2019 Departmental News

Prof. Anthony F. Cozzolino is the recipient of the 2019 A&S Excellence in Research Award for the Physical and Natural Sciences.
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Prof. Dominick Casadonte, has been awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, according to the White House website.
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Prof. Findlater and Hutchins, along with Prof. Weile Yan (University of Massachusetts - Lowell), have received a grant titled “Chemically Enhanced Electrodialysis (CEED) for Recovery of Rare Earth Elements“ from the Department of Energy (DOE) for two years. + More The total funding of the award is $402,733.

Prof. Jorge Morales received an NIH grant (1R15GM128149-01) entitled “Computational Studies of Ion-Induced Water Radiolysis and DNA Damage.” The grant is for a total award of $440,768 for three years. This award starts September 20, 2019 and ends August 31, 2022.
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Prof. Michael Mayer and the 11 other new members (university-wide) were inducted into the Texas Tech University Teaching Academy on September 18^th, 2019.
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Prof. Pappas has received a grant titled "Nanoparticle Probes for Super-Resolution Imaging of Transferrin Receptors” from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for three years. The total funding of the award is $389,963.
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Yangxue Liu, a graduate student of Prof. Li, received the James D. and Mary Hazlewood Memorial Graduate Fellowship for 2019-2020.
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Prof. D. Casadonte was selected as a member of the 2019 class of Fellows of the American Chemical Society.
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Prof. C. Korzeniewski has received a grant from the NSF for the project "Advancing Strategies for In-Situ Determination and Spatial Mapping of Components within Membrane Systems for Energy Conversion". + More Korzeniewski (PI) and Shelley Minteer (U. Utah, co-PI) received a total award of $558,362 with $302,300 to Texas Tech. The three-year project supports the construction a confocal Raman microscope with oil-immersion optics to enable high spatial resolution imaging and measurements on single, micron-scale particles in the Korzeniewski lab.
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Prof. C. Korzeniewski has been awarded beam time at the NIST Center for Neutron Research in Gaithersburg, Maryland for the project "Spatial Profiling Ion-Depletion/Water Accumulation in Bilayer Ion-Exchange Membranes for Energy Conversion". + More The award supports reflectometry measurements that probe chemical gradients at polymer-polymer interfaces with nanometer-scale spatial resolution.
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Dr. Janos Sarka (Postdoc in the Poirier group) has received a MolSSI "Seed" Software Fellowship. MolSSI is the "Molecular Sciences Software Institute", an NSF-funded center housed in Blacksburg Virginia, + More serving “the worldwide community of computational molecular scientists as a nexus for science, education, and cooperation.” The fellowship provides travel to Blacksburg for training, as well as six-months' salary. Janos received the fellowship for developments of the ScalIT code.
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Prof. Michael Mayer has been elected to the Texas Tech University Teaching Academy. Prof. Mayer and the 11 other new members (university-wide) will be officially inducted into the Academy during the New Member Induction Ceremony in September 2019.
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Dr. Robert D. Long received the department's 2019 Staff Appreciation award - Administrative and Dr. Daniel Unruh received the 2019 Staff Appreciation award - Technical.
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Dr. W. David Nes has been honored with a special issue in the journal Molecules entitled "Chemical Biology of Sterols, Triterpenoids and Other Natural Products: A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor W. David Nes on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday".+ More This honor is a testament to the impact Dr. Nes' research has had on the sterol community for the past 40 years.' 
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Prof. Cozzolino has been awarded an NSF CAREER grant titled 'Pnictogen Bonding in Solution: Developing Tools for the Self-assembly of Inverted Bilayer Membranes, Heteromolecular Dyads and Supramolecular Catalysts.' + More This award will be funded by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry (MSN) Program in the Division of Chemistry ($655,710 for 5 years.)
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Prof. Mechref has been awarded the 'Nancy J. Bell Graduate Faculty Excellence in Mentoring Award for 2019'. The citation reads 'Your(sic) have shown a dedication to and a deep passion for mentoring graduate students. + More As a faculty member, there is no higher calling than preparing the next generation of scientists. You have answered that call and made a lasting impact on the students with whom you have work and assured the future of your field.'
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Faculty members Prof. Hase, Prof. Mayer, and Prof. Thompson, Instructor and Undergraduate Advisor Dr. Roberts-Findlater, and Senior Academic Advisor Ms. Dent were recognized and presented with Raiders Who Rock-Above + More & Beyond awards at the Raiders Who Rock Banquet held at the McKenzie-Merket Alumni Center on Tuesday, April 9, 2019.

