Catalyst Summer 2020: University of Utah Chemistry

Department of Chemistry College of Science | The University of Utah

WOMEN in CHEMISTRY Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

SPRING/SUMMER 2020

CATALYST | UNIVERSITY OF UTAH |

Alice Augusta Ball

CATALYST

Black chemist who developed the first successful treatment for those suffering from Hansen’s disease (leprosy).

Don t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It s your place in the world; it s your life.

Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live.

- Mae Jemison,

first Black woman astronaut in space Illustration by Professor Andrew G. Roberts

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Women in The Chemistry Department: a history

Meet the 32%: Chemistry’s Women

New Faculty Members: Gina Frey & Jessica Swanson

In Memoriam: Professor Ronald Ragsdale

Letter from the Chair

Matthew S. Sigman, Distinguished Professor

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Dear Alumni, The global pandemic has already challenged us in the Department to evaluate what is most essential to upholding excellence in education and research. Our faculty, staff, and students have worked tirelessly since March to carry out our mission under unprecedented constraints. I am grateful to their dedication.

Current events brought yet another reason to examine, and rededicate ourselves to, this mission. Our country’s collective attention to its history of systemic racial injustice has reverberated through our Department and across the field of Chemistry. I am inspired by members within our department who have come forward ready, willing, and eager to work collaboratively to identify barriers that our marginalized colleagues have been facing for far too long.

We are actively working together to generate policy and culture changes that will continue to evolve as we strive to foster an open environment where we listen to the needs of our students, staff, faculty, and greater scientific community.

I recently joined colleagues at other universities to help give voice to this intention that is sweeping across our field. In our paper “Organic Chemistry: A Call to Action for Diversity and Inclusion” published simultaneously in ACS Central Science and three other ACS journals, my colleagues and I researched and discussed diversity as a strength. Not only do people of all backgrounds benefit when STEM is open to their full participation, learning and innovation are in turn enhanced. Many of us remember stories of lone scientists and inventors, individuals who were championed for their “Eureka!” discoveries, but most of these are myths. Breakthroughs are the inevitable culmination of influence and contributions of untold numbers of individuals. There is substantial evidence that the more diverse a research group is, the more high-impact success they show. In fact, the sooner in the discovery process that diversity is present in the team, the more transformative

subsequent become.

problem-solving

strategies

It is clear that we still have a long way to go before we achieve equity for marginalized groups, and I am beginning to understand the profound action that is required to even begin to dismantle cultural norms and barriers preventing our community from achieving its full scientific potential. However, I take heart that our Department’s commitment to collaborative learning and working environments, while building skills necessary for working on an integrated team, is the best service we can do for both for our students and for advancing the contributions of Chemistry to society.

This summer newsletter, about navigating barriers that women and other marginalized members of the chemistry community face, is intended to be the beginning of an honest and ongoing dialog. While we are just starting this quest, we should, nevertheless, honor success where it has occurred, and credit the work and leadership that has paved the way to a level of diversity and inclusion that we’ve presently achieved. We hope this newsletter begins a conversation within your own circles about the systemic barriers that keep marginalized individuals at the margins and how we can centralize and prioritize equity. As alumni, you too are members of our community, and I welcome any insight you may have gained in your own institutions, work places, communities, and families.

Sincerely,

Matt Sigman Distinguished Professor and Chair

Inclusion & Diversity Committee Mission: To facilitate a culture in the Department of Chemistry where diversity, equity and inclusion are respected and intentionally valued by implementing thoughtful, practical, iterative and innovative strategies.

Our top priority is to excel in promoting our values and commitments in our programs that involve, but not limited to: 1. Recruitment, retention and mentoring for all identities of students.

2. Recruitment, retention and success of all identities of faculty and staff 3. Equity and transparency in pay, hiring, retention and promotion 4. Creating an environment in the classroom and research labs that is welcoming and supportive across diverse backgrounds 5. Creating a culture where diversity and inclusivity drive our successes

Chair: Shelley Minteer Lori Digal Erin Gaffney Natascha Knowlton Christian Malapit Rodrigo Noriega Andrew Roberts Sushma Saraf Holly Sebahar Matt Sigman Anne Vivienne 1

Setting the Tone

for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the department Interview with Professor Cynthia J. Burrows

Distinguished Profesor Thatcher Presidential Endowed Chair of Biological Chemistry National Academy Member American Academy of Art and Science Member Huntsman Cancer Institute Member Rosenblatt Prize Recipient

Dr. Burrows and her group investigate how DNA and RNA molecules are chemically altered by oxidation processes, and how these alterations can lead to physiological consequences such as cancer.

