Chemistry News

How do you turn middle-schoolers on to science? Project CRYSTAL believes you put them in a real research lab, give them real experiments to do, and provide mentoring from real scientists. That’s where Becky Phillips ’10 comes in. Working on her Reed thesis, “An investigation into the Manganese transporters MntH and MntA,” with Prof. Glasfeld provided her with a solid introduction to experimental biochemistry and x-ray crystallography. Now she’s bringing those same skills to the Project CRYSTAL laboratory. Watch Becky and the rest of the Project CRYSTAL crew in this YouTube video.

Lauren and Sarah are currently working as lab techs at ReVolt Technology in Portland. ReVolt, which is pioneering the development of rechargeable batteries based on zinc-air electrodes, has two other offices in Germany and China.

As 2010 rolled to a close, the December ’10 issue of the Reed Magazine brought us some more news about the activities of Reed chemists …

• p. 10-11. The Reed Canyon continues to inspire and prosper. Canyon Day 2010 saw the community celebrate work on the lower canyon, including the removal of a culvert that was treacherous to fish, and the opening of a “meander” that connects the Reed Lake with the Pacific Ocean (with a few waterways in between). The restoration/improvement effort “has been made possible with the help of donors like Laurel Wilkening ’66, Michael Herz ’58, and emeritus trustee John Gray.”
• p. 13. Invasion of the Clickers reported on the first large-scale rollout of classroom response (or polling) systems, aka “clickers”, on campus. Clickers had been used in smaller classes prior to Fall 2010, but they zoomed above the radar in September when over 200 students in Chem 101 (introductory chemistry) and 201 (organic chemistry) were required to bring them to class each day. Profs. Geselbracht, Fry, and Shusterman can now report that “clicking” was a resounding success.
• p. 26-31. The magazine’s cover story, Growing the Curriculum, reported on Reed’s newest academic program: the Environmental Studies major. The development of this major has been a multi-year effort with the Chemistry department involved at every step. Profs. Glasfeld and Shusterman both served on planning committees that led to the faculty’s endorsement of the program, and Prof. Fry has been serving on the actual Environmental Studies committee that oversees the new program. The story also mentions two chemistry students: Claire Remington ’11 (thesis: “Some Concrete Chemistry: The Effect of Sound Walls on Benzene Concentration”) and Josh Katz ’12. Claire and Josh have collaborated on research projects with Julie Fry (the photo shows Josh and Julie standing on a glacier in Alaska in summer 2010) and have also been regular participants in another Reed environmental group, the Green Science Project.
• p. 34. A bit of Reed history – once upon a item, Reed College was poised to become Reed University. The article identifies the late Prof. Marsh Cronyn ’40 (chemistry professor 1952-89) as one of 32 faculty who were in favor of taking this step. He is also quoted as saying a graduate program would cost “really, hundreds of millions just to get started, minimal.”
• p. 53. A book review in the Reediana section by Henry Holt ’09 of Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America by Barbara Ehrenreich ’63
• p. 64. A report on Reed’s winter tradition of singing the Boar’s Head Carol. The version that is currently sung at Reed was reconstructed from memory by Prof. Virginia Oglesby Hancock ’62 (music 1991-present) and recalls an arrangement of the bass line that had been sung by Prof. John Hancock (chemistry professor 1955-89). Learn more about the carol and see a video of the procession here.

The Class Notes section reported that Chris Mathews ’58 is enjoying “semi-retirement” from his position as distinguished professor and chairman of biochemistry and biophysics at Oregon State University. He is working on a fourth edition of his book Biochemistry, among other scholarly endeavors. Also, a book sculpture, Chemical Azalea, of Pamela Matsuda-Dunn ’78, appeared in the exhibition Chemical Reactions at Central Booking in DUMBO (Brooklyn), New York. The work was inspired by Pamela’s daughter, Reiko Matsuda-Dunn ’08, whose first email and screenname was chemicalazalea. Reiko’s high school chemistry book forms part of the sculpture. We learned that Frank C. Pennington ’48 and Marcia Grein Pennington ’49 are the proud parents of Adriane Pennington Borgias ’79. She was awarded a Fulbright-Nehru Scholarship for Environmental Leadership that will enable her to spend four months at the Bangalore Institute of Technology in India establishing an online compendium of Indian environmental knowledge. Two aspiring chemistry professors were awarded tenure: Seth Bush ’94 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Jeremy Kua ’96 at University of San Diego. And the Oregonian newspaper talked to Luke Kanies ’96 about the $5 million that his software firm, Puppet Labs, has received from Silicon Valley venture capitalists. According to Luke, “The main goal of this funding round is to begin offering commercial software to complement our open-source products.” Brief notes also alerted readers to the fact that Jordan Katz ’99 has joined the chemistry faculty at Denison University, Hassan Ghani ’08 is now studying medicine at USC, and Todd Dembo ’09 is engaged in graduate work in neuroscience at US San Francisco.

