Professor Katherine Franz is the recipient of the 2021 ACS Charles H. Stone Award! The award is presented every two years by the American Chemical Society Carolina-Piedmont Section to an outstanding chemist in the southeastern US. The Charles H. Stone award recognizes contributions to the field of chemistry through activities in the scientific community, public outreach, education, and research. read more about Katherine Franz Named as 2021 Charles H. Stone Award Recipient »
Join the Duke Chemistry Virtual Open House on October 27 from 3-5pm! This will be an information session and virtual poster session with current Duke faculty and graduate students. Learn about the Duke Chem PhD Program, application and degree requirements, exciting research within the Department, and life at Duke and in Durham! Register by October 18! read more about Join for a Graduate Open House! »
The Department is seeking a colleague at the Assistant or Associate Professor rank with strong commitments to research, teaching, and advancing a diverse and inclusive community of scholars. Applications should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, description of research plans, and a statement describing teaching interests and philosophy of mentoring and fostering diversity in science. Applicants should also arrange to have three letters of recommendation submitted on their behalf. Candidates in all subareas will be… read more about Duke Chemistry is Hiring! »
The National Science Foundation has awarded a five-year, $20 million grant to Duke University researchers to explore and optimize the chemical structure and physical properties of individual molecules in a polymer network.
“The long-term potential of this research includes cost- and time-efficient optimization of the polymers used in products like biomedical implants, building materials and even automobile tires,” said principal investigator Stephen Craig, the William T. Miller distinguished professor of chemistry at Duke… read more about NSF Creates Polymer Chemistry Optimization Center at Duke for Future Materials »
Vanessa Cupil-Garcia, of the Vo-Dinh Lab, has been awarded the 2021 FACSS Student Award from The Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS) . The Award is given to the student who has furthered the state-of-the-art in their chosen field(s) and in so doing, advanced the understanding of important scientific or societal questions. Vanessa's research with Dr. Vo-Dinh focuses on integrating nanotechnology and chemistry to develop diagnostic and therapeutic tools. She is currently synthesizing… read more about Vanessa Cupil-Garcia Awarded the 2021 FACSS Student Award »
A collaboration between the Yokoyama and Yang Labs has led to a publication of their latest work on the catalytic mechanism of MoaA radical SAM cyclase in molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis. In this work, combined efforts using electrochemistry, EPR spectroscopy, and DFT calculation provided evidence that the reduction of the aminyl radical intermediate proceeds by a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) with a 4Fe-4S cluster as an electron donor. The EPR also revealed an electronic coupling between GTP and… read more about Yokoyama and Yang Labs collaborate to find insights into the radical quenching step of radical SAM enzyme catalysis »
Congratulations to Dr. Jack Ganley! Jack, a former graduate student in the Derbyshire Lab, has received a prestigious Simons Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Marine Microbial Ecology! The fellowship will fund research focused on siderophore-mediated crosstalk in microalgae-bacteria interactions. Jack will join Dr. Mo Seyedsayamdost’s lab at Princeton beginning in January. We will miss having Jack in the Department, but wish him all the best in this new adventure! read more about Dr. Jack Ganley Receives 2021 Simons Foundation Postdoc Fellowship »
Dr. Bozenna Krzyzanowska has been named Manager of the Year by National Association of Scientific Materials Managers! In her position as lab preparator for our large undergraduate laboratory courses (including general and organic chemistry), Dr. Krzyzanowska serves nearly 2000 undergraduate students over the course of the academic year and summer sessions, and is responsible for preparing chemicals, materials, and equipment for the laboratory portion of as many as five different courses. Dr. Krzyzanowska played a central… read more about Dr. Bozenna Krzyzanowska Named Manager of the Year by NAOSMM »
Dr. Pengfei Zhou of the Malcolmson Lab, in collaboration with former Malcolmson Lab postdoc Dr. Xinxin Shao, now an assistant professor at Hangzhou Normal University, have developed a new reagent class, 2-azatrienes, that enables the diastereodivergent and enantioselective synthesis of allylic 1,2-diamines through copper-catalyzed reductive couplings with imines. Both syn- and anti-diamines are key fragments in a number of potent bioactive molecules and are each formed selectively in their respective CuH-… read more about Malcolmson Lab Develops a New Reagent for Diastereodivergent and Enantioselective Synthesis of Allylic Amines »
The Department is thrilled to announce the joint hire of Professors Kathryn Haas and Jim Parise! The two former graduate students will return to Duke from St. Mary's College and Notre Dame, respectively, and join the undergraduate team. Dr. Kathryn Haas will begin as an Associate Professor of the Practice in August and will lead the physical and analytical chemistry laboratories. Dr. Jim Parise will join the department in January as an Associate Professor of the Practice to enhance the general and organic… read more about Welcome New Faculty »
When he was an undergraduate political science student, Kerry Haynie was never taught about the 1921 Tulsa massacre. Nor was there much discussion about the role of race in the founding political documents of this country or much examination of how race influenced public services such as sewer lines and zoning.
In one sense, a lot has changed. In 2021, Duke’s faculty includes a strong lineup of leading scholars who examine how race is embedded in issues that cross all the schools of the university. This fall, many of… read more about University Course Raises Race as a Central Element of Undergraduate Education »
For most of her 35 years at Duke, Joan Albright worked in interior office on the medical campus with little or no natural light. A few years ago, when she ended up in an office with a window in an office building downtown, she was thrilled.
Joan Albright has found a comfortable work spot in her kitchen. Photo courtesy of Joan Albright.
