Chem News/Summer 96 - NDSU · Volume 3 Number 2 Summer 1996 Chemistry Department Salutes ’96 Graduates On May 11, 1996, several NDSU chemistry majors joined the procession of graduates

Bruce Wilcox, Rob Sailer, David Fouquette, Brian Boss, andChris Walls

CHEM-NEWSNorth Dakota State University

Department of ChemistryVolume 3 Number 2 Summer 1996

Chemistry Department Salutes ’96 GraduatesOn May 11, 1996, several NDSU chemistry majorsjoined the procession of graduates in commence-ment ceremonies held at the Fargodome.

Below is a list of graduates, as well as severalphotos taken that day. We encourage all of you tocheck in with Linda Stoetzer in the chemistryoffice so we can continue to stay in contact withyou. A hearty congratulations to all!

Bachelor’s Degrees:Brian Boss Raquel PaulsonBecky (Diegel) Benz Robert SailerPeter Elliot Christopher WallsDavid Fouquette Bruce WilcoxLee Haeuser

Master’s Degrees:Greg Oswald Scott PayneKyli Martin Dean SeidlerTim Splinter

Doctor of Philosophy Degrees:Bret Ludwig (P&C option) Robert QuandtBor-Juin Niu (P&C option) Mark H. Van Benthem

Dr. McCarthy and Ph.D.recipient Bret Ludwig

Greg Oswald

Raquel Paulson

The following is an observation about graduation from “Star Trek” actor Patrick Stewart:

“It is what you do from now on that will either move our civilization forwarda few tiny steps, or else…begin to march us steadily backward.”

Graduation photoscontinued on page 2…

Chem-News Summer 19962

In last year’s graduation edition of Chem-News, we printed aphoto of Kyli Martin with his wife, Ligia, at her graduation.

This year, Kyli and Ligia switch roles.Kyli received his Master’s last summer,and the couple made a trip to Fargo thisspring so he could participate in com-mencement exercises. He is a graduate ofProfessor Atwood’s research group.

Currently, both Kyli and Ligia are em-ployed by Bayer Corporation, locatedoutside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. McCarthy congratulates Scott Payne

Graduation photos continued…

Megan Kirsch is Local Media Darling“Somebody somewhere gavethem my name.”

This is how NDSU biologymajor Megan Kirsch explainshow she became the subject of alocal bank’s advertising.

About a year ago, First Bankdecided to put together anadvertising campaign thatfocused on the accomplishmentsof local students. As Megan wassitting in class at Shanley HighSchool, she was visited by FirstBank representatives. Theyconducted a quick interview andtook some photos of her.

“About a month later, I got aphone call saying they wouldlike to include me in their ads,and they wanted to focus on myfive years of experience insunflower fields.” (Megan wasemployed by Cargill HybridSeeds in their sunflower fieldsnorth of Dilworth.)

She found out later that they hadinterviewed more than 50 kidsfrom high schools up and down

the Red River Valley. Megan,who was in her senior year atShanley, was one of six studentschosen to participate.

The television commercial wasshot in February 1995, and forthe most part, it was apositive experience forMegan. “It wasn’t toobad, except for the 80pounds of makeup! And Imust have walked thosesame ten steps 30 times,while they played withlighting and made surethings were just right.”

The TV and print ads ranfor a year, starting lastJune. She received asmall fee for doing it, butthat wasn’t all…

Ultimately, Megan getsrecognized everywhereshe goes in Fargo. “I’llhave people come up tome in public and say‘Hey—aren’t you thatsunflower girl?’” This First Bank ad with Megan’s photo was

placed in Fargo area newspapers.

Megan joined Dr. Mukund Sibi’slab in September 1995, whereshe has been employed as anundergraduate research assistant.She is sponsored by NorthDakota EPSCoR’s ScienceBound program.


•We welcome Brent Reems tothe RodgersGroup thissummer. Brentwill be enter-ing graduateschool in ourdepartment thisfall and comesto us fromUND, wherehe worked in ProfessorHoffman’s group doing compu-tational chemistry.

While in the Rodgers Group,Brent will be working on thesynthesis and spectroscopiccharacterization of newmetalloporphyrin assemblies. Hewill be using spectroscopic datato guide his synthetic efforts inorder to optimize the nonlinearoptical susceptibilities of hismolecules.

