FLC Chemistry

08/24/2026

We will be starting off our Fall 2026 seminar series with student summer research talks on Thursday 8/27 and Thursday 9/3. These seminar sessions will be held in Chemistry Hall 130, beginning at 1:00 PM and ending at 2:10 PM. Come see what your fellow students have been working on in the lab!

08/18/2026

Melanie Walker, FLC Biochemistry 16' and Outstanding Student in Biochemistry Award Winner, has received another prestigious honor: She is the first woman ever to earn the title New Zealand Bartender of the Year. Her creative tinctures and syrups derived from ingredients like fermented pineapple skins, suggest she is applying her chemistry knowledge in fantastic and delicious ways. Congratulations, Melanie!

For the first time in its history the winner of New Zealand Bartender of the Year has been awarded to a woman. Melanie Walker is known for her tinctures and syrups.

08/03/2026

Congratulations to Milo Adams (Chemistry 21’)! Milo earned a PhD in Inorganic and Computational Chemistry from Florida State University in May and will begin a position as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Longwood University this month. Best wishes for your new job!

07/22/2026

Publication Alert! The Lamb lab has just published their work in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A. The manuscript explores complex singlet-manifold photophysics of compact organic phenoxazine photoredox catalysts. This work was led by FLC researchers and explores how modifications to the "arms" of the photocatalyst can have significant negative effects on the molecule's ability to form long-lived, spin-forbidden triplet states. Mara Millette is a rising junior chemistry major at FLC and contributed her synthetic expertise to this work, which is her first paper. Congrats Mara! This research was conducted in collaboration with researchers at CU Boulder and CSU and was funded by the NSF Center for Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis, SuPRCat.

Check it out here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpca.6c01406

07/22/2026

Active Faculty Profile: Dr. Aimee Morris

What happens when undergraduate research students make unexpected synthetic products? In Dr. Morris’ lab, a whole new project and set of questions unfolds.

Dr. Morris, Professor of Chemistry at Fort Lewis College, leads her undergraduate research students on an endeavor to create new organic molecules that are not yet published in the literature and can be used as multidentate ligands to attach to inorganic metal centers. The larger goal of this project is to create metal containing coordination complexes that may have favorable properties as pro-drugs for anti-cancer treatment.

This project helps train students on organic and inorganic synthetic techniques while also teaching spectroscopic methods and data interpretation as they explore the structure and properties of these new molecules. The practical laboratory and problem-solving skills help set students up for success in their pathways after graduation.

06/26/2026

Active Faculty Profile: Dr. Kenny Miller

(Photo: Travis Hintermeister working in Dr. Miller's lab)

Could the future of solar energy storage be as simple as a cheap catalyst, sunlight, and water? Students in Dr. Kenny Miller’s lab are participating in a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant to develop catalysts for solar water splitting.

The sun isn’t always shining, and the wind isn’t always blowing, so a challenge for renewable energy is saving that energy to use later. One idea that students in Dr. Miller’s lab are exploring is to directly use light from the sun to convert solar energy into chemical energy, similar to photosynthesis in plants. In solar water splitting, energy from photons is absorbed by a catalyst and excites electrons which can be used to produce hydrogen gas from water.

Students in Dr. Miller’s lab are synthesizing ligands for light absorbing quantum dots that can store these high energy electrons. Students learn organic synthesis and purification techniques, are trained to use several instruments to characterize their products (NMR, IR, CV) and work closely with collaborators all over the country (CU-Boulder, UC-Irvine, Caltech, Sandia National Lab) to incorporate these molecules into catalysts.

06/15/2026

Summer research hike! Members of the Lamb, Lee, McFarlane, Miller and Morris labs took a water-filled hike up Cascade Creek this past week. Lots of fun for all!

06/02/2026

FLC Chemistry & Biochemistry students Aubrey McKellips, Faith Mann, Morgan Montano, and Timothy Pearce are at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry national conference in San Diego this week presenting their research in Dr. Cole's group measuring metal contaminants in menstrual products by ICP-MS! Way to go!

06/02/2026

Active Faculty Profile: Dr. Michael Grubb

What happens when physical chemistry, spectroscopy, optics, and a little creative problem-solving come together? In Dr. Michael Grubb’s lab, the answer is something he calls “Trash Chemistry.”

Dr. Grubb, Chair and Associate Professor of Chemistry at Fort Lewis College, focuses his recent research on building high-functioning scientific instrumentation from commonly available or discarded items. It’s a hands-on approach that connects core ideas in physical chemistry, photochemistry, laser physics, and optics with the practical challenge of making science more accessible.

Past trash chemistry projects have included a Dynamic Light Scattering instrument to measure nanoparticle sizes made with a $0.50 laser diode, a hand-held 3D-printed refractometer for measuring solute concentrations instantly, and most recently a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument made from a $500 plastic home tattoo removal laser for measuring the elemental composition of unknown samples. Pulling off these projects requires a combination of practical skills in mathematical analysis, computer programming, electronics, 3D-printing and modelling, and spectroscopy.

This past year students in Dr. Grubb’s lab used their LIBS instrument to analyze ancient Roman coins in collaboration with Dr. Michael Martin from the history department. Included is a LIBS spectrum of an ancient Roman coin and a picture of a student using this system in the lab.

Research like this reflects one of the strengths of the FLC Chemistry & Biochemistry Department… Students don’t just learn abstract chemistry in a classroom, they get to practice chemistry and apply it to the real world.

05/05/2026

Congrats Spring 2026 grads!