by Joseph DuChene
The Chemistry Department was honored to host so many talented scientists and distinguished speakers for the 2023-2024 UMass Amherst Department of Chemistry seminar series.
In February of 2024, Professor Robert Tampé from Goethe University Frankfurt presented the William E. Mahoney Lecture. Professor Tampé is Professor of Biochemistry and Director of the Institute of Biochemistry at Goethe University Frankfurt. His is currently the Schaefer Research Award and Visiting Professor at Columbia University. Professor Tampé’s lab has been dedicated to elucidating the biological machineries that are crucial in presenting infection signals outside of the cellular membrane for immune surveillance. He gave an engaging lecture on the cellular biology responsible for mounting an effective immune response when our body encounters a pathogen or cancer cell.
April was a big month for our seminar series! At the beginning of April, the most recent Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Professor Moungi Bawendi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presented a lecture for the 5-College Lecture Series in Chemistry. Professor Bawendi’s work at MIT was vital in developing synthetic routes for reproducibly synthesizing quantum dots, paving the way for enabling numerous new technologies that rely on the unusual material properties of quantum dots. In his lecture, Professor Bawendi shared the history of how he and the other recent Nobel Laureates, Louis Brus and Aleksey Yekimov, came to discover this fascinating class of materials, specifically detailing the work his lab did in improving synthesis processes. His talk concluded by sharing his perspective for the future of how these materials may continue to be integrated into technologies that will continue to shape our world. It was a real honor to have Professor Bawendi deliver a lecture at UMass Amherst for the 5-College Lecture Series and we thank the 5-College Consortium for their continued support of this seminar series.
Later that month, Professor Robert Waymouth presented the Honorary Stein Seminar in Polymer Chemistry. Professor Waymouth is the Robert Eckles Swain Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. Professor Waymouth presented his group’s recent progress towards the development of a family of versatile organic catalysts for the living polymerization of lactone and carbonate monomers that have been integrated into flow reactors for programmed synthesis of block copolymer libraries. He also shared his perspective on how these methods spawned a new concept for gene delivery and discussed potential applications for mRNA delivery for cancer and COVID vaccinations.
At the end of April, the Chemistry Department and the Center for UMass-Industry Research on Polymers co-hosted Professor Malika Jeffries-EL to give the inaugural Diversity in STEM Seminar, sponsored by the PPG Foundation. Professor Jeffries-EL is the Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Chemistry at Boston University. She gave an exciting presentation about her lab’s progress on the design and synthesis of organic electronic materials for applications in photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes. Professor Jeffries-EL also shared some insights from their most recent work involving machine learning algorithms for AI-assisted predictions of material properties for the design and synthesis of new organic materials with desired properties. Professor Jeffries-EL is a very engaging public speaker and we were very fortunate to host her for the inaugural Diversity in STEM Seminar at UMass.
In May of 2024, Professor Eugene Chen from Colorado State University, gave the annual Marvin D. Rausch Lecture in Organometallic Chemistry. Professor Chen is a University Distinguished Professor, the John K. Stille Endowed Chair in Chemistry, and the Millennial Professor of Polymer Science and Sustainability at CSU. Professor Chen has won numerous distinguished awards for his research and is also an alumnus of UMass Amherst! Professor Chen gave an exciting presentation detailing his lab’s strides towards developing circular and biodegradable polymers for closed-loop materials lifecycles. As a former alum of the Rausch group, he also shared some nice stories of his time as a graduate student at UMass Amherst. Finally, he concluded by providing his perspective on the role of polymer synthesis in improving the sustainability of modern society and the key areas necessary to transition towards a circular economy.
We also hosted many great scientists in the field of chemistry, including Prof. Yang Yang (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Prof. Joey Generaux (University of California, Riverside), Dr. Eugene Yoo (National Cancer Institute, Frederick), Prof. Chen Wang (City University of New York), Prof. Ren Wiscons (Amherst College), Prof. Michelle Personick (University of Virgina), Prof. Cristian Blanco and Prof. Yajaira Combariza (Universidad Industrial de Santander), Prof. Baron Chanda (Washington University in St. Louis), Prof. Alexander Ivanov (Northeastern University), Prof. Matthew Bogyo (Stanford University), Dr Andrew Lees (Fina Biosolutions), Prof. Huolong Zhuang (Arizona State University), Prof. Mohan Srinivasarao (Georgia Tech University), Prof. Zarko Boskovic (University of Kansas), Prof. Monte Pettit (University of Texas, Medical Branch), and Dr. Hoby Wedler. The variety of great scientific speakers was truly inspiring, and we look forward to another exciting seminar series next year!
The Chemistry Department is very grateful for the generous contributions of our alumni and corporate sponsors, who make the success of the seminar program possible. More information about upcoming seminars and events can be found on our website.