Her work has implications suggesting that DNA oxidation may be related to epigenetics, or alterations of gene expression, that may have shaped the course of life on Earth.

“It is remarkable that Professor Burrows has accomplished so much in her research, teaching, and national service, while also Chairing the Department of Chemistry and leading the department in new and important directions. Chair Burrows oversaw the hiring a several outstanding new members of our faculty; she helped to secure support that led to the appointment of seven new endowed chairs in the department. Burrows also worked tirelessly to improve and enrich the quality of our educational programs, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels, including the development of course offerings in the new Crocker Science Center.”

- University of Utah Tenured Faculty Review

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32% of the Chemistry Department’s faculty are women, making the University of Utah’s Chemistry Department one of the leading handful of universities in the nation when it comes to gender equality. Currently, only 25% of the U.S. Senate is female; 23.2% of the House of Representatives; 6.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs; and barely a quarter of all senior executives at large U.S. public companies. So how exactly does the department achieve this higher percentage of women in leadership roles in a state that is continuously ranked as dead last in the country for the equality of women?

There’s no better person to ask than Professor Cynthia J. Burrows who has been in the department for 25 years, and just last year finished up six years of service as chair of the department.

In 1983, a decade after the Equal Rights Amendment failed to pass in Congress in 1972, Cynthia J. Burrows received a letter in the mail. It was an offer for a faculty position at Stony Brook University. As a woman in chemistry, this would have been significant news indeed as only half of the country’s chemistry departments had just one woman on their faculty after a brief flurry to check off the woman-on-faculty box. During Burrows’ twelve years at Stony Brook, she would marry (Scott L. Anderson who was also a faculty member), have triplets, and find herself with her family back in the west, closer to extended family and the mountain west she had grown up in. Both she and Anderson were hired to join the chemistry faculty at the University of Utah where they have enjoyed the work-life balance that the mountains and cultural opportunities of Salt Lake City have to offer.

Burrows was the second woman to join the faculty, and soon became the only woman when Janet Grissom left to pursue a medical career. Within two years, Sheila David was hired along with her husband Peter Beal onto the faculty which doubled the number of women on the faculty to two. Burrows emphasizes that the department has always seen hiring couples as a two-body opportunity rather than a two-body problem. Family has long been a central value for the department of chemistry.

In the early 2000’s, then Chair Peter Armentrout instituted parental leave for all graduate students, female and male. There were not many departments offering this at the time, and this was yet another step in setting the tone to create a family-friendly atmosphere within the department. There have long been efforts to create a healthy work-life balance for everyone within the department, and to encourage outdoor recreation and cultural opportunities that are so accessible here in Salt Lake City. Not only is there a family friendly tone within the department, but there is also a work hard, play hard mentality that is supportive and encouraging.

About a decade ago, a few of the women faculty and women from the Salt Lake community created the Curie Club to support women in chemistry with Burrows as the faculty liaison to co-Chairs Cynthia Conner and Kathy Thatcher. To further emphasize the value of women in chemistry, the Curie Club Common Room was created in the Thatcher Building as a visual and physical space that continues to be a daily reminder for all in the department that women are supported and appreciated here. Students gather here to study and collaborate.

From lectures and teas to workshops, the Curie Club continues to grow and expand with a new generation of graduate student leaders. The club is recently open to all who want to participate in and create safe and supportive spaces for individuals of any background.

They are working within the department and beginning to reach out to alumni who would like to get involved to continue a lifelong legacy of inclusion and peer mentorship.

The tone of the department has long been one of inclusivity, education and research excellence, mentorship, and good will. There is always work to be done and improvements to be made, and this department approaches them eagerly and willingly.

With the tone set, this department works hard to create an environment welcome to the many and diverse perspectives that are the heartbeat of innovative research and learning.

“We want diversity as a key aspect of this department.”

THEN: Chemistry Faculty 1988

Back row, L-R: Tom Richmond, Michael Morse, Ron Ragsdale, Chuck Wight, Rick Ernst Middle row, L-R: Evan Allred, Dale Poulter, Wes Bentrude, Bill Epstein, Peter Armentrout, Stan Pons Front row, L-R: Ted Eyring, Jack Simons, Goji Kodama, Bill Breckenridge, Joel Harris

NOW: Chemistry Faculty 2020 Department of Chemistry College of Science | The University of Utah

