July 2021 July 30: Professor Maria Contel publishes “Investigation of the effects and mechanisms of anticancer action of Ru(II)-arene iminiphosphorane compound in triple negative cancer cells” in ChemMedChem. Congratulations Prof. Contel! July 20: Mim Lal Nakarmi, physics, (PI) and Laura Juszczak, chemistry (co-PI) have been awarded an NSF 18-513 Major Research Instrumentation Award for a streak camera to greatly expand the time resolution of fluorescence lifetime measurements for an existing laser-based system. July 8: Professor Ryan Murelli was awarded the 2021 Graduate Center Award for Excellence in Mentoring. This award recognizes his commitment to students in the PhD program in Chemistry, many of whom have carried out and continue to carry out research in his lab at Brooklyn College. You can read more about Ryan and the other winners of the aware here. Congrats Ryan! June 2021 June 22: The Chemistry Department congratulates doctoral student Mina Poursharifi, who successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis, “Synthesis, characterization and applications of peptide-coated nanoparticles,” today. Mina performed her doctoral research under the supervision of Professor Aneta Mieszwaska. Great job, Mina! June 21: The Chemistry Department congratulates doctoral student Marek Wlodarczyk, who successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis, “Enhanced Platinum (II) drug delivery for anti-cancer therapy,” today. Marek did his doctoral studies under the supervision of Professor Aneta Mieszwaska. Extremely well done, Marek! June 6: Congratulations to Professor Maria Contel who, in collaboration with Professor Karen Hubbard (City College of New York), has been awarded a PSC-CUNY Enhanced grant (Cycle 52) entitled “Ruthenium-Based Small Molecules as Efficient, less Toxic, and Cost-Effective Chemotherapeutic Options Against Triple Negative Breast Cancer.” May 2021 May 31: A big congratulations to Sarah Belh who defended her Ph.D. thesis, titled “Photosensitization and Analytical Study on Reactive Oxygen Intermediates: Self-sorting Surface Radicals and ‘On-off’ Sensitizer Function Mechanisms.” Sarah carried out her Ph.D. studies in the group of Alexander Greer. May 21: Congratulations to Professor Brian Gibney, the recipient of the 2021 E. Ann Nalley Mid-Atlantic Region Award from the American Chemical Society. The award recognizes his exceptional volunteer work in support of the American Chemical Society. Highlights from Gibney’s work include his outstanding contributions to ACS outreach and social media and his leadership of ACS events such as the local Undergraduate Research Symposium and Chemists Celebrate Earth Day. He also established the annual Brooklyn Frontiers in Science Public lecture and organized the award-winning Reaching Students with Disabilities symposium sponsored by the ACS. Gibney’s work in scientific outreach is a tremendous benefit to both the scientific community and the general public, and the department congratulates him on his success. May 19: May Brooklyn College Department of Chemistry to Receive the 2021 Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences. We are pleased to announce that the Brooklyn College Department of Chemistry will receive the 2021 Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences. The award will be presented at the Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting of the ACS in June. The award is sponsored by the Committee on Minority Affairs of the American Chemical Society and recognizes individuals and/or institutions that have advanced diversity in the chemical sciences. The award recognizes the success of the department’s longstanding commitment to diversity. The department can point with pride to its successful recruitment and promotion of women and faculty of color, which has led to a faculty body that is significantly more diverse than other chemistry departments nationwide. We can also take great satisfaction in the diverse population of students who have come through our program and have gone on to successful careers in science and medicine. We thank the college administration, the campus community, and above all the students of the college for their help in achieving this milestone. The department looks forward to continuing to work with all of you to open the world of science to all those who seek a place in it. May 17: Congratulations to Assistant Professor Mariana Torrente who has been awarded a PSC-CUNY Enhanced Grant for the project “Delineating the Role of Histone H3 S10 Phosphorylation in C9orf72 ALS” May 13: