Gustavus Chemistry Department

Ashley Ley ('23) is starting graduate school at the University of Colorado - Boulder, planning to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry in the Organic Chemistry division. Ashley reports that her time at Gustavus helped her feel comfortable in approaching new people and making friends, and her J-term research courses, REU experience at the University of Iowa, and SURF experience at Mayo Clinic makes her confident to explore new science and talk to P*s. She also reports that having TA experience from Gustavus is really valuable as she moves into her first graduate TA job! Best of luck in your new endeavors Ashley!

Gustavus Chemistry alumnae Elisabeth Kray ('23) is starting graduate school this month at the University of Wisconsin - Madison with the goal of obtaining a Ph.D. in chemistry. While at Gustavus, Elisabeth worked for two years with Dr. Amanda Nienow on the environmental fate of the herbicide dicamba, which took her from collecting data in a local farmer's field, to presenting her work at the University of Clermont Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand France. Elisabeth joins several other recent Gustie Chemistry alumni currently engaged in graduate study in chemistry at Madison, including Kelson Oram ('18), Jonny Pavek ('18), Eli Larson ('18), and Matt Fischer ('22). Good luck Elisabeth!

Gustavus chemistry major Trevor Kempen ('24) has been awarded the 2023 Eastern Analytical Symposium Undergraduate Research Award (https://eas.org/2014-student-awards-2/), which recognizes "special talent in research" for students engaged in the analytical chemistry research area. Trevor is one of just three awardees in the United States this year. As part of the award, Trevor will travel to Princeton, New Jersey, where he has been invited to participate in the Eastern Analytical Symposium, and present recent results from his work in the Stoll Laboratory, some of which have been published recently in the Journal of Chromatography, A (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2023.464182). Congratulations Trevor!

Gustavus Chemistry Department alumnae Annika Silverberg (’22) won a Howard P. Klein Early Career Excellence in Research Award from the University of Arizona. The Howard P. Klein Early Career Excellence in Research Awards are awarded to a Chemistry or Biochemistry graduate student who has demonstrated extraordinary success in research early in their graduate career. Annika’s presentation entitled “Monitoring Exchange of Cholesterol Between Nanodiscs by APCI” won one of two awards given this year at the Annual CBC Research Symposium. While at Gustavus, Annika studied the environmental fate of the herbicide dicamba under the direction of Dr. Amanda Nienow and presented that work at the National American Chemical Society Meeting in San Diego, CA. Annika started graduate school at the University of Arizona in the fall of 2022. Congratulations Annika!

Gustavus alumnae Amy Crawford ('20) will start graduate school this month at New York University in the Chemistry PhD program. During her time doing research at Gustavus, Amy worked on the development of methods for the determination of musks (fragrance compounds found in personal care products) in lake and river water samples. Leveraging her research skills developed at Gustavus, she completed an internship at Merck Research Laboratories in New Jersey in the summer of 2019. Congratulations, Amy, on this next big step in your career!

Gustavus Chemistry Department alumnus Eli Larson ('18) defended his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Wisconsin, Madison a few weeks ago, where he worked with Professor Ying Ge. The title of his talk was: "New Front-End Separation Approaches for Top-Down Proteomics". Since his successful defense, Dr. Larson has moved to Merck Laboratories in New Jersey where he is beginning an Analytical Scientist position. During his time at Gustavus, Eli contributed to several research projects in the Stoll Laboratory, one of which yielded a publication in the Journal of Chromatography, A (DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2017.07.041), and also completed an internship at Genentech in the Bay Area. Congratulations Dr. Larson!

Chemistry faculty member Brandy Russell is a nominee for the "Pie a Gustie" event raising money for Gustavus's Relay for Life fundraiser this year! If she's in the top 5 fundraisers from the slate of nominees, she'll get a pie to the face in the caf on Friday, March 3rd.

If you'd like to see (or imagine) her being pied, please chip in by March 2nd - you can donate any amount, even just one dollar.

Want to see the Chemistry department "win"? Donate!

Want to take out frustration about past chem courses in general? Donate!

(The entire fundraiser goes through April 28th.)

This event raises funds for the American Cancer Society, which will sustain critical research and provide services for people trying to cope with their cancer experience.

Relay For Life Relay For Life events are life-changing cancer fundraising events that help communities across the globe fight back against cancer.

What do you think?

Podcast: Chemists debate the value of name reactions in organic chemistry Name reactions are commonly heard in organic chemistry-speak, and they’re mainly named after white men. Stereo Chemistry asks if this is a problem, if we should stop using them, and how to make the organic chemistry world more inclusive

Lastly, we have Caden Gunnarson who is working with Dr. Stoll!

Major: BMB & Computer Science

Year: 2023

Favorite Chem Class: Organic

Future Plans: Continue schooling and research, Covid permitting of course.

Activities and Clubs You Participate in: Gustavus Coding Club, Forensics, and Rocket Club

What pushed you to do research: Research fascinates me because it requires you to learn about a wide range of topics beyond just chemistry, such as stats, math, physics, and computers.

What is your research project about? And who is your faculty advisor: I'm working for Dr. Stoll on improving high performance liquid chromatography technology and method development.

Advice for Prospective Students: If you're a prospective student and don't experience "The Feeling"™ about any place you tour, don't worry. If you do, that's fine, but if you are like me then you have to know your head will make a good decision.

And we're back to our Summer Student Researchers! We have Simi Kaur working with Dr. Dwight Stoll!

Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Year: Upcoming Sophomore!

Favorite Chem Class: "I really enjoyed organic chemistry one, although a lot of it was, unfortunately, spent online and at home."

