Honors at Graduation
Honor Societies
Departmental Awards
Scholarships Awarded to Biochemistry and Chemistry Majors
Beloit College 29th Annual Student Symposium, April 14, 2005
Beloit College International Symposium, November 10, 2004
Pew Symposia
The Beloit Biologist, Volume 24, 2005
We have added an Environmental Chemistry major to our program within the department
to parallel those in Environmental Biology and Environmental Geology, as detailed
in last year’s newsletter. This spring, we adopted an Environmental Studies
major for the College, in addition to the existing minor. This new major offers
enough flexibility that a student can choose an emphasis on environmental science
or environmental policy, with a strong complement of the other. Thirteen faculty
from eight departments, including economics, political science, anthropology,
and philosophy, as well as the sciences and mathematics, are participating in
the new program. We are working on the introductory Environment and Society
course and a capstone seminar for the major this summer so that everything will
be in place for next fall. A number of students already on campus are interested,
and every indication is that the new major will be highly attractive to prospective
students. Brock Spencer and George Lisensky are already involved in the major,
and Laura Parmentier’s sabbatical research next spring in Norway will
be highly relevant.
Since the last newsletter, planning for the new Beloit Science Center has advanced
rapidly. With the Chicago architectural firm of Holabird & Root (lineal descendants
of Burnham & Root, designers of Pearsons Hall) we have completed the schematic
design phase and by the end of the summer will have completed the design development
phase of the project. The major change has been that as we worked through the
options, the original plan to build an addition and then renovate Chamberlin
Hall has given way to plans for an entirely new $30 million building of approximately
100,000 gross square feet to replace Chamberlin. Sketches and floor plans for
this architecturally exciting building can be found at https://www.beloit.edu/cmp/.
Its two wings will parallel Chamberlin and lie between Chamberlin and the Field
House, with the connecting atrium aligned with the current Emerson Street, which
should be closed and vacated by the end of this summer. As we now get further
into the process of designing the laboratory and classroom spaces in detail,
the level of excitement continues to grow. Many of our experiments of recent
years in inquiry-based, hands-on, and collaborative learning are now informing
our choices as we design spaces to make that kind of experience easy and apparent
rather than just possible. Construction could start as soon as the spring of
2006, or a year later.
Planning for the new Science Center also means planning to equip it with appropriate
scientific instrumentation. Departments are gearing up to submit a series of
proposals to the National Science Foundation’s Course, Curriculum, and
Laboratory Improvement Program (where we have already been successful with Rama
Viswanathan’s laser lab and Laura Parmentier’s capillary gas chromatographs
for organic chemistry). The Sherman Fairchild Foundation has invited us to be
one of eleven liberal arts colleges submitting proposals for three or four $500,000
scientific equipment grants. Building on our earlier successful W. M. Keck Foundation
grant for a Geographical Information System (GIS) Laboratory and the Laboratory
for Molecular Spectroscopy and Visualization, the theme for this proposal will
be determining and visualizing structures at all levels, from atomic force microscopes
for the arrangement of atoms on surfaces, through x-ray diffraction for crystal
structures and circular dichroism for peptide chains, to the GIS system for
visualizing data at the regional, national, and global level. Our plan is to
obtain research-grade instruments that can be used throughout the science curricula,
starting in introductory courses as is already done with instruments like NMR,
IR, and GCs in chemistry and the scanning electron microscope (SEM) in geology.
A recent grant from Johnson Controls has helped purchase a GeoWall system (http://geowall.geo.lsa.umich.edu/)
for classroom stereo projection of molecular as well as geologic and astronomic
structures. Kathleen Mandel’s recent grant for $147,000 from the National
Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation Program to obtain
a differential scanning calorimeter and isothermal titration calorimeter for
use in courses and in her biophysical research with students also provides great
momentum for what will be a major effort.
We will be experiencing some personnel changes as Roc Ordman returns from his
sabbatical leave next fall and Laura Parmentier leaves to oversee our Scotland
Seminar in Glasgow for the fall and then continues on to Norway for her sabbatical
leave in the spring. We are fortunate to have found Wanda Hartmann to teach
Laura’s organic chemistry courses for the year. Wanda was an undergraduate
at Kalamazoo College and completed her Ph.D. at Michigan State University. After
an NRC postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology
in Rockville, MD and industrial experience in the biopharmaceutical development
program at SAIC-Frederick in Frederick, MD, Wanda has decided to return to the
liberal arts and the Midwest, and will be with us for the year. DAVID GORDON
(Chemistry ’97) has just been hired as the Chemistry and Biology Laboratory
and Safety Coordinator for the College, a newly created and much needed support
position for our program as it looks toward the move to the new Science Center.
David has held a similar position for the last four years at North Central College
in the Chicago area, where he is also completing a Masters of Leadership Studies.
David and his wife JULIE (ROTE ’97) will be joining us in August.
Biochemistry continues to change. Beyond the traditional chemistry and biology
interface, advances in nanotechnology, medicinal chemistry, and bioinformatics
have strengthened the connections between biochemistry and physical chemistry
and inorganic chemistry. In order to better prepare undergraduate biochemists
for a wide variety of inter-disciplinary careers, we have revised the requirements
for the regular biochemistry major to bring it in line with recent ACS recommendations.
Both the regular and ACS-certified majors now provide students with flexible
options to study inorganic chemistry, molecular modeling, visualization, computational
chemistry, and thermodynamics and kinetics.
Last year, I was awarded a $147,657 NSF Major Research Instrumentation grant
for the acquisition of a Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and an Isothermal
Titration Calorimeter (ITC). The ITC is a powerful tool for characterizing binding
constants and reaction stoichiometry of biomolecular interactions via extremely
sensitive enthalpy and entropy measurements, and is capable of measuring a complete
thermodynamic profile of the molecular interaction in a single experiment. The
DSC measures heat changes that occur as a function of temperature, and can be
used to study a wide range of thermal transitions in biological systems, including
protein folding. The addition of these instruments to the Chemistry Department
inventory will enable cutting-edge biophysical research by faculty and students,
as well as class use.
The biochemistry laboratory also received four new power supplies and equipment
for horizontal and vertical electrophoresis, funded by a recent $7,682 award
from a special Beloit College Presidential Award Program established by President
Burris. The equipment enables each group of students in CHEM/BIO 260-BioMetabolism,
and CHEM/BIO 300-Biochemistry of Macromolecules laboratory sections to pour,
set-up and run their own separations, and has significantly enhanced those courses.
I was honored to serve as temporary Chair of the Biochemistry program during
Roc's sabbatical this past spring and will be continuing with that responsibility.
John Jungck will be on sabbatical next year. We are glad to welcome back SREBRENKA
ROBIC’97 (who graduated Summa cum laude in Mathematical Biology and Mathematics
from Beloit College), to teach Genetics in the fall and Microbiology and another
course in her area of expertise in the spring. Laura Parmentier will oversee
our Scotland Seminar in Glasgow in the fall and continue on to Norway for her
sabbatical leave in the spring. We are delighted that Wanda Hartmann (see page
2) is joining us next year to teach Laura’s organic chemistry courses.
George Lisensky
Professor
B.A. Earlham College
Ph.D. California Institute of Technology
At Beloit since 1980
https://www.beloit.edu/chemistry/Lisensky
I taught CHEM 117-General Chemistry and CHEM 220-Chemical Equilibrium this
year and organized the third annual International Student Symposium in the fall.
Designed to mirror the student research symposium in the spring, classes are
cancelled campus wide and students present educational aspects of their international
experiences in simultaneous sessions.