Brent grew up in Killdeer, nearthe Badlands of North Dakota.He decided to go into chemistrybecause of the potential for jobopportunities. In his spare time,he enjoys hunting, fishing, andall kinds of sports.

quescent and oxygen sensitive soJessie has her synthetic andcharacterization work cut out forher. However, successful synthe-sis of this rare mineral willfacilitate chemical and physicalstudies that could yield insightsinto its genesis.

After spending one year oncampus, Jessie has plenty ofgood things to say about NDSU.“I love the atmosphere of theschool, and all of the professorshave been really helpful. It willbe great to get some lab experi-ence and basically just learn asmuch as I can about chemistryand working in the lab.”

Jessie has the benefit of twomentors this summer, as she isworking under the direction ofBernhardt Saini-Eidukat fromthe Department of Geosciencesand Gudrun Lukat-Rodgers.

•Both Brent and Jason will belearning about the intricacies ofESR and Raman instrumentationthis summer. We will soon besetting up a new triple Ramanspectrometer which will allow usto look at Raman bands corre-sponding to very low vibrationalfrequencies in our cofacialporphyrin assemblies.

•We are also setting up an ESRspectrometer, which returns toour department after spending afew years in Professor SteveMeinhardt’s biochemistry lab.This spectrometer will allow usto more completely characterizeour metalloporphyrin complexesand the coordination environ-ment of the heme in FixL.

The Rodgers Research RoundupSubmitted by Professor Kenton Rodgers

Department of Chemistry • North Dakota State UniversityPO Box 5516 • Fargo, ND 58105

Editor Faculty AdvisorJill Retzer Dr. David Atwood

To obtain a copy of this newsletter, or to submit your comments, call:

(701) 231-9405 Fax: (701) 231-1057e-mail: [email protected]

©Copyright 1996

Chem-Newsis published by

•Jason Barron is now a seniorchemistry major in our depart-ment and continues his work thissummer as a ND EPSCoR REUstudent. Until recently, Jason hasbeen working on our metallo-protein project and has contrib-uted to two extensive papers onthe characterization of a bacterialoxygen-sensing protein calledFixL. Having chosen to broadenhis research experience, thissummer Jason will be synthesiz-ing novel metalloporphyrinassemblies.

•Jessie Ebert, one of our sopho-more chemistrymajors, is alsospending sometime in our labora-tory this summeras an REU student.

Jessie, who is originally fromFaribault, Minnesota, will besynthesizing a mineral thatoccurs only rarely in nature. Hertarget mineral was first discov-ered in Hibbing, Minnesota, andis called (not surprisingly)Hibbingite. This is a ferroushydroxy chloride that is deli-


Scott Olsen and Dennis Tallman atcommencement in May 1995

Chemistry Department Staffing ChangesLong-time Fargo resident, GaryStolzenberg, recently took onresponsibilities as teaching labcoordinator for the ChemistryDepartment.

Gary received his Bachelor’sdegree in chemistry fromRensselaer Polytech Institute in1962, and in 1968, earned hisPh.D. in biochemistry fromKansas State University. Thatsame year, Gary became em-ployed by the USDA labs in Fargoand stayed there until his retire-ment in early 1995.

Since his retirement, Gary hastaught chemistry at NorthwestTech in Grand Forks. In addition,he has held a research associateposition with the NDSU entomol-ogy department.

Overall, working in the chemistrydepartment will seem like afamiliar, comfortable place forGary. “I know this faculty; I’veknown them and used the libraryfor a long, long time. I’m reallylooking forward to getting toknow everyone better. Also, I did

safety and waste managementwork for USDA, so I’m very

familiarwith thistype ofenviron-ment.”

Gary andhis wife,Rosa—who stillworks forthe

USDA—spend some of theirspare time enjoying their lakecabin near Park Rapids, as well astending to their tree farm.

Roxane Meidinger, who formerlyheld the position, has taken aposition with Dakota Technolo-gies, Inc. (DTI).

One part of Roxane’s formerassignment, Supplemental Instruc-tion leadership, will be assigned toLawrence McCabe, a secondperson just hired as a lecturer.Larry taught high school chemis-try in Minnesota for about 30years before retiring last spring

from the Roseau school district.He earned his B.S. from MankatoState College in 1962 and hismaster’s from the University ofTennessee, Knoxville, in 1968.The department is sending Larryto “SI School” at the University ofMissouri-Kansas City in mid-Julyto learn about the program.

