SOUTHWEST RETORT
SEVENTY-FOURTH YEAR
September 2021
Published for the advancement of Chemists, Chemical Engineers and Chemistry in this area published by The Dallas-Fort Worth Section, with the cooperation of five other local sections of the American Chemical Society in the Southwest Region.
Vol. 74(1) September 2021 Editorial and Business Offices: Contact the Editor for subscription and advertisement information. Editor: Connie Hendrickson: retort@acsdfw.org Copy and Layout Editor: Lance Hughes: hugla64@gmail.com Business Manager: Martha Gilchrist: Martha.Gilchrist@tccd.edu The Southwest Retort is published monthly, September through May, by the Dallas-Ft. Worth Section of the American Chemical Society, Inc., for the ACS Sections of the Southwest Region.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Fifty Years Ago………………………….......5 ARTICLES and COLUMNS Letter from the Editor…..…..……..............18 The Chair’s Corner…………………….…...6 And Another Thing………………………….7 NEWS SHORTS Stretching the Capacity of Flexible Energy Storage….........................................................8 Firefighter Exposure to Wildfire Smoke Compounds Varies, Depending on Duties…………………………………..………10
Whiter Teeth, without the Burn ……...11 Leaky Sewers are Likely Responsible for Large Amounts of Medications in Streams….…………………………....…….12
Treating the ‘Root’ Cause of Baldness with a Dissolvable Microneedle Patch………...….13 ACS DFW Local Section Merkle Selected……………………...……..14 Undergraduate Student Awards…………..14 2021 Doherty and Schulz Award Winners..15
Contact the DFW Section General: info@acsdfw.org Education: ncw@acsdfw.org Elections: candidates@acsdfw.org Facebook: DFWACS Twitter: acsdfw
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AROUND THE AREA UTD and UTA……………………………...16 ANNOUNCEMENTS and MEETINGS ACS DFW Virtual Meeting…………….…...9 INDEX OF ADVERTISERS Huffman Laboratories……………..…........3 TCU Positions Available..……...…...….......3 TMJ Data Entry and Editing.………......…3 ANA-LAB…………………………...….…..4 The Southwest RETORT
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FIFTY YEARS AGO IN THE SOUTHWEST RETORT The ACS Southwest Regional Meeting will be held in San Antonio Dec. 1-3. The speaker at the banquet will be Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez. The General Chair for the meeting will be Dr. John T. Goodwin, Jr. from the Southwest Research Institute, while the Technical Chair is Dr. Dale A. Clark from the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base. Over 350 presentations are expected. Mr. Roland L. Osburn, Circulation Manager of The Southwest Retort, is retiring as Manager of the Dallas Branch of Sargent-Welch. He will also be retiring from his post with The Retort.
Compiled by E. Thomas Strom
Dr. J. J. Lagowski of UT-Austin chaired a session of the “Conference on Computers in Chemical Education and Research” held July 19-23 at Northern Illinois University. Additional speakers from UT-Austin were Drs. M. J. S. Dewar, S. J. Castleberry, F. A. Matsen and G. H. Culp. Dr. Alan J. Bard presented a paper Aug. 11 at the Gordon Conference on Analytical Chemistry. Dr. Royston M. Roberts presented a paper in Boston at the July 27-30 IUPAC meeting.
At the Mobil Field Research Laboratory (FRL) Ellis E. Bray, Manager of Petroleum Geochemistry Research, has been promoted to Senior Research Associate. He thus becomes one of only three Senior Research Associates at FRL and one of only ten Senior Septemeber 2021
Research Associates in all of Mobil R. & D. Corp. Ellis is best known for developing the Carbon Preference Index as a key to petroleum generation. At UT-Dallas Dr. Harold Werbin spoke at the Gordon Conference on “Nucleic Acids” held July 12-16. Dr. David Creed, Dr. Werbin’s post-doc, is leaving UT-Dallas to work with Nobel Laureate Dr. George Porter at the Davy Research Lab in England. At UT-Southwestern Medical School Dr. Ron Estabrook gave a paper in Edinburgh, Scotland in July. Dr. Morton D. Prager gave invited papers at two separate meetings in Italy this month. At Texas Woman’s University Dr. Lyman Caswell took short courses this summer at UT-Austin and Argonne National Lab. At North Texas State Dr. James J. Spurlock returned to the chemistry department after serving as Vice President of Academic Affairs. Dr. William H. Glaze attended an organometallic chemistry conference at the University of Moscow. The Chemistry Club at Tarleton State University received permission on June 2 to start a student affiliate chapter. Two chemistry faculty from Northeast Louisiana University, Chair Dr. Earl W. Baker and Dr. K. S. Miller, attended this September’s ACS National Meeting. At Texas Tech University Dr. Henry Shine was an invited speaker at the EUCHEM Conference held June 13-19 in Ronneby, Sweden. He spoke on “Cation-Radical Chemistry.”
