LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
Iam honored to have been asked to chair the Department of Chemistry. Some of you (but not most) may recall that this will be my second tour of such duty, having first served from 2001 to 2007. I want to thank Matt Sigman for his outstanding leadership these past five years. In this issue, I invite you to join us in a special fundraising opportunity to honor his legacy by supporting the SigmanMarks Fellowship, now endowed.
This issue of Catalyst highlights our outstanding students, faculty, alumni, research initiatives, and collaborations that demonstrate excellence in our department.
This fall, the Department of Chemistry has 37 new graduate students, bringing the total to 185, the largest graduate program
at the University of Utah. Our department is supporting over 2,000 undergraduate students with new teaching labs and learning spaces.
We are thrilled to introduce three new faculty members, each bringing unique expertise to our department. Valerie Pierre will lead research in bioinorganic and supramolecular chemistry, a field with many promising applications. Long Luo’s focus on electrochemistry in analytical, organic, and materials chemistry will enrich our research landscape. Jacob J. Lessard's organic and materials chemistry program will broaden the scope of our department's research.
I want to thank Jack and Peg Simons for reaching the
fundraising goal of $1 million to establish the Jack and Peg Simons Endowed Chair in Theoretical Chemistry. Jack and Peg’s unwavering support and commitment to the department and its students have a tremendous impact on educating future generations of chemists.
This past summer we lost one of our former colleagues, Josef Michl, an outstanding chemist and strong supporter of the department. With the Michl family’s generous endowment, the department will establish the Josef and Sara Allensworth Michl Presidential Endowed Chair in Chemistry this upcoming year. We will be forever grateful to Josef and Sara for this extraordinary gift.
In September of this year, we
recognized our 2024 Distinguished Alumni: Gretchen Domek BS’03, Alan Eastman PhD’71, and Paul Weider BS’78. We celebrated their outstanding careers, and they provided our students with the opportunity to discuss the future of science, education, and special initiatives that could help them build their own futures.
With the unwavering support of our faculty, alumni, and friends, we will continue to build on an outstanding foundation of excellence and provide lifechanging educational and research experiences for our exceptional undergraduate and graduate students.
RECOGNITION
CONNOR BISCHAK
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
AMERICAN VACUUM SOCIETY EMERGING LEADER AWARD
SCIALOG AWARD
QILEI ZHU
ORAU RALPH E POWER
JUNIOR FACULTY
ENHANCEMENT AWARD
ANDREW ROBERTS
ROBERT W. PARRY TEACHING AWARD—ENDOWED BY THE BRADY FOUNDATION
RYAN DELUCA
W.W. EPSTEIN OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR AWARD
GABE NAGY
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY RESEARCH AWARD
RODRIGO NORIEGA SLOAN RESEARCH FELLOW
CYNTHIA BURROWS CONFERENCE HONOREE AT THE REACTION MECHANISMS CONFERENCE
JESSICA SWANSON COTTRELL SCHOLAR
AARON PURI
SIMONS EARLY CAREER AWARD
JOEL HARRIS
ACS ANALYTICAL DIVISION AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
Thank you again for all your support.
Sincerely,
Chair Peter B. Armentrout
Catalyst is the official magazine of the Department of Chemistry, University of Utah, published in partnership with Marketing & Communications, College of Science.
Associate Director of Marketing & Communications: Bianca Lyon Writer & Editor: David Pace
Designer/Photographer: Todd Anderson
Special thanks to Nelly Divricean, Strategic Engagement/Dept. of Chemistry
Follow us on social media @uofu_chemistry or @utahchemistry
IN MEMORIAM
JOSEF MICHL 1939 - 2024
Contact us at advancement@chem.utah.edu
Prefer only a digital version of Catalyst? Send us an email. nellyd@chem.utah.edu
Cover: (left to right) Professors Jeff Statler, Elizabeth Greenhalgh, Ryan DeLuca, Kaci Kuntz, Holly Sebahar, and Greg Owens
THESE CHEMISTRY PROFESSORS ARE THE FACE OF THEIR DISCIPLINE TO THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS AT THE U.
AT THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION CONVERGE IN AN EXTRAORDINARY EDUCATIONAL ENDEAVOR: MOVING OVER 2,000 STUDENTS EACH SEMESTER THROUGH FOUNDATIONAL CHEMISTRY CLASSES.