Larry will also teach generalchemistry for us next year. He istaking over for Peter Ramberg,who just accepted a position withOhio University.

Another staff member has decidedto move on as well. After 11months as stockroom manager,Randy Jensen has taken a positionin Detroit Lakes, where he will beto be closer to his family.

Dr. McCarthy said, “Randy did agreat job working with Roxane oncomputerization of the depart-ment’s inventory of chemicals andsupplies—both in the stockroomand in every faculty research lab.”Grad student Dawn Nygaard istaking over Randy’s duties until areplacement is hired.

This spring the chemistrydepartment was sad-dened to learn of the death

of NDSU graduate Scott A.Olsen. Scott, who was 29, died athis home in Melbourne, Austra-lia, April 30.

Scott was born on February 9,1967, in Wolf Point, Montana,the son of Alfred and Rhoda(Schroeder) Olsen. He graduatedfrom Waupun High School in1985 and earned his Bachelor’s

Degree from Gustavus AdolphusCollege in St. Peter, Minnesota.

A member of Dennis Tallman’sgroup, in May of 1995, Scottreceived his Ph.D. from NDSU.He had accepted a postdoctoralposition with Monash Univer-sity in Melbourne last fall.

Scott will be sadly missed andmourned by his family—aswell as by everyone who knewhim at NDSU.

In Remembrance of Scott A. Olsen


Fargo Conference on Main Group Chemistry a Success“Great conference! The size wasjust right for networking.”

This comment—along withsimilar statements heard fromother conference participants—leads one to believe that the firstFargo Conference on MainGroup Chemistry was, indeed, abig success.

Nearly 150 chemists participatedin the event, which was held atNDSU May 30–June 1, 1996. Inaddition to representatives fromacross the United States, attend-ees included visitors fromCanada, Mexico, Japan, Korea,England, Belgium, Germany,France, Romania, Norway,Slovenia, Russia, and Latvia.

Plenary speakers Robert West(University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Alan Cowley(University of Texas-Austin)provided intriguing and informa-tive talks, which kicked offactivities both Friday and Satur-day. The plenary addresses werefollowed by 49 oral presenta-tions, given by industry andacademic leaders in main groupchemistry research.

The NDSU Center for MainGroup Chemistry would like tothank those who helped makethe conference a success. Manystudents and staff membersvolunteered their efforts to theconference, which greatlyenhanced the activities.

Because of the positive feedbackreceived, the conference will beheld again two years from now.The organizing committee hasalready begun to make arrange-ments for June 4, 5, and 6, 1998.

Dawn Kardash and Jill Retzer assist MichaelEdwards in registering.

A: The grad student who used a“Jeopardy” theme on his poster.Q: Who is Doug Linder?

TomGonnella withthe poster heco-authoredwith DenleyJacobson.

➞

Dawn Nygaard talks with Joseph Eaton, who will join theNDSU chemistry faculty this fall.

Phil Boudjouk, Dean Grier, Dean Seidler, and Greg Schmitzdiscuss their poster with Robert Corriu (center).

Jianguo Ji discusses his poster withBoudjouk Group member, Seok-Bong Choi. ➞


Atwood Group NewsLook What Dave’s Guys are Up To Now!

A New Addition

Atwood Group member, MikeRemington, and his wife, DanaThompson, recently welcomedtheir first child into the world.Mike, as any new father might,was overhead saying, “This is atotally new ballgame!”

Hannah Reneewas born onFriday, June21, at Merit-Care Hospitalin Fargo. Sheweighed in at7 lbs. 10 oz.and was 191/2 inches long. Sincecoming home from the hospital,Hannah has kept her parents busy.According to Mike, “We’re notgetting a lot of sleep yet.”

Hill Joins Atwood Group

A new postdoctoral fellow hasjoined the Atwood Group. Dr.Mike Hill is from Lancashire,England. Mike, his wife, Paula,and their three-year-old son,Daniel, came to Fargo in June.

According to Mike, the family hasgotten over the initial cultureshock of moving to a new country,but they are still adjusting to theAmerican way of doing things—particularly when it comes toworking at NDSU. “They speak adifferent language of chemistryhere. That is something that wasdifficult for me at first.”