Associate Professor Gallicchio publishes “Alchemical Transfer Approach to Absolute Binding Free Energy Estimation” in the ACS Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. May 5: Professor Maria Contel publishes “Exploring the Potential of Metallodrugs as Chemotherapeutics for Triple Negative Breast Cancer” in Chemistry, A European Journal. April 2021 April 27: A new post on the Brooklyn College Chemistry Careers Blog. Curiosity can drive life changes, not just research. Dr. Cheshire’s journey runs the gamut from philosophy to gourmet cookery to chemistry, and has led him to research in solar cells at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Learn what he has to say about changing fields, and how to know if a career in research might be right for you. April 20: It is with great sadness that the department must report the passing of Professor Emeritus Robert C. Tripp. Tripp was born in Boulder, Colorado, in 1931. He attended the University of Colorado before taking his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Michigan. He went on to teach at New Mexico Highlands University until he came to Brooklyn College in 1962. He taught in the evening for much of his career and served as the deputy chair for the department’s evening program for many years. He retired from full-time work at Brooklyn College in 1996 and taught part-time for a few years before moving back to Boulder. He died in his home on April 6, 2021. April 9: The Department of Chemistry mourns the loss of Brooklyn College alumnus Jack Minker ’49 (pdf). Minker made important early contributions to the field of artificial intelligence. April 9: Congratulations to doctoral students Yaron Marciano (Chemistry) and Afruja Ahad (Biology) in Professor Maria Contel’s lab who won prizes at the VII Latin-American Meeting on Biological Inorganic Chemistry for best short talk presentation (Yaron) and a mention for best poster presentation (Afruya). April 7: Donate blood at the yearly March for Life Blood Drive on Sunday April 25, 2021, from noon to 6 p.m. at Tanger Hillel at Brooklyn College (2901 Campus Road). Sign up at this link. April 6: Professor Mark Kobrak publishes “Relationship between liquid nanoscale structure in solvents and the strength of the Hofmeister effect in extraction experiments” in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. Kobrak worked with collaborators Dmytro Nykypanchuk, and Camiel H. C. Janssen at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Autonomous University of Mexico City on this project, which establishes a link between nanoscale liquid structure as measured by small-angle x-ray scattering and the recovery of metals via liquid-liquid extraction. The results are of interest in designing and optimizing extraction processes for metal recovery and water purification. April 5: A new post on the Brooklyn College Chemistry Careers Blog. Particle accelerators play a crucial role in studying materials and the very nature of matter, but they require enormous volumes of extremely low vacuum in order to function. Vacuum scientist Yev Lushtak talks about his journey into science and his work in an intriguing middle ground between basic science and engineering. March 2021 March 16: The Chemistry Undergraduate and Graduate Scholarship and Awards applications are open. Chemistry students interested in applying for awards and scholarships should visit the application page and fill out the relevant information. March 14: Congratulations to Lauren Bejcek, who successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis, titled “Mechanistic and Synthetic Studies of Oxidopyrylium Cycloaddition Reactions!” Bejcek has been carrying out her Ph.D. studies at Brooklyn College with Professor Ryan Murelli for the last four years and will be starting a position next month as a medicinal chemist at PTC Therapeutics in nearby South Plainfield, New Jersey. February 2021 February 15: Professor Ryan Murelli publishes “Investigations into a Stoichiometrically Equivalent Intermolecular Oxidopyrylium [5 + 2] Cycloaddition Reaction Leveraging 3-Hydroxy-4-pyrone-Based Oxidopyrylium Dimers” in the Journal of Organic Chemistry February 6: The Chemistry Department announces the 36th H. Martin Friedman Lecture. Honoree Angela Casini will speak abut “Frontiers in Bioinorganic Chemistry” (pdf) on Friday, March 19, 2021 at 11 a.m. (online event). February 2: Associate Professor Emilio Gallicchio publishes “Alchemical Transformations for Concerted Hydration Free Energy Estimation with Explicit Solvation” in the Journal of Chemical Physics.