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The Chair’s Corner Welcome to September 2021! We are excited this month to be holding another exciting chemistry presentation. We, of course, had hoped this meeting would have been live, but ultimately decided that it was best to hold it via zoom. On Friday, September 24th, at 6:30 PM, Dr. Eric Simanek the Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and the Chair of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Texas Christian University will present a talk titled, “The Science and History of Whiskey." Please join via zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7176687551 This summer has been busy with the selection of the winners for both the Wilfred T. Doherty and Werner Schulz Awards for 2021. Congratulations to Dr. Mihaela C. Stefan, Eugene McDermott Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Associate Dean for Graduate Education, School of Natural Science & Mathematics, University of Texas at Dallas for being the 2021 Wilfred T. Doherty award winner. Congratulations to Dr. Heather Thompson Science Educator at Mansfield ISD for being the 2021 Werner Schulz Award winner. Additional information is in this Retort about the award winners. Our sincere thank you to the awards selection committee. Once again, the executive committee continues to be very excited about 2021 and the local section's future. If there is anything that I can do for you, please don’t Septemeber 2021
hesitate to reach out at any (trey.putnam@ttuhsc.edu). Best, Trey Putnam 2021 Chair DFW Local Section of the ACS
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And Another Thing...
What??? By Denise L. Merkle, PhD In September of 2012, after many years of publication under the consistent leadership of Dr.E. Thomas Strom, the Southwest Retort morphed from hardcopy to electronic format and the editorship of Connie M. Hendrickson, PhD. 'And Another Thing...' (AAT) debuted in that first eedition, and has appeared in nearly every e -dition since. In deciding how to kick off this 10th year of the Southwest e-Retort, I re-read some of the early AAT columns. How wild to see how lighthearted were the topics! How well I was able to amuse myself back in the day. To where did that happiness in prose flee? Some of the Joy of Random Musings was pounded down by the random-seeming but deadly SARSCoV-2, that rolled over us like a giant spiked mace unleashed by a particularly virulent liege lord. Much more is now known about the causative agents and their effects than was available less than two years ago, but there is so much more to discover. Thud. Some joy of verbiage was slurped away with the energy required to refrain from losing one's eyeballs while rolling them in the face of anti-science illogic. How many times must chemists hear, 'I saw a video on social media and I like what the guy said, so I'll follow his masking suggestions', before their eyes roll out of their skulls, or so far back into their orbits that they're lost forever? We need a points system: 10 points for every incidence of squelched desire to smack someone who's still sharing infor-
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mation released even before SARS-CoV-2 was identified. 5 points for each time scientists refrain from howling like coyotes in pain at family gatherings, when a relative with no science training whatsoever explains how vaccines do not work and are actually spreading illness. 2 points for every snort-turned-sneeze when a physician who's not an epidemiologist or virologist knocks the World Health Organization's data, in favor of some anecdotal mishmash comprised of allergies and puzzling statistical mysticism. And of course, a whopping 20 points could be awarded for any scientist who's been called nasty names for pointing out that science isn't absolute, but a result of iterating to gain knowledge in the most unbiased way possible. If someone with better people skills than I have can persuade the airlines to count Scientist Torment Points as air miles, I'll buy you a drink as we sit in First Class and fly somewhere out of the reach of the Deep State Conspiracy, Bioweapon-wielding, It'sA-Hoax-And-There-Are-Medications-ToTreat-It Clan. Do we know what is going to happen with SARS-CoV-2 and its variaints? No, no we don't. Do we want to be dinosaurs, gazing at a meteor and thinking, 'Check out that hoax?' No, we don't want that, either. The` good thing is, at some point, we're at lot more likely to avoid coronavirus than we are to outrun a meteor. There may be some joy in that.