This remarkable feat is achieved through a cutting-edge curriculum delivered by six passionate educators known as the "teachers of thousands": Jeff Statler, Elizabeth Greenhalgh, Ryan DeLuca, Kaci Kuntz, Holly Sebahar, and Greg Owens. These instructors, three of whom are featured here, possess a rare skill set that allows them to present fundamental chemistry with competence, patience, and an uncanny ability to inspire. In their classrooms and labs, aspiring chemists and future medical professionals alike find themselves immersed in an unparalleled learning environment. These six are supported by many other faculty dedicated to curriculum development and fostering a robust space for scientific curiosity.
TALKING COURSE STRATEGY
On a Wednesday before Labor Day weekend, Jeff Statler opens a jam-packed classroom with careful, deliberative class procedures. He is aware of how big his subject is and how distracting some lines of inquiry can become. “Don’t worry about chapter two until this weekend,” he says. “There’s a lot of physics and a lot of quantum mechanics, mostly enrichment stuff, not part of the learning objectives.”
Statler talks strategy, as if he’s enrolled himself. “I won’t test you on that,” he says, answering a question about prioritizing. The way he scans the bank of students above him in class is intimate, improbably giving eye contact, it seems, to everyone. Clearly, Statler is skilled at reassuring students that there’s a sequence of things. “I’m big not on memorization but on patterns. We’re almost antimemorization,” around here.
THE INVERTED CLASSROOM
With a team of learning assistants (LAs) and teaching assistants (TAs) Statler
is always poised to break up what could be the monotony, for some, of a lecture. “Mingle, chat, ask your neighbor what they think,” he says in a class of over 300. Suddenly, his TAs are trailing up the stairs, scanning the clusters of chatting students, listening in on the conversations, making themselves available for questions, making comments . . . being present.
This interactive, “inverted classroom” approach meets a diverse group of students where they are—literally in their seats. “Teaching and learning are always so individual in many ways,” admits Statler. “Students always inspire and motivate me and keep me ‘thinking young’ with their fresh questions, perspectives, and unique needs and backgrounds.”
Like Statler, Holly Sebahar—recipient of the W.W. Epstein Outstanding Educator Award—has her own teaching strategies, largely animated by her determination to be totally inclusive. “We try to offer a wide variety of office hours and review sessions, a diverse set of communication
styles, lots of chances to talk about chemistry and ask questions . . . and learn from their mistakes.”
“I try to constantly ask myself ‘who will be left out if I design my course this way?’” says Sebahar of the diversity she finds in her classes. “I strive to create a highly structured class with clear expectations, several lines of communication, and as much flexibility as possible to try to reach the many learning styles and accommodate the busy schedules inherent in a class of 300 students.”
A CUMULATIVE SUBJECT
When Ryan DeLuca, also an Epstein award winner, is faced with diverse classes, not just in demographics but in class sizes from 25 students to 350, he ensures success by utilizing peer-directed learning and providing strong support from teaching assistants. DeLuca, who earned his PhD under the tutelage of Matt Sigman, has taught 29 chemistry courses over the past seven years, reaching a total of approximately 3,600 students. He believes in teaching through problem-solving in real time. “Chemistry is a cumulative subject where each concept builds on the previous one.”
Honoring the cumulative and recursive nature of a subject is embedded in learning chemistry for all instructors of large classes. As Sebahar puts it, in her classes “mistakes are embraced and utilized instead of feared.” She maintains a six-to-one ratio between students and TAs and is keenly aware when a student is going through a difficult time.
SIGNALS OF STUDENT DISTRESS
To countervail attrition in student enrollment and graduation, instructors and their assistants watch for varied signals of student distress. It’s a high-touch line of action for Sebahar who, over the past 22 years—700 students per year— has taught over 15,000 students. Her mantras? “Don’t focus on the negatives. Take time to get to know your students and enjoy their energy, enthusiasm and unique gifts and talents. Keep learning so your passion for the subject doesn’t fizzle.”