This summer I will co-chair a Gordon Conference on Scientific Visualization
in Oxford, England, for which Beloit received conference funding from the National
Science Foundation. Beloit will again be hosting a week long faculty workshop
on Materials Science and Nanotechnology as part of the NSF-funded Center for
Workshops in the Chemical Sciences administered by Georgia State University.
Along with Karen Nordell (Lawrence University, Appleton, WI) and Craig Teague
(Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, IA), I received funding from the Associated Colleges
of the Midwest for collaborative nanotechnology visits during the academic year.
ELIZABETH BOATMAN’07 and JASON MARMON’06 worked with me last summer,
respectively preparing cadmium selenide quantum dots and ruthenium bipyridine
organic light emitting diodes. Both nanotechnology experiments were used in
faculty workshops in June 2004 at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education
at Iowa State and at the CWCS workshop at Beloit. Jason’s experiment was
used at Lawrence University in November. Liz’s experiment has been accepted
for publication in the Journal of Chemical Education.
Liz and Jason both began new research as special projects this spring, respectively
working on activities using liquid crystals and electrochromic thin films. The
liquid crystal experiment was submitted for publication, used as a Girls and
Women in Science station in April, and as a lab experiment at Cornell College
in May.
The quantum dot, the organic light emitting diode, the liquid crystal and the
electrochromic thin film experiments have all been filmed and incorporated into
the Video Lab Manual for Nanoscale Science and Technology that I organize in
collaboration with UW-Madison, http://mrsec.wisc.edu/edetc/nanolab.
My continued association with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Materials
Science Research and Engineering Center (MRSEC) on Nanostructured Materials
and Interfaces led Beloit students AMANDA DRENNAN’05, JASON MARMON’06,
HARRY METZGER’08, DANIEL MURPHY’08, RACHEL OLIVER’07, DIANE
PHAM’06, and JOHNA WINTERS’07 to help present science to the public
at the biannual Engineering Expo at UW-Madison, April 16, where they explained
Nanoworld table top demonstrations.
I also served on the visiting committee for review of the nanotechnology MRSEC
at Penn State, February 11-13, 2005. I maintain the ChemConnections web materials
at http://chemistry.beloit.edu. Brock
and I presented ChemConnections material at a BioQUEST workshop at Beloit in
June.
Recently, daughter Laura finished her Peace Corps work in Benin, West Africa.
Daughter Diana graduated from Earlham College. Rachel started middle school
in Beloit. And for a change of pace, I was one of the singing shepherds in a
Christmas production of Amahl and the Night Visitors.
Presentations and Workshops
• “Hands On Nanotechnology Laboratory Experiments” workshop, “Using Environmental Issues To Learn Chemistry” workshop and “Nanotechnology for Non-science First-year Students” presentation at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Iowa State, Ames, IA, July 17-21, 2004.Publications
• A. K. Bentley, M. Farhoud, A. B. Ellis, G. C. Lisensky, A. L. Nickel, and W. C. Crone, “Template Synthesis and Magnetic Manipulation of Nickel Nanowires,” J. Chem. Ed., 82, 765-768 (2005). This article was the cover story for the May issue. One of the graphs in the article included data obtained by my FYI class in 2003. In the fall, I taught my first FYI seminar-Crime Scene Investigation: Beloit.
We explored the science behind the popular CSI television series. Interest in
forensic science has increased dramatically over the past ten years. The widespread
application of DNA testing and applications of analytical methods and instruments
in solving crimes has revolutionized the criminal justice system. We explored
forensic science and its use in our community. The Beloit Police Department
taught us how to roll fingerprints and properly handle evidence. Special Agent
Don Glonzner of the FBI visited to explain the education, training and opportunities
with the FBI. He also shared details of case studies he has worked on. We also
visited the Dane County Coroner’s office where we were treated to a special
tour by John Stanley. The students loved the field experiences and the opportunity
to play in the laboratory. We conducted forensic science experiments to identify
white powders, lift fingerprints, and then extract, amplify with PCR and perform
fingerprint analysis of our own DNA. We even developed assays to determine if,
as was claimed by the defendant in a sensational trial, taco sauce could be
mistaken for blood. Our FYI held mock crime scenes. One group of students created
a crime scene complete with evidence, witnesses, and suspects. The other group
had to solve the crime. We simply had a wonderful time learning about Beloit
College, forensic science and each other.
In the fall, I also taught CHEM 300-Biochemistry of Macromolecules. Biochemistry
is advancing at a rapid rate. The course focuses on developing an understanding
and laboratory skills for the purification and characterization of nucleic acids,
proteins, enzymes, lipids, and cell membranes. We continued to refine and develop
new laboratory experiments.
In the spring, I taught CHEM 260-BioMetabolism. The course continues to be great
fun as we develop integrated laboratory discussion curricular material to investigate
metabolic processes within the cell. (Pictured are JOANNA CRAMER’05 and KRISTIN
OLSON’05, using an Ocean Optics miniature diode array spectrometer interfaced
with a laptop computer to measure the absorbance of chlorophyll extracted and
purified from spinach.) I also team taught CHEM 375-Medicinal Chemistry with
Laura Parmentier. In class discussions, we investigated mechanisms and energetics
of drug binding, drug design and synthesis. In lab, we explored the thermodynamics
of lysozyme, lysozyme substrate and lysozyme inhibitor interactions using our
newly acquired NSF-funded isothermal titration calorimeter and differential
scanning calorimeter. The students developed and presented several "drug talks"
that elicited lively discussion.
I conducted research with ASUKA KITAYAMA’05 last summer in the Photosynthesis
Group, Chemistry Division at Argonne National Laboratory. Asuka presented the
results of his research at the American Chemical Society Regional Great Lakes
Meeting in Peoria and at the PEW Consortium for Biological Sciences and Psychology
Undergraduate Symposium at the University of Chicago. I presented the results
of our research at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in Long Beach, CA.
We were able to successfully insert a plasmid into competent E. coli cells and
over-express the lac I repressor protein. The lac I repressor proteins will
be used for additional biophysical studies as a molecular switch for DNA nanowires.
I have been continuing the research with my colleagues at Argonne. Additionally,
we are continuing the collaborative development of a nanoscale calorimeter with
the Material Science Division at Argonne.
Finally, I was able to do science education outreach projects through participation
in Beloit College's Girls and Women in Science and by developing activities
for elementary school students. I continue to actively support junior and high
school science fairs. I had the honor of judging local, regional, National Science
and Humanities Symposium and the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair.
The students continue to amaze me with their dedication and creativity.
Presentations
Thermodynamics of sequence dependent solvation of DNA dumbbells with dinucleotide
repeat sequences. Mandell, K.E. Invited Speaker at the MicroCal Symposium on
Calorimetry, November, 14, 2004.
Inquiry Based Learning of Biochemistry. Mandell, K.E. 35th American Chemical
Society Great Lakes Regional Meeting. Peoria, IL. October 19, 2004.
Poster Presentations
Novel DNA Constructs as Molecular Wires, Kitayama, A., Drennan, A.C., Rajh,
T., Tiede, D.M. , and Mandell, K.E. 49th Annual Biophysical Society. Long Beach,
CA. February 12 - 16, 2005.
Over-Expression and Isolation of Lac Repressor Protein as a Function of IPTG
Concentration. Kitayama, A. Rajh, T, Tiede, D.M.,and Mandell, K. E. PEW Midstates
Science & Mathematics Consortium. Chicago, IL. October 29 - 31, 2004.