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From the ACS Press Room
Stretching the Capacity of Flexible Energy Storage “Crumpled MXene Electrodes for Ul- surface area for energy storage when they’re trastretchable and High-Area-Capacitance used in electrodes. However, previous reSupercapacitors” searchers have had to incorporate polymers and other nanomaterials to keep these types Nano Letters of electrodes from breaking when bent, Some electronics can bend, twist and stretch which decreases their electrical storage cain wearable displays, biomedical applications pacity. So, Desheng Kong and colleagues and soft robots. While these devices’ circuits wanted to see if deforming a pristine titanium have become increasingly pliable, the batter- carbide MXene film into accordion-like ies and supercapacitors that power them are ridges would maintain the electrode’s electristill rigid. Now, researchers in ACS’ Nano cal properties while adding flexibility and Letters report a flexible supercapacitor with stretchability to a supercapacitor. electrodes made of wrinkled titanium carbide The researchers disintegrated titanium alumi— a type of MXene nanomaterial — that num carbide powder into flakes with hydromaintained its ability to store and release fluoric acid and captured the layers of pure electronic charges after repetitive stretching. titanium carbide nanosheets as a roughly texYoutube ID: Y1asjrBcx0M& tured film on a filter. Then they placed the film on a piece of pre-stretched acrylic elasOne major chaltomer that was 800% its relaxed size. When lenge stretchathe researchers released the polymer, it ble electronics shrank to its original state, and the adhered must overcome nanosheets crumpled into accordion-like is the stiff and wrinkles. inflexible nature of their enIn initial experiments, the team found the ergy storage best electrode was made from a 3 µm-thick components, film that could be repetitively stretched and batteries and relaxed without being damaged and without supercapacitors. modifying its ability to store an electrical Supercapacitors charge. The team used this material to fabrithat use eleccate a supercapacitor by sandwiching a polytrodes made vinyl(alcohol)-sulfuric acid gel electrolyte from transitional metal carbides, carboni- between a pair of the stretchable titanium trides or nitrides, called MXenes, have desir- carbide electrodes. The device had a high enable electrical properties for portable flexible ergy capacity comparable to MXene-based devices, such as rapid charging and discharg- supercapacitors developed by other researching. And the way that 2D MXenes can form continued on next page multi-layered nanosheets provides a large Septemeber 2021
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ers, but it also had extreme stretchability up to 800% without the nanosheets cracking. It maintained approximately 90% of its energy storage capacity after being stretched 1,000 times, or after being bent or twisted. The researchers say their supercapacitor’s excellent energy storage and electrical stability is attractive for stretchable energy storage devices and wearable electronic systems. The authors acknowledge funding from the Key Research and Development Program of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation and HighLevel Entrepreneurial and Innovative Talents Program of Jiangsu Province.
2021 DFW Section Officers Chair: Trey Putnam Chair-elect: Mihaela C. Stefan Past Chair: Mihaela C. Stefan
Treasurer: Martha Gilchrist Secretary: Heidi Conrad Councilors: Mary Anderson, Linda Schultz, E. Thomas Strom, and Jason McAfee Alternate Councilors: Michael Bigwood, John McIlroy, Daniela Hutanu, and Danny Tran
The ACS-DFW Local Section will host a virtual meeting on Fri, September 24 at 6:30 pm. "The Science and History of Whiskey" ACS DFW Local Section is happy to host a virtual talk by Dr. Eric Simanek Dr. Simanek is the Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and the Chair of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Texas Christian University. His research focuses on the development of nanomedicines and nanodiagnostics, but on September 24th he will be discussing another area of passion. Dr. Simanek spent 12 years at Texas A&M before moving his lab to Texas Christian University in 2010.