Scott L. Anderson

Peter B. Armentrout

Vahe Bandarian

Bethany BuckKoehntop

Cynthia J. Burrows

John C. Conboy

Richard D. Ernst

Ming C. Hammond

Joel M. Harris

Matthew KieberEmmons

Ryan Looper

Janis Louie

Joel S. Miller

Shelley D. Minteer

Thomas G. Richmond

Andrew G. Roberts

Gina F. Frey

Michael Gruenwald

Valeria Molinero

Michael D. Morse

Gabe Nagy

Rodrigo Noriega

Aaron W. Puri

Jon D. Rainier

Jennifer Shumaker-Parry

Matthew S. Sigman

Peter J. Stang

Ryan P. Steele

Jessica Swanson

Thanh N. Truong

Henry S. White

Luisa WhittakerBrooks

Caroline Saouma

Ilya Zharov

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Women in Chemistry Faculty

BETH BUCK-KOEHNTOP ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Extraordinary Faculty Achievement 2016

American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow, 2005 Structure-function relationships in biointeractions, biophysics and molecular biology

JANIS LOUIE PROFESSOR

Associate Dean of Student Affairs Discovery and development of transition metal-mediated reactions

JENNIFER SHUMAKER-PARRY PROFESSOR

Henry Eyring Fellow

Parry Teaching Award

NSF Career Award Nanoparticle synthesis and assembly, plasmonics, interfacial chemical analysis

CYNTHIA J. BURROWS

National Academy of Science

Thatcher Presidential Endowed Chair DISTINGUISHED of Biological Chemistry PROFESSOR Nucleic acid chemistry, oxidative DNA damage, DNA in protein nanopores

SHELLEY D. MINTEER PROFESSOR

Dale & Susan Poulter Endowed Chair of Biological Chemistry Enzymatic bioelectrocatalysis fuel cells, batteries, electrosynthesis

JESSICA SWANSON ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Electrochemical Society Fellow

Protons in Biology Conference Co-Chair

NIH Ruth Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow, 2006-2009 Multiscale simulation and modeling of biomolecular and condensed phase systems

PROFESSOR

CSME Faculty Scholar

Ronald & Eileen Ragsdale Professor of Chemical Education Chemistry Education developing activelearning & collaborative strategies

VALERIA MOLINERO

Director, Henry Eyring Center for Theoretical Chemistry

Jack & Peg Simons Endowed Professor

DISTINGUISHED of Theoretical Chemistry PROFESSOR Computer simulations and statistical mechanics methods to investigate materials and processes.

LUISA WHITTAKER-BROOKS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

ACS Talented 12 2019

L’Oreal USA for Women in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton Univ.

Solid-state synthesis of nanostructures for solar, batteries, and electronics

MING HAMMOND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Executive Committee, Henry Eyring Center for Cell & Genome Science

Biosensors for live cell imaging, high throughput screening, and synthesis

CAROLINE SAOUMA ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

NIH Director’s New Innovator 2016

NSF Career Award

NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow 2011-2014 Transition-metal mediated small molecule activation

In the coming newsletters, we will continue to highlight our growing diversity, as well as our efforts to increase equity, inclusion, and diversity within the Department of Chemistry.

Women in Chemistry Faculty

GINA FREY

PROFESSOR

GINA FREY Ronald & Eileen Ragsdale Professor of

Chemical Education

Student success has a lot to do with effective teaching and departmental policies that empower students of diverse backgrounds to discover and reach their full potential. iGen (people born after 1995) is the most diverse generation to enter higher education in our nation’s history, and so it is vital for educators to understand how students learn STEM subjects and develop a sense of belonging during an era of a loneliness epidemic, diminishing mental and emotional health, financial uncertainty, a global pandemic, and systemic injustice.

As the student population of higher education mirrors the nation’s existing and expanding diversity, the methods and policies at colleges and universities should also reflect diverse and collaborative attention, support, and action.

Chemistry education research continues to reveal how students learn and the impact that emotional health has on the learning process. Disciplined-based education research (DBER) has emerged as a field that aims to transform and improve undergraduate education through implementing effective teaching practices, better assessments of learning, and investigates student thinking, learning, and difficulties on their path to become scientists and chemists.

Professor Gina Frey’s research investigates how to improve student learning and sense of belonging through developing, modifying, implementing, and evaluating active-learning and collaborative strategies as well as cognitive,

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Teaching Future Chemists metacognitive, and social-psychological research findings. Collaboration is central to her interdisciplinary approach as her colleagues are researchers in education, psychology, and sociology as well as with other STEM discipline-based education researchers.

A New Generation of Students

Exemplar Learners & Abstraction Learners

As the country becomes increasingly diverse, America’s colleges and universities continue to enroll greater numbers of students from a broad range of racial, ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

In the early 2000s, Professor Frey began to collaborate with a cognitive psychology colleague who had identified two types of learners in his research: exemplars and abstractors. Exemplars learn based on retention or memorization of homework examples while abstractors learn transfer skills that allow for them to work through a problem based on the underlying chemistry principles.