And when the COVID-19 pandemic forced Albright to work from home, she wasn’t ready to give up on working in… read more about Getting the Job Done in Unique Workspaces »
The Cleveland Section of the ACS has named Professor David Beratan the recipient of the 2021 Edward Morley Medal in recognition of his many contributions to the fields of computational and theoretical chemistry, to include the development of tunneling pathway and flickering resonance theories of biological electron transfer. The award highlights David's establishment of new schemes for molecular design, with applications to challenges in molecular bioenergetics, absolute stereochemistry assignment, materials discovery, and… read more about David Beratan to Receive the Morley Medal »
Congratulations to Chemistry major Logan Glasstetter, one of three recipients of this year’s Faculty Scholars Awards, the highest bestowed by Duke faculty on undergraduates! The award honors students for a record of innovative and independent research and scholarship.
Logan, a double major in chemistry and biology, is conducting collaborative research with Professor Kathy Franz and with Professor Steve Craig in the NSF funded Monet Center. Logan’s primary research focus has been on the force-coupled behavior of salient,… read more about Logan Glasstetter Receives Faculty Scholars Award »
In a challenging year for collaboration, three members of the Class of 2022 are being honored for using the moment to ask big research questions and produce scholarship that shows originality and creative thinking.
Katherine Gan, Logan Glasstetter and Xinyu (Norah) Tan are the recipients of this year’s Faculty Scholars Awards, the highest bestowed by Duke faculty on undergraduates with a record of independent research and scholarship.
Working across three different disciplines, the students have already produced… read more about The 2021 Faculty Scholars: Three Undergraduates Showing an Exceptional Research Record »
Chemistry major John Boom has been named a 2021 scholar by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program. John is among 410 students awarded Goldwater Scholarships for the 2021-2022 academic year. The one- and two-year scholarships go toward covering the cost of tuition, fees, books, room and board.
The Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,256 nominated mathematics, science and engineering students nationwide. Virtually all scholars intend to obtain a… read more about Chemistry Major Named Goldwater Scholar »
All four Duke University undergraduates nominated for the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship have won the federally endowed award that encourages students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering.
Yasa Baig, John Boom, Grace Dessert and Anish Karpurapu are among the 410 students awarded Goldwater Scholarships on March 26 for the 2021-2022 academic year.
The Goldwater Scholars were chosen on the basis of academic merit from a pool of 1,256 natural science, engineering… read more about Four Duke Juniors Named National Goldwater Scholars »
Professor David Beratan, Dr. Peng Zhang, Mr. Jonathan Yuly and colleagues have won the 2020 Cozzarelli Prize for Physical and Mathematical Sciences! The Cozzarelli Prize is awarded annually to six Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences articles, one for each of the six classes of the NAS. It honors former PNAS Editor-in-Chief Nicholas R. Cozzarelli and recognizes the work of researchers who share his uncompromising scientific standards, his dedication to advancing scientific knowledge, and his… read more about Beratan Wins Cozzarelli Prize! »
Congratulations to our NSF Graduate Research Fellowship award recipients! These include 2nd year graduate students, Gigi Tutoni and Anna Truong, and two senior Duke undergraduates, Brittany Prempin and Xiaochen Du. The NSF-GRFP is a highly competitive program that supports over 100 subfields. This year's approximately 2000 fellowship winners were selected from a field of over 13,000 applications. Also receiving Honorable Mention for their applications… read more about Four Receive NSF Graduate Fellowships! »
Recent work from the Ji (Department of Anesthesiology at Duke) and Derbyshire labs has led to the unexpected discovery that artesunate, a front-line antimalarial, confers protection against infection-induced sepsis and pain-like behavior in mice. Artesunate has been used for decades in the clinic, and while its potent anti-plasmodium activity has been widely studied, little is known about its interactions with host cells. While studying the possible role of the human orphan GPCR GPR37, they found that GPR37 agonists may… read more about Derbyshire Lab Making Strides Toward Treating Malaria »
Skyler Cochrane, jointly mentored by Drs. Pei Zhou and Jiyong Hong, has received the Jo Rae Wright Fellowship for Outstanding Women in Science! The fellowship, created in memory of former Dean of the Graduate School, is funded through an endowment given in her name to recognize two Ph.D. students—one in the biomedical sciences and one in the natural sciences—whose research shows particular creativity and promise. Skyler will receive a monetary award in recognition of her work developing and testing novel inhibitors of one… read more about Skyler Cochrane Receives Graduate Fellowship Award! »
Professor Emily Derbyshire has been named a 2021 Sloan Research Fellow! The award recognizes Emily's study in Malaria and her search for new druggable targets that can prevent infection.
“I’m honored, humbled and surprised,” Derbyshire said. “They recognize really outstanding people in really diverse fields, so it feels special to be among that group.”
Read more about Emily's journey to a Sloan Fellowship in Duke Today. read more about Emily Derbyshire Receives 2021 Sloan Fellowship »
Congratulations to Prof. Amanda Hargrove! Amanda is the recipient of the 2021 Cram Lehn Pedersen Prize! Sponsored by ChemComm, the Prize is named in honor of the winners of the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry & recognizes significant, original work in Supramolecular Chemistry! The 2021 Cram Lehn Pedersen Prize will be celebrated during two days of virtual sessions in July 2021 at 16th International Symposium of Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry. read more about Amanda Hargrove is the 2021 Cram Lehn Pedersen Prize Winner »
One is a chemist attempting to prevent malaria infections. The other is a mathematician working to understand one of the most mysterious problems in her discipline. Both were named 2021 Sloan Research Fellows.
Emily Derbyshire, assistant professor of Chemistry and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and Jessica Fintzen, assistant professor of Mathematics, were among the 126 recipients of this year’s Sloan awards, which recognize early-career scholars “of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial… read more about Meet Trinity's 2021 Sloan Fellows »
Chemistry
