Professor Sibi Announces COBRE Grant Award of Chemistry & Molecular Biology North Dakota State...

Department of Chemistry& Molecular Biology

North Dakota State University Biochemistry - IACC Building (3rd fl oor)

Volume 4 Number 1

Chemistry - Ladd Hall

Professor Sibi Announces COBRE Grant AwardNews Release August 2007

Dr. Mukund Sibi, Dale Hogoboom Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, is pleased to announce the re-ceipt of a COBRE (Centers Of Biomedical Research Excellence) grant award from the National Institutes of Health. The grant, en-

titled, “New Strategies for Targeting Protease in Disease” is funded for a 5-year period, with a total budget of $10.5 million. The grant will support faculty and staff in three de-partments and colleges at NDSU, with the Administrative Center located in the Chemistry Department. The COBRE is a renewal of a previous 5-year grant which began in 2001 and established the multidisciplinary Center for Pro-tease Research here at NDSU.

In general terms, the purpose of a COBRE award is to promote biomedical research, help research institutions establish biomedical research infrastructure, and assist

junior faculty in attaining independent status by obtaining their own NIH grant funding. The research focus of the previous COBRE was identifi cation and synthesis of pro-tease inhibitors related to several disease states, includ-ing cancer. The aims of the new COBRE are related, but a greater emphasis will be placed on understanding the bio-logical mechanisms of disease initiation and metastasis.

Dr. Sibi serves as the Program Director for the Center, which also encompasses four subprojects, two core fa-cilities, and numerous advisors, mentors, and collabo-rators. PIs of the subprojects include Dr. Glenn Dorsam (Biochem.), Dr. Greg Cook (Chemistry), Dr. Bin Guo (Pharm. Sci.), and Dr. Jane Schuh (Vet./Micro. Sci.).

Spring 2008

Left to Right: Mukund Sibi, Greg Cook, Jane Schuh, Bin Guo, Sheri Dorsam. Missing from photo - Glenn Dorsam.

Glenn Dorsam

Rose Nichols

“New Strategies for Targeting Protease in Disease” is funded for a 5-year period, with a total budget of $10.5 million.

Dr. Cook also serves as the manager of the Core Syn-thesis Facility, and the Core Biology Facility is man-aged by Dr. Sheri Dorsam (Biochem.). Rose Nichols recently joined the group as the new Administrative Coordinator for the Center. There are also plans to re-cruit a new faculty member who has expertise in biolog-ical sciences and can serve as a mentor to junior PIs.

The Department of Chemistry & Molecular Biology 2 Spring 2008

Justin “Jack” FosterIn March 2007, Justin “Jack” Foster accepted a position with North Dakota State University in the Department of Chemistry and Molecu-lar Biology as a Forensic DNA Analyst of the Forensic DNA Facil-ity. Mr. Foster was previously employed at the North Dakota State Veterinary Laboratory as a Laboratory Technician from 2003-2007 where he was responsible for integration and performance of new molecular biology tests for the laboratory. Prior to his employment with

the North Dakota State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, no molecular diagnostics were performed in-house. During the course of his employment at North Dakota State Veterinary Laboratory, seven different diagnostic tests had been implemented with numerous other protocols in various stages of development. Previous to that position, Mr. Foster was employed in the private sector as the Production Manager/GIA Manager of Aldevron, LLC, Fargo, North Dakota from 2000-2003. Aldevron, LLC produces and tests genetic vaccines. Mr. Foster was involved in all aspects of the daily operation of the company from customer relations to production of vaccine to testing of vaccine in rabbit models.

Jack received his BS in Microbiology from NDSU in 2000. Although Jack did spend fi ve years of this life in Texas, he considers himself to be a North Dakotan as he graduated high school from Rolla, ND. In his free time, Jack enjoys spending time with his wife, Maggie and their beautiful daughter, Ava. He enjoys (or endures) golf-ing and do-it-yourself projects in and around the house.

Pinjing ZhaoAssistant Professor of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry, Pinjing Zhao, joined the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology in August 2007. A native of Southeast China, Pinjing grew up in the beautiful city of Hangzhou and graduated from Beijing (Peking) University in 1997. He then came to the states for graduate study and earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University (2003). Before coming to NDSU, Pinjing completed his postdoc training at Yale University and

the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Since his arrival at Fargo, Pinjing has been enjoying the peaceful and friendly at-mosphere of the local community, as well as the nice weather of late summer. While getting ready for the famed winter of North Dakota, Pinjing has been teaching an inorganic course and putting his new labs in order. In his spare time, Pinjing likes to play basketball, read history and culture, and enjoy family time with his wife, Pan.

Jeff SchollJeff accepted the position of Computer Technician with the depart-ment in February 2007. He comes to us from Bismarck, where he spent the last seven years with Computer 1, Inc. a local pc service and repair shop.

His interest in technology started at a young age with a Nintendo that was successfully taken apart, but not so successfully put back togeth-er. Since then the technology bug has been in his system. Today he

has more than 10 years of experience in pc and network confi guration, troubleshoot-ing, and repair. He currently holds several industry certifi cations including ones from Microsoft and Comp TIA, and has a degree as a computer support specialist.

When not in the offi ce Jeff’s hobbies range from, big surprise, pc and console gam-ing, to reading the occasional book, and no they’re not all tech manuals. On special occasions you may even fi nd him in the kitchen cooking or as he calls it “causing trouble.” In the category of getting out of the house Jeff enjoys woodworking, and is currently involved with the Big Brother Big Sister program.

New Faculty & Staff

Hayashi Awarded Dissertation Fellowship Ryuji Hayashi, a fourth-year graduate student in the group of Prof. Greg Cook, has been awarded a Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Award. This competitive award will provide $18,000 for one year beginning in August 2007.

Funk Wins Graduate School Research Award Shamus Funk, graduate student in the group of Prof. Uwe Burghaus, is the recipient of the Graduate School Research Award. This award is made annually to one student in each college and recognizes outstanding contributions made to research by graduate students. Shamus will receive a $1,000 cash award for this honor.

Goering receivesA. Rodger Dennison AwardJohn Goering, fi rst-year graduate student in the group of Prof. Uwe Burghaus, received a third place award in the A. Rodger Dennison Competition Graduate Division. His conference talk entitled “Anatase (001) Thin Film: A Molecular Beam Scattering Study” at the 99th Annual Meeting of the North Dakota Academy of Sciences (NDAS) earned him this award. Minot State University hosted this conference in April 2007.

Student Recognition

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The Department of Chemistry & Molecular Biology

North Dakota State UniversityPO Box 5516 • Fargo, ND 58105

Phone (701) 231-8694 FAX (701) 231-8831

Wendy Leach, Editor Dr. John Hershberger, Chair

To obtain a copy or submit comments, e-mail: [email protected]


Megan PalmerI have always been an energetic person who tries to maintain a balance between work, extracurricular activities and personal time to spend with my family and friends. I grew up in Rochester, MN where I graduated high school in 2002 and thereafter decided to move away from home to attend NDSU to obtain my col-

legiate education. My enthusiasm for the sciences has been a life long interest of mine and is why I chose biotechnology as my major at NDSU. Obtaining an interdisciplinary degree allowed me to receive a foundation in the basic sciences while accruing nascent scientifi c knowledge that the fi eld of bio-technology presents. My family and relatives live in the Twin Cities and Rochester area so I see them infrequently, but the friends and relationships I developed while at NDSU make me feel right at home. While attending NDSU I worked part time at PRACS Institute and at Olivieri’s Salon and Day Spa (a girl has got to treat her hair right) to fund my collegiate expenses. I also joined the chemistry club where I formed relationships with my peers who shared similar interests and also had the opportunity to travel to Anaheim, CA to represent NDSU’s Chemistry Club and Atlanta, GA to present my undergraduate research. In the rest of my free time, I enjoy sewing, painting and cooking. Through working two jobs, studying biotechnol-ogy, conducting research in the chemistry department, and spending time with my friends, I had a very busy yet very fulfi lling collegiate experience.

