Blue Hen Chemist Number 36

August 2009
Alumni News
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Alumni News

Mass Spec Alumni

A lunch for Department Alumni was held at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry meeting in Philadelphia on June 2, 2009. The event, held annually at the meeting, was organized by Burnaby Munson with help from Murray Johnston and Doug Ridge. Attendees included former undergraduates, graduates and postdoctoral fellows from the Department, current graduate students in the Department, and current graduate students in other universities who are under the direction of faculty that obtained their Ph.D. from UD. We estimate that about 70

 

conference registrants had a direct connection to our Department, and of these about 50 were able to attend the lunch. Current UD faculty and students presented 3 talks and 8 posters at the meeting. One graduate student, Bryan Bzdek, received a travel award from the Delaware Valley Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group. If you plan to attend future conferences and did not receive advance notification of this year’s lunch, please contact one of the faculty to update the distribution list.

─ Murray V. Johnston

University of Delaware Wall of Fame

On 5/8/09, John and Wendy Bulkowski (FAC 75-08), Aileen and I, and Steve Tereniak (HBS/CHEM/09), one of the original six (of 18) Plastino Alumni Undergraduate Research Fellows, had the pleasure of sharing in the festivities associated with the induction of the latest class of four alumni to the U of D’s Silver Anniversary Alumni Wall of Fame. Included in the Fab Four was our own David Plastino (BS/CHEM/78).

Dave is the senior vice president of investments at UBS Financial Services in Philadelphia. Following his graduation from the U of D, he went on to receive a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Michigan and then joined Goldman Sachs, where he was vice president of investments. He supports six chemistry and biochemistry undergraduate researchers at UD each summer and has established the Plastino Scholars Program, which funds a special project for selected students who design a program of study that is not offered in the traditional curriculum. He also is active in several charitable organizations in the Philadelphia area, including the Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation.

As I perused the program, I was struck by the fact that Dave was the 8th CHEM/BIOC alumnus to be added to this impressive list:

  • (the late) Dr. Paul J. Andrisani (BS/CHEM/68) [inducted 1999], Professor of Business Management at Temple University
  • Dr. Anthony A. Kossiakoff (PhD/CHEM/72) [2003], Otho-Sprague Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago

  • (the late) Dr. Daniel Nathans (BA/CHEM/50; Honorary Doctorate, 1978) [1985], Nobel Laureate in Medicine, Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University

  • Dr. Debra Hess Norris (BA/CHEM/77) [2002], Vice-Provost for Graduate and Professional Education, University of Delaware

  • Dr. Jane Margaret O’Brien (PhD/CHEM/81) [1994], President, St. Mary’s College of Maryland

  • Dr. Reed E. Pyeritz (BS/CHEM/68) [1994], Chair of the Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania

  • (the late) Dr. Nina Matheny Roscher (BS/CHEM/60) [1984], Professor of Chemistry, American University

Our Department can be, and is, justifiably proud of this Elite Eight!

On a personal note, I was delighted to discover that I had taught another one of the inductees, Robert D. Fleck, Jr. (BS/CHEG/69), when he was a CHEG freshman in 1965-66 (the year after I arrived at the U of D).

Well Done, Thou Good and Faithful Servants!

This year’s Honor Roll of 50- and 60-year members of the ACS included a significant number of CHEM/BIOC alumni:

Fifty Years:

John J. Baldwin, Ph.D. (BS56), Laurence E. Brydia (PhD64), Douglas W. Carlson (MS57, Phd59), Russell E. Farris, Jr. (PhD64), Ned E. Heindel (MS61, PhD63), York E. Rhodes, Ph.D. (MS59), Richard W. Spayd (MS60, PhD62), Kenneth J. Wise (PhD65).

Sixty Years:

Donn D. Devine, Esq. (BS49), E. Ellsworth Hackman (PhD67), Donald M. Simons (MS50, PhD52).

Congratulations and best wishes to all!

ACS Delaware Section Officers

The masthead of the current Del-Chem Bulletin also contains an impressive number of names of CHEM/BIOC alumni: Past Chair, Sujata Bhatia, Ph.D., M.D. (BS99); Councilor, Al (chemist) Denio, Ph.D. (FAC 78-79, 98-99); Councilor, Narmada Gunawardena (MS01). On the ballot for this coming year: Secretary (unopposed), Andrea Martin (PhD81); Director (unopposed), Lois Weyer (MS71, PhD96); Alternate Councilor, Norman Henry III (MS77).

The spirit of service lives on!


50's

Richard A. Rowe, Ph.D. (BS50, MS51) is living in Wilmington, having retired from his position as Patent Agent with (what was then) ICI Americas.

