2018 Departmental News

Prof. David Nes has been informed that he will be awarded the Schroepfer Medal (international Sterol prize) from the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) in May 2019 ($4000 cash award). The Schroepfer Medal recognizes a scientist who has made significant advances in the steroid or sterol field. + More It was established to honor the memory of George J. Schroepfer, Jr., a leader in the sterol and lipid field for more than 40 years. This award aims to foster Schroepfer's ideals of personal integrity, high scientific standards, perseverance, and a strong spirit of survival, tempered by charm and wit. It is presented every second year and consists of a bronze medal, an honorarium determined by the endowed fund investment return, and an award lecture at the AOCS Annual Meeting.
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Matthew Bedewitz, A. Jones, John D'Auria, and Cornelius Barry "Tropinone synthesis via an atypical polyketide synthase" and P450-mediated cyclization Nature Communications (2018) 9, 5281 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07671-3.

Dr. Robert Long has been selected to be reappointed as an Associate on the ACS national Committee on Technician Affairs (CTA) for 2019 by invitation of Dr. Bonnie Charpentier, 2019 President of the American Chemical Society.

Prof. Bill Poirier and his Research Professor Jonathan Jerke have been awarded a $60,000 grant from the US Army Research Office for the proposal 'Canonical Tensors Applied to Ab Initio Electronic Structure: Exact electron correlation via full-dimensional calculation'.
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Prof. Gerardo Gamez is the recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences 2019 Research award in Sciences.
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Emeritus Prof. Henry Shine is listed among the "Famous Organic Chemists" on the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry.
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The American Chemical Society-Student Affiliates chapter has received an Honorable Mention award for chapter activities in the 2017-18 academic year.

Undergraduate student Henry Trubenstein received $1000 funding through CALUE (Center for Active Learning and Undergraduate Engagement) to support his undergrad research efforts in Prof. Cozzolino's group.+ More Henry Trubenstein also received the 2018 Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry from the Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the ACS.
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Undergraduate student Lauren Miller was awarded a fellowship from the Center for Active Learning and Undergraduate Engagement (CALUE) to conduct research in Prof. Kristin Hutchin's lab this academic year.
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The Annual Departmental Poster Session was held on Friday, August 24^th, 2018. The winners of the poster competition are: Graduate Students: Analytical - Mona Goli and Ying Liang (Tie for 1^st place); + MoreBiochemistry - Zachary Boswell; Inorganic - Amandeep Brar; Organic - Daniel Loya; and Physical - Reed Nieman. Zachary Boswell was the Grand Prize winner. Undergraduate Students: 1^st Place - Michael Moody; 2^nd Place - Stephan Azatian; and 3^rd Place - Blake Ferguson.
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Prof. Hase has received NSF funds as part of an NSF grant awarded to Prof. Yong Chen of Computer Science. The title of the award is "Elements:Software:NSCI: Empowering Data-driven Discovery with a Provenance Collection, Management and Analysis Software Infrastructure." The total award is $599,982 while Prof. Hase share is $89,997.

Prof. Edward Quitevis has had his paper E. Bordes, L. Douce, E. L. Quitevis, A. A. H. Padua, and M. Costa Gomes Ionic Liquids at the Surface of Graphite: Wettability and Structure J Chem Phys 148, 1933840(1)-1933840(9) (2018) + More selected as a 2018 JCP Editor's Choice Article. The 2018 JCP Editors' Choice collection will contain articles hand-selected by the editors as the most innovative and influential articles of 2018. The article is part of a "sneak peek" of the final collection, and will be highlighted in an upcoming email from JCP.
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The Chemistry & Biochemistry Shops are the 2018 recipients of the TTU Guns Up! Award. Congratulations to Vince, Jeanne, and Scott!
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Prof. Krempner received an award from the Department of Energy for his grant application entitled "Inverse Frustrated Lewis Pairs as Transition Metal Free Catalysts for Hydrogenations of Organic Carbonyl Compounds, CO₂ and CO." + More This award is funded at $500,000 total cost for three years starting September 15th, 2018.
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Prof. Michael Latham received an R35 award from the NIH for his grant application entitled "Structural Biology Studies of a Large DNA Repair Complex." This award is funded at $1,798,573 total cost for 5 years starting September 1st, 2018.

Prof. Dimitri Pappas received a CPRIT High-Impact/High-Risk Research Award for his grant application entitled "Microfluidic Cancer Assay for Liquid Biopsies and Early Detection." This award is funded at $200,000 total cost for 2 years. + More This is the only HIHRRA awarded to TTU during Cycle 2 of the fiscal year 2018.
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Prof. John D'Auria has been invited to participate in the Plant Metabolic Engineering Gordon Research Conference The Eight 'F's of Plant Metabolic Engineering; Food, Feed, Flavor, Fragrance, Fiber, Fuel, Pharma and Future Technologies + More to be held between June 16th and June 21st 2019, at the Renaissance Tuscany, Il Ciocco, Italy.