After graduating NDSU in the spring of 2006 I spent time working and researching the opportunities that lay ahead. I was fortunate enough to gain acceptance for my current position of Forensic DNA Analyst in a new department that was inaugurated last fall. Now that I am in the “real” world I

Guodong LiuAssistant Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Guodong Liu, joined the department of Chem-istry and Molecular Biology in August 2007. Prior to arriving in Fargo, Dr. Liu was working in Pacifi c Norwest National Laboratory (PNNL, Richland, Washington State) as research scien-tist. He earned his Ph.D. from Hunan University,

China (2001), and his B.S. at Hunan Normal University, China (1995). Dr. Liu’s scientifi c background is in the areas of Ana-lytical Chemistry and Bioanalytical Chemistry. He has been actively working on the interfaces of analytical chemistry, material chemistry and nanotechnology to develop nanostruc-tured chemical sensors and biosensors for homeland security, environmental and biomedical monitoring applications. Dr. Liu received PNNL’s Outstanding Performance Award in 2006 and 2007 for his research work. He also obtained Environmental Business Journal’s 2007 Technology Merit Award. His biosen-sor work published in Analytical Chemistry is one of the most cited articles at 2006. Since arriving in Fargo, Dr. Liu has been busy preparing his laboratory for research; his laboratory is lo-cated in room 56 of the Dunbar building. He will teach Instru-ment Analysis and Analytical Chemistry Courses.

am applying the knowledge acquired from my biotech degree towards my duties and tasks as a DNA analyst. The job has been a rewarding experience and I am learning more and more each day. Being able to gain valuable work experience in a fi eld I am enthusiastic towards has been a huge blessing. The foundation of my family, hard work, and a little luck has contributed to where I am today and makes me excited about the prospects that lay ahead.

Dr. Wenfang Sun visited China from May 28 to June 22, 2007. She spent one week in Wuhan, one of the hottest cities in China to attend the 3rd Sino-US Symposium on Organic Chemistry and presented a seminar in Wuhan University. She then visited Shandong University as a visiting professor for a week. She presented three seminars in Shandong University and discussed their collabora-tive project with Prof. Xiyou Li at Shan-dong University. At the end of her visit to Shandong University, she climbed the

world-famous Tai Mountain to enjoy the beautiful scenery. She spent the follow-ing week in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province to enjoy a family reunion with her parents and sister and was able to spend valuable time with them. In the last week in China, she presented a seminar at one of the most prestigious universities in China-Tsinghua University and discussed the development of opto-electronic materials with peers at Tsinghua University. Overall, her China trip was very fruitful and enjoy-able.

News from Dr. Sun’s Group

L to R: Hui Zhang, Dr. Bingguang Zhang, Dr.

Wenfang Sun, Dr. Li Yunjing, Iswarya Mathew, Dr. Pin Shao,

Tian Lu, Zhiqiang Ji

New Faculty & Staff

LAB GROUP UPDATESLAB GROUP UPDATES

This past summer, undergraduate student, Adam Wolfe, and high school student, Andrew Sand, who will join NDSU as a freshman major fall semes-ter 2007, joined the group to do some fun research. Currently, there are three graduate students, Iswarya Mathew, Tian Lu and Zhiqiang Ji as well as three post docs, Dr. Bingguang Zhang, Dr. Li Yunjing and Dr. Pin Shao working in Dr. Sun’s group. In October 2007, Hui Zhang joined the group as a visiting student from Nanjing University, China. She will spend one year in the group to conduct research on optical sensors.

On the 4th of July, Dr. Sun’s group had a wonderful picnic in Detroit Lakes. Every-body relaxed and had a wonderful time.


(July 2007) Extensive renovations to the NDSU Forensic DNA Facility have been completed as has the purchase and instal-lation of all major equipment. In addition, the laboratory is technically operational in that biological samples can be car-ried through the complete process of DNA profi ling. The next three month period will be primarily devoted to fi nal prepa-rations for ISO accreditation which will involve completing required validations, fi nalizing laboratory manuals, completing necessary training of laboratory personnel and undergoing external pre-audits. An additional critical aspect necessary to successfully become accredited is the establishment of a comprehensive Quality Assurance/Quality Control program. To this end, the NDSU Forensic DNA Laboratory began in March of this year the implementation of those QA/QC procedures necessary to satisfy the national guidelines as set forth in the “DNA Advisory Board Quality Assurance Standards for Foren-sic DNA Testing Laboratories” document. The QA/QC program is well underway and should be completed by early fall of 2007. Based upon these factors Forensic Quality Services, an international accreditation organization, has been con-tacted and available dates for the required external ISO audit have been discussed. At present, it is planned that the NDSU Forensic DNA Facility will undergo an accreditation site visit in the fall of 2007.

A second important goal of expanding the personnel comple-ment of the laboratory to four individuals was successfully completed by hiring two additional entry level analysts. An open recruitment for two trainee level DNA positions resulted in a total of thirty-seven applications. Following extensive preliminary testing and evaluation the top six candidates were chosen to undergo an on-site written test and an oral interview. Following completion of this process the top two individuals were offered positions of employment which were accepted. The two trainees began work in the laboratory in early spring of this year. An intensive training process began

immediately as required by national guidelines for forensic laboratories and to date approximately half of the required tasks have been successfully completed.

During the past several months senior laboratory personnel have been contacted by several local and out of state at-torneys requesting that forensic DNA consulting services be offered. Therefore, a Cost Center Account was set up through the University so that funds that have and will be generated by this process can be used to help support the future operation of the NDSU Forensic DNA Laboratory. In addition, once the laboratory is fully accredited then actual forensic DNA case-work analysis can also be performed on a fee for service in order to generate additional operating funds.

Another important aspect of the NDSU Forensic DNA Program is to establish a teaching component which will train graduate level students in practical aspects of modern forensic DNA analysis. A big step was taken in satisfying this goal when North Dakota State University approved the creation of a new tenure-track faculty position at the Associate/Assistant Profes-sor level in the area of Forensic DNA Analysis. Recruitment began in November, 2006 but after the interview process no suitable candidate was chosen. The position will be reopened in August 2007 and it is hoped that the position will be fi lled by the end of the year.

Cook Group Lab News It has been a while since the last Cook Group update and there have been lots of changes. The group has grown to twelve people now; seven graduate students and fi ve undergraduate researchers. Ryuji Hayashi and Robert Kargbo, the old timers in the lab, will be fi nishing their Ph.D. degrees in spring 2008. This will free up some much needed lab space. More importantly it will give them a boost on their career paths. Ryuji will be moving to the University of Wisconsin to do post-doctoral work with Prof. Richard Hsung. Ryuji is a recipient of the Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. Robert will be moving a bit further away. He will travel to Albany, New York, where he has a job at Albany Molecular Research, Inc.. Robert has also received fellowships during his time here including a Pfi zer Diver-sity Fellowship and an EPSCoR Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. Yoko Takahashi, a third year student, continues to work diligently toward her Ph.D. Last year Xixi Song joined the group. And the newcomers this year are Don Anton and

NDSU Forensic DNA Analysis Laboratoryby Berch Henry

What’s Cooking?

Cook Group continued on page 5


L to R: Tom Wahl, Jack Foster, Megan Palmer and Dr. Berch Henry

Front L to R: Miho Kaneko, Danielle Vaughn; Middle L to R: Jina Park, Robert Kargbo, Yoko Takahashi; Back L to R: XiXi Song, Dr. Greg Cook, Ryuji Hayashi


Cook Group continued from page 4Narayananganesh Balasubramanian. Undergraduate research-ers currently in the group are Danni Vaughn, Miho Kaneko, Panjun Kim, Yassine Elhassani, and Matt Thompson. Miho was awarded a prestigious Pfi zer Undergraduate Research Award last summer and had the opportunity to travel to Groton, CT this fall to present the results of her research.

The science in the group couldn’t be better. Our recent paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society on catalytic asymmetric allyl indium reactions has achieved international recognition. Together with a collaborator in the UK, Prof. Guy Lloyd-Jones, we have achieved the highly effi cient catalysis of hydrazones to produce chiral amines using environmentally benign metal catalysts. Results are pouring in and we should be reporting even more breakthroughs in the near future. In addition to our indium chemistry, graduate student Xixi Song has made some breakthroughs in the area of bismuth-mediat-

ed allylation reactions. He has recently rendered these enanti-oselective as well, accomplishing a feat that has never before been reported. The chiral amine products that we make are valuable synthetic precursors to a host of biologically relevant compounds.