Professor Frey was keen to find a way to identify which of her students were exemplars and which were abstractors, and finding out if there were interventions that educators could make in their methodologies to help students gain more transfer skills based on chemistry principles.

Together Professor Frey and her colleague implemented in classroms an online program (developed by her colleague) that could help them differentiate between the two types of learners based on exam scores. Initially they found that the abstractors were doing 4% better in general chemistry.

However, when they separated the exam questions into retention and transfer questions, they saw a much different picture.

The American Freshman Survey 2019

50% 11.7% 11.3% 10.1% 0.3% 1.7% 1.0% 1.2%

White Asian Latina/o/x Black Native American Gay Lesbian Pansexual

70%

of first-time full-time students aspire to eventually earn a graduate or professional degree

71.5%

of students with a household income of $60k-$99k reported financial concerns Strongly agree or agree

that gays and 90.6% somewhat lesbians should have the legal right to adopt a child

Both sets of students were able to solve the retention questions, which simply require memorizing homework examples. However, there was a significant difference in the transfer questions where students had to stretch their thinking beyond the examples in the homework. Those students who were able to rely on their knowledge of the underlying chemistry principles were able to find the solution, whereas the retention learners were unable to solve the transfer problems.

In a more recent pilot study, they also noticed a drastic difference between the two learners in General Chemistry courses versus Organic Chemistry courses. As the nature of Gen Chem classes are mathematically based, if a student has bood math skills or at least is able to memorize the steps to solve a problem, they can get through Gen Chem with relative ease. However, the differences are more drastic in O Chem courses where it becomes more like learning a language and solving problems is like writing an entire paragraph fluently in a new language, and must have a fundamental understanding of how everything fits together.

Belonging: How Emotional Realities Effect Learning

and

A Quick Look CIRCLE Collaborator Washington Univ., St. Louis Interdisciplinary researchers in the psychological sciences, learning sciences, and discipline-based education research come toether to facilitate collaborative projects to improve student learning, attitudes, and engagement.

Guiding principles for connecting faculty, administrators, and staff in EDI initiatives.

Professor Frey collaborated with two colleagues on their research that was published last year.

Social

As Professor Frey went through her schooling, she always did well and excelled. However, it wasn’t until she co-taught a Women in Science class where she was “forced” to read feminine and gender theory literature, that she realized all of the subconscious cognitive energy it took to be one of the very few women in a classroom, research lab, or as a member of the faculty. She didn’t realize until one of the books she read pointed out that when an individual enters a room and they start counting in their head, looking for others that look like them, she had been doing this throughout most of her education and career. This led her to an understanding that no matter what she did cognitively to learn chemistry and conduct meaningful research, there was still this social issue of feeling a sense of belonging.

She and her collaborators have recently published a paper that reveals that students who have a low sense of social belonging in the course are less likely to persist from Gen Chem I to Gen Chem II, despite their cognitive abilities.

In an earlier study, they implemented a growth-mindset strategy in Gen Chem I. While they did not see a difference in women’s performance in the course, but they did see a difference in under-represented BIPOC students. Between the control and experiment groups, there was a 5% difference in their finals, and the under-represented students were at a -5% difference before they even started the final. Some of the interventions that can occur is to vocalize to under-represented students that they are not the only ones questioning their social belonging. The students’ sense of

Process Oriented Guided Inquiry

Aims to develop content mastery through student construction of their own understanding, and to develop and improve important learning skills such as information processing, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and metacognition and assessment. belonging is especially crucial at transition points.

For this reason, Professor Frey loves teaching Gen Chem because she gets to interact with students at the threshold of a big transition in their lives. She does her best to vocalize that the students in her classes do indeed belong in chemistry, and she constantly reminds everyone that struggling is a natural part of learning, and all questions are valid.

Making women and BIPOC scientists more visible throughout their educational experience can go a long way to encourage students to persist, to feel that they belong, and to contribute their diverse perspectives to the chemistry community to impact the progress and impact of research for their generation and generations to come. they are not the only ones questioning their social belonging.

