Unraveling nature's mysteries
Since the theory of quantum electrodynamics was founded in the late 1920s, only a handful of researchers in theoretical and computational chemistry have been working to determine how light interacts with electrons in atomic and molecular systems-those invisible bits of matter that make up everything. One of them is Associate Professor of Chemistry Akbar Salam,... Read More

The 10th Annual Graduate Student & Postdoc Research Day will be held on Mar. 23, 2010 at Bridger Field House. Please encourage your graduate students and postdocs to submit an abstract of their work by Jan. 29 to graduate@wfu.edu. Contact Wanda Duncan (758-5232 or gradschl@wfu.edu) for more information.

Congratulations to graduate student Jiyan Gu who was awarded a Meinhard student poster award at the FACSS 2009 meeting (Louisville, KY) for his work with a portable tungsten coil atomic emission spectrometer.

Sweet Catalysis

Dr. Abdou Lachgar, A chemistry professor at Wake Forest University, has been working on a new catalyst for biodiesel production, and catalyzing his students to become biodiesel boosters. Read More

Wake Forest University students in Angela King's chemistry classes use iClickers to answer multiple-choice questions by clicking a button, relaying the answer to King. Read More

Congratulations to Mark Welker for receiving funding from the NIH & WFU Health Sciences for his proposal entitled "Preparation and evaluation of PI3 kinase inhibitors for use in treatment of prostate cancer," in the amount of $152,002 for 6/1/2009 – 5/31/2011.

Congratulations to students Leah Allen and Allison Faig (mentor: Bruce King), who recently presented at the 5th Annual State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research & Creativity Symposium (at UNC-Wilmington). Leah and Allison also presented their work at the WFU Undergraduate Research Day and at SERMACS earlier this semester.

Congratulations to Bruce King, whose proposal entitled "Nanotubes in tumor imaging and therapy," was funded by the NIH/WFU Health Sciences for the period from 8/1/2009 until 7/31/2011.

Teaching our teachers - NSF grant supports new fellowships for future math and science teachers. Read About It

Classroom clickers - A push-button solution for better learning
"Professor of Chemistry Robert Swofford is a proponent of classroom-response systems, after participating in successful pilot programs using PDAs in 2002 and smartphones in 2005. "Students who are just learning a challenging concept are reluctant to ask questions when they are not understanding," Swofford notes." Read More

This semester, Dr. Kondepudi and other interdisciplinary professors, have combined forces to teach an upper level seminar titled Renewable Energy Entrepreneurship: Science, Policy and Economics.
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Science departments give weekly seminars
In the midst of a schedule rife with classes and extracurricular activities, students are offered many additional seminars and lectures in an effort to supplement their education. Three departments in particular - physics, chemistry and biology - offer these seminars on a weekly basis. Read More

Congratulations to Brad Jones for his grant from the US Department of Homeland Security for $99,315 (9/1/2009 – 8/31/2010) for “A portable tungsten-coil atomic emission detector for nuclear forensics,” and to Bruce king for his rant from the ACS-Petroleum Research Fund for $50,000 (9/1/2009 – 8/31/2010) for “Synthesis of hydroxamic acids through NOH insertion of ketones.”

Read about the Chemistry Department's graduate faculty activities and accomplishments for the summer of 2009. Click Here

Congratulations to Bruce King and other members of the planning committee for the Center for Translational Studies in Functional Health, which was one of only two new interdisciplinary university centers funded under the competitive planning & review process. Please contact Bruce King for more information or to learn how to get involved!

Chemistry major and rising senior James Blair was awarded the Blackbyrd Scholarship (in Chemistry) for the 2009-10 academic year. Congratulations to James!

The Wake Forest University Department of Chemistry expects to fill one tenure-track Organic Chemistry position to begin Aug. 2010 at the rank of Assistant Professor. READ MORE

Two new postdoctoral positions are now available in the Chemistry Department. Click Here for more information.

S. Bruce King, Chemistry, has received notice from the National Institutes of Health that this grant "The Nitric Oxide and Nitroxyl Producing Reactions of Hydroxyurea and Related Compounds," has been funded for 2009-2010 for $324,069. This work will be done in collaboration with Dr. Dany Kim-Shapiro of the Department of Physics.

Wake Forest University scientists have developed a new research tool in the pursuit of heart medications based on the compound nitroxyl by identifying unique chemical markers for its presence in biological systems. MORE

Ranjan Banerjee presented the following poster: "Banerjee, R.; King, S. B. "New Synthetic Approaches Towards The Natural Hydroxamic Acid Cobactin Core," 41st National Organic Symposium, June 7-11, 2009, Boulder, CO."

A Catalyst For the Future: WFU researchers are developing a cheaper way to make biodiesel MORE

WFU professor, Dr. Rebecca Alexander, brings her students and middle school students together for some "hands on" learning. Read More