As members of the Center for Protease Research we have a signifi cant amount of more applied research as well. We are heavily involved in developing inhibitors for a class of enzymes called Histone Deacetylases (HDACs). These are enzymes involved in the regulation of gene transcription and modify the histone proteins that DNA is bundled with in the nucleosome. This has impacts in cancer chemotherapy as well as potential applications for long term chronic illnesses such as Lupus and Huntington’s disease. We have already discovered some unique small molecule inhibitors for HDACs and hope to ren-der them selective for specifi c enzymes in this class.

LAB GROUP UPDATESLAB GROUP UPDATESLAB GROUP UPDATESLAB GROUP UPDATES

(July 18, 2007) After 36 years in the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at NDSU, Professor Dennis Tallman accepted a new position as Research Professor in the De-partment of Coatings and Polymeric Materials (CPM), begin-ning January, 2007. It’s not a major transition for Professor Tallman since his research has been closely aligned with that department for almost 15 years and he held an appointment as Adjunct Professor in CPM from 2002 to 2006. Additionally, his main offi ce and research laboratories have been located in CPM in the Research Technology Park since the spring of 2002. Professor Tallman’s research continues in the general area of corrosion electrochemistry, with emphasis on mea-surement, mechanisms, instrumentation and electrochemi-cally active polymer coatings, such as conducting polymers and metal-rich coatings. He has published approximately 140 referred journal articles and book chapters and has presented numerous invited lectures around the world. One particularly noteworthy publication appearing in December, 2006, was a chapter in the third edition of the “Handbook of Conducting Polymers.” In this chapter, Professor Tallman critically evalu-ates the fi eld of conjugated polymers as applied to corro-sion control. He continues to co-direct (along with Professor Gordon Bierwagen of CPM) the NDSU Corrosion/Coatings Research Center and continues as editor of the Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry. His group currently consists of two graduate students, one undergraduate student and fi ve Ph.D. researchers.

One of the Ph.D. researchers is Professor Mark Jensen, a Professor (and past Chair) of the Department of Chemistry at Concordia College of Moorhead, MN. Professor Jensen spent the 2005-2006 academic year with our group while on sabbatical leave and continues to spend time in our laboratory both during the academic year and full time in the summers.

Professor Tallman continues his collaboration with the Intelli-gent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) and the ARC Centre of

Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) at the Univer-sity of Wollongong in Australia, where he spends the month of February most years. While visiting in February, 2007, he presented three invited lectures (entitled Corrosion of Metals, Corrosion Control Coatings Based on Electromaterials, and Scanning Probe Techniques for the Study of Electromaterials) at the 2nd International Electromaterials Science Symposium held at the University of Wollongong. He has been invited to be a keynote speaker at the 3rd International Electromateri-als Science Symposium to be held in Melbourne, Australia in February 2008. Other conferences at which he gave invited talks during the past year include the International Conference on Synthetic Metals, July 2-7, 2006, held at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and the symposium “Critical Factors in Local-ized Corrosion 5: A Symposium in Honor of Hugh Isaacs” at the 2006 Joint International Meeting of the 210th Meeting of The Electrochemical Society and the XXI Congreso de la So-ciedad Mexicana de Electroquimica, October 29 - November 3, 2006, held in Cancun, Mexico.

Professor Tallman continues to compete in local and regional (and occasionally national) 4-wall handball tournaments, although he is temporarily sidelined with a knee injury.

News from the Tallman Laboratory

Front L to R: Dr. Kerry Allahar, Professor Dennis Tallman, Dr. Hosup Jung; Middle L to R: Professor Mark Jensen, Jun Nie, Travis Bjordahl, Dr. Jae Hoon Huh; Back L to R: Dr. Jie (Jim) He, Dr. Danta Battocchi, and Chris Heth



Dorsam Lab Newsby Ashley Sandy

(August 2007) It has been an exciting year of fi rsts here in the Dorsam laboratory! The current lab is well equipped with a courageous leader (Glenn Dorsam, Ph.D.), four graduate students (Becky, Keith, Emilie, and Travis), and three under-graduates (Ashley, Erich, and Jarrett).

Coming into the lab running, Emilie DeKrey is a fi rst author on a paper regarding T-cell receptor pathway regulation of vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor-1 (VPACR-1) that will be resubmitted to the Journal of Neuroimmunology for publica-tion.

Becky Hermann, Keith Benton, and Emilie DeKrey all passed their cumulative exam for doctoral candidacy earlier this sum-mer through much sweat but with great reward and anticipa-tion! I know they are looking forward to their mini and maxi presentations!

Continuing to be intrigued by NIH-3T3 mouse fi broblast cells as a scientifi c tool, Becky continues to research the epigenetic regulation of VPACR-1 by Ikaros. Becky has perfected tran-sient and stable protein overexpression and quantitative PCR techniques that will enable her to begin collecting data. Keith is dedicated to determining the occupancy of the VPACR-1 promoter by Ikaros as well as epigenetic chemical modifi ca-tions through a technically challenging chromatin immunopre-cipitation (ChIP) assay. He has recently collected novel data utilizing this ChIP technique and is in a great position to fi nish his fi rst major study for publication. Travis, who has become enveloped by the world of two-dimensional electrophoresis, is working hard to determine the phosphorylation states of Ikaros in different cellular phenotypes. Travis is spear-heading a collaboration with Dr. Steven Meinhardt. To his credit, the two-dimensional electrophoresis method has been worked out and he will be able to test the “proof of concept” this fall.

The undergraduates are working hard as well. Ashley recently interviewed at the Mayo Graduate School this past month as she wishes to receive an assistantship there for graduate school beginning in fall, 2008. Currently, Ashley is embarking on a project involving an Ikaros Null mouse T-cell line and will attempt to ectopically overexpress Ikaros back into these cells to determine whether it plays a role regulating VPACR-1 expres-sion. Jarrett, a quick learner of new techniques and skills, is researching the lifetime fl uorescence of an orange fl uorescent protein which may be used to tag Ikaros in future experiments. Erich, an entertaining and intelligent member of the lab, began the orange fl uorescent protein project and enjoyed his summer in the Clearwater, MN area.

Glenn, who continues to support us all and keep us on the right research path, is attending the American Association of Immu-nologists’ meeting in Minneapolis, MN this weekend as partial fulfi llment for his NIH CAREER Award. In addition, Glenn is a PI on the COBRE grant and plans on hiring a technician.

Moreover, thanks everybody who participated in the First Annu-al Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology Poster Ses-sion, on May 31, 2007. It was a smashing success. The poster session, which included spectacular refreshments and delicious hors-d’oeuvres, included compelling research from all corners of the department (see photos below). This was defi nitely a fi rst that will be continued for years to come. The Dorsam lab is look-ing forward to another year of brilliant fi rsts!

Standing L to R: Ashley Sandy, Travis Vander Steen, Jarrett Failing, Erich Wilkerson, Emilie DeKrey, Keith Benton; Kneeling: Rebecca Herman; Laying: Dr. Glenn Dorsam


Surface Chemistry News – Burghaus Labby Wendy Leach

The University of Minnesota sponsored the 29th Annual Symposium on Applied Surface Analysis in June 2007. Post-doc, Dr. Evgueni Kadossov attended and spoke on TDS and Molecular Beam Scattering Studies of CO and CO2 Interaction with FeOx Clusters Supported on Graphite.

In June 2007, Dr. Uwe Burghaus traveled to Boise, Idaho to attend the Pacifi c Northwest National Laboratory ACS meeting and to present a seminar related to his lab’s work on nanotubes. Fall 2007, Uwe got involved with the ND EPSCoR Tribal Colleges Programs, namely, Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education (NATURE). He participated in the NATURE Sunday Acad-emy program. On Sundays, he traveled to different tribal colleges to assist a tribal college instructor in leading a lab exercise (experiments) with their undergraduate students.

Graduate student, Shamus Funk and his wife, Christy, were blessed with a new baby boy. Abraham Sol arrived on July 24th at 7:24 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long. He joins sister, Baela Reese (3 years, 10 months), and brother, Charles Ross (15 months).

Graduate student, John Goering, joined the Burghaus lab in December 2006. Already, he has coauthored three peer-refereed papers.