It is love of the subject, according to DeLuca, who through the Allen Foundation has had a scholarship named in his honor, that clearly propels him as an instructor. Available resources are present not only in class but in those micro- even atomic-sized
interactions with the good professor out of class, with TAs, and, critically, with one another. Ever the chemical bonder, DeLuca engineers each semester as a dynamic, molecular structure where student "atoms" move, interact, vibrate, rotate and translate with success within differing materials and environments. The result: hungry college-aged minds get fed.
CHEMISTRY IN ACTION
Back in the lecture hall with Statler, the theater of demos are key to student engagement in what is his herculean record of teaching 12,000 students over a 35-year career. They seem to make tangible for him all the rewards as a teacher he could hope for. It is an embodied wonder as he conducts experiments, his face down close and awash in light, the detail of what’s happening, in turn, projected above.
It is chemistry in action (and reaction) … expert pedagogy in the flesh. <
You can read profiles of all six chemistry professors at science.utah.edu/faculty/teaching-thousands. Faculty interviews by Julia McNulty.
UNRAVELING BACTERIAL GENOMES
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH'S DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, FACULTY MEMBER AARON PURI AND GRADUATE STUDENT DELANEY BEALS ARE PIONEERING RESEARCH TO DECODE BACTERIAL GENOMES BY UNDERSTANDING THEIR NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS.
Their project, which began with Puri's pilot experiments during his postdoctoral fellowship, focuses on linking methanotroph phenotypes to genotypes using a spatially resolved model ecosystem.
Puri, who started his research group at the U in 2019, brings a diverse and impressive background to the project. With triple bachelor's degrees from the University of Chicago, a PhD in chemical and systems biology from Stanford University, and postdoctoral
research at the University of Washington, Puri's expertise spans chemical tools for host-pathogen interactions and genetic tools for methane-oxidizing bacteria. Now a faculty member in the Henry Eyring Center for Cell & Genome Science, his work centers on the biological chemistry of bacteria that grow on one-carbon compounds like methane and methanol.
Beals, a fifth-year PhD candidate, contributes vital expertise in the chemical ecology of methaneoxidizing bacterial communities. Originally from North Carolina with a bachelor's from UNC Asheville, Beals was drawn to Puri's lab due to its focus on bacterially derived natural products. "By studying how a particular microbe behaves in the natural environment versus in the lab,” she explains, “we can better understand the ecological context in which various compounds are produced, and thus improve efforts to capitalize on a naturally occurring process."
Their research aims to uncover how bacteria use natural products to interact with each other and the environment. Puri elucidates the challenge: "We live in a time where we have virtually unlimited access to bacterial DNA (genome) sequences. But we have a hard time making sense of the vast majority of this information in the lab." To address this, the team grows bacteria in conditions closer to their natural environment, which has revealed exciting insights. Puri notes, "We can use relatively simple materials to uncover new bacterial behaviors in the lab in a reproducible manner."
The Puri-Beals collaboration has yielded significant findings, showing that bacterial behavior varies depending on their location
within the model ecosystem. This research has potential applications in alternative energy, agriculture, and health by optimizing the use of microbes for various purposes. Their work not only advances our understanding of bacterial genetics but also paves the way for practical applications with farreaching societal impacts.
As Puri emphasizes, "This work underscores that it is critical to think about the environment the bacterium of interest came from to understand what the genes in bacterial DNA are doing, since that is where they evolved." This approach promises to enhance our ability to harness microbes as sources for new natural products and to optimize their use in diverse applications.
DECODING HUMAN MILK OLIGOSACCHARIDES
IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 2022-2023 INFANT FORMULA SHORTAGE, THE RESEARCH OF PROFESSOR GABE NAGY AND GRADUATE STUDENT SANAZ HABIBI (THEY/THEIR) HAS TAKEN ON NEWFOUND SIGNIFICANCE.
Their project, focused on characterizing human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), addresses crucial sugars in human milk that play a vital role in infant development.
available for only about 30 of them. Nagy and Habibi are at the forefront of developing new analytical techniques to enhance HMO characterization, which could have profound implications for improving infant formula and understanding infant nutrition.