The students’ sense of belonging is especially crucial at transition points. For this reason, Professor Frey loves teaching Gen Chem because she gets to interact with students at the threshold of a big transition in their lives. She does her best to vocalize that the students in her classes do indeed belong in chemistry, and she constantly reminds everyone that struggling is a natural part of learning, and all questions are valid. Making women and BIPOC scientists more visible through-

out their educational experience can go a long way to encourage students to persist, to feel that they belong, and to contribute their diverse perspectives to the chemistry community to impact the progress and impact of research for their generation and generations to come.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Chemistry As Professor Frey made her way through her own chemistry education, she realized that although her male mentors were very supportive of her pursuing a career as a chemist, they didn’t understand how her parenting duties were much different than theirs. They didn’t have to worry about their kids as much, buy groceries, and either stay home with the kids or take them to the doctor when they were sick.

Though more and more males are taking on domestic care of home and family, this is still a barrier for many women socially and culturally.

“Tell women and people of color, ‘Yes, go on!

Find the path that fits you and we will support you in that path!’”

She acknowledges there are still many barriers for women and BIPOC students that are deeply woven into policy, environmental, social, and cultural issues across the board. Professor Frey works to educate under-represented students and their majority gender and race peers about the barriers that they face, and how we can begin to dismantle them. Students need to know what their peers have to face so they can work together to create an educational and research environment that encourages all students to persist and find their own creative ways to fulfill their dreams of becoming a chemist.

Professor Frey would like all students, especially women and BIPOC, to understand that there are many different ways for each individual to decide what makes them happy and fulfilled, and it will probably be different than what their peers want and need. She hopes we can begin to allow each other to decide within ourselves what is best for our families and ourselves. As women and BIPOC students continue to question their ability to continue in chemistry, Professor Frey is emphatic that if they want it, they can find a way, there is a path for them, they can find a way, and she’s there to help them.

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ASSISTANT PROFESSOR JESSICA SWANSON

Mapping the Kinetic Landscape of Biomolecular Processes Understanding biomolecular processes at the molecular level, which is often the goal of biophysical studies, requires bridging many time- and length-scales. While computer simulations can now routinely capture the motion of most biomolecules for microseconds, biological processes typically occur on millisecond or longer time scales. Moreover, capturing a millisecond process for a single molecule represents just one example of billions molecules that make up the ensemble of molecules in a test tube or cell. For each molecule or each repeated process, there will be slight variations. Only by averaging all of these, formally with statistical mechanics, can chemists recover the consistent properties they measure in experiment and thereby connect a molecular level understanding with a bimolecular process.

Professor Swanson and her research group are developing multiscale kinetic modeling and simulation methods to take on this challenge by probing not only the structure and dynamics of specific microscopic transitions, but also the variation in how proteins move through those transitions (kinetic pathways). Collectively these competing pathways, each contributing different amounts to the final outcome (e.g., ion transport) make up a kinetic network, although it is perhaps better thought of as a kinetic landscape with biomolecules flowing through it according to the relative ease (free energy) of each transition. Single molecule experiments also shed new light on these kinetic variations as they trace out how biomolecules transition through such kinetic landscapes, one molecule at a time.

The Swanson Group also specializes in bridging quantum and classical regimes (size scales)

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to describe reactive processes while using various approaches to free energy sampling in addition to the kinetic modeling to bridge time scales. The ultimate goal: connecting atomistic descriptions with macroscopic properties and biological relevance.

Effective Diagnostics for Buruli Ulcers One topical focus in the group is biophysics.

Recently, their findings shed new light on the ways in which amphipathic pathogen molecules navigate host systems. The group is part of an ongoing project exploring the mechanism that allows the mycolactone toxin to cause a ruthless skin disease, Buruli ulcer, which is in the same family as leprosy. The ulcers are chronic, debilitating, and caused by a single molecule that looks completely innocuous, like a cholesterol or a lipid. This toxin leads to tissue necrosis, evades the immune system, and block pain, making it incredibly difficult to detect before it’s already caused a significant amount of damage.

Developing effective diagnostics that target the toxin have been unsuccessful to date.

Simulations from the Swanson Group have revealed the likely cause is constant association with and trafficking via host membranes.

It is now known that the toxin travels from outside of a host cell through the plasma membrane to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), where it associates with the sec61 translocon blocking the uptake of half of the cell’s membrane proteins. This causes a wide array of downstream consequences.

One key question is how does the toxin’s localization enable its pathogenicity? Swanson’s group calculated free energy profiles for the strength of association with different membranes to see the toxin is trafficked simply via preferential interactions with different lipids. They were also able to observe through their all-atom simulations that although coarse-grained simulations gave the correct free energy of membrane association, they failed to capture both the mechanism of permeation and the role that water played during the permeation. Their quantum to classical and kinetic modeling simulations continue to map the mechanism of this toxic molecule into a clear narrative that will lead to more effective diagnostics.

