CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT MARCH 2008 BULLETIN News & Updates ACS Poster Session: In January, Temple University’s Department of Chemistry hosted the American Chemical Society Philadelphia Section’s Eighth Annual Graduate/Undergraduate Poster Session in Mitten Hall. Over 90 students presented posters, and 200 students and faculty from area colleges and universities were in attendance. More Information Hai-Lung Dai receives $450,000 grant from the Air Force Office for Scientific Research: Hai-Lung Dai, Dean of the College of Science and Technology and professor in the Department of Chemistry, received a $450,000 grant from the Air Force Office for Scientific Research for a project titled “Structure and Spectroscopy of Buried Interfaces in Organic Thin Films and Colloids.” The research aims to develop nonlinear optical approaches for characterizing the structure, bonding, and kinetic and dynamic processes occurring at the interfaces in colloids and organic thin films. Dr. Dai is also funded by the National Science Foundation for a research project on vibrational spectroscopy of colloidal particles. Homepage Nikolay Dementev won first prize for poster: Nikolay Dementev, a graduate student in the Borguet group, won first prize for his poster at the Thermal Analysis Forum of Delaware Valley poster session, on December 6, 2007 in Claymont, Del. Dementev has also been invited to give a presentation at The Thermal Analysis Forum of Delaware Valley annual symposium on “Application of Thermal Analysis to Polymers or Pharmaceuticals” on Tuesday, March 18, 2008, to be held in Conshohocken, Pa. Spiridoula Matsika invited to give national & international lectures: Spiridoula Matsika, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, has been invited to give several lectures in 2008, both nationally and internationally Homepage on “Non-Adiabatic Phenomena” at the 48th Sanibel Symposium, to be held in Georgia on “ Photochemistry and Photobiology: Probing excited states using experiment and theory” at the 90th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, May 2008 at the Telluride Workshop on Spectroscopy and Dynamics on Multiple Surfaces, Telluride, CO, July 2008 at the XIX International Symposium on the Jahn-Teller Effect: Vibronic Interactions and Orbital Physics in Molecules and in the Condensed Phase, Heidelberg, Germany, August 2008. Chemistry Students Win College Awards: Please join us in honoring the Chemistry students who were honored at the College’s Celebrating Excellence ceremony in October. More Information Chemistry Students Present at Posters on the Hill: Several Department of Chemistry students were invited to present their research at the state capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. on January 28 for a program titled Posters on the Hill. Sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research, the program is designed to promote undergraduate research to state and national legislators. Rachel Storr ’08 “Formation and attempted isolation of the cis enantiomer of the intermolecular addition of the (-)-cytisine carbamate” Faculty Mentor: Scott Sieburth Sean Keuleyan ’08 “Nanoscience for Novel Hydrogen Sensors: Nanoshaving and nanoscale current sensing atomic force microscopy of metal films on organic self-assembled monolayers.” Faculty Mentor: Eric Borguet Vanaeyah M. Tran ’08 “Nicotine Derivatives in a New Approach to [4+4] Photocycloaddition Stereocontrol” Faculty Mentor: Scott Sieburth Bulletin archives Department of Chemistry Temple University 215-204-1980 chemgrad@temple.edu http://www.chem.temple.edu