Over-Expression and Isolation of Lac Repressor Protein as a Function of IPTG
Concentration. Kitayama, A. Rajh, T, Tiede, D.M., and Mandell, K. E. 35th American
Chemical Society Great Lakes Regional Meeting. Peoria, IL. October 17 - 20,
2004.
Development of DNA Dumbbell as a Molecular Wire. Drennan, A.C., Rajh, T., Tiede,
D.M., and Mandell, K.E. 48th Annual Biophysical Society. Baltimore, MD. February
14 - 18, 2004.
Keeping up with the tidal wave of nutrition information assaulting us all,
how does one decide what is accurate? My nutrition course, CHEM 127–Topics
in Biochemistry: Nutrition concentrated on scientific information literacy to
determine what is legitimate. In its third offering, the class held a Nutrition
Symposium attended by many in the community. Surgery, Anorexia, and Depression
are a few of the topics for which students provided nutritional information
at a special Nutrition Research Symposium that we held this year. In addition,
customized access to sources on the web in our computer labs has led CHEM 375–Advanced
Biochemistry to use informatics and signaling (with Rama's help) to research
student post-graduate interests.
Alumni continue to provide joy to us all. I heard recently from MUYIWA AWONIYI’04,
who is performing research at Mayo Clinic and is set to join a M.D./Ph.D. program.
I was delighted to learn from WILLIAM SWISHER’35, class agent, that he
reads our newsletter and sends relevant information to classmates.
After fall term, I began a thrilling sabbatical leave. On December 27, Eliza,
Max and I boarded a flight to Nairobi, Kenya for three weeks. Last year our
Biology Department had hosted Prof. Wanjiku Chiuri, a Fulbright Professor from
Kenya. Prof. Chiuri led a faculty seminar on poverty that I in turn attended
when we arrived in Nairobi. I went to Kenya to assist her in producing a grant
to begin a major AIDS/HIV program at Egerton University where she teaches. The
final proposal was developed cooperatively via email from Beloit, involving
John Greenler, Marion Fass, and myself, as well as the US Centers for Disease
Control, USAID, and the Center for African Studies. The first stage of the proposal,
submitted May 5th, is for over $1 million. During the visit, I went to the Sweetwaters
Chimpanzee Sanctuary, beginning nutrition studies that have since extended to
consulting with the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center in Madison. (The
caloric restriction project there has been underway since the late 1980s.) I
have been fortunate to be the first one to investigate the basis of the nutritional
composition of the diet that is being used. The results will be presented at
meetings of the Linus Pauling Society. I have also been writing a nutrition
book, whose working title is "Intelligent Nutrition: A Radical Approach."
It is primarily an introduction to my web site “Nutrition Investigator,”
which will replace “Personal Health Cite” when it is put on line
in the fall.
On a personal note, I was happy recently to see my grandson Owen (daughter Kat's
son), who is 2, while granddaughter Grace Elizabeth was born just as Eliza and
I returned from Mardi Gras in New Orleans. And grandchildren #3 and #4 are expected
in August. Life is indeed bountiful when it is filled with so much love.
During my years at Beloit devoted to starting and chairing the Biochemistry
Program, it has been an honor to have worked with so many fine people. Congratulations
to all those who have made biochemistry at Beloit so special during these past
27 years.
Presentations
Moderator, Nutrition symposium, Beloit College, Dec. 1, 2005.
"Healthy Nutrition and Nutrition Investigator," US Embassy, Nairobi,
Kenya, Jan. 2005.
"Healthy Nutrition and Nutrition Investigator," USAID, Nairobi, Kenya,
Jan. 2005.
"Chemistry of Vitamin C and Free radicals in Human Aging,” University
of Nairobi Department of Chemistry, Nairobi, Kenya, Jan. 2005.
"The Laikipia Program to Eliminate AIDS in Kenya," Egerton University
Faculty Assembly, Laikipia Campus, Kenya, Jan. 2005.
"Uhuru From Ignorance and AIDS," Laikipia Campus of Egerton University,
New Students Opening Convocation, Laikipia Campus, Kenya, Jan. 2005.
"Selection of Aging Biomarkers in Primates: Caloric Restriction of Rhesus
Monkeys," coauthors Ricki J. Colman and Joseph W. Kemnitz, Wisconsin National
Primate Research Center, Linus Pauling Diet and Optimal Health Conference, May
19-22, 2005.
Laura E. Parmentier
Martha Peterson Associate Professor
B.S. Northland College
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin - Madison
At Beloit since 1991
https://www.beloit.edu/chemistry/parmentier
This has been another enjoyable teaching year for me. Organic chemistry enrollments
continue to be high, so again we had two large sections of CHEM 230 in the fall
and one very large section of CHEM 235 in the spring. I love to teach these
courses, and I particularly enjoy the opportunity to get to know so many students
so well over the course of two semesters. This year I worked on incorporating
some aspects of “Green Chemistry” into second semester organic synthesis
projects. Green chemistry seeks to reduce hazards by replacing hazardous materials
with materials that are non-hazardous or at least less hazardous. George and
I attended a Midwest Association of Chemistry Teachers at Liberal Arts Colleges
(MACTLAC) meeting on Green Chemistry in the fall, and we came back inspired
to incorporate some facets of green chemistry into our courses. There are many
personal safety and environmental benefits to green chemistry, and I intend
to continue to make the organic courses at Beloit green.
In the spring, Kathleen Mandell and I teamed up to teach CHEM375–Medicinal
Chemistry. This course provided a nice opportunity for students to get hands-on
experience with Kathleen’s new MicroCal isothermal titration calorimeter
and differential scanning calorimeter in conjunction with an in-depth study
of drug/receptor binding interactions and mechanisms of drug action.
My outreach projects this year included an invitation to participate as a panelist
in the University of Wisconsin Graduate Women in Science Career Panel. Members
of the panel included government employees, women in business and industry as
well as college and university faculty. I also participated in Beloit’s
Girls and Women in Science conference this year as the mother of a sixth grade
girl—Maddy, pictured below along with Haley Barlass (also sixth grade)
looking at the relationship between color of liquid crystals and temperature
with the help of ELIZABETH BOATMAN’06 and DANIEL MURPHY’08—and
as chemistry faculty! In addition, George and I teamed up to provide an array
of hands-on activities to explore light and color and energy for kids and their
adults for a delightful evening at the Evansville Energy Fair. Stop by the fourth
floor of Chamberlin to look at our poster entitled “Cool Lights! Brilliant
Ideas.”
I will be leading Beloit’s Scotland Program at the University of Glasgow
this coming fall. My family and I will be moving to Glasgow in August to prepare
for our students’ arrival in early September. Students participating in
the program this year include Chemistry major KRISTEN SKRUBER’06. I will
be leaving Scotland in late December to spend the spring semester on sabbatical
doing marine chemistry research in the fjords of western Norway. Even though
we will be traveling to an even colder and darker location around the time of
the winter solstice, I am very excited about this opportunity to spend a year
overseas. I hope you’ll stay in touch by email, and I’ll be sure
to take lots of pictures!
