

3 p.m. Introduction and Welcome

Anne Walter, Professor of Biology, and the Paul and Mildred Hardy Distinguished Professor of Science at St. Olaf

3:15 p.m. “Big Data and the Future for Ecology”       

(Chemistry majors can earn 1 seminar credit for this talk)

Stephanie Hampton, Director of the Washington State University Center for Environmental Research, Education & Outreach, Professor, School of the Environment, Washington State University

The need for sound ecological science has escalated alongside the rise of the information age and “big data” across all sectors of society. Big data generally refers to massive volumes of data not readily handled by the usual data tools, and presents unprecedented opportunities for both advancing science and informing resource management through data-intensive approaches. The “Big V’s” of big data are Volume, Velocity, and Variety. There is no question that ecology is a poster child for the “Variety” that presents both challenges and opportunities in data-intensive science. Ecological data are highly heterogeneous and widely dispersed. These scattered data capture many of the details of natural history and the ecological process that are not represented in the higher volume data streams more commonly included in big data discussions. Our collective ability to successfully overcome these diverse data challenges is critical to providing sound scientific advice that promotes sustainable human societies.

4:30 p.m. “Evolving Science in Cyberspace”

(Chemistry majors can earn 1 seminar credit for this talk)

George Djorgovski, Professor of Astronomy at Caltech

Science, scholarship, and education are being profoundly transformed by advances in computation and information technology. Much of the scholarly work, including gathering of data, tools for exploration and theoretical modeling, literature, and collaboration tools, are now moving to virtual environments. The exponential growth of data volumes and the simultaneous increase in data complexity offer new scientific opportunities as well as new challenges for knowledge discovery in massive and complex data sets and data streams that are common to all sciences. These challenges are not simply technological: many aspects of this shift are deeply intellectual, striking at the core of how we discover and understand natural phenomena. We are thus now developing new methodologies for the scientific research in the 21st century. At the same time, we see an accelerated co-evolution of science, technology, and society.

7:15 p.m. Music by Musika Nova

7:30 p.m. “More Data, More Science, and … Moore’s Law?”

(Chemistry majors can earn 1 seminar credit for this talk)

Katherine Yelick, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California–Berkeley and Associate Laboratory Director for Computing Sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The terms “high-performance computing” and “computational science” have become nearly synonymous with modeling and simulation, and yet computing itself is as important to analyzing experimental data as it is to evaluating theoretical models. Due to the exponential growth rates in detectors, sequencers, and other observational technology, data sets are outstripping the storage, computing, and algorithmic techniques available to individual scientists. Along with simulation, experimental analytics problems will drive the need for increased computing performance, although the types of computing systems and software configurations may be quite different. I will describe some of the opportunities and challenges in extreme data science and its relationship to high performance modeling and simulation. My favorite challenge is the development of high performance, high productivity programming models. In both simulation and analytics, programming models are the “sandwich topic,” squeezed between application needs and hardware disruptions, yet often treated with some suspicion, if not outright disdain. But programming model research is an exemplar of interdisciplinary science, requiring a deep understanding of applications, algorithms, and computer architecture in order to map the former to the latter. I will use this thread to talk about my own research interests, how I selected various research topics and the importance of teams and even complete communities of researchers when addressing one of these problems.

8:30 p.m. Closing Remarks

Anne Walter

Friday, May 2

Formal Poster Session

Tomson Hall Atrium
Students will present project results from work covering a variety of subjects in the natural sciences and mathematics.

Contest for Students Who Have Experience Conducting Basic Research

A PBS NewsHour contest running through March 14 asks students to share their reasons for spending hours in the lab. What excites you? What frustrates you? What keeps you up all night? Share your story of conducting basic research with a short video—on  Vine, Instagram or YouTube. PBS will post some of the best on their website and they might even visit your lab to learn more. Tweet the link to your entries using #chem_amb and drop a note on the Chemistry Ambassadors Facebook page!

"Tackling Problems in Sustainable Energy", Melanie Sanford Ph.D.

"Tackling Problems in Sustainable Energy" by Professor Melanie Sanford.  

Dr. Sanford  is currently both the Moses Gomberg Collegiate and the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and is the recipient of the 2011 MacArthur (genius) Award. 

Her talk is aimed at a general audience and should be of interest to anyone who would like to learn more about how questions of sustainability intersect with fundamental questions in chemistry.  Dr. Sanford will address some of the most important global challenges in sustainability, with a particular focus on sustainable sources of energy. Specifically, she will describe her own efforts toward the development of (1) methods for more efficient utilization of fossil resources, (2)  methods to recycle carbon dioxide such that it can serve as a raw material for the production of fuels and chemicals, and (3) electrical energy storage devices that maximize grid scale utilization of solar and wind resources.

To learn more about Dr. Sanford's career please visit her webpage at: http://www.umich.edu/~mssgroup/

Event details:

Leraas Lecture: Tackling Problems in Sustainable Energy

                Date: March 6th

                Time: 6:45 pm

          Location: RNS 150

An informal reception with refreshments will be held after the lecture from 8:00-9:00 pm