Habibi, who joined Nagy's lab in 2021, brings expertise in analytical chemistry and instrumentation from their undergraduate studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Their research utilizes high-resolution cyclic ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (cIMS-MS) to analyze HMOs. Habibi explains their journey: "I became very interested in the cIMSMS instrument that was being used in his [Nagy's] lab, despite having little to no background in IMS or MS. I realized that Gabe's lab was the best fit for me to learn a different type of separation technique and increase my knowledge of mass spectrometry for studying an important class of carbohydrates."
lack of comprehensive reference materials." This work involves constructing collision cross-section databases, which provide numerical descriptions of the size, shape, and charge of ions—crucial for accurately identifying both known and unknown HMOs in real human milk samples.
The team's work is particularly timely, as Nagy points out: "The world of sugar analysis has lagged behind other fields by 10–20 years, and we believe that our lab could develop new tools in order to bridge this gap." The duo’s research not only contributes to solving immediate challenges in infant nutrition but also has broader implications for analytical chemistry.
Nagy and Habibi are optimistic about the wider applicability of their tools and methods. They envision their advancements being adopted by laboratories worldwide across various molecule classes. Habibi emphasizes the potential of their work "to enhance the comprehensive profiling of human milk using our developed methods."
The complexity of HMOs presents a significant challenge, with potentially over 200 different compounds, yet authentic references are currently
Further elaborating on their innovative approach Nagy says, "We aim to develop advanced methods using ion mobility separations and mass spectrometry. These methods aim to decipher the structures of all possible HMOs, addressing the gap in understanding caused by the
This pioneering research has the potential to empower other disciplines such as biology and medicine by providing access to advanced analytical tools. As infant nutrition continues to be a critical area of study, the work of Nagy and Habibi stands at the forefront of efforts to improve our understanding and application of human milk components in infant formula and beyond. <
Story contribution by Julia McNulty.
RYAN STOLLEY A
YEAR OF LIVING MAGICALLY
“I GET TO CREATE THINGS THAT HAVE NEVER EXISTED IN THE UNIVERSE BEFORE, HOLD THEM IN MY HAND AND SHARE THEM,” SAYS RYAN STOLLEY PHD’13, AN ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF THE SCIENCE RESEARCH INITIATIVE (SRI) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH AND ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY.
“Teaching students and giving them an opportunity to explore the nature of the universe and share that magic is incredible.”
If it sounds like Stolley is some kind of magician, he is, and not just as an established chemist, but as someone who mentors STEM undergraduates
through hands-on, first-year-andbeyond research experiences that are unique to most science programs in the US.
Stolley was recently acknowledged as one of 2024's “Forty Under 40” by Utah Business magazine which annually celebrates the professionals changing the Beehive State’s business landscape in big ways—all before reaching the age of 40. In addition to his work at the U, he is principal chemist of Glycosurf, LLC a local chemical and personal care product company that has garnered national attention in the field of critical minerals recovery.
In the SRI labs where observers can view Stolley and his undergrads
through the fishbowl architecture on the third floor of the Crocker Science Center, the choreography of that lab can seem frenetic and intense. Gloved and gowned, students in their first year can be seen skirting around fume hoods and manipulating assays to uncover new reaction paradigms using under-explored or entirely new functional groups, exotic ligands for rare-earth element coordination, and a variety of exotic conducting materials.
A Colorado native, Stolley conjures that mysterious transfer of knowledge in higher education where students are paired with esteemed mentors who not only share their scientific expertise but, critically, also teach their students how to learn, and even why. <
NEW FACULTY
SPECIALIZING IN ELECTROCHEMISTRY, POLYMERIZATION AND SUPRAMOLECULAR AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY, A TRIO OF NEW RESEARCHERS ARE SETTING UP SHOP IN THE DEPARTMENT.
JACOB LESSARD
New faculty arrival Jacob Lessard focuses his research on the lifecycle of polymer materials from birth to death. “Using organic synthesis and controlled polymerization,” he says, “we aim to design materials from new mechanisms, low-energy manufacturing, and with built-in recycling techniques.” He found the Department of Chemistry at the U to be “fantastic”—a community “composed of competitive research groups, supportive faculty/staff, and somewhere I can see myself being successful.”
Incoming professors are faced with setting up a lab—the equivalent, one could argue, of a start-up. This happens while taking on a heavy load of teaching chemistry courses, ensuring their by-line in research journals, and doing service work, including joining department
committees. It’s a tall order for anyone, but for Lessard his way forward is clear.