I continue to divide my time between teaching CHEM 117–General Chemistry
each semester and teaching something outside of the Chemistry Department. Last
fall my First Year Seminar (FYI) focused on food: personal nutrition, U.S. food
politics, and international issues of food supply and the environmental impact
of agriculture. In the spring, I taught a new Interdisciplinary Studies (IDST)
course on “Sustainable Buildings.” Initially, the focus of this
course was on a detailed analysis by student working groups of the various criteria
for obtaining U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) certification for our new science building here at Beloit. After
comparing our recommendations with those of the project architects, we then
looked more generally at issues of sustainability on campus, making recommendations
for the new student townhouses to be constructed this summer and establishing
a new campus organization to deal with environmental issues. If you are interested
in architecture, my students and I found that How Buildings Learn: What Happens
After They’re Built by Steward Brand changed the way we look at buildings,
particularly in comparing our experience with Beloit’s science buildings:
Pearsons Hall, Chamberlin Hall, and what we are planning for its replacement.
I often maintain that the purpose of my IDST courses is to educate the instructor.
The students in this course did an excellent job of that, and their work is
likely to have some impact on campus sustainability initiatives as well.
With the end of the ChemLinks grant and the Multi-Initiative Dissemination Project
grant to give workshops for all of the NSF national Systemic Change Initiative
in Chemistry projects, our average of giving 8-10 regional and national workshops
per year has begun to taper off with workshops for me at the University of Tennessee
– Knoxville, and Berkeley, along with a multi-disciplinary BioQUEST workshop
here at Beloit this summer. I also served on a review panel for nominations
for the National Science Foundation’s Distinguished Teaching Scholar program.
My major time commitment beyond teaching and chairing the department has been,
and will continue to be, serving as the “project shepherd” for planning
our new science building. As with my IDST class, I am learning a tremendous
amount as we get further into this project, and the level of collaboration among
the faculty and staff involved has made the process enjoyable as well as stimulating.
This past year, I continued working with John Jungck on bioinformatics toolkit
development for the BEDROCK/BioQUEST Consortium, begun during my sabbatical
in 2003. I focused on Excel front-end based programming and analysis tools,
including a full-fledged Excel application, which we have named BioGrapher.
The application allows the user to input data for connection networks in biology
(e.g., food webs, metabolic pathways, etc.) as adjacency matrices and then displays
an optimized graphical visualization of the network. Such visualizations are
becoming very important in Systems Biology and our work generated interest when
presented as part of a poster on new visualization tools at the Association
for Cell Biology National Meeting held in Washington, D.C., in December 2004.
I also presented details at the BioQUEST Annual Workshop held at Beloit College
in June 2004 and at a BEDROCK Workshop at DePauw University in January 2005.
During fall 2004, I mentored NAYANI PRAMANIK’04 for her Honors Term project
on the structures of a novel class of small polypeptide diabetes drugs and their
analogs (GLP-I, Exendin, Trp-cage). Nayani used the powerful CAChe suite of
visualization and computation tools to study the docking of ligands with putative
analogs of the GLP-I receptor. She presented her results, along with educational
material on diabetes, to the general public in a poster that was displayed in
the College Library during Finals week.
My interests in computer science continue to be in the hardware area. Apart
from the use of the venerable Commodore VIC-20 in CS 116–Connecting Instruments
to Computers, where students are still demonstrating innovative applications
(see picture on page 4), I worked with HARRISON METZGER’08 on developing
a replacement for the VIC-20 parallel port traditionally used in the course
with a standard Wintel buffered parallel port that can be directly controlled
via an Excel front-end. I am also currently working with Harrison on an eight-week
summer project funded by a Sanger fellowship to design and implement a unique
8-bit RISC CPU.
Finally, I have started an initiative to develop an interdisciplinary program—based
on modeling, simulation, data analysis, and visualization—in Computational
Science that will use our unique software tools. I will be continuing with relevant
course development by teaching two courses in fall: CHEM 245-Molecular Visualization,
Modeling and Computational Chemistry, and CS 270-Data Visualization.
“Magnetic Manipulation of Metallic Nanowires.” Anne Bentley, Department
of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Organic Chemistry ‘Flashware’: Animating Reaction Mechanisms
and Orbital Interactions in Flash.” Ghislain Deslongchamps, University
of New Brunswick, Canada.
"Modeling the Actomyosin Interface." VICCI KORMAN’93 (Biochemistry),
University of Minnesota.
“Applications Programming in the Excel Environment.” Math-CS Colloquium.
Rama Viswanathan, Beloit College.
CHEM 245–Molecular Visualization: Hands-on Demonstration and Laboratory
Exercise using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). Karen Nordell, Lawrence
University.
Madison Engineering Exposition, May 24, 2005. Thanks to MATT SONNENBERG’06,
AMANDA DRENNAN’05, HARRISON METZGER’08, JASON MARMON’06, DANIEL
MURPHY’08, RACHEL OLIVER’07, DIANE PHAM’06, and JOHNA WINTERS’07
for helping present science to the public at the biannual Engineering Exposition
at UW-Madison. We provided a good fraction of the Saturday volunteers doing
the “Nanoworld” table top experiments with all ages and had a chance
to see what engineering students do.
The fourteenth annual Girls and Women in Science (GWS) Conference, supported
by Beloit College, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and private donations,
was held at Beloit College April 8-9 2005, and as usual was a great success.
GWS is a minds-on, hands-on science workshop weekend for sixth grade girls,
along with their teachers and friends, and is designed to ignite enthusiasm
for science in sixth grade girls. This year was special because the Chemistry
Department had a number of students—DANIEL MURPHY ’08, STEPHANIE
GAGE’05, KELLI KAZMIER’07, MATT SONNENBERG’06, and JOHNA WINTERS’07-—help
with activity stations, George Lisensky, Kathleen Mandell, Laura Parmentier,
and Brock Spencer participated as faculty mentors, while Laura’s daughter
Maddy (see picture on page 12) and George’s daughter Rachel were among
the sixth graders attending!