Dr. Simanek will present a talk entitled, “The Science and History of Whiskey.” Date: Friday, September 24, 2021 – Talk beginning at 6:30 PM No Registration Required Location: Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7176687551
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From the ACS Press Room
Firefighter Exposure to Wildfire Smoke Compounds Varies, Depending on Duties “Exposure to Particulate Matter and Estimation of Volatile Organic Compounds across Wildland Firefighter Job Tasks” Environmental Science & Technology Every summer, wildfires rage across the western U.S., and wildland firefighters are tasked with putting them out. But in the process, they inhale smoke and all the compounds in it, which can be harmful at high amounts. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology have evaluated the presence of particulate matter and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) around firefighters actively combating blazes, finding the highest exposures among hotshot crews and those creating firebreaks. Most images of wildland firefighters show them covered from head to toe in black soot, or particulate matter, which they’re breathing in along with a mixture of other compounds in smoke. Inhaling particulate matter is associated with respiratory problems, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and researchers suspect that VOCs in wildfire smoke could exacerbate these conditions. However, getting accurate estimates of firefighters’ exposures to these pollutants is tough because of the extreme work environment, the different crew types and the variety of fire suppression tasks. For example, elite hotshot crews are on the front lines battling the hottest zones, while other crews may perform tasks in less intense parts of the fire’s edge or use long hoses to deliver water and Septemeber 2021
foam, usually to remote areas. So, Kathleen Navarro and colleagues wanted to evaluate particulate matter and VOC exposures of different types of firefighters. The researchers attached air samplers to wildland firefighters’ equipment, which they used when responding to large fires in many locations across the western U.S. Then the team measured the amount of particulate matter collected over one shift, averaging 14 hours, and used that data to estimate exposures to three potentially hazardous VOCs — acrolein, benzene and formaldehyde. Their results showed the single-shift exposures to these substances were below Occupational Safety and Health Administration limits for all subjects. However, the amounts of partic-
ulate matter and formaldehyde were above the shift-averaged recommendations of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for some of the firefighters. Hotshot crews, firefighters creating firebreaks
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From the ACS Press Room
Whiter Teeth, without the Burn “Photothermal-Enhanced Fenton-like Catalytic Activity of Oxygen-Deficient Nanotitania for Efficient and Safe Tooth Whitening” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Tian and colleagues wanted to develop a safe, effective whitening gel containing a catalyst that, when exposed to NIR light, would convert low levels of hydrogen peroxide into abundant hydroxyl radicals.
Most people would like to flash a smile of The researchers made oxygen-deficient titapearly whites, but over time teeth can be- nia nanoparticles that catalyzed hydroxyl radcome stained by foods, beverages and some medications. Unfortunately, the high levels of hydrogen peroxide in dentists’ bleaching treatments can damage enamel and cause tooth sensitivity and gum irritation. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a gel that, when exposed to near infrared (NIR) light, safely whitens teeth without the burn. A new bleaching gel whitened tooth samples by six
The growing demand for selfie-ready smiles has made tooth whitening one of the most popular dental procedures. Treatments at a dentist’s office are effective, but they use high-concentration hydrogen peroxide (30– 40%). Home bleaching products contain less peroxide (6–12%), but they usually require weeks of treatment and don’t work as well. When a bleaching gel is applied to teeth, hydrogen peroxide and peroxide-derived reactive oxygen species (mainly the hydroxyl radical) degrade pigments in stains. The hydroxyl radical is much better at doing this than hydrogen peroxide itself, so researchers have tried to improve the bleaching capacity of low-concentration hydrogen peroxide by boosting the generation of powerful hydroxyl radicals. Because previous approaches have had limitations, Xingyu Hu, Li Xie, Weidong Septemeber 2021
shades, using a low level of hydrogen peroxide (12%). Credit: Adapted from ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2021, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c06774
ical production from hydrogen peroxide. Exposing the nanoparticles to NIR light increased their catalytic activity, allowing them to completely bleach tooth samples stained with orange dye, tea or red dye within 2 hours. Then, the researchers made a gel containing the nanoparticles, a carbomer gel and 12% hydrogen peroxide. They applied it to naturally stained tooth samples and treated them with NIR light for an hour. The gel bleached teeth just as well as a popular tooth whitening gel containing 40% hydrogen peroxide, with less damage to enamel. The nanoparticle system is highly promising for tooth bleaching and could also be extended to Continued on Page 17
