BARNARD COLLEGE
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NEWSLETTER
ARCHIVE
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NEWS OF THE DEPARTMENT As the year began, we welcomed a number of new faces to the department. Prof. John Magyar is our newest Assistant Professor. A bioinorganic chemist, John earned his Ph.D. in Hilary Godwin’s group at Northwestern University, and was a postdoc with Harry Gray at Caltech. We were very pleased that he secured external funding even before he arrived, winning a Faculty Start-up Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Jacob Newman was a Visiting Assistant Professor for the fall term, teaching the Integrated Lab (BC3365x). Jacob was completing his Ph.D. at NYU where he uses NMR to study art. Dr. Jim Farmar is a part-time Laboratory Associate in the organic labs. He directs a lab of the New York Blood Center. Erika Hawthorne arrived as the new chemistry Department Administrator. Later in the fall, we welcomed another new face, Molly Gill, as Administrative Assistant for Physics/Astronomy and Chemistry. Erika and Molly are a tremendous help keeping the department running smoothly.
Our fall luncheon speaker was Cindy Kan '00, a postdoc at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in the laboratory of Prof. Sam Danishevsky, who has large labs both at MSKCC and in the Columbia chemistry department. Cindy gave a wonderful talk, “Studies on the Chemical Synthesis of Homogeneous Erythropoietin,” describing the complexity of synthesizing glycopeptide and glycoprotein targets. Our spring guest was Megan Núñez, a bioorganic chemist from Mt. Holyoke College. Her subject was “The Effect of Base Lesions on the DNA Duplex.” A Smith graduate (and friend of Prof. Merrer), Prof. Núñez received her Ph.D. in 2001 from Caltech, in the group of Jackie Barton '74.
As we have said in previous years, the Barnard Chemistry department is slated to grow, pending space for new faculty to conduct their research with students. We decided to leverage our association with the Columbia Nanocenter (NSEC) to make the first of these new hires happen. We are thrilled that we have landed Marisa Buzzeo '01 for this new position. While at Barnard, she did inorganic research in Linda Doerrer’s group. Marisa received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Oxford, and is finishing a postdoc at Caltech in the lab of Jackie Barton '74. What makes this hire unusual is that Marisa will spend the 2008-09 academic year as a research scientist at NSEC, and will start teaching here in the fall of 2009, at which time the old 8th floor library will have been converted into research labs. This arrangement will foster collaborative opportunities for Marisa, her students, and the department well into the future. We thank Dr. Jim Yardley, Columbia NSEC Director, for working closely with us to make this happen.
The Barnard Chemistry Society (BCS), a student-organized club, has been very active again this year. The Columbia Nanocenter co-sponsored a number of their programs. In the fall, a lecture, “Chemistry and the Environment,” was given by Prof. Faye McNeill of the Columbia department of Chemical Engineering. BCS also offered entertaining demonstrations for kids as part of National Chemistry Week activities at the NY Hall of Science in Queens. In February, a lecture, “In vivo Optical Imaging,” was given by Dr. Elizabeth Hillman of Columbia’s department of Biomedical Engineering. BCS arranged a fascinating career panel about working in the NYPD Crime Labs. They also enjoy using liquid nitrogen to fast-freeze ice cream at their meetings to recruit new members. We applaud Mira Atanassova '08 for her superlative leadership of this group over the last three years, along with all the other students who have worked hard with her. Mira presented a poster on BCS activities at the New Orleans ACS national meeting; her co-authors were Denise Napolitano '08, Dr. Jacob Alexander, and Dr. Jim Yardley of NSEC.
After 31 years in the Barnard chemistry department, Prof. Leslie Lessinger is retiring. A farewell party was given in May; a number of alums who live nearby (and whose e-mails we happened to know) were able to attend. Fitting tributes were offered by faculty and administrators. Many spoke of his extraordinary intellect, his wide knowledge, and his passionate teaching. For a number of years, Les directed Barnard’s Centennial Scholars program, which is designed to offer independent scholarly opportunities to unusually talented students. He was ideally suited to this task. But he was equally central to chemistry, serving as department chair several times and teaching many different courses, including General Chemistry I, to generations of students. It is hard to imagine the department without him. Departmental Student Prizes
College and University Prizes
The department and the college are very proud of Xiao Yu Mo '09 who won a Goldwater Scholarship in a national competition. Twenty three chemistry and biochemistry majors were in this year’s senior class. Seven participated in the year-long Senior Honors Thesis program. Each will be recognized with Distinction in Chemistry or Biochemistry. Their research advises and topics are listed below.
The class of 2008 is a numerous and talented group! Here are their immediate plans: Tarnima Ahamed is a resident assistant (RA) in Barnard dorms this summer. Her first task is studying for MCATs. In the fall she will apply to medical school and look for jobs. Mira Atanassova was elected to φβκ. She is starting law school, probably at Brooklyn Law. Alexandra Athan is entering the Ph.D. program in chemistry at Stony Brook. Yvonne Chang is looking for lab work. Her plan is to do research for two years, and then apply to graduate school. Christina Chu will be attending the SUNY School of Optometry for a Doctor of Optometry degree and Masters in Visual Science. Rebecca Israel was elected to φβκ. Rebecca is currently interviewing for jobs; she plans to go to medical school after a year or two. Lauren Jain will be interning as a dental assistant in midtown Manhattan and working as a Graduate Assistant, managing the Barnard Computer lab part-time in the evenings. She plans to begin dental school the following year. Pali (Alexandra) Jen was elected to φβκ in Fall 2007. Her Centennial Scholar project involved work with chronically ill children and their families; the final presentation included a display of quilts that the children made with her. In the fall, she starts work for the Patrons Program, a nonprofit supporting NYC Catholic schools, doing development work and leading after-school programs at a school at 112th and 3rd. Pali plans to attend medical school in Fall 2009. Karen Justiniano is looking for work. Krithika Kavanoor is looking for work, planning to pursue further studies in the future. Felicia Konopka is entering the Ph.D. program at Syracuse University this fall, where she plans to do research in nanoscience or organometallics. Felicia won an NSF-REU Chemistry Leadership Group Travel Award, which helped her attend the April 2008 ACS Meeting in New Orleans. She presented research from her Summer 2007 REU at Syracuse. Yetta Levine is working this year while she applies to dental school for Fall 2009. Emily Miller completed a double major in dance and biochemistry. Her senior dance project included choreographing a chemistry-inspired work, “Antisymmetric.” She has started work at the Hospital for Special Surgery as the Clinical Research Coordinator for the Autoimmune Disease Registry and Repository. She plans further study after a year or two. Denise Napolitano is applying for jobs, mainly with pharmaceutical and personal care companies. Sonia Ortiz is entering the Ph.D. program in chemistry at Northwestern. Lindsay Repka is entering the Ph.D. program in chemistry at Caltech. Carmen Rodriguez will be working at Albert Einstein College of Medicine as a Clinical Research Coordinator. She hopes to go to medical school in 2009. Ayelet Spitzer is looking for work in the Washington DC area. She plans to apply to medical school for Fall 2009. Ida Suen is entering the M.P.H. program at the Mailman School of Public Health (Columbia). Ida’s sister, Linda, is a rising junior biochemistry major. Kaitlyn Suski is entering the Ph.D. program in chemistry at UC San Diego. Lhamo Tshering is looking for work. Megan Verma is looking for work. Dara Wilensky is working as an advocate for the Urban Justice Center's Mental Health Project (in Manhattan) this year, and applying to medical school for Fall 2009. click here to continue on to the "News of the Faculty & Staff" section |
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