FALL
| 117 | General Chemistry |
56 |
| 1270 | Biochemical Issues |
11 |
| 230 | Organic Chemistry I |
45 |
| 245 | Molecular Modeling/Visualization |
6 |
| 300 | Biochemistry |
12 |
| 370 | Advanced Topics |
6 |
| 380 | Senior Seminar |
6 |
| 385 | Senior Thesis |
2 |
| 395 | Teaching Assistant |
3 |
| FYI | Crime Scene Investigation |
15 |
| Total |
162 |
| 117 | General Chemistry | 47 |
| 220 | Chemical Equilibrium | 16 |
| 235 | Organic Chemistry II | 27 |
| 240 | Thermodynamics and Kinetics | 6 |
| 260 | Biometabolism | 8 |
| 280 | Professional Tools for Chemists | 19 |
| 370/5 | Advanced Topics | 8 |
| 380 | Senior Seminar | 3 |
| 385 | Senior Thesis | 3 |
| 390 | Special Projects | 5 |
| 395 | Teaching Assistant | 4 |
| IDST | Sustainable Buildings | 24 |
| Total | 167 |
| Elif | Alpoge | Biochemistry | 2006 |
Istanbul, Turkey |
| Shankishka | Bain | Env. Chemistry | 2006 |
Nassau, Bahamas |
| Paulo Barreiro | Sanjines | Biochemistry | 2008 |
La Paz, Bolivia |
| Davianne | Cartwright | Biochemistry | 2006 |
Nassau, Bahamas |
| Abigail | Corpuz | Biochemistry | 2007 |
Ewa Beach, HI |
| Jonathan | Dowdle | Biochemistry | 2005 |
Catonsville, MD |
| Amanda | Drennan | Biochemistry | 2005 |
Franklin Park, IL |
| Stephanie | Gage | Chemistry | 2005 |
Pacific Grove, CA |
| Stephanie | Giles | Biochemistry | 2007 |
Medford, MA |
| Amanda | Hammermeister | Biochemistry | 2008 |
Ketchikan, AK |
| Jacob | Horger | Chemistry | 2005 |
Morrison, CO |
| Sarah | Katz | Chemistry | 2007 |
Silver Spring, MD |
| Kelli | Kazmier | Biochemistry | 2007 |
Linden, MI |
| Jennifer | Laube | Biochemistry | 2008 |
Charleston, IL |
| Jason | Marmon | Chemistry | 2006 |
Eudora, KS |
| Daniel | Murphy | Biochemistry | 2008 |
Okemos, MI |
| Alexandra | Nicholson | Biochemistry | 2005 |
Wausau, WI |
| Rachel | Oliver | Biochemistry | 2007 |
Missoula, MT |
| Davis | Peterson | Chemistry | 2007 |
Des Peres, MO |
| Diane | Pham | Chemistry | 2006 |
Geneva, IL |
| Nathaniel | Remley | Biochemistry | 2007 |
Green Bay, WI |
| Chiemi | Riedel | Biochemistry | 2005 |
Denver, CO |
| Carissa | Schubert | Biochemistry | 2006 |
Berlin, WI |
| Christopher | Schumacher | Chemistry | 2006 |
Madison, WI |
| Peter | Shinnick | Chemistry | 2006 |
Chicago, IL |
| Dina | Simkin | Biochemistry | 2005 |
Northbrook, IL |
| Kristen | Skruber | Chemistry | 2006 |
Franklin, TN |
| Matthew | Sonnenberg | Biochemistry | 2006 |
Barrington, IL |
| Amanda | Splan | Biochemistry | 2005 |
Clinton, WI |
| Nelson | Suarez | Biochemistry | 2007 |
Kissimmee, FL |
| Larissa | Thomas | Biochemistry | 2006 |
Waldport, OR |
| Loren | Warmington | Biochemistry | 2005 |
St. Catherine, Jamaica |
| Anna | Wentz | Biochemistry | 2007 |
Kirkwood, MO |
| John | Whittier | Biochemistry | 2006 |
Evansville, WI |
| Johna | Winters | Chemistry | 2007 |
Littleton, CO |
| Nozomi | Yamaoka | Chemistry | 2006 |
Tajimi-shi, Japan |
| Jing | Zhang | Biochemistry | 2007 |
Chengdu, China |
| CUM LAUDE | Alexandra Nicholson |
| DEPARTMENTAL HONORS | Amanda Drennan Alexandra Nicholson Loren Warmington Jacob Horger |
| Phi Beta Kappa | Larissa Thomas’06 |
JOHN H. NAIR AWARD
honors an alumnus (Class of 1915) and provides membership in the American Chemical
Society for one or more seniors who plan careers in chemistry.
Amanda Drennan’05
EDWARD C. FULLER AWARD in CHEMICAL EDUCATION
was established by the majors of the Class of 1982 in honor of Professor Fuller
and is given to a junior or senior who has done outstanding work as a teaching
assistant.
Kellie Kazmier’07
Matthew Sonnenberg’06
WILLIAM J. TRAUTMAN AWARD IN PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
recognizes chemistry majors for outstanding performance in physical chemistry.
Professor Trautman taught chemistry at Beloit College from 1921 to 1947.
Shanishka Bain'06
CRC PRESS FIRST YEAR CHEMISTRY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
recognizes outstanding work by a first-year student and consists of a copy of
the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics .
Katelyn McCool’08
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
sponsored by the Division of Polymer Chemistry recognizes outstanding work in
the introductory organic chemistry course.
Larissa Thomas’06
EDWARD STEVENS '78 STUDENT RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
was established in his honor and provides funds for chemistry-related undergraduate
research and travel to present research results.
Daniel Murphy’08
DAVID A. NORRIS'92 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
was established in his honor and encourages and supports chemistry-related student research.
Jason Marmon'06
ELIZABETH W. SOUTER AWARD (Biology Department) for outstanding scholarship,
presented to a biology student with high academic achievement and potential
for research.
Alexandra Nicholson’05
JACKSON J. BUSHNELL MATHEMATICS PRIZE (2nd Place)
Harrison Metzger’08
BELOIT JANESVILLE SYMPHONY SOLO PERFORMANCE AWARD (Music Department)
Anna Wentz’07
| Shankishka Bain'07 | Moore Family Scholarship |
| Paulo Barreiro Sanjines'08 | World Affairs Scholarship |
| Davianne Cartwright’06 | Moore Family Scholarship |
| Abigail Corpuz'07 | Winter Wood Scholarship, E.L. Rasey Scholarship |
| Jonathan Dowdle’05 | Eaton Scholarship |
| Amanda Drennan’05 | Eaton Scholarship, Ericsson Chemistry Scholarship, Ferwerda Science Scholarship, Sanger Scholarship |
| Stephanie Gage'05 | Eaton Scholarship, Ericsson Chemistry Scholarship, A & M Wilson Scholarship |
| Jacob Horger’05 | Eaton Scholarship, Ferwerda Science Scholarship |
| Sarah Katz’07 | Chapin Presidential Scholarship, Founders Scholarship |
| Kelli Kazmier'07 | Chapin Presidential Scholarship |
| Jennifer Laube'08 | Chapin Presidential Scholarship |
| Jason Marmon’06 | Paul W. Boutwell Scholarship, Ericsson Chemistry, Scholarship, Eugene & Susan Zeltman Scholarship |
| Alexandra Nicholson’05 | Eaton Scholarship |
| Rachel Oliver'07 | Maurer Presidential Scholarship, Marjorie Brown Leff Scholarship |
| Davis Peterson’07 | Eaton Scholarship |
| Diane Pham’06 | Eaton Scholarship, C.H. & E.T. Ferris Scholarship, Winter Wood Scholarship |
| Carissa Schubert’06 | Joseph P. Collie Scholarship, Wendy Ann Vick Scholarship |
| Christopher Schumacher’06 | Presidential Scholarship |
| Peter Shinnick’06 | Eaton Scholarship |
| Dina Simkin’05 | Ferwerda Science Scholarship |
| Amanda Splan’05 | Eaton Scholarship, Strong Scholarship |
| Larissa Thomas'06 | Presidential Scholarship |
| Loren Warmington'05 | Moore Family Scholarship |
| Anna Wentz'07 | Maurer Presidential Scholarship, Marjorie Brown Leff Scholarship |
| Johna Winters'07 | M.P. Spanswick Scholarship, Kate Baron Scholarship |
| Nozomi Yamaoka'06 | Dorothy Frederick Memorial Scholarship, World Affairs Center Scholarship |
Elizabeth Boatman'07
"A Safer, Easier, Faster, Greener Synthesis for CdSe Quantum Dot Nanocrystals."
Mentored by Prof. George Lisensky.
Amanda Drennan'05
"Dibenzylfulvene Crystals." Mentored by Prof. Brock Spencer; Profs. Henning
Hopf and Harald Berger, TU Braunschweig, Germany.
Kelli Kazmier'07
"The Effect of DNA Methylation on the Expression of Selected Genes in C2C12
Myoblasts." Mentored by Profs. Kathleen Mandell; Dr. Tammy Williams, and Dr.
Bruce Lahn, University of Chicago.
Jason Marmon'06
"Synthesis and Fabricating Tris (2,2'-bipyridine) Ruthenium (II) Tetrafluoroborate
as an Organic Light-Emitting Diode." Mentored by Prof. George Lisensky.