The Burghaus lab hosted Native American student, Shan-non Weidman, in July 2007 for three weeks of hands-on research in the lab. This contact was developed as a result of Shamus working as a TA at a Native American College spring semester 2007.

Lisa Hilleren, high school student from Watford City, par-ticipated in the lab for six weeks over the summer through the Governors School program. She worked on a fuel cell project while here.

Senior undergraduate student, Brian Hokkanen, said good-bye to the Burghaus lab in May 2007 as he graduated and accepted a job in Texas.

This year has been reasonably productive for our group. We received research funding of $1.2 million from National Insti-tute of Health, and funding of $400 thousand from National Science Foundation to pursue our collaborative research with Dr. Sanku Mallik of Pharmaceutical Sciences department. Our collaborative team has been currently investigating basic/fundamental aspects of enzyme catalyzed reactions from the point of view of designing their specifi c inhibitors as potential drugs and their targeted delivery. In addition, we have recently initiated studies on diagnostics of various marker proteins via formulating fl uorophoric liposomes. The latter studies are geared toward utilizing nanoparticles and quantum dots.

Presently, seven graduate students are working in our group, of which four are from Chemistry and Molecular Biology, one is from Cellular and Molecular Biology, and two are from Phar-maceutical Sciences. Shakila Tobwala, Sumathra Manokaran, and Bratati Ganguly completed their third year of graduate studies in my group, and all of them passed their written com-prehensive exams. Nitesh Sule, second year graduate stu-dent, also passed his written comprehensive exam this year. Of these students, Shakila is the only one who presented and passed her oral exam. Her research project is geared toward completing Ph.D. Raushan Singh, Cellular and Molecular Biol-ogy student, is in the early stages of his training in the lab.

Last year, I was invited to give a series of talks in India, including one at an International conference. During my visit, I initiated collaboration with Dr. U. N. Dwivedi of Lucknow University. We wrote a short joint project which received funding from the Department of Biotechnology India, and that grant supported Dr. Dwivedi’s visit to our department for three months (April – July 2007). Besides cloning a few enzymes involved in lignin biosynthetic pathway Dr. Dwivedi performed several experiments which subsequently led to develop-ing transgenic plants having lower lignin contents for paper industries.

L to R: Bratati Ganguly, Nitesh Sule, Sumathra Manokaran, Raushan Singh, Shakila Tobwala, Dr. D.K. SrivastavaL to R Front: Lisa Hilleren, John Goering; Back: Shannon

Weidman, Dr. Uwe Burghaus and Shamus Funk

Srivastava’s Group News

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Abraham Sol Funk


Rasmussen Lab Newsby Christopher Heth

As charge fl ows through a conducting polymer fi lm, so too do faces in an academic research group. Dr. Hong Mo completed his postdoctoral work with the group in July, after which he returned to China to take a professorship at Nanjing Normal University, where he is teaching inorganic chemistry. Scott Rothstein successfully defended his M.S. thesis and is cur-rently employed by Segetis, a startup company in Plymouth, MN specializing in renewable bio-based polymers. Adam Wohl completed his undergraduate studies and began his graduate work at the University of Minnesota under the mentorship of Prof. Marc Hillmyer in the fall. Undergraduate Kelli Jo Syltie has also left the group in order to focus more of her ener-gies on her medical studies. Their contributions to the lab will certainly be missed, and we wish them all well.

Reinforcing the ranks are new members Jon Nietfeld, Brett Erpelding, and Cole Larsen. Jon is a graduate student who joined the group in December 2006 following his rotations. Brett fi rst joined the group as a Governor’s School student pri-or to his senior year at Fargo South High School. He enjoyed the experience so much he continued to work part time in the lab throughout his senior year. He began his higher educa-

tion here at NDSU in the fall and is continuing his work in the group. Cole, another freshman chemistry major, is our new-est addition, joining the group just this December. This past summer, Governor’s School student Tyler Swenson spent fi ve weeks with the group learning to make bipyridine complexes. Tyler is currently in his junior year at Dickinson High School. In addition, graduate students Chad Amb and Li Wen success-fully completed their original research proposals and compre-hensive exams, and thus are offi cially Ph.D. candidates.

Sitting L to R: Jon Nietfeld, Li Wen, Sean Evenson; Standing L to R: Cole Larsen, Dr. Seth Rasmussen, Chris Heth, Brett Erpelding, Chad Amb

The Sibi Groupby Brandon GustafsonIt’s been awhile since the Sibi group and its “Siblings” have surfaced in the Chem News articles, but here we are. As with any group in this department, many people have come and gone from our group. The largest turnover has been among the post docs. Sukanya Nad and Masayuki Hasegawa left for the spring ACS meeting in Chicago and never came back! Masa took a post doc position at Boston College with Professor Hoveyda and Sukanya left for California to be with her husband. Our third in an exodus of post docs was Takahiro Soeta who joined Professor Smith’s group at the University of Pennsylvania. To replace the departed, we gained three more post docs who joined the remaining (and lonely) Dr. Yonghua Yang who became a new daddy in July. Their names are Dr. Keisuke Kawashima and Dr. Hiroshi Yanagita, both from Japan, and Dr. Julien Coulomb from France. Professor Craig

Jasperse from Minnesota State University, Moorhead was also with us again for another summer of research and teaching.

The graduate students in our lab haven’t undergone as much change however. Levi Stanley is in his fi fth year and is getting ready to defend his thesis. Digamber Rane, Arvin Yu and Brandon Gustafson are all still around and about to start their fourth year. The relative newcomer to the group is Wilfredo Cruz (Jr.) who is about to start his third year. Nathan Brager and Stacie Lilliquist spent a year with us as fi rst year grad students. Third year grad student Sunggi Lee from Korea spent 6 months here “on loan.” Lastly, we had undergraduate Jessica Shackleford from the Uni-versity of Southern Mississippi working for us during the summer.

Dr. Mukund Sibi has kept himself busy during the year as well. In addition to coordinating about a dozen students and post docs, guiding projects within the group and much chemistry discussion, he taught the 342 organic chemistry lecture. Dr. Sibi also was a world traveler, giving lectures and seminars in Norway, Korea, and Japan. Also, as mentioned earlier, some of our group went to the national meeting in Chicago this spring—Levi, Taka, Sukanya and Masa all joined Dr. Sibi for a week of presentations and seminars.

Our group has also seen quite a bit of research progress. In 2006-2007, we have published approximately 15 papers in proj-ects ranging from conjugate radical additions to cycloadditions (both Diels Alder and 1,3-dipolar) and from Lewis acid catalysis to organocatalysis. Levi and Dr. Sibi also submitted a book chap-ter on copper Lewis acids for Lewis Acids in Organic Synthesis volume II.

Feel free to stop by and check us out on the web at www.ndsu.nodak.edu/sibi_research and read more about who we are and what we do.


L to R: Front row - Jessica Shackleford, Dr. Mukund Sibi, Dr. Hiroshi Yanagita, Digamber Rane; middle row - Dr. Yonghua Yang, Brandon Gustafson, Wilfredo Cruz, Jr.; back row - Arvin Yu, Dr. Julien Coulomb, Dr. Keisuke Kawashima, Levi Stanley, Don Anton


Chemistry Faculty Receive College AwardsTwo faculty members from the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology have received awards from the College of Science and Mathematics.

Dr. Seth Rasmussen, Associate Professor, has received the 2007 College Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Rasmussen teaches all levels of inorganic chemistry and has developed a new course at NDSU in Science History. In addition, he serves as the faculty mentor for the Undergraduate Chemistry Club.

Dr. Wenfang Sun, Associate Professor, has been awarded the 2007 College Award for Excellence in Research. Dr. Sun has developed cutting edge research in the area of pho-tofunctional organoic and metallo-organic materials for applications in optical limiting and photodynamic therapy. She has received a National Science Foundation Career Award and is also funded by the Army Research Lab and the USDA.

Srivastava to Serve 4-Year Term on NIH Study Section

(February 2007) Dr. D.K. Srivastava, Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Mo-lecular Biology has been invited to serve a four year term on the Macromolecular Structure and Function A Study Section for the National Insti-tutes of Health. His term will begin July 1, 2007

and he will serve through June 30, 2011. NIH Study Sections are the backbone of the Center for Scientifi c Review to evaluate research grant applications submitted to the NIH. Study Section members make recommendations on the scientifi c integrity of proposals to the NIH institutes. Members are selected on the ba-sis of their demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientifi c discipline as evidenced by the quality of research ac-complishments, publications, and other signifi cant achievements. Being asked to serve in the NIH peer review process is an honor and recognition of Dr. Srivastava’s scientifi c contributions.