Paul R. Wunz (PhD50) has just recorded his 65th year of membership in the ACS! He is retired, having last taught at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
prbunwunz@peoplepc.com

Robert B. Dickerson, M.D. (BS51), a retired Christiana Care pathologist, died on 2/18/08.

Donald J. Lyman (MS51, PhD52) is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
dlypr@comcast.net

John J. Baldwin, Ph.D. (BS56), President of Vitae Pharmaceuticals, was the recipient of the 2008 Philadelphia ACS Section Award.

Norman J. Gerri (MS56) is living in retirement in Newark, following 52 years of service in the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at the Aberdeen, MD Proving Grounds.
Norm2B@verizon.net

Glenn R. Dimeler (MS58) died on 9/5/08. He retired in 1989, after 32 years of service in R&D with the Sun Oil Company, Philadelphia. With Sun, he authored numerous technical publications, and held over 20 U.S. Patents. At the time of his retirement, he was Manager of Product Development for Process Materials.


60's

Arthur J. Coury, Ph.D. (BS62) was one of 65 new members elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2009. He was cited by the NAE for his contributions to the “design and commercialization of pacemakers, biodegradable biomaterials, and implantable devices.” His most recent position, prior to his retirement, was that of Vice-President for Biomaterials Research for the Genzyme Corp.

Donald P. Hoster (MS65, PhD68) is living in Baltimore, having retired from Baltimore City Community College in 2003, after 33 years of service.
dhstr2@msn.com

AnnMarie Mackway-Girardi, Ph.D., D.O. (BS65) is living in retirement in Ewing, VA, following a diverse career wherein she earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine (1984), and a D.O. degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (1995).
mackwayAM@yahoo.com

Roy L. Williams (PhD65) has been granted Professor Emeritus status by Old Dominion University, where he served as Director of ODU’s Enological Research Faculty from 1991 to 2004. Roy is living in Carrollton, VA.

J. Michael Fay, D.D.S. (BA66) is serving as a consultant for Dodd Dental Laboratories, in New Castle, DE.

C. Frank Shaw III, Ph.D. (BS66) was a co-organizer of the 2nd Georgian Bay International Conference on Bioinorganic Chemistry (aka CanBIC-II) in May 2009, and last year was co-editor of a special issue of the Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, based on CanBIC-I presentations in 2007. This year he hosted a Pakistani faculty member from Sargodha University, funded by the Pakistani Higher Education Commission, who is working on research to be included in his Ph.D. dissertation through the University of Lahore.

Arthur J. Christensen, Ed.D. (BS67) is teaching physics and AP Chemistry in Downington, PA, having been a science teacher and supervisor for over 40 years. ajchris61@aol.com

Carol Van Dyke Freer, M.D. (BS68) is now an Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Hospitalist Outreach at Penn State’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, having left the Hanover (PA) Hospital, where she was the Vice-President of Medical Affairs, after 22 years of service. Last summer, she and her daughter, Elizabeth, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa!
cfreer@embarqmail.com,
cfreer@hmc.psu.edu

Robert A. Pribush Ph.D. (BS68), Professor of Chemistry at Butler University, chaired the committee that produced the 2008 Diagnostic Examination of Undergraduate Chemistry Knowledge for the ACS Division of Chemistry Education’s Exams Institute.
Caryll Wack Schenker (BS68) is enjoying life as a grandmother and ardent bridge player in Nashville, TN.
hschenke@ix.netcom.com

Shirish Shah (PhD68), Lecturer at Towson (MD) University, has been named the Empire Who’s Who Professional of the Year in Higher Education.
sshah@towson.edu

Ronald K. Scheule, Ph.D. (BS69) is a Senior Scientific Director at the Genzyme Corp., in Framingham, MA.
carbon16@comcast.net


70's

Carol J. Anderson, Ph.D. (BS73) is a test developer in the Science Group at the Educational Testing Service. She also teaches physical chemistry, on a part-time basis, at Villanova University.
canderson@ets.org

William A. Welsh (PhD74), the winner of the first Joel L. Silver Symposium Award competition in 1973, returned for a nostalgic visit to this year’s Silver Symposium on 5/21/09. Bill has retired from his position as Global Vice-President, R&D and Technical Service for W.R. Grace & Co. wmawelsh1066@yahoo.com

Eric Buel, Ph.D. (BA75) is celebrating his 10th year as Laboratory Director for the Vermont Forensic Laboratory. He is also serving on the Department of Defense’s DNA Oversight Committee.
ebuel@mail.com

Debra K. (Berg) Mills (BS76) is living in Las Vegas, NV, having retired from “many years” of product marketing and running a software development company. dkmills@embarqmail.com

Margaret (Conte) Salevan, M.D. (BS77) is engaged in private practice in Newark.
Pegsal77@verizon.net

Walter C. Frank, Ph.D., J.D. (MS78) has switched patent law firms, and is now a practicing attorney with Feldman Gale, P.A. in Tampa, FL.
wfrank@feldmangale.com


80's

Randy A. Bull (PhD81) is the Global Business Director for the Evonik Degussa Corporation’s EUDRAGIT Polymers line of drug delivery formulations.