Don Pathirage (IT Support – Electronics Shop) received a "best paper" award in the area of "Software Systems and Applications" at the ICSOFT conference July 26-28 in Portugal + More for M. Shin; H. Gomaa; D. Pathirage A Software Product Line Approach for Feature Modeling and Design of Secure Connectors.
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Prof. Bill Poirier has been awarded a supplement of $30,998 to his NSF grant entitled CDS&E: Massively Parallel Quantum Dynamics: Computing many accurate quantum states for real molecular applications. This brings the total award to $529,007 through July 2020.
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Researchers' Sepsis-Detecting Chip Proves Successful in Human Study. The chip, invented by associate professor Dimitri Pappas and graduate student Ye Zhang, detects sepsis, a potentially fatal condition + More in which the body's immune system goes into overdrive trying to kill a blood-borne bacterial infection. Two recently published papers show the device is 98 percent accurate.

Prof. Yehia Mechref has been invited by IntechOpen to be the Academic Editor of a book. IntechOpen is the first and largest native scientific publisher of Open Access books according to the SIMBA Information report.
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Prof. Michael Findlater has been invited to join the editorial board of Molecules (2016 IF 2.861, 5-year IF 2.988).

The NIH-National Cancer Institute (NCI) awards Yehia Mechref (TTU) and David Lubman (University of Michigan) a new U01 grant entitled Screening of Glycan Markers in Serum for Early Detection of HCC in Different Etiologies of Disease. + More This award includes researchers from TTU, University of Michigan, University of Texas MS Anderson Cancer Center, UT Southwestern and Indiana University.
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Prof.'s John D'Auria, Michael Mayer, Bob Shaw and Dom Casadonte were among the 32 Texas Tech University Professors recognized by one (or more!) of this year's Phi Beta Kappa student inductees. + More These professors were recognized as the professor who has had the largest impact on the Phi Beta Kappa student inductees' experience and learning while at Texas Tech.
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Prof. Mechref has been awarded a $600K NIH S10 BRS Shared Instrumentation grant. This is the first S10 ever awarded to TTU. + More Matching funds will be provided by the CH Foundation ($150k), TTU/HSC ($100k) and TTU ($50k). This new instrument will enable the TTU Center for Biotechnology and Genomics to provide genomic sequencing at a much-reduced cost, thus benefitting researchers at TTU, TTU/HSC, and the region.
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Prof. Li has received a supplemental grant from the Welch Foundation. This supplement is indicative of the Welch Foundation interest in supporting Prof. Li's research.
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Prof. Poirier has received a supplemental grant from the Welch Foundation. This supplement is indicative of the Welch Foundation interest in supporting Prof. Poirier's research.
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Congratulations to Amanda Miller for being awarded the Outstanding Undergraduate Research (OUR) Award presented by CALUE.

Congratulations to Amanda Miller & Adrian Falco for awards at the 2018 Texas Tech University Undergraduate Research Conference. + MoreAdrian received 3^rd place in the poster division for Biological and Chemical Sciences, and Amanda received 1^st place for all oral presentations.

Prof.'s Quitevis and Pare are the recipients of a President's Excellence in Research Professorship for 3 years beginning in September 2018. + More The Professorship includes a minimum of $5,000 annually in discretionary funding.

Prof.'s Casadonte and Pappas are the recipients of a President's Excellence in Teaching Professorship for 3 years beginning in September 2018. + More The Professorship includes a minimum of $5,000 annually in discretionary funding.

Prof. Mechref has been awarded a $600K NIH S10 BRS Shared Instrumentation grant. This is the first S10 ever awarded to TTU. + More Matching funds will be provided by the CH Foundation ($150k), TTU/HSC ($100k) and TTU ($50k). This new instrument will enable the TTU Center for Biotechnology and Genomics to provide genomic sequencing at a much-reduced cost, thus benefitting researchers at TTU, TTU/HSC, and the region.
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Prof. Li has received a supplemental grant from the Welch Foundation. This supplement is indicative of the Welch Foundation interest in supporting Prof. Li's research.
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Prof. Poirier has received a supplemental grant from the Welch Foundation. This supplement is indicative of the Welch Foundation interest in supporting Prof. Poirier's research.
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Prof.'s Quitevis and Pare are the recipients of a President's Excellence in Research Professorship for 3 years beginning in September 2018. + More The Professorship includes a minimum of $5,000 annually in discretionary funding.

Prof.'s Casadonte and Pappas are the recipients of a President's Excellence in Teaching Professorship for 3 years beginning in September 2018. + More The Professorship includes a minimum of $5,000 annually in discretionary funding.

Prof.'s Quitevis and Abidi (Dept Plant Soil Sci) have been notified that their Bayer Crop Science grant entitled "Cellulose Dissolution and Regeneration Using Ionic Liquids" was renewed. + More for $91,300 for the period Mar 1 - Aug 31, 2018.
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Prof. Li's Welch grant proposal "Chiral GAP Catalysts for Asymmetric Reactions" will be renewed for three years ($330,000 for 3 years). + More This is the highest level of funding for a Welch grant.
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Prof. Latham Welch grant proposal "Uncovering allosteric coupling in a DNA damage repair complex with methyl-based NMR spectroscopy". + More This will be renewed for three years ($195,000 for 3 years).
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Prof. Findlater was named the Alpha Chi Omega Professor of the Month in March.