“My focus as a faculty member is on the generation of quality scientists both from the classroom and the laboratory,” he explains.
“Using resources, such as trained postdoctoral researchers in the lab, I can balance my teaching/mentoring roles with external responsibilities.”
What does a well-functioning research group look like? For one thing, he says, it requires balancing teaching, mentoring, research, and funding. One thing leads to another until the self-sustaining circle is complete.
“Teaching educates students for research, students and postdoctoral researchers run the experiments, and experiments fund the laboratory, bring in new students, and transform current students to independent scientists. My job is to create this self-reinforcing group structure, teach the concepts in the classroom, guide the research and student researchers, and champion my students and the U. Any additional responsibilities will be passion projects and second to my role as a faculty member.”
Lessard knows about the hoops tenure-line faculty must jump through. Publishing is one of them.
“We will publish when we have something to teach the community,” he says. “Quality is imperative to my research group and will be the focus. Quantity is just a result of how quickly one can reach those standards.”
LONG LUO
Bridging textbook chemistry with real-world applications is a premium for new faculty member Long Luo. Newly arrived as associate professor after a stint at Wayne State University beginning in 2017, Luo knows that sometimes necessity is the mother of invention, or in this case, the impetus for skill-building and lab know-how.
“When I taught the graduate-level electrochemistry class, the students in my class wanted to learn the lab skills because they needed to use them in their research projects,” he says. “So, I added a lab component to my graduate class. Providing students with what they want to learn fosters the engagement and participation of students.”
Luo works closely with graduate students and postdocs in his lab, ensuring the Luo Lab will make significant and positive impacts in the field of chemistry. A PhD
graduate from the University of Utah’s Department of Chemistry, he is happy to return to the Beehive State.
“I enjoyed my stay as a graduate student,” Luo says, referring to his previous time at the U. “I had great interactions with our faculty. The staff were super supportive. I also enjoy the natural scenery in Utah. Overall, it is a great place to do science and live.” An electrochemist, he is keen on exploring interdisciplinary frontiers of chemistry.
“I expanded my research interests into new areas including organic synthesis, sensing, materials, and catalysis,” says Luo. “The Luo lab is collaborating with several other labs, including the White, Sigman, Anderson, and Minteer groups, because we are all in the NSF Center for Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry. I think there are more collaboration opportunities in the department and outside.”
Luo was born and raised in a small city in China. He came to the US in 2009 for graduate school, completing his PhD under Professor Henry White. The focus of his PhD was mass transfer and electrochemistry at nanoscale.
~ CJ Siebeneck
VALERIE PIERRE
“My mother was a junior high science teacher,” explains new faculty member Valerie
Pierre, a French national who, at age ten, moved with her family to Canada. “When I was young, I used to spend time after school waiting for her in the lab prep rooms of her school surrounded by all sorts of biology, chemistry, and physics lab equipment and specimens.” After school, her mother would demonstrate how the equipment worked and what it revealed about the subjects. “That's how I became a scientist.”
her mentoring and teaching. “I've had great research ideas from teaching and vice versa,” she says. “Mentoring is something you learn by being mentored but also by looking at your mentors, collaborators and colleagues. So, it's something that happens all the time when you're doing everything else even when you don't realize it.”
Following her PhD at UC Berkeley and postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology, Pierre began her independent career at the University of Minnesota before taking her current position at the U.
The Pierre lab focuses on molecular recognition and control of ions and nucleic acids, including their separation, transport and transformation. “Our research is driven by a desire to solve some of the biggest challenges in health and for the environment,” she says. Her team has developed a new dialysis membrane to treat hyperphosphatemia, one of the primary causes of mortality and morbidity for patients with chronic or advanced kidney diseases and a condition affecting nearly everyone on dialysis.
Pierre’s research ultimately links to
As director of the new NSF Center for Chemical Innovation of Aqueous Supramolecular Chemistry (CASC), housed at the U, Pierre and her team of supramolecular and inorganic chemists is also taking their expertise to oceans, targeting two anions which are of great significance: bicarbonate and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). “Capturing, transporting and transforming bicarbonate enables us to directly remove carbon dioxide from oceans rapidly, easily and at a scale.”