Overall, though, he has come toenjoy being a part of the AtwoodGroup. “They [the group mem-bers] seem great; it’s nice becauseeverything’s really personal.”

Born in St. Helens, a glass-makingtown ten miles from Liverpool,Mike gained an interest in chemis-try early on. “The reason I carriedon my enthusiasm for chemistrycame from when I spent sometime working for PilkingtonGlass.” Mike received his B.S.C.from the University of Bath in1991. He also completed his Ph.D.work there and did one year ofpostdoctoral research under thedirection of K.C. Molloy.

After spending almost a monthhere in the states, Mike hasnoticed that the pace in Fargo isdifferent from the busy environ-ment he is used to. “Life hereseems really relaxed—like whiledriving the car, I am amazed athow courteous people are!” Mikeand his family were able to visitsome of Minnesota’s lake countryshortly after they moved here, and

they werepleased todiscoverhow much itfelt likehome. “Thecountrysidejust beyondMoorhead isvery similarto some

areas in Wiltshire, just east ofBath—the only difference is theroads here are dead straight!”

When asked about what hemisses about living in En-gland, Mike said, “I reallyenjoy watching live bands.And at home, we could drivejust 25 minutes down theroad to Bristol and see a bigname band perform.” He also

mentioned thatPaula, who grew up in a

seaside town, is a bit homesick forthe sea—since the nearest oceanis now two thousand miles away!

On a positive note, the U.S. hasshown the family some financialadvantages: “Beef is muchcheaper here, and so is petro[gasoline]. At home, the cost isaround $3.50 to $4.00 per gallon,and it is very heavily taxed. Thetax on liquor and spirits is alsovery high.” Mike has also noticedthat bread costs more than he hadanticipated. “Since this is ‘graincountry,’ I thought it would be abit less expensive. We pay aboutfifty cents for a loaf in England.”

Throughout his life, Mike hasdone his share of moving fromone city to another. But now, aftercoming to a foreign country, hehas made a unique observation:“Everything’s unfamiliar here, soit wouldn’t have mattered if Iwould have moved to a differenttown in England or a differentcountry. You start to discover thatpeople are all the same whereveryou go; they all have the sameworries and needs.”

Wedding Bells

On April 27, Atwood Groupmember Drew Rutherford at-tended a wedding…his own.Drew and his long-time girlfriend

JulieNomelandwere marriedduring a 4:00p.m. candle-light servicein Osakis,Minnesota.


Lin

The group visited the Science Museum, the Art Institute, and China Town.In addition, a boat tour of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan wasfascinating—and the water engi-neering was especially impressive.(The river is made to flow back-wards to clean out the city.)

During their stay, group membersenjoyed many foods, includingDim Sum (a Cantonese dish) andhot spice Sichuan. Several peoplebrought back fresh fish and shrimp.(Despite all of these delicacies, Dr.Hu said he still likes Fargo better.)

Dr. Qiao-Sheng Hu presented a poster in the recent Fargo InternationalConference on Main Group Chemistry. This work, co-authored with Ms.Xiao-Fan Zheng, is the synthesis of the first optically active and stericallyregular poly(1,1'-bi-2-naphthol). This chiral polymer serves as a precursorto a new generation of polymeric catalysts. Traditionally, polymeric chiralcatalysts are made by covalently connecting a chiral catalyst to an achiraland sterically irregular polymer backbone. In the new polymer systemconstructed in Dr. Pu’s laboratory, the catalytic centers are highly orga-nized in a sterically regular chiral polymer chain, leading to a well-definedmicroenviroment for the catalytic sites. Therefore, it will be possible tosystematically modify both the catalytic activity and stereoselectivity ofthese novel polymeric catalysts.

A polymeric aluminum catalyst has been prepared by Dr. Hu using thechiral poly(1,1'-bi-2-naphthol), which has shown a dramatic increase ofcatalytic activity over its corresponding monomeric aluminum catalystwhen used in the Mukaiyama aldol condensation. Hu’s work was recentlyaccepted by the Journal of Organic Chemistry as a communication. Thiscatalyst has many potential applications in organic synthesis and polymersynthesis.