Lipid Droplets & Metabolic Disease Professor Swanson is also leading her group’s research to understand how proteins preferentially interact with lipid droplets to enable and control their lifecycle, and essential process in metabolism. Dysregulation of these protein interactions results in metabolic dysfunction and disease. Lipid droplets are energy storage organelles where the body stores fatty acids, triglycerides, which are our densest form of fuel.

Enzymes synthesize fatty acids in the ER membrane where proteins facilitate their transfer into lipid droplets. A unique property of these organelles is that they are surrounded by a phospholipid monolayer rather than a bilayer. The Swanson group is using simulations to identifying the mechanisms by which proteins preferentially seek out lipid droplets.

What they have found so far is surprising: first, that there is more water in the hydrophobic core than previously believed (glycerol groups are polar); and second, that the triglycerides actually intercalate with the phospholipids in the monolayer surface creating more and chemically unique packing defects that are not present in typical bilayers. They are currently probing how proteins interact with these new surface properties anticipating they will have significant consequences for lipid droplet regulation.

Department Collaboration Swanson’s Group has just teamed up with Professor Andrew Robert’s Group in a collaborative research project concerning the synthesis of biologically active lasso peptides as potential therapeutics with improved metabolic stability. The Swanson Group will provide molecular dynamics simulation data to assist the Roberts laboratory with the design and understanding of chemical systems for spontaneous lasso peptide folding.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEM: A Call for Life Balance for All Professor Swanson optimistically acknowledges that “we’re on our way” when it comes to creating work environments that make it easier to retain women faculty. Although she has felt respected here at the U’s Department of Chemistry “from day one,” she acknowledges that there are still men in her field, and even women, who make inappropriate comments and fail to recognize the built-in bias of many departments and divisions across the country. Although there’s still a lot of room to grow, she optimistically affirms that Utah is closer to creating life-balance than other institutions, including her former University of Chicago.

“The University of Utah is a breath of fresh air.”

More than anything, Professor Swanson feels an urgent need to bring more life-balance to the world of academics for both women and men. She sees both male and female colleagues “drowning” and “exhausted” from carrying childcare, or other life responsibilities, in addition to the massive workload expected to stay competitive in their research and teaching. Too often she feels in academics that she has to choose between being successful (tenure and beyond) and having a healthy life in addition to work. “Most women turn away from pursuing academics for this reason alone,” she says. “It’s sad to me. We should not have to choose between being good parents, or whatever other aspect of life someone holds precious, and getting tenure or being respected by our colleagues.”

She, like many of her colleagues and students, would like to see a third option: the space to thrive in both work and life. What would that look like? It seems highly reasonable that with all the brilliant minds in STEM, we could imagine solutions that would give academics more bandwidth to contribute professionally and thrive personally.

Hopefully her recent arrival and influence at the University of Utah Department of Chemistry, which she states “is a breath of fresh air” after her time at Chicago University, will contribute to the ever-expanding diverse and inclusive culture here at the department.

SWANSON GROUP RESEARCH Kinetic Modeling of Multistep Biomolecular Processes A more complete understanding of multistep biomolecular mechanisms requires connecting the structure and dynamics of specific transitions with the kinetic landscape that controls the mechanistic pathways through those transitions. This is difficult to obtain for complex biomolecular systems. We are developing methods that combine experimental and simulation data to map out the kinetic landscapes of biomolecular mechanisms, focusing on secondary active transport and biomolecular ATP hydrolysis.

ATP Hydrolysis Protein-mediated hydrolysis of ATP (or GTP) is a ubiquitous chemical reaction in biology, playing a central role in, e.g., bioenergetics, protein synthesis, transmembrane transport, and cell motility/division. Most processes that are driven by ATP hydrolysis, including force-driven motility, are not actually using the energy released in the hydrolytic reaction itself—rather multiple steps, including ATP binding and Pi/ADP release, collectively induce transformations. Our group is using simulations at multiple levels to describe this process in AAA+ ATPases.

Curie Club INCLUSION • DIVERSITY • EQUITY • RESPECT

Lori Digal Co-Chair 4th Year Grad-Student Robert’s Group loridigal@gmail.com

Erin Gaffney Co-Chair 4th Year Grad-Student Minteer Group erin.gaffney@utah.edu

Work with a grad student as a friend and mentor helping them navigate research and career questions. Contact them once a month.