Direct ocean capture is a key pillar to achieving net-zero emissions as there is 45 times more carbon dioxide in oceans than in the atmosphere. In contrast to bicarbonate, the PFOA anion is a very different species, one whose health and environmental hazards are becoming increasingly clear. Recognizing PFOA selectively and decomposing it easily is still an unmet challenge that must be overcome given the sheer size, complexity, and consequences of PFOA contamination, she explains. <
Learn more about CASC at nsfcasc.com
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI
PORTFOLIO OF PATENTS
ALAN EASTMAN
PhD'75 is the Utah chair of the Utah Chapter of the International Dark Sky Association. His research at the U was in boron chemistry, and his thesis was specifically focused on coordinativelyunsaturated boron cations. This research transitioned well into the field of heterogeneous catalysis within petroleum and petrochemical research, which he did for many years.
He also worked in chemical and plastics marketing, then returned to research and developed methodologies for online process monitoring using advanced infrared and laser Raman spectrophotometry with statistical data analysis.
After retiring from petroleum research, Eastman designed a highend, fully synthetic motor oil that was produced in the US and sold in Japan.
With his brother-in-law and another friend, he founded a company that is currently pursuing geothermal projects in California, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, and the Philippines. Having "flunked" retirement again, Eastman currently manages the company’s patent portfolio and holds 39 patents, with six more pending.
Eastman is part of the U’s Division of Continuing Education and teaches science classes at the Osher Institute. He plays the keyboard in two swing bands and enjoys traveling with his wife Vickie and trying to keep up with their nine children and numerous grandchildren.
Eastman states, “My education not only prepared me to deal with a career related to what I studied, but also taught me how to learn, how to evaluate what I learn, and how to apply that learning to the challenges of 'real life.' A lot has changed in the sciences since I left grad school, but the habits and skills I acquired at the U have allowed me to evolve and grow in ways I never thought possible at the time.” ~ CJ Siebeneck
THE GUIDING HAND
It is a rare occurrence for a scientist to be able to follow a product from research to mass production.
PAUL WEIDER BS'78 has done so on multiple occasions. In his 35year career at Shell International Exploration and Production, he helped develop a whopping 67 patents. His research helped lead to
a practical manufacturing route for 1,3-propanediol (PDO), a long sought industrial chemical intermediate. This critical work would help drive the Shell PDO process, leading to worldscale production that will soon open its second plant in China.
Like many in industrial science, Weider would turn this expertise to renewables in the 21st century to great effect. In 2009 he conceived of the basis for the eventual Shell Fiber Conversion Technology (SFCT), allowing the production of fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic materials. A second example of guiding a process from development to production is his participation in SFCT from inception to commercial production.
A recipient of an RD 100 award, corecipient of the American Chemical Society’s Award for Team Innovation, and, following his retirement from Shell in 2021, lauded as one of the company’s “Principal Science Experts,” Weider has had an illustrious career.
When asked to reminisce, Weider remarks, “Looking back over my career in science, it strikes me how fortunate I have been to have the right mentor come into my life at the right time.” Mentors such as Louis Hegedus of Colorado State, to Lynn Slaugh at Shell Company, to Utah’s
own Gary Keck. They would teach him everything from organic chemistry to the finer points of fly fishing, and he thanks them for “helping me in the ways of industrial science—teaching me how to succeed by having fun.”
Weider currently serves as consultant on renewable chemicals and fuel processes. He now rejoins the academic community, having guided countless engineers and scientists just as his mentors guided him.
~ Michael Jacobsen
BOTH SIDES OF THE ROCKIES
When GRETCHEN DOMEK BS’03 graduated from the U she was recipient of the Utah’s Best of State College/University Student award. It was both a capstone of previous awards she received as an undergraduate and harbinger of accolades and accomplishments
to come. Domek completed her graduate studies at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar where she earned a master’s in philosophy and medical anthropology. She went to Harvard where she earned her MD cum laude et thesis propria and completed her internship and residency in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital Colorado. At the same time she was an instructor/ fellow at the University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz Medical Campus. In 2013, she became the Interim Director of their Global Health Track and in 2014 was appointed Assistant Professor and Senior Investigator.