Prof. Findlater has been notified that his Welch grant 'Base Metal Catalyzed Transformations' is renewed for a further 3 years at $195,000 from 6/1/2019 to 5/31/2022. This is his 2nd 3-year renewal.
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Prof. Poirier has been notified that his Welch grant 'New Methodologies for Accurate Quantum Calculations of the Dynamics of Atomic Nuclei' is renewed for a further 3 years at $195,000 from 6/1/2019 to 5/31/2022. This is his 7th 3-year renewal.
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Prof. Kristin Hutchins has been awarded a TTU 'Summer 2019 Faculty Travel Grant' for up to $1,500 to assist with travel to Lecce and Bologna, Italy for conferences in June by ORI.

Prof. Poirier received a $20,000 grant from the Molecular Science Software Institute (MolSSI), to host a workshop in fall 2019 entitled 'Rovibrational Molecular Spectroscopy: Setting standards for software packages and toolkits.' MolSSI is an NSF-funded center.
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Chitranjan Srivastav has been awarded a competitive 'James D. and Mary Hazlewood Memorial Graduate Fellowship' by the Graduate School. The award is for $3000 in the upcoming academic year.
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Cecila Smith (Mentor: Prof. Findlater) placed 3rd out of 288 entrants in the '2019 TrUE Undergraduate Research Conference' at TTU on April 2nd and 3rd for her poster 'Conversion of Imines to Secondary Amines Using Iron-Catalyzed Hydrosilylation.'
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Prof. David Nes has been featured in a Texas Tech Today article Horn Professor to Receive Top Award in Biochemistry. W. David Nes will be presented with the 2019 Schroepfer Medal in May regarding his upcoming award presentation from the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) for his contributions in steroid/sterol chemistry research.
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Prof. Hutchins is featured in the virtual special issue for Emerging Investigators in Crystal Growth & Design. The issue features 22 authors from 9 countries.

Prof. Dominick Casadonte has been nominated by the American Chemical Society South Plains local section as an 'ACS Fellow'.
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Prof. Yehia Mechref is the recipient of a 2019 President's Academic Achievement Award. Prof. Mechref and the other university-wide recipients will be recognized at the Faculty Honors Convocation, which will be held on Wednesday, April 17^th 2019 in the Student Union Building, Ballroom B, at 3:30 pm.
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Prof. Michael Mayer is the recipient of a 2019 President's Excellence in Teaching Award. Prof. Mayer and the other university-wide recipients will be recognized at the Faculty Honors Convocation, which will be held on Wednesday, April 17^th 2019 in the Student Union Building, Ballroom B, at 3:30 pm.
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Grad student Shipra Garg (Krempner group) has been awarded a Helen DeVitt Jones Graduate Fellowship. The Fellowship award is $3500 per year for 3 years (Doctorate) starting fall 2019.
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Grad student Amandeep Brar (Krempner group) has been awarded a Texas Tech University Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship through the Graduate School. The award provides monthly salary and tuition/fee waivers beginning fall 2019 through graduation in Summer 2020.
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Grad student Babak Tahmouresilerd (Cozzolino group) has been awarded a Texas Tech University Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship through the Graduate School. The award provides monthly salary and tuition/fee waivers beginning fall 2019 through graduation in Summer 2020.
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The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry would like to recognize Dean's and President's List honor designees for the Fall 2018 semester. In total, there were 200 students honored, with 112 making the Dean's List for maintaining a 3.5 GPA and 88 making the President's List for upholding a 4.0 GPA.   • Dean's List   • President's List

Nazmul Kahn (a graduate student in Prof. Wylie group) won first place in the poster competition at The 10th Annual Center for Membrane Protein Research (CMPR) Symposium, TTUHSC, Lubbock, TX, October 15-16th 2018. + More 'Structural studies of Bacillus cereus 5/B/6 metallo-β-lactamase inhibition by ssDNA aptamer' Nazmul H. Khan, Michael Latham, Benjamin Wylie, Robert W. Shaw.
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Undergraduate student Samantha Rood has received a CISER research fellowship from TTU which allows her to continue to expand her education through research. As a member of Prof. Kristin Hutchin's research group, Samantha will be continuing her research endeavors within the lab, while also participating in various scientific outreach programs around campus.

Prof. Mechref received a 2nd NIH R01 Award entitled "Quantitative Characterization of Glycopeptide Isomers." This New R01 award is funded at $1,214,360 total cost for 4 years. This is Prof. Mechref's 5th active NIH Grant.
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Prof. Bill Poirier's book, Quantum Physics, Mini Black Holes and the Multiverse: Debunking Common Misconceptions in Theoretical Physics, (Springer, 2018) has recently received several accolades. A. Spero of Choice magazine [Vol. 56 (02), October 2018] wrote 'This book stands above others in its genre of physics books for laypeople', + More and gave it the highest recommendation that the magazine offers. The book has also made it into two separate 11 Best New Books to Read in 2019 lists from BookAuthority: number 7 on Best New Particle Physics Books, and number 8 on Best New Cosmology Books.
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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.

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