Robert A. Prestowitz (BS81) is the Executive Director of UrbanPromise in Wilmington – a non-sectarian, faith based, non-profit targeting at risk youth.
Julia H. Li (BS01) is a member
of his staff.
robandmonica@juno.com

Eileen Chu Hing (BS82) is President and CEO of the Zios Corporation, in Philadelphia.ec.hing@zios3.com

Alysia A. Baldwin-Ferro (BS83) is the Senior Director for Global Regulatory Affairs, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C. Alysia’s acorn did not fall far from the tree. Her dad is the aforementioned John J. Baldwin, Ph.D. (BS56).
aferro@prdus.jnj.com

John A. Teagle (BS83, MS86) is a Project Manager for Erachem Comilog, Inc. in Baltimore.
John.teagle@erametgroup.com

Jeffrey S. Bolton, Ph.D. (BS84) is the General Plant Manager for Bayer MaterialScience, in New Martinsville, WV.
Jeffrey.bolton@bayerbms.com

Jeffrey A. Gates (PhD85) is the Marketing Manager for Syrgis Performance Products, in Covington, KY.
jgates@syrgis.com

Galicano F. Inguito, M.D. (BA85), Associate Director of the St. Francis Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program in Wilmington, has been elected to the Accreditation Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.

Thomas B. Salomon (BA85) is a Project Manager for Wachovia Securities, in Charlotte, NC.
Tom_salomon@bellsouth.net

James R. Howard, Jr. (BA87) is the CEO of CrownPeak, a software company in Los Angeles.
Jim.howard@crownpeak.com

David P. Arnott, Ph.D. (BS89) is a Senior Scientist in Genentech’s Protein Chemistry Department, in South San Francisco.
arnott@gene.com

Craig G. Smucker, M.D. (BS89) is a Total Joint & Trauma Specialist with the Morgan Kalman Clinic, in Wilmington.


90's

Christopher W. Grote (PhD91) is a Senior Technical Fellow and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt with Covidien’s Bulk Pharmaceuticals R&D Department in St. Louis. Chris recently received an Innovation Award from Covidien. Christopher.grote@covidien.com,
cwgrote@aol.com

Timothy A. Sherwood (PhD92) is the Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Director of Science in Motion at Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA.
sherwota@westminster.edu

Joseph B. Strong (PhD92) is the Academic Dean of St. Mary’s College in St. Mary’s, KS. Joe and his wife are raising quite a brood of Blue Hens – 12 Strong (pun intended)!
drstrong@smac.edu

Mark W. Embrey (BS93) is a Senior Research Associate in the Medicinal Chemistry Department of the Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA. mark_embrey@merck.com

Loyce (Ciano) Bergin (BS95) is a chemistry teacher at the Harford Technical High School, Bel Air, MD.
Loyce.bergin@hcps.org

William J. Donovan, Ph.D. (BS96), Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Akron, is the Chair of the Committee writing the 2009 General Chemistry First Term Exam for the ACS Division of Chemistry Education’s Exams Institute.
wdonovan@uakron.edu

Yaminah A. Leggett-Wells (BS96) is a Project Manager for ICON Development Solutions, in Ellicott City, MD.
Yaminah.leggettwells@iconplc.com

Keith R. Hornberger, Ph.D. (BS97) and his wife, Devon, welcomed the arrival of Eli Ross, all 8 lbs., 13 oz. of him, on 5/18/08.

Jeffrey E. Dougan, Ph.D. (BS98) is a chemistry teacher at Centennial High School,
Campaign, IL.
douganje@champaignschools.org

Not to be outdone by the Hornbergers, Jason R. (BS98) and Jennifer L. Remy (BS98) were blessed with the birth of Oliver Michael on 1/4/09. Oliver weighed in at 8 lbs., 12 oz. Both the Hornbergers and Remys live and work in North Carolina – the former in Apex, the latter in Raleigh.
jremy@ncdoj.gov

Piyush Shukla, Ph.D. (BS98) is now a Senior Research Chemist with Honeywell, in Paducah, KY.
Piyush.shukla2@honeywell.com, piyush4277@gmail.com

Sujata K. Bhatia, Ph.D., M.D. (BS99), a Medical Research Associate with the DuPont Company was one of three 2009 Strong, Smart & Bold Honorees selected by Girls Incorporated of Delaware. Her doctoral dissertation on Selectin Mediated Leukocyte Adhesion During Response has been published as a book, and is available on Amazon.com.
sujata.k.bhatia@usa.dupont.com