Future Plans: "For the future, I think I'd like to go somewhere in the medical field or some sort of research related lab field. I've also considered going into physical therapy."

Activities and Clubs You Participate in: "Two of the main clubs I participated in, and loved, were Environmental Action Coalition and Gustavus Women in Leadership. I am also a Gustie Greeter, which I'm very excited about!"

What pushed you to do research: "I've always been interested in 'the behind the scenes' of how chemistry and biology work together. I love hands-on experiences and that's the main thing that pushed me to do research."

What is your research project about? And who is your faculty advisor: "I work under Dr. Dwight Stoll in the chemistry department, and I'm working on liquid chromatography research. We're attempting to create a large database that showcases the conditions in which different compounds produce the highest resolution peaks. This would eventually allow us to be able to predict patterns between similar compounds (homologs or isomers) and how their peaks will turn out, saving us a lot of time because we don't have to wait for the compounds to run."

Advice for Prospective Students?: "For prospective students, I would say "GET INVOLVED." Getting involved in many different clubs and activities and sports increases the number of connections you have, and that's is definitely something many people forget about."

Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Melissa Denler, a new visiting professor who will be joining the chemistry department here at Gustavus. She received her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota, Morris, where she was able to focus on academics. In addition, she was also able to participate in soccer and track and field. Before coming to Gustavus, she taught at St. Olaf College, teaching organic chemistry. She found that she enjoyed teaching organic chemistry through courses that she taught as she was pursuing her Ph.D. She likes teaching organic chemistry because it is the students’ first jump from general chemistry. After learning the principles of organic chemistry, they can apply it to novel reactions. Although her main focus is inorganic chemistry, she incorporates many aspects of organic synthesis, and applies inorganic chemistry into biological systems, allowing her to integrate many enjoyable aspects of chemistry into her teaching. Her research interests do just that! She creates cobalt metal complexes that she can insert to clean up chemical waste, such as dehalogenating halogenated waste.

She pursued her Ph.D at the University of Kansas and was able to gain experience in teaching. She had an epiphany while she was here; she wanted to teach sophomores at the university level, however, teaching a class of 300 students prevented her from building a one on one relationship with her students. After completing her Ph.D, she spent a year at St. Olaf and fell in love with the environment. She was able to work with them in the lab and see them in the hallway, reassuring that this strong connection with her students was more apparent at a liberal arts college. This also reminded her of her undergraduate experience.

So the real question is, “why Gustavus?” It was clear that she enjoyed the smaller environment and the strong connections she had with the students, but what stood out to her was that Gustavus has a really strong chemistry program and dedicated and resilient students. She also loves Minnesota, and with this strong combination of amazing students, program, and state, she knew Gustavus was a college she would love working at.

At Gustavus, she will be able to apply her methods of teaching. A fresh face in the chemistry department is always a plus and will provide new perspectives. Throughout any university or college, each professor has their own pedagogy. With Melissa, it is clear that she is passionate about her students and teaching. Although there are some aspects that are different from the professors at Gustavus, there are also many that are similar. When describing her pedagogy, students must “practice, practice practice.” As a big believer in practicing a lot, she provides many resources so that students are able to apply their knowledge and solidify it so they can recognize topics in novel situations. She also finds that group work is effective, as this allows students to discuss their initial thoughts and reframe them as they discuss amongst one another. Then, she can gauge the class by using notecards, and see if students are understanding the material.

Lastly, Melissa is excited to come to Gustavus. She was able to experience the track here in undergrad and loves the beautiful campus. To prospective and current students, she provides advice: “be open to new classes and different ideas! Take classes that you may not necessarily feel comfortable with.” This allowed her to have a well-rounded education and apply her knowledge to real-world situations.

In our next edition of Gustavus Summer Researchers, after a quick break of moving into the renovated side of Nobel, we have Haley Jostes who is working with Dr. Jeff Jeremiason!

Major?

Biochemistry and molecular biology major with an ES and potential statistics minor

Year?

Class of 2023

Favorite Chem Class?

Gen chem! I hadn’t taken a chemistry class since 9th grade so it was really fun to get back into the swing of things and be reminded of the very wide range of applications chemistry has to offer.

Future Plans?

These are always subject to change, but as of now, I am hoping to continue on to graduate school to pursue a degree in environmental chemistry. Ultimately, I can picture myself ending up working in a lab or out in the field.

Activities and Clubs You Participate in?

For the upcoming fall semester, I am on the executive board of both Chemistry Club as well as the GAC Figure Skating Club as the junior VP and treasurer respectively. In addition, I am an active member of the Big Hill Farm, Club Tennis, Swing Club, and Gustavus Wind Symphony (go trumpets!). I am hoping to become more involved with the Environmental Action Coalition this fall.

What pushed you to do research?

I began doing research for science fairs as a 5th grader, which allowed me to explore a wide variety of topics and fields. I had such a fantastic experience working on projects and presenting research that I knew it was something I wanted to continue doing in college and potentially as a career later on. My first step was working with Dr. Stoll during J-term on an HPLC project. This only piqued my interest even more, pushing me to apply for the FYRE program.

What is your research project about? And who is your faculty advisor?

This summer I am working with Dr. Jeff Jeremiason in Environmental Chemistry on a project aimed to expedite our existing mercury analysis method. We currently have to test for total and methyl mercury with two different procedures, proving to be quite time consuming and expensive. The goal of this project is to utilize HPLC as a separation technique which would allow us to use a singular method to test for both THg and MeHg.

Advice for Prospective Students?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! It is so easy to be intimidated by professors and peers but I have found that everybody is in this together. The professors at Gustavus are all there to help you learn and grow, and your peers have either already been in your position or are currently in the same one.