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From the ACS Press Room
Leaky Sewers are Likely Responsible for Large Amounts of Medications in Streams “Dosing the Coast: Leaking Sewage Infrastructure Delivers Large Annual Doses and Dynamic Mixtures of Pharmaceuticals to Urban Rivers”
stream or river over time — better represents the risks to downstream environments, where the contaminants end up. While loads are used in regulations for traditional pollutants, such as nutrients, they have not been considEnvironmental Science & Technology ered for pharmaceuticals. So, Megan Fork Pharmaceutical compounds can harm the en- and colleagues wanted to get an idea of the vironment. However, in waterways that don’t yearly load of medicines transported by an receive treated wastewater, these pollutants urban stream in Baltimore. aren’t expected to be present. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Sci- The researchers tested water from an urban ence & Technology have found that amounts stream draining into Baltimore’s Inner Harof some medications carried by a stream in bor in Maryland on a weekly basis for a year. Baltimore were substantial, despite generally At the outflow point, they found 16 pharmalow concentrations over the course of a year. ceutical compounds whose presence and Because wastewater plants don’t impact this amount varied considerably from week to stream, the high loads are likely coming from week, ranging from concentrations of parts per trillion to parts per billion. Trimethoprim leaking sewer pipes, they say. — an antibiotic — was found most regularly, Thousands but acetaminophen — a common pain relievof medica- er — was at the highest concentrations. The tions are team used their weekly measurements to estiapproved mate annual loads of pharmaceuticals, calcufor human lating that the equivalent of 30,000 doses of use in the antidepressants, 1,700 doses of antibiotics U.S., and and 30,000 tablets of acetaminophen entered many of them are harmful to microorgan- the Inner Harbor through the stream. Interestisms, algae and insects when they make their ingly, this watershed did not receive way into lakes and streams through wastewater treatment plant effluent, so it’s wastewater. The concentrations of pharma- likely these compounds are coming from ceutical compounds are usually used to deter- leaky sewer pipes. Improvements to aging mine their impact on organisms living in infrastructure could reduce this source of streams and rivers. However, contaminant harmful compounds to urban streams and concentrations may change quickly from one other waterways, the researchers say. day to the next, and so singular snapshots do not correctly illustrate their cumulative ef- The authors acknowledge funding from the fects on aquatic life. Instead, load — the U.S. National Science Foundation. mass of a pollutant that passes through a Septemeber 2021
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From the ACS Press Room
Treating the ‘Root’ Cause of Baldness with a Dissolvable Microneedle Patch “Ceria Nanozyme-Integrated Microneedles Reshape the Perifollicular Microenvironment for Androgenetic Alopecia Treatment”
So, the researchers wanted to design a minimally invasive way to deliver ceriumcontaining nanoparticles near hair roots deep under the skin to promote hair regrowth.
ACS Nano Although some people say that baldness is the “new sexy,” for those losing their hair, it can be distressing. An array of over-thecounter remedies are available, but most of them don’t focus on the primary causes: oxidative stress and insufficient circulation. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have designed a preliminary microneedle patch containing cerium nanoparticles to combat both problems, regrowing hair in a mouse model faster than a leading treatment. The most common hair loss condition is called androgenic alopecia, also known as male- or female- pattern baldness. Hair loss is permanent for people with the condition because there aren’t enough blood vessels surrounding the follicles to deliver nutrients, cytokines and other essential molecules. In addition, an accumulation of reactive oxygen species in the scalp can trigger the untimely death of the cells that form and grow new hair. Previously, Fangyuan Li, Jianqing Gao and colleagues determined that cerium-containing nanoparticles can mimic enzymes that remove excess reactive oxygen species, which reduced oxidative stress in liver injuries, wounds and Alzheimer’s disease. However, these nanoparticles cannot cross the outermost layer of skin. Septemeber 2021