Reed Nieman has been awarded a Lubbock Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Chapter Memorial Scholarship provided by the Community Foundation of West Texas. + More Reed is a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. The Community Foundation of West Texas (www.cfwtx.org) provides scholarships and grants to students and businesses in the Texas South Plains region with the intention of increasing the overall quality of life in the local area. See their website for more information.

Prof. Yehia Mechref (Chair) has been appointed a Paul Whitfield Horn Professor effective March 2, 2018. This is TTU's highest honor for faculty. + More In 1966, the Board of Regents established the Horn Professorship named in honor of Paul Whitfield Horn, the first President of the institution. Horn Professorships, the highest honor that the university may bestow on members of its faculty, are granted to tenured professors in recognition of their attainment of national and/or international distinction for having made a unique and significant impact on their field through outstanding research or other creative scholarly achievement. Dr. Mechref joins 28 other current TTU faculty who have been awarded this distinction. The Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry now has 4 Paul Whitfield Horn Professors actively conducting research and teaching
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Congratulations to Prof. Michael Findlater for receiving the Chancellor's Council Distinguished Award in Research. + More This award is the most prestigious honors granted to faculty members throughout the Texas Tech University System.

Prof. Yehia Mechref has been invited by the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to serve as a permanent member of the Enabling Bioanalytical and Imaging Technologies (EBIT) Study Section, + More Center for Scientific Review, for the term beginning July 01, 2018 and ending June 30, 2022. This nomination reflects Prof. Mechref "demonstrated competence and achievement in his scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of his research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements, and honors."
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Congratulations to our undergraduate students who participated in the 10th annual Undergraduate Research Conference here at Texas Tech University + More It was amazing to see all the excellent research these students have conducted in our department. A full list of the participants from Chemistry and Biochemistry is provided in the link

Congratulations Reed Nieman for receiving the Doctoral Dissertation fellowship for 2018-19 academic year.

Graduate Student Miranda Andrews featured in a College of Arts & Sciences article.

Prof. John D'Auria served on an NSF Panel for the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Feb 26-28^th.

Faculty development leave has been approved for William Hase, Horn Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences for spring of 2019 + More The purpose of this leave is to work on a revision for the Textbook Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics, for which he is a co-author, and enhance the chemical dynamics computer program VENUS, which his research group developed.
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Faculty development leave for David Birney, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences for fall of 2018. + More The purpose of this leave is to establish a collaborative research project at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The research focus is on electrochemical deoxygenation of biomaterials.
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Prof. Latham received a CPRIT single investigator grant of $850,877; + More (3 years) for his grant application entitled "Structural and Functional Characterization of the DNA Double Strand Break Processing Complex of Mre11-Rad50."

Prof. Jorge Morales has been selected as one of the recipients of the President's Excellence in Teaching awards for 2018.
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The Department was pleased to host Dr. Ming Sun and his wife Alice on Feb. 23^rd. + More During the department reception, faculty and staff had the opportunity to reminisce and discuss the exciting happenings within the department with Dr. Ming Sun and Alice. We would like to thank the Sun family for their generous donation to the department for the faculty development program.

Prof. Poirier received a grant from the Max Planck Institute + More for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPIPKS) to support the upcoming “Interdisciplinary Focus Workshop on Quantum and Semiclassical Trajectories” (QuSeT), to be hosted at the (MPIPKS) in Dresden, Germany, from 12-14 June, 2018. Plenary speakers currently include Rick Heller (Harvard Univ., National Academy of Sciences), Mahir Hussein (Univ. São Paulo, Brazilian Academy of Sciences), and Jan-Michael Rost (Director, MPIPKS). The grant includes 10,000 euros for travel support for participants, plus additional accommodation expenses for all participants.
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On January 29, 2018, Prof. Mechref served on the NIDDK Special Emphasis Panel; + More PAR14-301-NIDDK Central Repositories Non-Renewable Sample Access (X01)-Biomarkers for T1D; ZDK1 GRB-S (J1).

Prof. Jonathan Sweedler (UIUC) was guest speaker for the Dasgupta Lecture Series, Feb 7^th & 8^th. + More His research focus is on developing new approaches for assaying small volume samples, and in applying these methods to study novel interactions between cells (brain cells in this lecture series).
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The Department was pleased to host Dr. Ginny Shen Lin and her daughter Dr. Anna Elsalim on Jan. 19^th. + More During the department reception, faculty and staff had the opportunity to reminisce and discuss the exciting happening within the department with Dr. Lin and Dr. Elsalim. Dr. Lin has been a generous donor to the department over the years and her named scholarship is part of what helps to make this department a special place. For further information about department scholarships, please click on this link