Mukund Sibi Named University Distinguished Professor(October 2007) Professor Mukund Sibi has been honored as a Uni-versity Distinguished Professor by President Joseph Chapman.

This award recognizes outstanding achievements of high quality faculty. The professorship comes with a $20,000 pay raise and $5,000 annually to be used for academic teaching or research endeavors. Sibi joins six other professors from across the campus being honored by this new initiative. Distinguished Professors will be charged with recognizing up

to two new professorships each year. Prof. Sibi also received the James A. Meier Professorship earlier this year. (See article on page 11.)

Dr. Seth Rasmussen Dr. Wenfang Sun

Special Awards and Recognition

Greg Cook to Chair 2008 Gordon Research Conference on Organic Reactions and Processes

(February 2007) Associate Professor of Chemistry, Gregory Cook, has been elected to chair the 2008 Gordon Research Conference on Organic Re-actions and Processes to be held July 13-18 in Smithfi eld, RI. He will serve

as Vice-Chair for the 2007 meeting. For 75 years, the Gordon Research Conferences have been the premiere scientifi c meetings. Initiated by Dr. Neil E. Gordon, of the Johns Hopkins University, in the late 1920s, the Gordon Research Conferences promote discussions and the free exchange of ideas at the research frontiers of the biological, chemical and physical sciences. Scientists with common profes-sional interests come together for a full week of intense discussion and examination of the most advanced aspects of their fi eld. Today the GRC runs about 180 conferences a year. The conference on Organic Reactions and Processes brings together organic chemists from around the world working in academia and industry from around the globe. Dr. Cook will chair the 55th Organic Reactions and Processes conference which focusses on process research for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, synthesis of complex natural products, organic reac-tion mechanisms, new synthetic methods, and new developments in the catalysis of organic reactions. Organic Reactions and Processes is traditionally one of the most popular and prestigious of the GRC conferences every year.


Greg Cook Named Walter F. and Verna Gehrts Professor(October 2007) Greg Cook, Associ-ate Professor of Chemistry, has received the 2007-2009 Walter F. and Verna Gehrts Endowed Pro-fessorship from the University. The Gehrts Endowed Professorship is awarded to a faculty member at the rank of Associate Professor who has demonstrated a balanced academic record demonstrating excellence in teaching, research, and service.

Rasmussen appointed HIST Program Chair of ACS

(November 2007) Seth C. Rasmussen, Associate Professor of Chemistry, has been appointed by the Division of the

History of Chemistry (HIST) to be its next Divisional Program Chair. Founded in 1927, HIST is one of the 33 technical divisions of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and seeks to advance knowledge and appreciation of the history of the chemical sciences among chemists, students, historians of science, and the broader public. Prof. Rasmussen will join the Division’s executive committee in 2008 as Assistant Program Chair and succeed the current Program Chair Joe Jeffers (Ouachita Bap-tist University) in 2009. As Pro-gram Chair, Prof. Rasmussen will be responsible for the technical programming of HIST at national ACS meetings including symposia and general sessions as well as workshops, tutorials, and demon-strations.

Chemistry Club Receives National Award from the American Chemical Society(November 2007) The NDSU Chemistry club, a student affi liate chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS), has been selected by the ACS to receive an “Honorable Men-tion” award for its chapter activities conducted during the 2006-07 academic year.

The NDSU chapter activities consistently include community service and education, fundraising to support chapter events, and strong participation at national meetings. Approximately 10-15 students each year give research presentations at the national meetings, with over 50 undergraduate research presentations presented in the last seven years.

Of the more than 980 student chapters nationwide, only 175 institutions received awards this year. This is the seventh consecutive national award for the chapter. While the NDSU Chemistry Club was originally founded in 1897, it did not become a student affi liate chapter of the ACS until 1968. Since that time, it has received 12 national awards from the ACS.

In addition to society recognition, the NDSU chapter will be acknowledged in two nationally distributed publications; Chemical and Engineering News, the society’s offi cial weekly magazine, and In Chemistry, a bimonthly magazine for ACS student affi liates. Award-winning chapters will also be recognized at an awards ceremony during the soci-ety’s annual meeting in April 2008. Dr. Seth Rasmussen, Associate Professor of Chem-istry, serves as the faculty advisor for the NDSU Chemistry Club.

Department contributes to national guide for high school chemistry teachersby Seth C. Rasmussen(July 2007) The American Chemical Society (ACS) is in the process of publishing an updated edition of Chemistry in the National Science Education Standards, a text that serves as a teaching guide for both high school educators and university faculty that educate pre-service teachers. The new edition consists of 16 chapters covering various aspects of national content standards and how to successfully incorporate material and activities in the classroom to meet these desired standards. Professor Stacey Bretz of Miami University serves as the text’s editor, while the individual chapters are co-written by teams consisting of a minimum of one recognized leader of the topic fi eld and one high school teacher.

NDSU’s Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology is contributing to this text with Chapter 9, History and Nature of Science Content Standards, which focuses on how to properly and successfully incorporate science history and the underlying nature of science into high school chemistry courses. The writing team for Chapter 9 is led by Associate Professor Seth Rasmussen, who has been active in the study of the history of chemistry for over ten years. The ACS recognized Prof. Rasmussen as a leader in the application of history to chemical education due to two national symposia he co-orga-nized on the subject along with Prof. David Lewis of the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. In addition to Prof. Rasmussen, the writing team also includes Misty Tomchuk, a former graduate of the department (B.S. Chem, 2002) and now a high school teacher at Fargo North, as well as Professor Carmen Giunta of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. Prof. Giunta is a longtime contributor to research in the history of chemistry whose expertise nicely compliments that of Prof. Rasmussen.

The 2nd edition of Chemistry in the National Science Education Standards is scheduled to be published this fall by the Chemical Education Division of the ACS in both print and online pdf forms. A companion website for the text with further resources is also in the planning stages.



NDSU Chemistry and Molecular Biology Receives Gift from Abbott Laboratories(September 2007) The Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at North Dakota State University has received a gift of $10,000 on behalf of Abbott Laboratories Global Pharma-ceutical Research and Development. The gift is designated to aid the department to continue to identify, educate, and graduate students that excel both in the classroom and the laboratory. Toward this end, the money will be used to sup-port two programs in the department. The Abbott Laboratory Graduate Fellowship helps to support talented M.S. and Ph.D. graduate students working in the broad area of pharmaceuti-cal research. Additionally, part of the money will be used to bring scientists from outside NDSU to campus through the Abbott Laboratories Lectures in Organic Chemistry series. This gift is part of an on-going annual commitment by Abbott Laboratories to support organic chemistry at NDSU that has been fostered by Profs. Mukund Sibi and Greg Cook over the last six years.

Mukund Sibi to Receive the Prestigious 2008 Arthur C. Cope

Scholar Award(August 2007) Mukund P. Sibi, a James A. Meier professor of chemistry and molecular biology at North Dakota State University, will receive a 2008 Arthur S. Cope Scholar Award, consid-ered to be a top honor in organic chemistry. The Cope Scholar Award, issued by the

American Chemical Society (ACS), recognizes scientists from across the globe who have distinguished themselves in the broad fi eld of organic chemistry. Through the Cope Scholar Award, Dr. Sibi will receive a $5,000 certifi cate and a $40,000 unrestricted research grant. He also will deliver an invited talk on his research and be recognized at a special ceremony in April 2008 at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans, La.

“Dr. Sibi’s achievement and distinguished role in the fi eld of organic chemistry is remarkable,” said NDSU President Jo-seph A. Chapman. “NDSU is honored to have faculty like Dr. Sibi guiding us along the journey that has brought us to the next level of excellence.”

“The Cope Scholar Awards are considered to be one of the most prestigious awards in the fi eld of chemistry and this award refl ects the signifi cant contributions Dr. Sibi makes to his fi eld of study,” said Dr. Philip Boudjouk, vice president for research, creative activities and technology transfer.

The dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at NDSU, Kevin McCaul, also noted the honor. “Dr. Sibi is clearly a superb researcher, and he is also a wonderful teacher, whether in a formal classroom setting or working with his stu-


dents in the lab. Those qualities go well together, and we are delighted that the ACS has selected Dr. Sibi for this interna-tional recognition.”

The department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology will be holding a reception for NDSU Alumni and friends in honor of Dr. Sibi’s award at the 236th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Philadelphia on Monday, August 18th. All are welcome to attend. Watch for more information.

Sibi Named Meier Professor from It’s Happening, June 13, 2007

Mukund Sibi, professor of chemistry and molecular biology, has been selected for the Dr. James A. Meier Senior Profes-sorship Award for the College of Science and Mathematics.

“You are most deserving of this award,” wrote Kevin McCaul, dean of science and mathematics, in a letter informing Sibi of his selection for the prestigious honor. “Your dedication to teaching, research and the department are evident in your record. This award can be thought of as a ‘thank you’ from the college.”

Gregory Cook, associate professor of chemistry and molecu-lar biology, wrote in a letter of nomination that Sibi’s research in organic chemistry has provided insights into controlling chemical reactivity that have a far-reaching impact in organic chemistry, particularly pharmaceutical development.

Cook wrote that Sibi “has endeavored to promote our depart-ment and our university around the world. His outstanding service and outstanding accomplishments are a testament to NDSU and I can think of no one more deserving of this honor.”

Marvin J. Miller, George and Winifred Clark Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, wrote in a letter of support, “Prof. Sibi deserved recognition for his innovative, productive research, but he is also the ‘com-plete package’-an excellent researcher, teacher, mentor and professional who loves his profession and has passionately dedicated his life to serving as a positive role model as he advances our profession in every way possible.”

Currently the Dale Hogoboom Professor in chemistry, Sibi has published more than 140 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Bangalore University, India, and his doctorate at City University of New York. Sibi was a postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth College, the University of Waterloo and Florida State University.

The professorship is effective July 1, and continues for three years. It carries a stipend of $3,500 per year.

The professorship is supported through an endowment gift from alumnus Meier, B.S. ’59, Ph.D. ’71, who held several leadership roles at Pittsburgh Paints and Glass during his ca-reer. Meier received an honorary doctorate from NDSU during May commencement ceremonies.


Alumni News

Does the Alumni Association know your email address?If not, consider sharing it with them at [email protected]. When CHEM News was looking for alumni articles and updates, the alumni association was there to help! They assisted us in sending a broadcast email message to our chemistry and biochemistry alumni. (Your email address is secure with the alumni association.) A special thank you to those who replied! Read and enjoy! �

traveled to Fargo in July to help celebrate the 60th wedding an-niversary of John’s parents, Robert and Verna Hanish of Fargo. John’s parents attended NDSU and Robert Hanish was a mem-ber of the 1946 and 1947 Bison football teams.

Lawrence, Park W. ‘66 – I retired from the North East Inde-pendent School District of San Antonio Texas in 2003. I was a Chemistry teacher for 31 years. My wife, Kathy, also retired from NEISD and we are involved in St. Marks Episcopal Church. I am on the BOD for our 7600 Condominium Association while my wife is the offi ce manager and book keeper. We travel to LA, Atlanta, and Somerset Pa every year to visit family and friends. We are planning to visit Fargo for Homecoming and then on to Salem Oregon to visit my sister. In June of 2005 we took a cruise of the Baltic and visited nine countries including St Petersburg Russia. It was an outstanding vacation. Our next cruise will probably be to the Mediterranean Area. I am also interested in Old Time Radio from the 30’s to 1962. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, The Shadow knows”, CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Our Miss Brooks and hundreds of other programs. The computer makes it all possible. We are both Mac computer users, take lots of pictures, and have visited over 125 National Parks all over the country, and play a lot of bridge. Don’t know where I found the time to work! Hope to see some of you in October. PArK W & KAtHY LaWReNCe

Nugent, Patrick ’70 – I have moved from Fargo to Bemidji in late May. My new address is: Patrick Nugent, 12468 Irvine Ave NW, Bemidji, MN 56601, Tel: 218-243-3314, e-mail: [email protected]. I retired from MeritCare Medical Group in March 2007. I will be teaching a clinical chemistry course at UND this fall.

Schurr, Gar ’40 – I have moved to: GARMOND G SCHURR, 1035 Madison Street, Apt 627, Belmont Assisted Living, Oak Park, IL 60302. My phone number is: 708 660 9416. Gar

Zerull, Lynn J., Col USAF (Ret) ’70 – I graduated in 1970, spe-cializing in Polymers and Coatings. Three days after graduation, I was in the Air Force. There was still a draft and ROTC seemed the way to go. I had intended to do my 4 years and get out, but, at the 4 year point the Air Force offered a promotion to Captain and an assignment to Germany. I couldn’t turn it down. I was still hav-ing fun. So I ended up doing 28 years and retired as a full Colo-nel. My assignments include a year in Southeast Asia, a year in Korea, 8 years in Germany, and nearly 10 years fl ying in AWACS. I live in Tucson, our fi nal home. My oldest son has graduated from the U of Arizona as an EE with a computer science minor. My younger son is a business major at ASU with about a year to go. He is fl uent in German and hopes to tie that in. My wife, Mari-lyn, attended NDSU and is now running for the AZ State House (2008). All in all, life has been good to me. Regards to all of you.

Anderson, Eugene ’78 – Eugene Anderson (BS 78, MS 82) just celebrated his tenth anniversary of ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is presently serving a congrega-tion in Jasper, MN.

Anderson, Julie A. K. ’81 – Julie A. K. Anderson (BS 81) gradu-ated from Luther Seminary in St Paul, MN with a Master of Divin-ity degree. She was ordained and installed as a pastor on May 20, serving the Winds of the Prairie Ministry, an association of fi ve congregations in the Lincoln, Lyon and Pipestone counties of Southwestern Minnesota.

Garlie, Dave ’96 – M.S. (Boudjouk). Employer: Cargill Inc. (12 yrs); Job title: Business Development Mgr - Industrial Starches; Married to Maria Garlie (NDSU graduate 1995 BS); Two chil-dren (Garin 5 and Gracen 3); Residence: Eau Claire, WI; Career development: Continue to commercialize and develop biobased products and technologies for Cargill under the direction of former NDSU alumni Kevin Anderson - Global Technical Director (M.S. 198? ,Boudjouk).

Grow, Elnore ’61 – Chemical Technology, BS (NDSU); 1966, Seattle University, Seattle, MSNS – Retired now for 7 years and enjoying it a lot. I mentor new young high school chemistry teach-ers, write a newsletter for Colorado chem teachers and send to 640 of them. I teach a class at Colorado School of Mines each summer for new chemistry teachers. We travel often. The big trip this year is Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro in September. Looking forward to 50 years in 2011.

Haeuser, Lee W. ’96 – I am a Regional Sales Manager for Ener-con Industries in Menomonee Falls, WI. I am responsible for 12 Representatives and all 3D plasma surface treating sales in 75% of the U.S. and all of Canada. As the surface energy of a sub-strate is increased, then wettabily is increased and materials like inks, paints and adhesives will spread out better and in results in enhanced product quality and production effi ciency. Within 2 weeks, we will be shipping two never created before products for major customers in emerging technologies. One is a 300L/min. fl ame plasma unit with 2 1000mm water-cooled burners. The other is a variable chemistry plasma system which will use a mixture of several different ionized gases to treat fl uorinated polymers. I also have 2 children, William 10 and Emma 8. Lee W. Haeuser, 1033 12th Ave., Grafton, WI 53024

Hanish, John P. ’86 – John P. Hanish, (B.S. ‘86, Chemistry with Biochemistry option and History) joined the law fi rm of Heller Ehrman on June 1, 2007 as a Sharehold-er in the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group. His practice emphasizes patent litigation, patent licensing and pre-litigation strategies related

to patents and trade secrets. John and his wife, Margaret, have two young children and live in Scarsdale, NY. The whole family


Department GraduatesDec. 2006 - May 2007

Michelle Toutges Ph.D. (December 2006)

Scott Rothstein M.S. (December 2006)

Lance Doeden B.S. (May 2007)

Ankit Gupta B.S. (May 2007)

Brian Hokkanen B.S. (May 2007)

Joel Kooren B.S. (May 2007)

David Schultz B.S. (May 2007)

Adam Wohl B.S. (May 2007)

Dan Eiler B.S. (May 2007)

John R. Sander B.S. (December 2006)

2007 Undergraduate Alumni Survey(secretary), College of Science and Mathematics Ambassa-dors (President), Student Government and Biotechnology Club (President). Future plans: Chemistry Ph.D. program at Yale University. Favorite memory of NDSU: doing chemistry club demos at area schools.