Anthony J. Blewett, Ph.D. (BS99) received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Temple University in May, 2008. He is currently a Research Chemist in FMC Corporation’s Agricultural Products Group in Princeton, NJ.
blewettshields@msn.com


00's

Fedele (Fred) J. DePalma, M.D. (BS02) is finishing up his Internal Medicine Residency at the Cooper Hospital, in Camden, N.J. He will stay at Cooper for another 3 years, as the recipient of a Gastroenterology Fellowship. depalma-fedele@cooperhealth.edu

David W. Finneran, Ph.D. (BS02, MS03) has completed his doctorate in Marine Studies at Texas A&M, and is now the Coordinator of Chemistry Laboratories at Penn State’s Brandywine Campus in Media, PA.
finneran@psu.edu

Kristine A. Nolin, Ph.D. (BS02), having completed her doctorate in Chemistry at UC-Berkeley, and a post-doc at Harvard, has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Richmond.
knolin@fas.harvard.edu

Gerald W. Farmer, Jr., J.D. (BS03) has received his J.D. degree from Duquesne University’s School of Law.

Shi-Wen (Wenny) Lin, Ph.D. (BS03), having completed her doctoral study at UPenn, accepted a National Cancer Institute Fellowship to study at Harvard for her Master of Public Health degree, working on prostate cancer epidemiology. She has also started an internship at the MA Department of Public Health. She will next post-doc at the NCI in Bethesda, MD.

Mali Liu (BS03), having received her M.S. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the SUNY Upstate Medical University, is now a Biochemist with Merck & Co., in West Point, PA.
maliliu1210@gmail.com

Brian T. Maduskuie (BA03) is a Director for ASDI, a start-up pharmaceutical company in Newark.
bmaduskuie@gmail.com

Britton (Fink) Morin (BS03), having completed her M.S. in Forensic Science at Pace University, is now a Criminalist II in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City.
bmorin@ocme.nyc.gov or brittleigh1017@aol.com

Mark E. Powell (MS03) is a Senior Associate Scientist with AstraZeneca, in Wilmington. mark.powell2@astrazenica.com or powellme@gmail.com

Lakshmi S. Subbarao (BS04) is a Chemist with Advanced Materials Technology, a start-up chromatography company in Wilmington. She has also received her M.S. in Analytical Chemistry from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
lsub@comcast.net

Sky C. Adams (BS05) will begin his studies at Hofstra University’s School of Law this fall. skyadams1983@yahoo.com

James W. Hansen, D.O. (BS05) has received his doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences.
jwhansen1983@yahoo.com

Daniel M. Lins (BS05) has resigned his position with ExxonMobil, and, last January, embarked, with 3 traveling companions, on a south-to-north bicycle traverse of the South American Continent, starting in Patagonia. They expect to pedal 18,000 miles! While a UD undergrad, Dan completed a solo bicycle traverse, east to west, of the U.S. Chemists do the darnedest things! (For more about this adventure, see the 12/18/08 Crossroads section of the News-Journal [www.delawareonline.com] and www.oneroadsouth.com or
lins.daniel@gmail.com)

Rachel L. Sleighter (BS05) has completed her 4th year of doctoral study at Old Dominion University, working in the laboratory of Prof. Patrick Hatcher.
rsleight@odu.edu

Clint R. Henderson (BA06) is a Science Teacher at Gov. Thomas Johnson High School, Frederick, MD.
thunderroamer@yahoo.com

Andy Huynh (BS07) is working at Merck doing clinical trial data management for their HPV PCR Lab, which provides all the data for the Gardasil vaccine. He is in the process of finishing up his M.S. degree in Pharmacology at Thomas Jefferson University. andrew_huynh@merck.com

Donald J. Kotowski (BS07) is now a Biochemist I with Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics in Newark. donald.kotowski@siemens.com

Blair Thornley (BS07) is a Pharm. D. Candidate at Temple University.

Barbara H. Brockett (BA08) is a Senior Technical Information Specialist with Ashland/Hercules in Wilmington.
bbrockett@herc.com

Fernando A. Jové (PhD08) is a Visiting Research Scholar at Temple University.
fjove@temple.edu or
fjovei@gmail.com


10's

Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Reyes and Diana Chavez performed the Double Del Reaction, i.e., were united in marriage on 3/18/09. Juan Carlos has already been profiled in the Brennie Hackley Award article; Diana is a graduate student in the laboratory of
Prof. Karl Booksh.
While reading through the 6/8/09 issue of CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the chemistry-oriented Twittering of Aleksey Zozulya (BS/CHEM/10), aka “Ch3mlst,” was featured on the Newscripts page (“Chemtweets,” p. 72). Our students turn up in the darnedest places! (It will probably come as no surprise to you that I don’t “tweet.”)