The Centennial State was lucky to have Domek, but Utah claims her as well. While at the U as an undergraduate, she participated in volunteer medical work in Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina. In 2005 she participated in work for Project Interchange and Habitat for Humanity in Israel and the West Bank, and South Africa, respectively.
THE CURIE CLUB
A CENTURY AGO, MARIE CURIE BECAME THE FIRST SCIENTIST EVER TO WIN TWO NOBEL PRIZES.
Her spectacular scientific career was achieved despite the obligations of family, extreme prejudice against women, a relentless search for research funding, and the constant battle for recognition that was her due.
The Curie Club was founded to help ensure that all scientists in the Department of Chemistry are given the opportunity to meet other students and build a community. Curie Club hosts stimulating lectures, career development support, and lively debates to support and inspire the next generation of scientists.
With decades of enriching activities and garnering many awards, Domek’s breathless pace has never slowed. Along with maintaining a busy schedule of caregiving at CU, she does review and editorial work, and gives a number of lectures and presentations, including yearly presentations focused on teaching. Included in the national lectures is one she presented to the department’s Curie Club in October, 2015.
Domek maintains her affiliation with the U and visits regularly, including for some Utah Football games. An avid skier and mountain climber, it makes sense that Gretchen Domek makes her home in the Rocky Mountains on both its eastern flank in Colorado and its western flank in the Beehive State. <
This story is adapted from the nomination letter written by Richard Ernst, emeritus professor and former chair of the department’s undergraduate education committee.
Curie Club promotes student success and supports the quality and strength of scientific research and U Chemistry's outstanding contributions to science. <
A MODEL FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS OF SCIENTISTS
by JULIA MCNULTY
TODAY, THE INTERDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF MODERN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IS A GIVEN, AND DELANEY MILLER , A SENIOR HONORS CHEMISTRY MAJOR AT THE U, IS MAKING SIGNIFICANT STRIDES WITH HER MINORS IN NUTRITION AND ECOLOGY, INTERSECTING MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES.
This, while prioritizing STEM outreach and communication at the same time.
Originally from Cedar City, Utah, Miller was drawn to the U for its scholarship offerings and robust science programs. Her passion lies in sustainable materials research, particularly biomaterials. She has gained valuable experience working with Shelley Minteer on the electrosynthesis of monomers for plastics derived from biomass compounds. Currently, Miller is contributing to Connor Bischak's research, characterizing organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors for energy storage applications.
Miller's commitment to scientific advancement extends beyond the laboratory. She is actively involved
in several professional organizations, including the Society of Women Engineers, the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, and the American Chemical Society (ACS). Through these affiliations, she has helped organize conferences promoting diversity in STEM and coordinated outreach activities to enhance STEM education accessibility for youth.
Her leadership in the ACS Student Chapter at the U has been particularly noteworthy. Miller's efforts in this role earned her the Student Leadership Award from the national ACS, allowing her to attend the Society's leadership institute and expand her professional network.
The University's Learning Abroad program has significantly enriched Miller's academic experience. She studied Spanish in Oviedo, Spain, and participated in an ecology program in Kenya, experiences she describes as "truly once-in-a-lifetime." These opportunities have broadened her perspective on global scientific challenges and approaches.
Miller’s academic journey has been shaped by meaningful interactions with faculty members. She highlights collaborations with Kaci Kuntz, Holly Sebahar, and Tom Richmond on teaching and science outreach projects. Additionally, she credits Minteer and Bischak as influential research mentors who have supported her growth in materials research.
As she prepares for graduate studies in chemistry and a future career in academia, Miller remains committed to science education and community engagement. She serves as a teaching assistant for general chemistry labs, finding fulfillment in introducing new students to the field. Her outreach work, including scientific demonstrations for youth across Salt Lake Valley, reinforces her passion for science communication.
Delaney Miller's journey from undergraduate student to aspiring chemistry professor showcases the diverse opportunities available at the U. Her dedication to research, education, and community outreach positions her as a model for future generations of scientists. <
by BRIAN MAFFLY
THE NORIEGA AND HAMMOND LABS, WITH COMPLEMENTARY EXPERTISE IN MATERIALS CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL BIOLOGY, MADE CRITICAL DISCOVERIES PUBLISHED IN AUGUST IN THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.
Their findings could help scientists observe signaling in functioning cells and other molecular-scale processes central to life.