In Memoriam called our attention to the passing of two Reed chemists, David McDonald Dibrell ’41 (July 13, 2010 at home in Punahou, Hawaii) and Carl A. Johnson ’50 (June 20, 2004 in Port Ludlow, Washington). Details about Carl Johnson were sparse, but we learned that he was married to Bette Jo Raudebaugh ’50 and had been a manager at the Owens Illinois Glass Company. A lengthier entry on David Dibrell revealed that he grew up in Ketchikan, Alaska, and attended high school in Seattle. Following his Reed graduation he worked for Longview Fibre Company in Washington. In 1943, he joined the navy, serving aboard the troop carrier USS General T.H. Bliss during WWII. Sticking with the navy, he earned an MS in meteorology, became an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy, and served as an officer on several ships including a stint as commanding officer of the destroyer Twining. In 1964, he assumed the rather
vague title of “Director of Pacific Oceanography”; in fact, this was military cover for his real job of hunting Russian submarines. he receive the Navy Commendation Medal for his “resourcefulness and organizational ability.” When he left the navy, he taught math and science at Punahou School. He was married to the late Helene White and they had one son. David had been a longtime generous (and anonymous) supporter of the college. He established the Walter Crockett Dibrell Scholarship in honor of his father.

The Class Notes section of the June ’10 Reed Magazine contained an entry from Julia Robinson ’06. In that note, she described her post-PhD plans as “anything-but-chemistry”. Apparently the tide has turned. In two recent emails, Julia passed this along:

I just completed my Ph.D. at MIT, working on strange pericyclic reactions, and I’ve moved to NYC, where my husband works as a patent agent. I’ve taken a teaching position at the Bard High School Early College in Queens, where I will be a “Professor of Chemistry” teaching college-level organic chemistry and high-school level general chemistry.

(Editor’s note: Julia was already an accomplished lab instructor by the time she graduated from Reed, having spent two full years steering dozens o chem lab students to success.)

Kellie sent us an email about life, nursing, research, and Reed. Here’s an abbreviated version of what she wrote:

I can’t believe it’s already been 5 years since I graduated from Reed!  I
just wanted to give you a little update as to what I have been up to.
After graduation I worked for Dr. Francis Valiyaveetil at OHSU
department of Physiology and Pharmacology studying potassium ion
channels. I did a lot of Boc solid phase peptide synthesis and
purification. Oh boy, so much HF and TFA! I feel very fortunate to have
escaped with only a couple small scars! It was very challenging working
in a newly established lab, and working toward securing funding.
However, I am proud to say that I got published three times. That was
really rewarding, and a bit surprising. I didn’t expect that much of
myself.

After 3 years in research, though, I decided that research just
isn’t for me. So I started
nursing school at Oregon Coast Community College in my hometown of
Newport. I just graduated in June and successfully passed my boards this
month. I am an RN now, can you believe it? Going to nursing school was one of the best, though least thoroughly
contemplated, decisions I’ve made. The nursing process so closely mirrors the scientific method,
but in a faster-paced and more personally intimate way. It’s so
rewarding. I hope someday to become a critical care nurse.

I have to credit you and Reed for helping guide me towards this path. I
definitely learned how to think critically, learn quickly, how to be an
individual, but also how to work in a team… things that are certainly
the foundation of being a good nurse and made nursing school a lot
easier.