Larissa Thomas'06
"Chemokine RANTES Signals through the p38
MAPK Pathway in Rheumatoid Arthritis." Mentored by Prof. Marion Fass.
Amanda Drennan'05
"The Archaeology of Scotland from the Perspective of a Biochemistry Major."
Mentored by Professor Paul Stanley.
Jacob Horger'05
"Polymers, Noodles, and Einstein: Summer Research in Germany." Mentored by Professor
George Lisensky.
2004 Pew Midstates Undergraduate Symposium
in Biology and Psychology
October 29-31, University of Chicago
Kelli Kazmier'04
"Effect of DNA Demethylation on the Expression of Various Genes in C2C23 Myoblasts."
Dina Simkin'04
"Absence of Mutation in the Coding Region of the HCN2 Gene in Mice with Juvenile
Audiogenic Seizures."
Matt Sonnenberg'06
"Glutamate Concentrations at the Lateral Hypothalamus of Rats."
Also in attendance were Beloit alumni NANA FENNY'04 (Univ. of Chicago MD/PhD
student)and DANIJELA MARIC'04 (researcher in Dr. Nancy Schwartz's Laboratory).
2004 Pew Midstates Undergraduate Symposium in the Physical
Sciences
November 5-7, Washington University, St. Louis
Elizabeth Boatman'06
"A Safer Easier, Faster, Greener Synthesis for CdSe Quantum Dot Nanocrystals."
Amanda Drennan'04
"Variations on Fluorine Crystals."
Jacob Horger'05
"Synthesis of a Fluorinated Amphiphilic Copolymer Via Direct Miniemulsion."
George Lisensky gave one of the keynote talks on "Exploring the Nanoworld."
Also in attendance was EMILY MARTIS'04, who is currently an engineering student
at Washington University.
Amanda Drennan’05
“Neuropeptide Y (NPY) and the Y5 Receptor: The Circadian Rhythms of Hunger
as They Relate to Photic Stimuli”
Dina Simkin’05
“Modulation of Serotonin Neurotransmission by the 5HT1B Receptor to Treat
Depression”
Loren Warmington’05
“Developing a Model for Therapy-Related Acute Myeloid Leukemia Using RNA
Interference Against the Gene Early Growth Response 1,”
Alexandra Nicholson’05
“Evidence for Rage-Dependent S100B-Induced iNOS/NO Production in Astrocytes”
Chiemi Riedel’05
“Animal-To-Human and Human-To-Human Modes of Transmission
of the Ebola Virus”
ELIF ALPOGE’06 is one of the leaders of a campus effort,
working with a grassroots relief organization called Tsunami Wave, to provide
sustained help to families in the villages surrounding Phuket, Thailand, that
were badly hit by the Great Tsunami of December 26, 2004. Elif also reports
that during the summer, Dr. Paul Adams at Stony Brook (SUNY) will act as her
mentor in the emerging field of theoretical neuroscience.
SHANISHKA BAIN’06 has a summer research internship working
with lemon sharks in the Bimini lagoon at the Bimini Biological Field Station,
South Bimini, Bahamas. Next fall she will be doing marine environmental research
in the School for Field Studies in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
ANDREW BARTLES’08 plans to visit Holland, and then go
to Morocco to study Arabic.
IAN BLITZ’08 will be doing chemistry research at Eastern
Illinois University.
ABIGAIL CORPUZ’07 plans on taking a 6 week program at
Blackhawk Technical College, Central Campus-Janesville to be certified as a
nursing assistant (CNA).
STEPHANIE GILES’07 will be working for Dr. Bruce Jackson
and his group at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell studying the genetic
affects of volcano ash on plant, animal, and insect life on the island of Monsterrat
(eastern Caribbean) and its surrounding ocean.
AMANDA HAMMERMEISTER’08 will be going home to Alaska
and working most of the summer.
SARAH KATZ’07 will spend the summer at the Naval Research Laboratory
in Washington, D.C., as an intern, researching liquid crystals.
KELLI KAZMIER’07 will be doing a summer research internship
at the University of Rochester in Dr. Jean Bidlack’s laboratory in the
Department of Pharmacology and Physiology. She will be investigating the relationship
between structure and function of opioid receptors for pharmacological applications.
JENNIFER LAUBE’08 will be going to Mexico with ELLEN
SIEG’08 and using a FYI venture grant to photograph Teotihuacan (the huge
Mesoamerican ruins just north of Mexico City). She invites everyone to come
see their display in the Logan Museum next spring!
JASON MARMON’06 recently traveled to Boston as a McNair
Scholar and visited several graduate programs in nanotechnology and chemistry
including Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, MIT, and Northeastern
University. During the summer, he will be performing research under the direction
of Dr. Dean Duncan at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Later in the
summer, he will visit Hong Kong and China to study the physics of Wushu (Kung
Fu) martial arts weapons under the mentorship of Professor Paul Stanley (Physics,
Beloit College) using a grant funded by the Asia Institute. He has also obtained
a position as a Peer Mentor for the summer TRIO Institute at Beloit College.
Finally, he will occasionally help the McNair program assemble their Beloit
College McNair Scholar's Journal, an activity which will probably continue into
the fall semester.
HARRISON METZGER’08 has been awarded a Sanger Student
Assistantship and will be working with Professor Rama Viswanathan to design,
simulate and build a unique 8-bit Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) Central
Processing Unit (CPU) using standard logic libraries and off-the-shelf IC chips.
DANIEL MURPHY’08 received an Edward Stevens Research
Fellowship and will be working with Professor Kathleen Mandell, investigating
crowding effects on the thermodynamics of deoxyoligonucleotides from Bacillus
anthracis and the Variola virus using differential scanning calorimetry and
isothermal titration calorimetry. Dan will also be going to Boston University
later in the summer to work with Dr. Raquell Holmes and the Center for Computational
Science in configuring the GeoWall Computer Projection System to model biological
molecules in 3-D.
CINDY NGUYEN’07 will be researching the incidence of
pediatric asthma in Beloit as a McNair Scholar mentored by Professor Nancy Krusko
(Anthropology, Beloit College).
RACHEL OLIVER’07 will work as a CNA at a nursing home
in Missoula, MT and also attend the 6-week American Dance Festival Program in
North Carolina.
DAVIS PETERSON’07 will be working for the Boy Scouts
of America at Camp Woodruff in Northern Georgia. After camp he hopes to be able
to travel around the country for a while.
DIANE PHAM’06 received a Schweppe award and will be doing
research focused on neural growth and axonal migration at Northwestern University
in Dr. Yi Rao’s group.
NATHANIEL REMLEY’07 will be attending classes at Lewis
and Clark College, in Portland, Oregon. In addition he will be training for
several half-ironman triathlons scheduled to be held later in the summer.
CHRISTOPHER SCHUMACHER’06 spent the spring semester in
Copenhagen on the Denmark International Study Program.
PETER SHINNICK’06 will be working at Walgreens pharmacies
across the Chicago Loop district as a Certified Pharmacy Technician. He will
also be taking courses at Harry S. Truman College to fulfill the final requirements
for his Pharm.D. degree. Peter was accepted into Massachusetts College of Pharmacy
and Health Sciences (MCPHS) in early May. MCPHS is the largest pharmacy school
and the second oldest pharmacy in the nation. Peter will be completing a four
year program at MCPHS that will enable him follow in his father’s, grandfather’s
and great grandfather's footsteps and become a pharmacist! Since Peter will
not be returning to Beloit, he wishes his fellow Chemistry majors the best of
luck and thanks the Chemistry Department faculty for their guidance.