Dr. Pu’s group welcomes Professor Gary Edvenson. Gary is a chemistryprofessor at Moorhead State University. He will spend part of this summerand next summer working in Dr. Pu’s group. His project at NDSU is tostudy the Ziegler-Natta catalysis process using a novel catalyst developedin Dr. Pu’s laboratory. Gary is supported by the Petroleum ResearchFund’s Summer Research Fellow program. Students in Dr. Pu’s group willenjoy Gary’s stay since he is not only an excellent chemist, but also a goodping-pong player—and an amazing glassblower!

Pu Group Experiencesthe Windy CityOn June 7, Dr. Pu’s research group stormedinto the city of Chicago. Although on thestreet, they could see only clouds in thesky, when they reached the 103rd floor ofthe Sears Tower (110 stories total), theywere able to stand above the clouds andenjoy the sunshine.

Dr. Pu’s Group on the streets of Chicago

Pu’sCorner

Following the ceremony, a recep-tion was held at the Holiday Inn inAlexandria. Several people fromNDSU attended the wedding,including fellow group members,Jolin Jegier and Mike Remington,who served as groomsmen.

Continued on page 8…

Jegier Takes First Place

On April 25, Jolin Jegier traveledto Valley City State University tocompete in the A. Roger DennisonResearch Competition, sponsoredby the North Dakota Academy ofSciences. He presented a paperentitled “Synthesis and Character-ization of Cationic AluminumComplexes with Potential Rel-evance to Lewis Acid Catalysis.”Competing against 19 othergraduate students, mainly fromthe UND Schools of Medicine andPharmacology, Jolin tied for firstplace. For his efforts, Jolin re-ceived $100, which was put togood use fixing his car—which haddeveloped a rather nasty knockingnoise on the trip to the competition.

In May, Jolin successfully pre-sented and defended his Maxi.With that major hurdle out of theway, he is now working on writ-ing his dissertation and hopes todefend in May of 1997. Jolin hasalso been busy submitting manu-scripts in the past couple ofmonths. Two of these have beenaccepted for publication and will

Jolin, Drew, and Mike model the springcollection of lab attire, straight off therunway of Dunbar’s third floor.


one of my teachers, was in chargeof the ‘100% Science Club.’ Atfirst I thought about participating,but then I realized, ‘I like science,but 100%? No way!’ When wefinished taking our first test, Mr.Sorum told me he really wantedme to try for the 100% Club. Andsince it sounded like a goodchallenge, I decided to do it.”

Michael’s interest in chemistrygrew as he advanced in school.“When I started at Central HighSchool, I took Chem Study, anadvanced chemistry class, and hada teacher who really challengedme to learn. His class was some-thing different and interesting—hetaught it much like a collegecourse, and that really sparked myinterest.”

In addition to chemistry, Michaelis interested in RC (radio-con-trolled) airplanes. When asked ifhe builds his own, he replied,“Yeah, basically. I build them—then I crash them.” Like many ofthe students at NDSU, Michaelalso enjoys the outdoors, particu-larly golfing, hunting, fishing. Healso likes anything related tocomputers—programming,playing games, but especially,“taking them apart to find out howthey work.”

Jessica Edwards

Redwood Falls, Minnesota nativeJessica Edwards has joinedMukundSibi’s Groupfor thesummer asan under-graduateresearchassistant.

This fall,Jessica will

CraigJasperse

For thesecondsummer in arow, Dr.CraigJasperse isspending afew months

with the Mukund Sibi Group,where he will be working onstereo selectivity in free radicalalkylation reactions.

Craig has been a professor atMoorhead State University since1994. He earned his B.S. fromCalvin College in Grand Rapids,Michigan, in 1982, and his Ph.D.from the University of Wisconsin,Madison, in 1987. The followingtwo years, Craig was a post-doc atthe University of Pittsburgh. Hethen went to UND, where hestayed until the spring of 1994.

Along the way—in 1991, to bemore precise—Craig married hiswife, Tammy. The couple has twochildren, Dirk, 2, and Micah, whowill be 1 in July. “Needless tosay,” says Craig, “it’s busy athome!”

Craig is originally fromSheboygan, Wisconsin, just onehour north of Milwaukee, and“home of Johnsonville Brats—thebest brats in the country!” When

he’s not doing chemistry research,Craig enjoys sports, especiallysoftball and basketball, and he’svery involved in his church.