Tell Your Present Story Join us for a Curie Club Coffee Talk online to tell us your career path story, and a Q&A with students. 1 hour.

under-represented

individuals

in STEM

Social Media Chair 1st Year Grad Student utahcurieclub@gmail.com

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curieclub.org

Veronica O’Connor

anne.vivienne@ utah.edu

opportunities for historically

Mentoring Chair 3rd Year Grad Student Buck-Koehntop Group joshua.okafor@utah.edu

Outreach Chair 4th Year Grad Student Whittaker-Brooks Group utahcurieclub@gmail.com

Make a monetary donation for scholarships, awards, and supporting our growing community’s needs.

Creating

Joshua Okafor

Laura Flannery

Give a one-hour presentation on your research or any professional development theme with a Q&A. Online or maybe one day in person!

Donate

Uma Chowdhry Illustrations by Professor Andrew Roberts

GET INVOLVED

Mentor

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

Congratulations!

Lydia Fries • Junior • Sigman Group Lydia Fries has been awarded a Goldwater Scholarship for 2020-21. As a junior in chemistry, Lydia intends to obtain a Ph.D. in either organic chemistry or electrochemistry. She has done research in both Matt Sigman’s and Shelley Minteer’s groups, and Lydia is an author on two papers with both professors. She has worked on a variety of projects involving electrochemistry, palladium catalysis, and computationally focused projects. As an undergraduate she enrolls in many graduate-level courses and is a Teaching Assistant for Organic Spectroscopy I. Lydia has been accepted to an REU program this summer, and hopes that the current pandemic will have subsided by the time her program is to begin mid-May. With encouragement from high school teachers, Lydia followed her passion and her strong aptitude for STEM subjects, and ignored the warnings from her broader community that she shouldn’t pursue such an expensive and “useless” degree. She followed her heart and her brain to the University of Utah where she landed in the ACCESS program and was immediately surrounded by many intelligent and motivated women.

In addition to her studies, Lydia enjoys rock climbing and spending time outdoors, and is currently staying safe at home in St. George.

Olja Simoska • Postdoc • Minteer Group The American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, has awarded the 13th Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral Fellowship (2020-2022) to Dr. Olja Simoska.

Olja completed her doctoral studies in December of 2019, under the supervision of Prof.

Keith J. Stevenson at the University of Texas at Austin. Her doctoral dissertation is titled “Real-time Monitoring of the Dynamic Metabolism and Responses of Pathogenic Bacteria using Electroanalytical Methods.” The electrochemical results from her doctoral research provide a strong quantitative basis for understanding microbial infections and virulence mechanisms in very complex biological systems. She has very impressive academic accomplishments, awards/honors, and publications/presentations lists.

For her Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral Fellowship, Olja’s research will focus on methodically exploring genetic engineering approaches to improve extracellular electron transfer and performance of microbial fuel cells. Her postdoctoral research will be under the supervision of Prof. Shelley D. Minteer at the Chemistry Department at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

About the ACS Sigal Postdoctoral Fellowship The Irving S. Sigal Postdoctoral Fellowship (Sigal Fellowship) of the American Chemical Society (ACS) is a two-year postdoctoral fellowship awarded every two years to a Ph.D. candidate who will pursue research at the chemistry and biology interface. Candidates are nominated by chairs of PhD-granting Chemistry Departments in the United States.

Individuals are not able to submit an application without being nominated.

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In Memoriam

RON RAGSDALE DECEMBER 10, 1932 ‒ JANUARY 16, 2020

Ronald Ragsdale passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, January 16, 2020 at his home in Draper, Utah. He came as an assistant professor in 1963 and was promoted to full professor in 1972. He will be warmly remembered for his extensive and passionate teaching as well as for establishing the annual Faraday Lectures back in 1981.

Ron taught over 50,000 undergraduate students, 4,000 high school students, 2,000 summer enrichment students, and more than 100 high school teachers. He and his wife, Eileen, continue to champion students and education. They established the Ronald & Eileen Ragsdale Endowed Chair in Chemical Education to allow the Department of Chemistry to hire and maintain a faculty member whose research is dedicated to investigating and implementing teaching practices that ensure the best possible experience for students. The couple has also established scholarships that will continue to support students who are in need of tuition support and are excelling in their studies. The Ragsdales have also supported the Curie Club and women in STEM within our the department.

The Summer High School Chemistry Enrichment program began in 1973, and Ragsdalewould invite guest speakers to deliver symposiums twice a week to cover diverse topics from Shakespeare to current political elections as well as a broad range of scientific disciplines.

With his devotion to chemical education, Ron instituted a chemistry demonstration program in the spirit of Michael Faraday in 1981, ably assisted by Dr. Jerry Driscoll, one of Ron's former students. Together, they entertained and educated crowds of serveral thousand community members--particularly high school chemistry students. The Lectures continue to entertain over a thousand of local kids, students, and parents each year every December. Professors Janis Louie and Tom Richmond continue this tradition that Ron established so During his 49-year career in the Department of many years ago.