LARISSA THOMAS’06 will be living in San Francisco this
summer. There is a possibility that while in San Francisco, she will be volunteering
and working for HIV/AIDS research/activism programs. Next year she will be taking
biochemistry, physics and four other classes. She will also be a Teaching Assistant
for genetics and become a Head Resident Assistant, so it is going to be a busy
and exciting year! She is also considering applying for a Fulbright scholarship
and a position in the Peace Corps after graduation.
ANNA WENTZ’07 will be working in Dr. Mark Sand's laboratory
at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, studying lysosomal
storage disorders.
NOZOMI YAMAOKA’06 will be going home to stay in Japan
for the entire summer, preparing for a college entrance exam to get into a Japanese
medical school. Since her home is very close to EXPO 2005, she will also be
visiting there.
JING ZHANG’07 is going home to China for a month this
summer and then will be in Japan for two months taking third-year Japanese on
a full scholarship awarded by the Freeman East Asian Studies Grant Program.
JONATHAN DOWDLE – Catonsville, MD
Biochemistry Major and Anthropology Minor.
Jon will be working for a year at a hospital in Baltimore while preparing to
apply to medical schools.
AMANDA DRENNAN – Franklin Park, IL
Biochemistry Major
Amanda has had a wonderful time at Beloit. While interning at Argonne National
Laboratory, she worked on the synthesis of a novel construct for DNA as a molecular
wire. She also received a German Academic Exchange (DAAD) scholarship, allowing
her to investigate the properties of dibenzofulvene crystals at the Technical
University of Bruanschweig in Germany. Chemistry classes were great fun, in
part due to the company of Karlita, Jacob and Stephanie. Amanda spent a semester
abroad in Glasgow, Scotland, has been involved in the Outdoor Environmental
Club, served as Head Orientation Leader and Resident Assistant, and participated
in Mortar Board. Amanda would like to thank and send her love to those who helped
her to get this far, including EDP, professors, study buddies, and her family.
STEPHANIE GAGE – Pacific Grove, CA
Chemistry Major
Stephanie took advantage of the applied chemistry major and combined a foundation
in chemistry with neuroscience. She is specifically interested in neurological
disease, and much of her research focused on understanding Parkinson's disease.
Her interest in neuroscience and health care studies led her to spend a semester
abroad at Lancaster University in England, where she not only enjoyed her studies
but also had the opportunity to travel through Western Europe. Stephanie has
played four years of varsity tennis, has been a general chemistry tutor for
the Learning Services Support Center (LSSC), and participated in Girls and Women
in Science. Stephanie's future plans include entering graduate school for neuroscience
and pursuing a career in neurological research and/or teaching.
JACOB HORGER– Morrison, CO
Chemistry Major and Physics Minor
Jacob worked with Professor Laura Parmentier one summer under an NSF-CCLI grant
developing experiments for capillary gas chromatographs. He also worked with
Laura and KARLA LIGHTFIELD'04 on a "Nano Kid" organic synthesis project
supported by an Edward Stevens'78 Research Fellowship. Last summer he did research
on micro-emulsion polymerization at the University of Ulm in South Central Germany
through a DAAD fellowship. Next fall he will start graduate study in chemistry
at the University of South Carolina.
ALEXANDRA NICHOLSON – Wausau, WI
Biochemistry MajorAlexandra worked in an arthritis laboratory at Rush University,
Chicago as a Schweppe Fellow during the summer of 2003 and then did research
in neuroscience with Prof. Van Eldik at Northwestern University last summer.
She has been a varsity volleyball player and was team captain.
CHIEMI RIEDEL – Denver, CO
Biochemistry Major and Health Care Studies Minor
Chiemi realized by the end of her sophomore year that her heart was really in
the sciences. The past four years have been spent taking many science courses,
some just for fun, and perhaps spending way too much time in Chamberlin Hall.
However, she also had internships with the Wisconsin Arthritis Program (City
of Beloit Health Department), and with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. Clubs
and activities included Alpha Sigma Tau sorority, Live Aloha, Japan Club, working
at the library, and tutoring. Her main interests lie in Japan, health care rights
and issues, reproductive health, medicine in general, and infectious diseases.
Chiemi plans on joining the Peace Corps (hopefully in Africa) to work on health-care
related issues while she figures out what exactly she wants to do, and then
go to graduate school. Her long-term goal is a career that combines medicine,
infectious diseases, and women’s reproductive health.
DINA SIMKIN – Northbrook, IL
Biochemistry Major
Dina had a summer internship at Northwestern University and worked on a project
involving the cloning and sequencing of exons of certain genes in mice that
have a generalized seizure disorder. She has also done independent special projects
research on seratonin. She presented her Northwestern University work at Pew
and other Undergraduate Research Conferences. This summer, Dina plans to travel
to Russia and Israel before starting graduate school in fall. Her ultimate career
goal is to start her own biotech company.
AMANDA SPLAN – Clinton, WI
Biochemistry Major
Amanda reports that the highlight of her Beloit College experience was getting
to know people with many different backgrounds. She plans to move to Arizona
and get a Pharmacy Technician diploma at Bryman School in Tempe, AZ next year.
Simultaneously, she will be applying for admission to Pharm.D. programs for
fall 2006.
LOREN WARMINGTON – St. Catherine, Jamaica
Biochemistry Major and Physics Minor
During the summer of 2003, Loren was awarded a Schweppe fellowship to do research
at the University of Chicago in the area of acute myeloid leukemia. He worked
with Dr. Michelle Le Beau to determine the role that the gene Early Growth Response
1 played in causing the therapy-related form of the disease where patients would
get acute myeloid leukemia after being treated for another form of cancer. In
summer 2004, Loren interned in the biotechnology division of Kemin, Inc., in
Des Moines, Iowa. With regards to future plans, he will work for a while. Eventually
he hopes to attend medical school or graduate school in one of biological sciences.
*Past issues of Beloit College Magazine can be accessed on-line and downloaded
in PDF format at https://www.beloit.edu/belmag/.
CHARLES ABRAMS (Chemistry Department faculty member 1998-2002) wrote to tell
us that a baby girl, Elizabeth Fay, was born to spouse Abby and Charlie on June
16, 2004. Our congratulations and best wishes, belated since this news was received
after we went to press with our previous annual newsletter.
NANCY DEVINO (Chemistry Department visiting faculty member 1990-92) wrote to
tell us that after working for the state Department of Education in Columbia,
Missouri, she has gone back to the liberal arts college world and is now the
Director of the Science Center for Women at Agnes Scott College in Decatur,
GA.
WILLIAM SWISHER’35 wrote recently to say that he is the class of '35 agent
and that he is “also a part of your staff, if the record still holds.
For the year 1934-35, I was a Laboratory Assistant complete with all the perks
and honors. This allowed me to live in the dormitory for one year, a privilege
which I hold close to my heart." Bill sent us a copy of a letter digest
compiled from our 2004 Annual Newsletter, which he has also sent to his classmates.
Thanks for your help and interest, Bill, and keep those letters coming!
LAWRENCE PAKULA’53. While traveling in Hong Kong in May 2004, Larry and
his wife, Sheila, took a side trip and tour of Shanghai. The tour was superb,
but the best part was when Larry discovered that their tour guide, Vivian Wang,
had been an exchange student at Beloit in 1987-88.