As far as his summer collabora-tion with Dr. Sibi goes, Craig isoptimistic, “Hopefully, for both ofus, this will be an ongoing sum-mer relationship.”

Michael Johnson

“Any challenge presented to me isone I’ll take.” The words ofMichael Johnson say a lot aboutthis ambitious grad student, whohas been with the Sibi Groupsince May.Last spring,Michaelgraduatedfrom UND,where heperformedundergradresearchunder CraigJasperse.

While growing up in Manvel—aNorth Dakota town with a popula-tion of 365—Michael found hisscience and math classes mostinteresting. When they reach theninth grade, Manvel studentsbegin attending Grand ForksValley Junior High School. This iswhere he became especiallyintrigued by science. “Mr. Sorum,

Atwood Group continued…

appear in upcoming issues ofChemical Communications andInorganic Chemistry.

This August, Jolin will also beattending the ACS NationalMeeting in Orlando, where he

will present a paper entitled“Synthesis and Characterizationof 4- and 6-Coordinate, CationicAluminum Complexes.” While atACS, Jolin will also participate inthe Employment Clearing House,with the goal of becoming gain-fully employed.

Three Join Mukund Sibi’s Lab


be a junior at Skidmore College,which is in upstate (SaratogaSprings) New York. When askedwhy she chose to attend the small(2,800 students) liberal arts schoolso far away from home, shereplied, “I had relatives who wentthere, and ever since I was little, Ialways said ‘that’s where I want togo to college.’ So when it cametime to pick a school, I went outthere and decided I really liked it.”

Science is not the only area whereJessica excels. “I like to be out-doors, and I enjoy all kinds ofoutdoor sports, like golf, tennisand lacrosse.” While she justlearned how to play lacrosse lastyear, Jessica is on her college’swomen’s team, and by her ownadmission, “caught on to the gamepretty fast.”

Before coming to NDSU in June,Jessica had never visited Fargo.“This has been the perfect situa-tion for me, though. I’m close tohome, and I have friends here inFargo, so I had a place to live forthe summer.”

As far as her position goes,Jessica has already discovered thatlife in a research lab is not exactlywhat she had imagined. “It’s verydifferent than labs you take in acollege class. The same ideas arethere, but the techniques aredifferent. And it still amazes mehow many hours people work!”

While spending the summer withthe Sibi Group, she hopes to gainan understanding for what inter-ests her most.

“There are so many differentareas, it’s a bit overwhelming, so Ihope to discover what my inter-ests are. After all, there has to besomething out there I really enjoy!”

Science Olympiad Held at NDSUOn April 27, several hundredjunior and senior high studentswere at NDSU for the NorthDakota Science Olympiad. Aportion of the competition washeld in Ladd and Dunbar Halls,

with several chemistry depart-ment faculty and studentsassisting with the event.

NDSU graduate studentssupervised lab tests on densitymeasurement and titration, aspart of the analytical portionof the test.

In conjunction with the Sci-ence Olympiad, the NDSUChemistry and P&C Depart-ments hosted an open houseand demonstrations. TheScience Olympiad is anexcellent opportunity for thedepartments to exhibit theirfacilities and equipment.

Participants compete in the labportion of the test (above left).

Bryan Jarabek prepares for the“Crime Busters” event (below left).

Continued on back page…

The research results of anothergraduate student, Mr. Beon-KyuKim, will also be presented at theOrganosilicon Symposium. Kim’swork builds on the research ofalumnus Dr. Steve Kloos (nowwith Osmonics in Minnetonka,Minnesota). Kim’s study involvesa novel cyclopolysilane dianionSi

6Cl

14= which was prepared and

characterized by X-ray analysis incollaboration with ProfessorDavid Atwood’s Group.

Following the OrganosiliconSymposium, Dr. Boudjouk willtravel to Brussels and present twoseminars at the Universite LibreDe Bruxelles. He will then fly toWales to present seminars at DowCorning Corporation.

Dr. Phil Boudjouk willtravel to Europe the end ofAugust. During his two

weeks of travel, he will presentfive different seminars.

The major focus of his trip is toattend and present an invitedlecture at the “XIth InternationalSymposium on OrganosiliconChemistry” in Montpellier,France. The title of his paper is“Delocalized Ions ContainingSilicon,” and it will focus onresearch carried out by Dr. Hong(a former visiting adjunct profes-sor in the department, now withSamsung Corporation), Mr. Seok-Bong Choi and Mr. WayneTriebold, graduate students in theBoudjouk Group.