Chemistry, he is recognized for initiating three groundbreaking educational outreachprograms Ron's impact on the Department of Chemistry that have distinguished the university's chemistry is far-reaching and ongoing. department from its peers: The Summer High School Chemistry Enrichment Program, a univerTo make a donation to the sity/high school cooperative Advanced Place- Ragsdale Endowed Chemistry Scholarship ment Lab program, and the annual Faraday in honor of Ron’s legacy, Lectures. contact Anne Vivienne: anne.vivienne@utah.edu

The Noble Friends of Chemistry Thank you for all of your generous gifts to the Department of Chemistry so far this year!

The following gifts were made from October 1, 2019 - July 31, 2020.

$100,000+

Michael & Sally Hunnicutt

$10,000 $99,999

Joel & Frances Harris Mitchell & Diana Johnson

Jerry Murry Eileen Ragsdale

Jack & Peg Simons

$2,500 - $9,999

Peter Armentrout & Mary Ann White* Alexandra Boldyrev* Carlos Bowman Cynthia J. Burrows & Scott L. Anderson Melissa & Eric Harwood Jacobsen Lake Foundation

Kent & Terri Jex Larry L. Marsh Mark & Jennifer McLaws RJay Murray David & Kimberly Sorenson The Rodney Brady Foundation

Rebecca Uhlig & Thaddeus Eager Henry White & Joyce Garcia Patrick & Lisa Zimmerman

$1,500 - $2,499

John Haslam Ryan Looper Shelley Minteer

Bryant & Betty Rossiter Lisa Wenzler & Kenneth Savin

$500 - $1,499

Iwona Anusiewicz * Charles & Judy Atwood Zlatko Bacic * Keld Lars Bak * Emily Ann Carter * Daniel & Kara Cherney * Samuel J. Cole * Mark G. Conish Kevin Dockery & Kelly Reynolds Gina Frey *

Joseph Gardella Ming & Mark Hammond Dennis & Patricia Lombardi Clifton & Terie McIntosh David & Viera Moore David & Marcia Nickell Ruth & Philip Novak Anita M. Orendt Michael & Christine Pelletier Kathryn S. Robinson

$250 - $499

David Baumann * Georgia Jeppesen Allen & Anne Oshita

Dennis & Charlotte Sauer Eileen Spain & Nathan Dalleska Lane J. Wallace

$100 - $249

Wain Allen Terrell N. Andersen Karen L. Anderson * Edward & Florence Aoyagi Scott & Susan Bean Katharine Beale Bill & Julie Breckenridge Grzegorz Chalinski Ronald & Mava Day

Rick & Chariya Ernst Christopher Fox Keith Gligorich Kenneth C. Hartner Harry G. Hecht Daisy Hewitt Charles & Janet Hubley John & Judity Hughes Bill Jack

Peter & Susan Rogers Jonathan & Gretta Rubin Mark H. Sherwood Matthew Sigman & Deborah BurneySigman Streeper, LLC Erin & Jacob Umbriaco Feng Wang Jiang-Hua & Hanju Wang

John & Inga Kenney Carl & Barbara Popp William & Marsha Kilgore Peter E. Rose Carol Korzeniewski Shane E. Smith Armin P. Langheinrich Joseph Subotnik Rolf & Lucina Larsen Bruce & Claire Welch Vance & Heidi Lyon Shari & Steve Zinik Chaoxiong Ma Jack & Glenda Rose Richard Neville & Jane Torgerson

* Donated between October 1, 2018 and October 1, 2019

Update: Joel Harris Endowed Graduate Scholarship Thank you to everyone who helped us reach our goal to raise $100,000!

And a very big thank you to Mike & Sally Hunnicutt for their $100,000 lead gift and a $100,000 matching gift for a total of $300,000 for the Harris Endowed Graduate Scholarship.

Department of Chemistry Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion We, the Department of Chemistry, welcome everyone of all backgrounds. Inclusion and diversity are essential elements to our teaching methods and scientific research. The more perspectives we bring to our department, the more impact and value we will contribute to our communities and society as a whole. We commit to fostering an open environment where we continue to listen to the needs of our students, staff, faculty, and greater scientific community. We endeavor to support our students as they continue forward without any prejudice. We value all forms of diversity and acknowledged their advancement of science and society.

At the University of Utah, there is simply no place for bias, discrimination, racism, bigotry, hate or violence. We condemn all such acts and words in the strongest possible terms.

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