As a first step, the researchers coated cerium nanoparticles with a biodegradable polyethylene glycol-lipid compound. Then they made the dissolvable microneedle patch by pouring a mixture of hyaluronic acid — a substance that is naturally abundant in human skin — and cerium-containing nanoparticles into a mold. The team tested control patches and the cerium-containing ones on male mice with bald spots formed by a hair removal cream. Both applications stimulated the formation of new blood vessels around the mice’s hair follicles. However, those treated with the nanoparticle patch showed faster signs of hair undergoing a transition in the root, such as earlier skin pigmentation and higher levels of a compound found only at the onset of new hair development. These mice also had fewer oxidative stress compounds in their skin. Finally, the researchers found that the cerium-
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Merkle Selected as ACS Fellow Class of 2021 ACSDFW member Denise Lynn Merkle, PhD, President of SciConsult, Inc and Director at Badderloch Woad, Inc., is a 2021 ACS Fellow. The ACS Division of Small Chemical Businesses sponsored the nomination for the Class of 2021. Merkle earned a BA in Biochemistry from University of MD, Baltimore County (UMBC), worked as a lab aide studying nitrosamines at Frederick Cancer Research Facility, and as a lab tech at UMBC and NIH, studying chloroplast gene expression and the protein structure of glucocerebrosidase, respectively. Merkle's graduate work focused on Zinc Finger Peptides in the laboratory of Jeremy M. Berg at Johns Hopkins. Post-docs in surface science at UF and amyloid peptide and fibril interactions at UND were followed with a stint at MedImmune in the Analytical Sciences and Quality Control Section. Merkle founded SciConsult, Inc in 1997 to provide support for companies and laboratories working in biomedical sciences. Merkle is inventor or co-inventor of 12 patents in disciplines from playground equipment, motorsports metrology, ophthalmologic accessories and insect culture. An ACS member since 1988, Merkle has served in many local section roles, including Alternate councilor, the 3-year Chair series (three times), Contributor to the Southwest eRetort, General Chair of SWRM 2004, and Septemeber 2021
Exhibits Chair of SWRM 2014. Merkle currently volunteers as Survey Coordinator and Treasurer for the ACS Small Chemical Businesses Division (ACS SCHB).
Undergraduate Outstanding Chemistry Student Awards The ACS DFW local section recognized 20 undergraduate students with Undergraduate Outstanding Chemistry Student Awards. Out of the 20 given awards, 7 were given to community college students. The DFW local section of the ACS organized a photography contest during the “Chemists Celebrate Earth Week”. A total of 15 photographs were submitted by graduate and undergraduate students. Muhammad Abbas from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry-University of Texas at Dallas won the first place with a picture representing diamond like crystals of copper metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Yafen Tian from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry-University of Texas at Dallas won the second place with a picture representing wrinkled mesoporous silica synthesized by bi-continuous microemulsion. Kapil Dev Sayala from the Department of Chemistry-Southern Methodist University won the third place with a picture representing crystals of 2iodobenzonitrile formed by slow evaporation of ethanol.
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2021 Doherty and Schulz Award Winners The ACS DFW local section is pleased to announce the winners of the Wilfred T. Doherty and Werner Schulz Awards for 2021. The ACS DFW local section would like to thank the 2021 Awards Committee led by Dr. Trish Smith for their hard work in selecting the winners for 2021. Mihaela C. Stefan, Eugene McDermott Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Dallas, is the winner of the Wilfred T. Doherty Award for 2021. The Doherty Award recognizes excellence in chemical research or chemistry teaching, meritorious service to ACS, the establishment of new chemical methodology (for the industry), solution of pollution problems, and advances in curative or preventive chemotherapy.
Mihaela C. Stefan received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Politehnica University Bucharest, Romania. She joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Dallas in 2007, and she is currently an Eugene McDermott Professor and Interim Department Head. She received the NSF Career Award in 2010, the NS&M Outstanding Teacher Award in 2009 and 2017, the Inclusive Teaching Diversity Award in 2012, the President’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2014, the Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring in Septemeber 2021
2015, and the Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Graduate Research Mentoring in 2021. She published more than 135 papers in peer-reviewed journals, graduated 22 Ph.D. students, and mentored more than 125 undergraduate students. Her research group is developing novel organic semiconductors for organic electronics, biodegradable and biocompatible polymers for drug delivery applications, and rare novel catalysts for the polymerization of dienes and cyclic esters. Heather Thompson is the winner of the Werner Schulz Award for 2021. The Schulz Award recognizes outstanding high school chemistry teachers, who, like the late Dr. Werner Schulz, bring excellence to the teaching of chemistry.