Thanks again for all
the guidance and support …

Chemists continue to pop here and there in Reed Magazine. Items appearing in the September 2010 issue include:

• p. 7, Biochemistry/molecular biology major Stephen Eichhorn ’10 was a co-winner of the Class of ’21 Award along with classics major Sam Hotchkiss ’10. The award recognizes “creative work of notable character, involving an unusual degree of initiative and spontaneity.” Stephen’s thesis concerned micro-RNA regulation of neuron development.
• p. 9, Several students from the class of 2010, including chemistry major Ida Peric ’10, banded together to create the Class of 2010 Scholarship Committee. The committee, Reed’s first attempt to create a student-funded scholarship, came on the heels of a 2009 New York Times story about the growing demand for financial aid by Reed students. At press time, the committee had raised $6,707 from 213 Reed students.
• p. 31, Organic chemistry and political science came face to face in the article Ten from ’10: Who – or what – is a Reedie? The article profiled ten students from the 2010 graduating class including political science major Annika Burnett ’10. Under “Cool Stuff I Did” Annika listed “organic chemistry”. Her organic chemistry course shared honors with her service on the Public Policy Lecture Series Committee, the Feminist Student Union, and off-campus at Outside In.

Additional news items appeared in the Class Notes section of the magazine:

• Yi-Kang Hu ’95 is pleased to announce the opening of his law firm in Beaverton, Oregon, with a focus on family law and food and drug law. “I started volunteering at Legal Aid Services of Oregon over nine months ago, where I continue to represent domestic violence victims in contested divorce and restraining order cases, and where I have never felt so rewarded about being a lawyer. I look forward to the adventure of building a new business.”
• Kate Stoll ’04 and John Caldwell ’96 were married at the Parker Creek Farm near Monmouth, Oregon, on August 15, 2009. There were joined by a few Reedies. John  and Kate are currently living in Seattle. Celebrating with Kate and John were a number of Reedies (top row, left to right) George Wu ’03, Mitch Wintemute ’04, Jerry Sale ’69, Nate Kornell ’96 with Juliet, Alex Howard ’97, Thor Mann ’97, Jake Horowitz ’98, Dan Freund ’98, Fred Bahnson ’99, Ben Demboski ’02, Chris Rogge ’01, Tillie Scruton ’01, Bethany Powell ’01, Stefany Durham ’01, Colin Beam ’01, and honorary Reedie Kieran McGuire; (bottom row, left to right) Carl Steinke ’98, Ella Clark-Nicholson ’00 hidden by Desmond, Rachel Klevit ’78, Annick Chalier ’00, Alexandra Manglis ’04, Kate and John, Moira Gresham ’04, Amanda Reed ’03, Marisa Hemungkorn ’04, Maggie Seldera Bahnson ’99, Renee Ridberg ’99 with Violet, and Anya Such Ronshaugen ’99.
• Claire Trageser ’05 graduated from UC Berkeley’s Journalism School last May, where she completed a master’s project with the author Michael Pollan. The Reediana section of the magazine (p. 54) added this about Claire: [she] “wrote her first feature-length magazine story, ‘Transcendental Steps (Or How I Learned to Love Running without an iPod),’ in the May issue of Runner’s World. To write the story, she traveled to a remote Buddhist retreat in Colorado to meet a revered Tibetan lama who occasionally ditches his flowing yellow monk robes to run three-hour marathons.”

The In Memoriam section of the magazine also reported the passing of Roland William Lovejoy’ 55, April 19, in Tucson, Arizona. Roland grew up in Portland and was the first in his family to attend college. After a year at Vanport College (now Portland State University), he transferred to Reed and earned a BA from the college in chemistry. throughout his life, he retained fond memories of Prof. Arthur Scott [chemistry, 1923-79]. Roland spent 18 months working for Swift and Company, and then went on to receive a PhD in chemistry from Washington State University. He did postdoctoral work at the University of Washington, and joined Lehigh University in 1962. During his 32-year career, he did research in the area of molecular spectroscopy and structure, and received grants from Stanford and NASA to investigate the depletion of the ozone layer by taking measurements of molecules found in the stratosphere above the poles. Roland traveled with his wife, Debra Daniels Lovejoy, on sabbatical to conduct research in infrared astronomy at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. The trip led to their decision to retire in Tucson. Roland, who was an amateur astronomer, also built telescopes and had a passion for constructing and flying model airplanes. He was a member of the American Physical Society, Sigma Xi, and the Tucson Free Flight Club. Survivors include his wife, two daughters, three granddaughters, and a brother.