Kooren, Joel ’07 – Fargo, ND – Graduate of Fargo North High School in 2003, received a Chemistry/Chemistry with Biochem Option degree. College Activities: Chemistry Club, Undergrad-uate research in Hershberger, Mallik and Srivastava labs, TA (teaching assistant) for Biochem 461. Future plans: Graduate School in Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota. Favorite memory of NDSU: Professor Dorsam’s quotes from Biochem 461 such as “I’m going to sound like a broken window” and “That’s a Protease, and those are teeth.”

Doeden, Lance “07 – Fargo, ND – Graduate of Fargo South High School in 2002, received a Chemistry degree. College Activities: Bison Ambassadors, Ask Me Campaign, Club Soccer, Intramural Hockey, Jazz Band, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Golden Key International Honour Society, Who’s Who Among American College Students. Future plans: Attend medi-cal school…will apply in August. Favorite memory of NDSU: “I think I will miss the friendships the most at NDSU.”

Schultz, David ’07 – Fargo, ND – Graduate of Fargo South High School in 2002, received Chemistry and Chemistry Education degree, graduated with honors. College Activities: Chemistry Club, ATOMS (Aspiring Teachers of Math and Sci-ence), College of Science and Mathematics Ambassadors. Future plans: Teaching chemistry and biology at Fargo South High. Favorite memory of NDSU: Attending national meetings with the chemistry club and doing school visits.

L to R: Dan Eiler, Brian Hokkanen, Dr. John Hershberger, Adam Wahl, Dr. Seth Rasmussen, David Schultz, Lance Doeden, and Joel Kooren

Alumni News

Some of our 2007 undergraduate majors were asked to tell us about themselves. We asked them: (1) where they were from (hometown/HS year graduated), (2) what major, minor, or honors did they receive at NDSU, (3) what college activi-ties they were involved in, (4) what are their future plans, and (5) what was their favorite memory of NDSU or what will they miss the most about the NDSU-Chemistry department? Here’s a compilation of their replies:

Wohl, Adam ’07 – Minot, ND – Graduate of Minot HS in 2003, received an ACS-certifi ed Chemistry degree, minor in Zoology, graduated Summa Cum Laude. College Activities: Chemistry Club, College of Science and Mathematics Am-bassadors, Organic SI instructor, Undergraduate Research in Rasmussen lab. Future plans: Graduate school in chem-istry at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Favorite memory of NDSU: 2006 Rasmussen/Dorsam labs camping trip!

Hokkanen, Brian ’07 – Anoka, MN – Graduate of Anoka HS in 2003, received a Chemistry degree. College Activi-ties: Chemistry Club, Student Government, Undergraduate Research in Burghaus lab. Future plans: Working in indus-try - Process Chemist with Celanese Chemicals based in Dallas, Texas but he’ll be working at their Pampa, TX plant (panhandle region). Favorite memory of NDSU: All of the ACS conferences! The people in the department!

Eiler, Daniel ’07 – Fargo, ND – Graduate of Fargo South High School in 2003, received a Chemistry and Biotechnol-ogy degree, minor in Microbiology, graduated with honors of Phi Kappa Phi, Mortar Board National Honor Society, Golden Key Honour Society. College Activities: Chemistry Club