Boudjouk Group News


Staff Profile…Dean Grier, MCL Manager

the Norcrossbeach ofGlacial LakeAgassiz. Igrew up onbeach-frontproperty…butmissed it byabout 11,000years.”

Dean started at NDSU as a civilengineering major, but eventu-ally switched over to geology.He earned his B.S. in May 1995,and has worked in the McCarthyLab for several years. In Septem-ber, he took over full-time dutiesas manager of the MaterialsCharacterization Lab (MCL).

As MCL manager, Dean’s timeis split in several directions. Hemanages the lab and keeps theequipment running, as well astrains new users, to familiarizethem with the instruments. Inaddition, he’s involved withresearch for the McCarthy Groupand is assisting other main grouplabs with research.

Not many of us can claimthat we were introducedto the great outdoors

BEFORE we were able to takeour first breath. Dean Grier,however, accompanied hisparents on trips to Canada in themonths before he was born.

Dean’s father, Jim Grier, hastaught zoology at NDSU since1974. Dean says, “While I wasgrowing up, my dad’s researchwas studying bald eagles inCanada, where they would canoearound the eagles’ nests. Mymom would go with, and so didI…at first in her belly, and laterin a papoose.”

After years of visits to Canada asa youngster, Dean made somecontacts and worked one sum-mer for Canadian commercialfishermen. Besides the work,which he liked, Dean was able toenjoy his environment. “Thescenery is fantastic; you can’tbeat being up there.”

It’s probably safe to say thatDean had a head start in biologybecause of the experiences withhis dad. He basically grew uparound the NDSU campus, andeven helped Dr. Grier write abook on animal behavior whenDean was ten years old. “Ihelped with some of the editingand typed in corrections.”

When he wasn’t busy editingcollege-level material, Deanattended school in Hawley,Minnesota, where his parentsstill live today. “Our house is on

Working in his lab has broughtme a wealth of opportunities.”

When it comes to his personallife, Dean speaks very fondly. In1993, he married Kris (Drussell)from Sabin, Minnesota. “Theday Kris and I got married, thearea was in the middle of thegreat flood of 1993. It was theonly day in a stretch of abouttwo weeks when it didn’t rain.Instead, it was 75 degrees andbeautiful.” Exhibiting his interestin paleontology, Dean wore adinosaur tie to the wedding.

Along with everything else thatis going well for Dean, he andKris are expecting their firstchild in December. “I’m veryexcited about that,” Dean says,“And it’s important for me torecognize that for everythingthat’s going well in my life, andfor all I’ve been given, I have theLord to thank.”

Along with the internal responsibilities,Dean also coordinates (and performs) asmall amount of outside contract work.“We try to keep an educational compo-nent in all of our contract work. Eachsample that comes through is used as alearning opportunity.”

Dean enjoys the flexibility of his job.He is currently working towards hismaster’s in soil science, all while takingcare of things in the lab. “I’m verygrateful to Dr. McCarthy for the flex-ibility to get my graduate work done.

Dean and Kris Grier on theirwedding day in 1993


Henke SpendsSummer at NDSUKevin R. Henke, a graduatestudent from the UND geologydepartment, will be spendingthe summer in the NDSUchemistry department.

Kevin spent the past two yearsat Tennessee’s Oak RidgeNational Laboratories, explor-ing mercury contamination insoils and the chemistry ofpreviously unidentified mer-cury compounds. He willcontinue a related project underthe joint supervision of Profes-sors Atwood and McCarthy.This work will provide thefoundation for a grant proposalto the Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA).

Originally from Nebraska,Kevin has had ties to GrandForks since 1979. “I earned mymaster’s at UND. It wassmaller than the University ofNebraska; but it had a goodgeology program, so that’s oneof the reasons why I initiallywent up there.”

While in Grand Forks, Kevin

McCarthy GroupReceives Three-Year DOE Grant

I nformation has just beenreceived from the Depart-ment of Energy that a pro-

posal from the department chairGreg McCarthy has been se-lected for funding. Dean Grier,manager of the Materials Char-acterization Laboratory (MCL),is a co-investigator. Dean willuse some of the results of theresearch for his master’s thesisin soil science.

