Matching the yield of our senior alumni (see Alumni News section), four of our current or past faculty members were recognized for achieving 50-year membership status in the ACS: Profs. John Burmeister, Burnaby Munson, Garry Rechnitz (FAC 78-89), and Allen Denio (FAC 78-79, 98-99). The faculty group also had an entry in the 60-year list: Dr. Albert Matlack (ADJUNCT FAC).

Four of our faculty received 2007-08 UD Instructional Grants: Prof. Charles Riordan and Ms. Mary Beth Kramer (MS76) for “Virtual Simulation of the Determination of Molar Volume Experiment;” and Prof. James Wingrave and Dr. Bridget Brennan (PT FAC), for “Development of General Chemistry Workshops.”

Prof. Svilen Bobev has added his name to our impressive list of NSF CAREER Award winners. The award exceeds half a million dollars in support of his research over a 5 year period.

Mr. Dana Chatellier (MA84) (EDUCATION SPECIALIST) was an invited participant in a John Wiley-sponsored workshop on Visualizing the Future of Chemistry Education, held in Fullerton, CA last November.

Dr. Zareh Darakijian (POST-DOC [Doren]) was described as a “Newark icon” in an article in The Review outlining his daily chemistry tutoring sessions in the Brew HaHa! coffeehouse on Main Street.

Those of you who have visited Prof. Theopold’s new office have seen the extraordinary abstract paintings by Dr. Olga Dmytrenko that adorn his walls. Olga’s 15-year-old daughter, Anna, has comparable, if not better, musical talent. Her wonderful skill at the piano has earned her a place in the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, held this past June in Salt Lake City. Labeled “among the finest young artists in the world,” she was one of 30 competitors (out of 250) selected for the competition.

Prof. Cecil Dybowski’s honorific cup overfloweth! He received the 2008 Delaware ACS Section Award, and was elected a Fellow of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy and a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists.

Prof. Jean Futrell (FAC 86-99, CHAIR 86-95, 96-97) is now the Chief Scientist for Fundamental and Computational Sciences at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Jean.futrell@pnl.gov

Prof. Susan Groh received the 2008 College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Advisement Award.

Dr. Julia Laskin (POST-DOC [Futrell]), Staff Scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory was honored at a reception hosted by President George Bush at the White House for the recipients of the 2007 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. Julia.laskin@pnl.gov

Prof. Burnaby Munson continues to get his just rewards for his long and illustrious career. Last November, he received the Eastern Analytical Symposium Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Fields of Analytical Chemistry. Invited speakers (all former students of Prof. Munson) at the Award Symposium, organized by Prof. Murray Johnston, included Jason Evans (PhD98), Gordon Hansen (MS79), Christopher Hadad, PhD (BS87), Jeffrey McGuire (MS81), and Ronald Orlando (PhD88). In May, he received the American Institute of Chemists 2008 Chemical Pioneer Award at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, in Philadelphia.

Prof. Sandeep Patel and his wife, Ratna, welcomed the birth of their first child, Kaden Desai, on 11/24/07. Kaden weighed in at 6 lbs., 11 oz.

Prof. Charles Riordan was presented with an Outstanding Doctoral Graduate Student Advising and Mentoring Award during the University’s 2008 doctoral hooding ceremony. Charlie was also selected to be a contributing author to the Accounts of Chemical Research Special Issue on Dioxygen Activation Chemistry (7/07).

Prof. Kate Scantlebury, Coordinator of Secondary Science Education, has received two awards from the Association for Science Educators. She was named the Outstanding Science Teacher Educator of the Year, and also received the Innovation in Teaching Science Teachers Award. She co-authored a chapter on “Designing Tests and Surveys for Chemical Education Research,” in the Nuts and Bolts of Chemical Education Research, ACS Symposium Series 976.

Profs. Joel Schneider and Darrin Pochan (Dept of Materials Science) have patented a novel biomaterial with surprising antibacterial properties that can be injected as a low-viscosity hydrogel into a wound, where it rigidifies nearly on contact.

Prof. Donald L. Sparks (JOINT FAC, Plant and Soil Science), received a veritable cornucopia of awards this past year. In September, he became the first and only American to be made an honorary member of the Polish Society of Soil Science. He received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Kentucky followed, in like manner, by another Distinguished Alumnus Award from Virginia Tech. Finally, he was elected a Geochemistry Fellow by the Geochemical Society and the European Association for Geochemistry.

The Department mourned the passing of Robert Stafford on 11/5/07. Bob worked in our stockroom for several years, following his retirement as Chief of Detectives in the Newark Police Department.

Dr. Michael Stemniski (PT FAC) was named the recipient of the Delaware ACS Section’s 2008 Tillmans-Skolnik Award, in recognition of his long service to the Delaware Section.

Prof. Klaus Theopold and his student Kevin Kreisel (PhD07) have succeeded in synthesizing a dichromium complex whose Cr-Cr quintuple bond is the shortest (1.8028Ǻ) yet discovered, breaking a record that had stood for almost 3 decades. (J. Am.Chem. Soc., DOI: 10.1021/ja076356t, C&E News, 11/7/07)

Dr. Chadwick Tolman (PT FAC) is the Energy Chair of the DE Chapter of the Sierra Club, and a member of the League of Women Voters U.S. Climate Change Task Force.

(the late) Dr. Swiatoslaw (Jerry) Trofimenko (Visiting Scientist) has had Scorpionates II: Chelating Borate Ligands, by Claudio Pettinari (World Scientific Publishing) dedicated to his memory. Dr. Pettinari is also serving as guest editor of an upcoming special edition of Inorganica Chimica Acta which will also be dedicated to Jerry.

It will come as no surprise to those of you who know Prof. Robert Wood (FAC 57-02) that, although he formally retired in 2002, he hasn’t really retired. He published/submitted his 218th and 219th papers this year (both to the Journal of Physical Chemistry, both jointly authored with Prof. Douglas Doren), presented an invited lecture at the Calorimetry Conference in July, and will present another paper at the Philadelphia ACS meeting in August – not too shabby for someone who began his academic career over five decades ago!