ORGANIZATIONS3M Company

Abbott Laboratories

Alcoa Foundation

Altria Group Inc - EmployeeInvolvement Programs

Ashland Inc

The Bertholf Trust

BP Matching Fund

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company

Chevron Texaco Corp

District 45 Democratic - NPL Party

Dow Chemical Co

ExxonMobil Foundation

Ford Motor Co

General Electric Company

HSBC - North America

SC Johnson Fund Inc

Medtronic Foundation

Osmonics, Inc

P P G Industries

Pfi zer Foundation MatchingGifts Program

Sanofi -Aventis

Shell Oil Company Foundation

INDIVIDUALSJohn and Susan Altenburg

Joseph and Marjorie Anderson

Joan and Steven Axdal

Helen and James Bastian

Tom and Diane Beck

Frank and Aldine Bender

Thomas and Pingrong Bendetto

James and Debra Billigmeier

Donald and Lynne Boerth

Philip and Gertrude Boudjouk

Edward and Agnes Boulger

Michael and Judith Bourdeau

Bradford and Georgia Brakke

Jan Branthaver

Charles and Elizabeth Buck

Elizabeth D. Bushell

Benjamin and Gladys Chan

Yenson E. Chin

Carisa and Terry Christensen

Armin and Juanita Clobes

Downey and Verna Cunningham

Daniel DeChaine

William F. Deissler

Thomas DeRung

Landis and Janet Doner

Jon and Marijean Eggen

Daniel and Kristen Ehresmann

Dennis and Elizabeth Erickson

Earl Evenstad

Mary A. Farley

Alvin and Lois Fasching

James and Diane Fasching

Joseph and Dorothy Fischer

Julian and Nijole Fossen

Dr. D. S. Frear and Ms. Clotine Frear

Ronald and Pauline Fredrickson

Robert and Mary Friese

Jack Gale

John Gilmore

James J. Glaser

Dixie and Richard Grossman

Lawrence and Shirley Grossman

Elnore and Ronald Grow

Marc and Rita Gustafson

Vernon and Joanne Guyer

Harold Haag

Roger and Deborah Hagen

Richard and Kathy Haisch

Walter and Moerlinah Hall

Edward and Karen Handel

Jennifer Harvester

Hope C. Heaster

Scott and Kim Henry

John Hershberger

Clarence and Jane Hildebrand

Loren and Norma Hill

Paul and Madonna Hipps

Ronald and Marit Hoff

Clarence and Jeanette Hottman

Fu and Fung-Hwei Huang

Eleanor and Frank Hung

Earl and Jane Hutchins

Morris and Catherine Johnson

Milton and Constance Johnson

Uruthirapasu and Bhavani Kalapathy

Craig and Debra Kapfer

Michael and Elizabeth Kaytor

Charles and Maxine Keefe

Michael and Anne Klinkhammer

Steven Kloos

Amy Klosterman

Bruce Klosterman

Donald and Julie Klosterman

Lawrence and Sandra Klosterman

Lisa Klosterman and Waller Crenshaw

Mary A. Klosterman

Brian and Janet Knowles

Dennis and Bonita Knudsen

Francis and Kay Koch

Donald and Evelyn Koenecke

Culver Ladd

Gerald and Carole Lamoureux

Arthur and Vivien Landau

Oreste and Beulah Lantero

Gerald and Jeanne Larsen

John and Sarah Larson

Park and Kathy Lawrence

Arthur and Alice Leadbetter

Paul and Susan Lemke

Victor and Betty Lindelow

Sharon and Neal Lockwood

James and Phyllis Lofgren

Maxwell R. Lucci

John and Nancy Ludwig

Robert J. Ludwigsen

Roald and Janet Lund

Wayne and Barbara Lunsetter

Charles L. Lunsford

Michael and Barbara Magelky

Glenn and Judy Martin

Gregory and Denise McCarthy

Kevin and Harriette McCaul

Lynn McHarness

Allan and Maureen Meath

Roxane F. Meidinger

Christopher and Jennifer Meyer

Marvin and Patricia Miller

David Naegeli

Amelia R. Nash

Curtis H. Nelson

Scott and Marna Nelson

Timothy and Linda Nelson

Robert and Elaine Newman

Grant Olson and Gabrielle Vencel-Olson

Robert and Mary Olson

Stephen Olson

Wendell and Carole Ostlie

Paul Otto

Les and Bernice Pavek

Steven Petersen

Carl and Jerri Pfi ffner

Robert Price

Francis and Christa Rajendram

Aaron and Phyllis Rash

Thomas and Susan Renner

Daniel and Cindy Richter

Reuben and Loretta Rieke

Lynnette Riggio

David J. Rislove

James and Charlotte Robbins

Duane and Trinka Rogne

Robert and Elaine Rohloff

Stephen and Bonita Ronshaugen

Joe and Cheryl Schmit

Nick Schmit

Mary B. Schwehr

Mukund P. Sibi

Dean and Tammy Sletten

Gregory and Diane Slotten

James and Karen Smith

Susan M. Snyder

Jacque and Louise Stockman

Deidre and Steven Strand

Florence and Lawrence Strohmeyer

James and May Sugihara

Jeffrey and Nancy Suttle

Lara K. Tebelius

Gary and Rachel Thompson

Lewis J. Thompson

Thomas and Jean Tsai

Bob and Mary Ann Tucker

Frederick and Helen Turner

Mark and Sue VanBenthem

David and Teresa Vaske

Brady and Julie Vick

Peter Walls

Irvin Wangsness

Roger and Sherryl Wedel

Duane Weisshaar

Jennifer and Aaron Whitcomb

Michelle M. Wiest

Royce Winge

Doris M. Wischow

Willard and Jean Witteman

Richard and Laura Wohl

Mark and Joan Wolters

Roy and Janelle Wong

Wayne and Kathie Worner

James and Marie Young

Susan L. Zimmerman

✩✩✩ Thanks to our Donors! ✩✩✩Donors make important contributions to scholarship programs and other activities that enhance the student ex-perience. Below is a summary of donors to the department for the calendar years 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. We applaud you for your continued support!

CHEMISTRY– BIOCHEMISTRY FUND DONORS


■ Donald Bolin Memorial ScholarshipAwarded to outstanding student majors in chemistry or biochemistry.

2006-07 RecipientsTravis Bjordahl, Millbank, SD Laura Haselhorst, Byron, MNJennifer Klemond-Brottlund, Fargo, ND2007-08 RecipientsLaura Haselhorst, Byron, MN Kristin Keller, Barney, ND Erich Wilkerson, Clear Lake, MN

■ Chemistry Department Honor ScholarshipScholarship presented to chemistry or biochemistry majors on the basis of scholastic achievement.

2006-07 RecipientsScott Jungwirth, Redfi eld, SDErich Wilkerson, Clear Lake, MN2007-08 Recipients Jarrett Failing Miho Kaneko, Ube, Japan

■ Lawrence M. Debing Memorial ScholarshipScholarship presented to students in chemistry and biochemistry.

2006-07 RecipientsSamantha Houle, Williston, ND Krystal Kalliokoski, Gardena, ND2007-08 RecipientsKrystal Kalliokoski, Gardena, ND Andrea Rader, Fergus Falls, MN

■ Ralph Dunbar Memorial ScholarshipScholarships awarded to chemistry ma-jors on the basis of scholastic achieve-ment and character as exemplifi ed by Ralph E. Dunbar, Dean of the College of Chemistry and Physics, 1945-1960.

2006-07 RecipientsJoshua Swoyer, Andover, MNMichael Teubner, Roseau, MN2007-08 RecipientsBrett Erpelding, Fargo, NDBridget Kilen, New Salem, NDAmber Simpson, Finley, NDJoshua Swoyer, Andover, MN

Scholarship Information

■ Dr. Harold and Mary Ann Klosterman Merit ScholarshipA newly created fund in 2007, which is awarded to incoming freshman enrolled in the College of Science and Math-ematics based on scholastic achieve-ment. Preference is given to biochemis-try or biotechnology majors.

2007-08 RecipientsKatrina Gellerman

■ James & May Sugihara ScholarshipA scholarship presented to outstanding students majoring in chemistry.

2006-07 RecipientsKelli Jo Syltie, Brookings, SDAdam R. Wohl, Minot, ND2007-08 RecipientsRobert Haaland, Mandan, ND Andrew Sand, Jamestown, NDKelli Jo Syltie, Brookings, SD

■ Richard Glenn Wedel Memorial ScholarshipA scholarship presented to an outstand-ing student majoring in chemistry.

2006-07 RecipientsMichael C. Nokelby, Fargo, ND2007-08 Recipients Anoklase Ayitou

■ Roy Milde Fellowship AwardA scholarship presented to an outstand-ing graduate student who has been enrolled in the chemistry program for more than one year. Preference is given to graduates of high schools and col-leges in ND and the upper Midwest.

2006-07 RecipientsDarci R. Block, Jamestown, ND2007-08 RecipientsLandon, Bladow, Hankinson, ND

■ Undergraduate Research Fellowships in ChemistryThese mentorships are awarded to freshmen majoring in chemistry who demonstrate strong potential for chemi-cal research. The award includes a research position in a faculty research laboratory and a $1200 stipend.

2006-07 RecipientsFrances P. Bouret, SheyenneTaylor P. Essen, Watertown, MNSamantha D. Houle, Williston, NDKrystal D. Kalliokoski, Gardena, NDNatalie Lekang, Pelican Rapids, MNTara N. Slominski, Ardoch

■ Graduate Student Fellowship FundThis fellowship helps to support gradu-ate students in synthetic chemistry.

If you would like to donate to the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, please use this form. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _

CHEMISTRY, BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY DEVELOPMENT FUND

Included is my gift of $__________ Please apply my gift to: (pick from the following selections)

Payment Options: Check enclosed (please make checks payable to NDSU Development Foundation). Credit card:

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Donald Bolin Memorial Scholarship

Chemistry Department Honor Scholarship Lawrence Debing Memorial Scholarship

Ralph Dunbar Memorial Scholarship

James & May Sugihara Scholarship

Richard Glenn Wedel Memorial Scholarship

Roy Milde Fellowship Award

General Chemistry Department Fund (any unspecified gifts will be applied to this fund)

Dr. Harold and Mary Ann Klosterman Merit Scholarship

Detach th is form and send with your gif t to:

Development Foundation PO Box 5144

Fargo, ND 58105-5144

Graduate Student Fellowship Fund

North Dakota State University Department of Chemistry & Molecular Biology P. O. Box 5516 Fargo, ND 58105-5516

Non-Profi t OrgU. S. Postage Paid

Permit No. 818Fargo, ND 58105

Greetings from the ChairIt has been a busy year in the department, with several new personnel arriving, as well as multiple ongoing faculty searches.

In August 2007, we welcomed two new tenure-track faculty to our department: Dr. Pinjing Zhao, assistant professor, special-izes in organometallic chemistry, and Dr. Guodong Liu, assistant professor, special-izes in bioanalytical chemistry. Both of their labs are off to great starts. In addition, we

a major 5-year, $10.5M grant involving faculty from several departments, with Dr. Mukund Sibi as center director. On a related note, we congratulate Dr. Sibi for his recent appoint-ment as an NDSU Distinguished Professor, a new program honoring NDSU’s top faculty.

Ongoing facility improvements include a complete renovation of one of our general teaching laboratories, Ladd 309. The current room had extremely old and decrepit wooden fl oor-ing and benchwork, which are being torn out and replaced with a modern fl oor and an island bench layout, similar to that used in the nearby Ladd 307. I expect that once completed in summer 2008, this room will provide a greatly enhanced laboratory environment for Chem 121L and 122L general chemistry students. Because of a more effi cient layout, it will also increase our enrollment capacity for these courses, in anticipation of expected enrollment increases over the next few years.

Dr. John Hershberger, Chair

welcome Dr. Angel Ugrinov, staff crystallographer in the mate-rials characterization laboratory, and Rose Nichols, adminis-trative coordinator for the Center for Protease Research.

A long range goal for many years has been to increase our research presence in biochemistry and molecular biology. As a result, we are in the process of making faculty offers for four biochemistry/molecular biology positions, one of which is in the area of biochemistry education. Two of these positions are partially funded by major center grants, and the biochemistry education position is part of a new NDSU initiative in STEM education. We are very hopeful that by Fall 2008 semester or shortly thereafter, we will be able to offer several new research opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students in biochemistry.

A major milestone was achieved last year in the renewal of our NIH grant for the Center for Protease Research. This is

Front L to R: Rebecca Ober, Dr. Vaishali Samant; Back L to R: Dr. John Hershberger, Richard Wienhold

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Professor Sibi Announces COBRE Grant Award of Chemistry & Molecular Biology North Dakota State...

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