Heather Thompson received her B.A. in General Chemistry and M.Ed. in science education from the University of Texas at Arlington. Currently, she is working on her Ph.D. in Science Education at Texas Christian University. She began teaching chemistry in 2008 at Paschal High School in Fort Worth and is currently teaching at Lake Ridge High School in Mansfield. She has taught chemistry in high school at many different levels, including organic chemistry. Additionally, she has taught chemistry and forensics at Tarrant County College for the College for Kids summer program. She also had the chance to be a teacher's assisContinued on Page 16
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Around the Area UT Dallas
UT Arlington After serving six years as Department Chair, Dr. Fred MacDonnell is returning to full time teaching and research. The new Department Chair will be Dr. Carl Lovely. The Associate Chair is Dr. Peter Kroll. Dr. Robin Macaluso has received a $250,000 NSF grant for her solid state and material chemistry program. She was also elected as project coordinator for the Inorganic Chemistry Division of IUPAC. Dr. Junha Jeon received a continuation of his NSF grant to study “Hydrogen Atom Transfer Lewis Base Catalysis.” The research of Dr. Sherri McFarland and student Houston Cole was recently featured in The Dallas Morning News. Presentations from the McFarland group at the European Society for Photobiology (ESP) meeting were given by Houston Cole and Elam Rawasamy. There were also presentations from the group at the Fall ACS meeting by Cole, Rawasamy and undergraduate Wesley McDonald. Dr. Kayunta Johnson-Winters has been selected by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology to serve on their Nominating Committee. Dr. Johnson-Winters also received a silver EXCEL Award or her opinion piece “Being Black in the Ivory Tower.”
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Assistant Professor Allison Stelling and her collaborator Associate Professor Raymond Trievel at the University of Michigan won a NSF Science, Engineering & Education (SEE) Innovation award to study the Role of Tetrel Bonding in the Reaction Mechanism of Methyltransferases. Assistant Professor Sheena D’Arcy recently facilitated a donation of about 800 science backpacks to local fifth and sixth graders. Michael Luzuriaga (Ph.D. 2021, Gassensmith Lab) won the 2021 David Daniel Best Thesis Award. Professor Mihaela Stefan won the 2021 Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Graduate Research Mentoring. Dr. Stefan has also been named the new Chair of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.
“2021 Awards” Continued from page 15 tant and educational researcher during a TRIO Upward Bound Summer Chemical Research program at Texas Christian University. She received science teacher of the year award in 2013. Her Master's thesis research focus was on technology integration for immediate formative assessment feedback to students. Heather is currently focused on science language acquisition and laboratory use to enhance the acquisition of multiple science language modalities.
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From the ACS Press Room Continued
“Firefighter Exposure”
“Whiter Teeth”
Continued from page 10
Continued from page 11
(wide gaps in vegetation to stop the fire’s expansion) and personnel battling blazes in the Pacific Northwest were exposed to the highest amounts of the pollutants. Finally, the team asked the participants to qualitatively assess their smoke exposure, finding the responses aligned with the measured particulate matter exposures. To protect wildland firefighters’ health, the researchers suggest that fire management should work on reducing smoke exposures of firefighters, whenever possible. This could include incorporating self-reporting of exposure and rotate personnel from tasks that regularly experience high exposures to smoke and its pollutants to less smoky ones.
other biomedical applications, such as developing antibacterial materials, the researchers say.
The authors acknowledge funding from the U.S. Forest Service and the National Wildfire Coordinating Group Risk Management Committee and support by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Science Foundation.
The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program of China and the Key Technologies R&D Program of Sichuan Province.
“Baldness” Continued from page 13 containing microneedle patches resulted in faster mouse hair regrowth with similar coverage, density and diameter compared with a leading topical treatment and could be applied less frequently. Microneedle patches that introduce cerium nanoparticles into the skin are a promising strategy to reverse balding for androgenetic alopecia patients, the researchers say. The authors acknowledge funding from the Ten-thousand Talents Program of Zhejiang Province, National Key R&D Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, One Belt and One Road International Cooperation Project from the Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China.
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From the Editor The Southwest Retort is pleased to be back for its seventy-fourth year….and its tenth year as the e-Retort. Yes, fellow chemists, it’s been 10 years since the paper-toelectronic transition. In spite of the ongoing pandemic, the DFW section is moving right along. The Doherty and Schulz award winners, Mihaela C. Stefan of UTD and Heather Thompson of Lake Ridge High School, are featured in this issue. Denise Merkle was recognized as a Fellow of The ACS. The ACS DFW local section recognized 20 undergraduate students with Undergraduate Outstanding Chemistry Student Awards. Out of the 20 given awards, 7 were given to community college students. A virtual meeting is scheduled for September 24 on The Science and History of Whiskey. I have to say that section meetings just aren’t the same without the social hour and snacks, but the important thing is to keep having them regardless of outside events.
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