The project concerns long-termmineralogical behavior of buriedcoal combustion byproductssuch as fly ash and flue-gas-desulfurization solid waste.

Preliminary research, done incollaboration with the UNDEnergy and EnvironmentalResearch Center, showed thatsome of these materials hadaltered mineralogy, much lowerstrength and increased perme-ability some two to five yearsafter disposal.

A goal of the project will be todetermine how common thisphenomenon, which the re-searchers call “diagenesis,” is inburied coal byproducts and toexplore its mechanism.

An important component of theresearch will be application ofthe new Rietveld powder X-raydiffraction methods for quantita-tive analysis to these complexmaterials. Adding Rietveldmethods will enhance the ana-lytical capabilities of the MCLsignificantly.

at an excellent time for thedepartment. We are upgradingour undergraduate major’slaboratories to provide evenmore hands-on experience withmodern analytical instrumentsand workstations. This giftconstitutes a significant start inour efforts to purchase newspectrometers.”

Chemistry Department Receives Gift

met his wife, Yvonne, who isoriginally from SouthernCalifornia. The couple has twochildren, daughter Erin, 11, andKyle, who is six years old. “Mywife and kids came back herelast year, because the schoolsare so much better for my kids,and they really missed theirfriends in North Dakota. Over-all, this area is very civilized;we really like it here.”

When asked what he hopes toaccomplish during his time atNDSU, Kevin replied, “I wantto continue to research severalpreviously unidentified heavymetal compounds. In addition,this is a great opportunity tobrush up on my skills in X-raydiffraction, and just plainstrengthen my knowledge in thearea of chemistry.”

A gift of stock fromSheldahl, Inc. was givento the Department of

Chemistry by Gilmore Schjeldahlfrom Minnetonka, Minnesota inearly 1996. The gift, designatedfor equipment, was for $4,915.

Department chairman GregMcCarthy said, “This gift comes

North Dakota State UniversityDepartment of Chemistry104 Ladd HallFargo, ND 58105-5516

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 818Fargo, N.D.

Boudjouk Group continued…

Joining the Boudjouk Group forthe summer are Matt Johnson andKetheeswaran (Keith)Pararajasingham.

Matt, a Fargo native, is an under-graduate at UND majoring inchemical engineering. Thissummer he was awarded an NSFEPSCoR Research Experiencesfor Undergraduates (REU) grantto conduct research in an area ofhis choice. He has selected aproject to develop new, efficientand safe methods of preparingsemiconductor materials. He iscollaborating with Greg Schmitz.

Keith is an incoming grad studentworking with the group on aproject-by-projectbasis. He is collabo-rating with Beon-Kyu Kim developingnew routes to stablecomplexes of simple

functionalized silanes andsiliconium ions.

Several Boudjouk Group alumnitraveled thousands of miles toattend and present posters at theFargo Conference on Main GroupChemistry. Former group mem-bers Dr. Jang-Hwan Hong and Dr.Kimihiro Matsukawa were able toparticipate in a reunion at theGreat Northern Brewery after theconference festivities.

Recent M.S. graduate, DeanSeidler (now at Kodak in Roches-ter, NY), also attended the confer-ence and presented a poster. Deanis writing his Ph.D. thesis andhopes to finish it this summer.

In late July, Drs. Boudjouk andSibi will travel to King of Prussia,Pennsylvania, headquarters of ElfAtochem. The purpose of theirvisit is to discuss the commercial-ization of a catalyst they recently

developed with Dr. Jinguo Ji. Thecatalyst, patent pending, effi-ciently cleaves olefins to formcarboxylic acids using air for mostof the oxygen. It has proven veryeffective in producing brassylicacid and pelargonic acid from theabundant agricultural oil, erucicacid. Brassylic acid is used in thesynthesis of nylons and muskscents. The company’s Europeanexecutives will also attend themeeting to discuss the economicpotential and the feasibility ofscale up to meet industrial needs.

Dr. Philip Boudjouk meets with groupmembers Seok-Bong Choi, WayneTriebold, Duane Simonson, Beon-KyuKim, and Greg Schmitz.

Documents

Chem News/Summer 96 - NDSU · Volume 3 Number 2 Summer 1996 Chemistry Department Salutes ’96 Graduates On May 11, 1996, several NDSU chemistry majors joined the procession of graduates