Their joint project was kickstarted through a team development grant from the College of Science and the 3i Initiative to encourage faculty with different research interests to work together on big-picture problems.
“We’re trying to develop a new kind of imaging method, a way to look into cells and be able to see both their structural features, which are really intricate, while also capturing information about their activity,” says co-author Ming Hammond, a professor of chemistry. "Current methods provide high-resolution details on cellular structure but have a
challenging ‘blind spot’ when it comes to function. In this paper, we study a tool that might be applied in electron microscopy to report on structure and function at the same time.”
Biological samples often need “markers,” or molecules that are the source of detectable signals, explains co-author Rodrigo Noriega,
career scientists whose research has the potential to revolutionize their fields.
Scientists had long assumed that a mechanism involving singlet oxygen generation, a special kind of reactive oxygen species, was at play. However, the U team found that electron transfer between the photoexcited marker and the polymer building blocks is the main contributor to the process.
an assistant professor of chemistry. A widely used type of markers is flavoproteins which, when photoexcited, trigger a chemical reaction that yields metal-absorbing polymer particles whose high contrast in electron microscopy is easily seen.
“Previous work focused on the markers without the materials they generate, but our study incorporates the materials chemistry steps in the model,” says Noriega, who was named a Sloan Research Fellow this year under a program that recognizes early-
“We’re studying a tool that other people have used a lot as the basis for this new kind of imaging, and everyone thought that it worked a certain way,” Hammond says, “but our photophysical studies revealed a surprising mechanism.” This previously overlooked electron transfer pathway generates reactive species that yield the desired source
of contrast for electron microscopy, without the need for singlet oxygen.
This new information could help scientists improve the design of these markers, according to Noriega and Hammond. The U’s collaborative team, for example, has built upon these results to expand the number and types of polymer building blocks employed, as well as using markers that are poor singlet oxygen sources but are excellent electron transfer partners, and growing contrast agents in environments that were not feasible before.
“Beyond their use in electron microscopy, what these markers allow you to do is obtain two images from the same sample, one using light microscopy and another one with electron microscopy, and this sort of multilayer image contains much
NEW SIGMAN ENDOWED FELLOWSHIP
THE SIGMAN-MARKS FELLOWSHIP IS NOW AN ENDOWED FELLOWSHIP.
This ensures that Distinguished Professor Matt Sigman’s legacy will continue to inspire and support future generations of scholars. It also comes at an auspicious time as Sigman, who holds the Peter J. Christine S. Stang
more information than either of them alone,” Noriega says. This method, called correlative microscopy, is like the different layers in Google Maps, Noriega explains.
These advances may enable scientists to better understand cell signaling, one of the fundamental processes of life, and not just within individual cells, but among communities of cells.
“Cells use chemicals to communicate with each other. That’s their language, how they know whether their
Presidential Endowed Chair, ends his tenure as department chair.
The fellowship was initiated by Jeffrey Marks and Nancy Yu, longtime friends of Jack Simons and parents of a current U undergraduate in the College of Science. Their goal was to support student success and thereby advance the field of physical organic chemistry. The department fellowship provides support and recognition to outstanding graduate students with a research focus in physical organic chemistry. Sigman and his spouse Debbie, who share this interest in
neighbors are friendly or antagonistic. It’s how they work together, compete, and even disguise themselves within a community,” Hammond says. Mapping these chemical signals between groups of cells in a complex spatial arrangement requires them to detect activity levels within the context of the sample structure. “We would love to be able to see their communication, but we also want to see their neighborhood.” <
Co-authors of the study, titled “Electron Transfer Drives the Photosensitized Polymerization of Contrast Agents by Flavoprotein Tags for Correlative Microscopy,” include former undergraduate Olga Merino-Chavez, now a graduate student at Stanford University, U graduate student Nathan Ricks and post-doctoral researcher Mohd Sajid Lone. Funding came from the U, National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. This story originally appeared in @ The U.
supporting research and education in chemistry, also provided an inaugural contribution.
You can help grow this endowed fellowship with your donation. Your gift will help attract and support top graduate students in chemistry, advance research in physical organic chemistry while honoring Matt Sigman’s contributions to this discipline, our university, and community. <
TNelly Divricean Director of Strategic Engagement