PAUL STITT’62, chairman of the board of Natural Ovens Bakery Inc., Manitowoc,
WI, was featured on the cover of the January 2005 issue of Corporate Report
Wisconsin magazine. A nutrition advocate, Paul was also featured in the critically
acclaimed movie Supersize Me, a documentary exposing the health risks of fast
food. In the film, Paul commented about a project he spearheaded in which high-risk
high school students dramatically improved their performance when their school
started serving healthier lunches.ROBERT NORRIS’66 has retired after 18
years in the chemistry field and 20 years as an environmental consultant. During
this short period he was awarded 13 US patents, coauthored six books, taught
over 20 short courses, and served on two National Research Council committees.
Retirement includes grandkids, hiking, volunteering with the Community Food
Share, some part time work, and serving on two national environmental committees.
Most or all of these activities have been supervised by Kathleen, his wife of
38 years with whom he raised two Beloit graduates and hosted 33 foreign exchange
students.
BRIAN DAVIS’81 is working with 3rd Millennium Inc. on the Cancer Biomedical
Informatics Grid (caBIG, see http:cabig.nci.nih.gov) project, where he is one
of the workspace program managers.
CHRISTINE WARTA’90 has recently joined Sigma Chemicals in St. Louis as
a Senior Environmental Health and Safety Specialist.
SUDHA PAVULURI '94 and ERIK JON QUAMME '96 were married in a traditional South
Indian wedding ceremony at the Pavuluri family home in Govada Village, Guntur
District in Andhra Pradesh, India on Nov. 27, 2004. Our congratulations and
best wishes!
KELLEY (ROBERT) BRADLEY’96 and Cheryl Bradley were married Aug. 4, 2004,
in the San Bernadino Mountains of Southern California. (Our congratulations
and best wishes!) Kelley received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Rice
University in 2000 and is working at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The couple
resides in Houston, Texas.
CAROLINE MCCRAY (CLOTHIER)’96 just finished her seventh year at Pierce
and her fifth year as a Project Manager. She received a Masters degree in Project
Management at UW-Madison and now launches around 20 new products a year. Carrie
says, "I think of Beloit often and am grateful for the encouragement and
inspiration I received from you."
GREGORY EHRENDREICH’97 is now in graduate school in the MS program in
Environmental Management at The Stuart-Illinois Institute of Technology Graduate
School of Business. "… Today was my first day of class. You wouldn't
believe who I sat next to in ‘Solid and Hazardous Waste Management’...CHIP
JOHNSON’89 (Geology), who also happens to be a fraternity brother of mine.
Small world... Peace…”
KELLY KNUDSON '97 is starting a tenure-track appointment in Anthropology at
Arizona State University this fall where she will be helping to establish a
Center for Bioarchaeological Research. She will be building a small archaeological
chemistry lab where she will prepare bone and teeth samples, and plans on analyzing
them in the Geosciences Department mass spectrometers. Kelly wrote to Brock
that “It is an exciting position, though I am still brainstorming ways
to bring a little bit of Beloit into the large introductory lecture courses
that I will sometimes teach…In other Tempe news, we will live very close
to a good place for crepes (authentic, proclaims my husband, who lived in France
for a year) and I heard rumors of a Peruvian restaurant…Thank you again
for all of your encouragement and advice over the years.”
CHRISTOPHER MAEDA’97 attended the Medical College of Wisconsin and graduated
with an M.D., then went on to a residency in Family Practice at the University
of Washington. After completing the residency, he is now in a Sports Medicine
fellowship at the University of Washington, which he will finish in June. He
writes to Roc, “I always will remember how you encouraged us to believe
in ourselves and that it is okay to say ‘I don't know.’ I find in
medicine, there is so much that we don't know and I think patients appreciate
it when we acknowledge this fact and not try to make up something. I am now
where I dreamed I would be when I was still at Beloit. Much of this I credit
to you. I can't count many times I was in your office asking you for help. Thank
you for all of your help and support…”
KRISTIE MATHER’97 and Ryan Trump were married in Bahama, NC, on April
24, 2004. Our congratulations and best wishes!
BIANCA MOTHE’97 finished her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 2002.
Her dissertation work focused on protective immune responses in monkeys infected
with the SIV (the monkey AIDS virus). Upon graduating, she moved to San Diego
to work with a collaborator in biotechnology in a company for a year and then
went back to academia. She has just started her second year as an Assistant
Professor at California State University-San Marcos and says that life is hectic
but fun.
LEAH BANDSTRA’01. Her research was recently featured in the "Alumni
News" section of the Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL) Semester
in Environmental Science Newsletter. Leah was an intern in their summer research
program in 2000, and is now a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Oceanography at Oregon
State University. She has participated in many scientific cruises, including
the Southern Ocean Iron Fertilization Experiment (SOFeX). In May 2004, she successfully
defended her MS thesis: " High-Frequency Measurements of Total CO2: Method
Development and First Oceanographic Observations."
TORI ZIEMANN’01 was recently featured in the "Alumni News" section
of the Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL) Semester in Environmental
Science Newsletter. Tori was an intern in their summer research program in 1999,
and a Teaching Assistant in 2001 and 2002. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D.
in Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences at Notre Dame University.
MUYIWA AWONIYI’03 recently wrote to say that he is still at Mayo Clinic
doing research in the graduate school.
PATRICE LEAHY’04 wrote in August 2004 that she had joined Rhodia Inc.,
a specialty chemical company located in Cranbury, NJ. She is doing organic chemistry
in the Synthesis & Development section of Household Products, Consumer,
and Industrial Ingredients (HPCII).
KARLA LIGHTFIELD’04 visited during commencement and is completing a year
of research in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University's
medical school, where she has been characterizing the micro flora of the mouth
by DNA analysis. Next fall she will start on her Ph.D. in the Infectious Diseases
program in the School of Public Health at the University of California - Berkeley.
Last year, Karla wrote to Laura about her experiences at Stanford and said (among
other things) that “Stanford is amazing...it's intimidating being surrounded
by so many great minds, but at the same time there is so much opportunity for
learning…My knowledge of thermodynamics has definitely come in handy many
times (Rama would be proud). Talking with more and more people about their education
has made me so happy with my choice of colleges…”
NANCY NGUYEN’04 is a first year medical student at the University of Wisconsin
in Madison and received a National Health Service Corporation (NHSC) scholarship
in August 2004. (BRYNA DUNAWAY'03 was a previous recipient of the same scholarship.)
At that time, Nancy reported that medical school was intense, but she was confident
that she would find the right techniques for studying. [Editor's Note: Nancy
visited Beloit in March to talk informally to students about successfully making
the transition From Beloit College to medical school.]
Our alumni email network has been tremendously helpful to our present students for finding mentors, summer research positions, and post-graduate opportunities. The Beloit College Alumni office now maintains an email directory that can be accessed at http://alumni.beloit.edu/. Please send email addresses and changes to alumni@beloit.edu.
Chemistry faculty
brownwh@beloit.edu
greene@beloit.edu
lisensky@beloit.edu
mandellc@beloit.edu
ordman@beloit.edu
parmentr@beloit.edu
spencer@beloit.edu
ramav@beloit.edu
Web pages
https://www.beloit.edu/chemistry
(Previous issues of the Annual Newsletter dating back to 1993 are available
on-line via the home page!)
http://chemlinks.beloit.edu/
https://www.beloit.edu/biochemistry/
https://www.beloit.edu/biology/
http://www.bioquest.org/bedrock/
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Arthur Dalton’52
M. Jastrow Levin’33
Richard Lindeman’49
Mary Riddell Morgan’39
Gail Larson Strachan’41