Dr. Addison Desnoyer joined our Department in July 2022 at the rank of Assistant Professor. The Department is thrilled to have a new colleague and can’t wait to see how his research grows. Addison was born and raised in beautiful Kelowna, a city about the size of Eugene, in the Okanagan Valley in Central British Columbia, Canada. About 560 miles northeast of Corvallis (or 900 km, if you are Canadian).
He’s been lucky enough to have been joined on his career odyssey by his wife, Caroline Hedge. “We met during our undergraduate studies when I made her a liquid nitrogen Freezie at her freshman orientation.” They recently had their first child, Stanley, who is currently just over six months old and has been teething for most of that time. They also have a 9-year old cat named Kitty, a 7-year old Shetland Sheepdog named Whiskey, and a 4-month old kitten named Sam, “so our house is pretty hectic lately!”
When Addison entered the academic job market last year, OSU was at the top of his list for a huge number of reasons. For starters, the resources, and facilities that OSU offers for researchers are excellent. OSU is the kind of place that gives students all the tools they need to be really successful in their research endeavors. Another important reason why he joined OSU is that the values of the Department of Chemistry align very well with his own. The Department is authentically striving to improve regarding Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives, as well as delivering an exceptional undergraduate program with significant research opportunities.
He attributes his pursuing Chemistry to a long list of amazing advisors and mentors and says they’ve each played a part in his desire to pursue a career in chemistry. Addison said he didn’t take a single chemistry class his last two years of high school, and started university as a Biology major, and it wasn’t until he took a few second-year classes taught by some really dynamic and exciting chemistry professors that he became interested in the area of study. He remembers fondly his first postdoctoral advisor, Prof. Ian Tonks at the University of Minnesota, who showed him the positive impact that someone can have in this job as an excellent researcher, a supportive advisor, and compassionate person.
Addison feels the most meaningful experiences he’s had in his career so far, have been watching the growth of his mentees. “My first real taste of it was when, as a young graduate student, the undergraduates I had been supervising started to be able to perform complex manipulations in lab without any help from me. Then, they started to suggest new and original experiments to do all on their own! I’m old enough now that I’ve been able to watch many of my former students go off to grad school, earn advanced degrees, publish exciting papers, and land good jobs in both academia and industry.”
Personally, Addison feels that science should always be working towards making the world a better place than it was before. Especially as researchers at a public university, most of the money that pays for salaries and buys reagents and instruments comes from taxpayers and donors. “Thus, I think it is very important to show the general public the kinds of problems we are trying to solve and how the methods we develop in the lab will have tangible effects on everyday life.” This belief coincides well with his teaching philosophy, in believing that everyone, regardless of their background or experience, deserves an opportunity to learn about science. The scientific method teaches us to think critically and rationally about the world, and how to logically approach complex problems. “These skills are also incredibly valuable outside of the classroom.”
When not performing Synthetic Chemistry in his research lab, Addison and his wife love to garden. They especially enjoy growing their own food, which, Addison says, “is another perk of living here in the Willamette Valley.”
The Stewardship Science Academic Alliances (SSAA) program is a grant program under the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) that aims to safely and effectively manage the United States’ nuclear weapons stockpile and fund research relating to the nuclear sciences. These funding opportunities help maintain national security and contribute to long-term nonproliferation goals.
Dr. Walter Loveland, Emeritus professor in the Department of Chemistry at Oregon State University, is the recent awardee of a 3 year SSAA contract for $441,000. Dr. Loveland is well known in the field of nuclear chemistry, and much of his research focuses on fusion reactions used to synthesize superheavy elements and the neutron induced fission processes of radioactive elements.
This SSAA contract will help provide actinide samples to measure the total kinetic energy release in the fast neutron induced fission of several selected nuclei, such as Americium-241, Americium-243, and Curium-248. The total kinetic energy release is an important metric as it constitutes most of the energy produced during fission, and so this work will give us insight into the energetics and interactions inside certain fission reactions.
The department is indebted to Dr. Loveland’s sustained contribution over the years, and congratulates him for his continued success in research and service. Walt, you make us proud!
Chloe Ramsperger has been named one of the Fall 2021 Undergraduates of the Quarter, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Chloe grew up in Redlands, California, where she attended Redlands High School, home of the Terriers.
When asked why Chloe chose Chemistry, she said, “Ever since I was young, I have had a growing passion for forensic science. Having access to television, I would constantly watch crime shows such as Crime Scene Investigation and Criminal Minds, wishing I was the investigator or the forensic scientist solving the crime. I never thought that wish could become my reality. With my growing interest in forensic science, I entered Oregon State University (OSU) as a chemistry major with an option in forensics. At the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, financial hardships forced me to take a step back from research, so I started working at a dental office. While working there, I realized how much I missed doing research and that chemistry was something that brought me joy and it was something I could always look forward to. At that moment I quickly realized the medical field is not where I wanted my career to be, leading me to believe I should be and want to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry.
During her junior year of high school, her uncle flew her up to Oregon to visit universities in the Pacific Northwest. While visiting OSU, she fell in love with the campus, and she knew it would allow for innovation and give her the best education in comparison to other schools. Her decision was made.
She is currently doing research in Dr. Kyriakos Stylianou‘s Materials Discovery Lab (MaD Lab), which has considerable expertise in the synthesis and characterization of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Over the summer, Chloe received the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) fellowship, by which she began researching numerous organic transformations that could benefit from the use of a heterogenous catalysis. While looking at the hydrocyanation for the conversion of alkenes to nitriles, she stumbled upon the Strecker synthesis for amino acids. She found a considerable amount of published research on this one-pot synthesis, but nothing seemed to involve the use of a MOF exhibiting strong Brønsted acidity that does not compromise the framework, be an environmentally friendly synthetic route, and be cost effective. While this work is still in its early steps, this preliminary work has demonstrated a successful conversion and high percent yield using a MOF with Brønsted acid sites. These preliminary results were used as the basis for the development of the project proposed for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
Chloe was at a poster presentation session for careers in chemistry, Dr. Rich Carter asked her where she saw herself in the future, to which she answered, “a forensic odontologist”. At that point he told her about Dr. Dipankar Koley’s research group, in which they used electrochemical techniques to fabricate sensors and different polymers to study dental plaque biofilms and restorative dental materials. She immediately sought out a research position in his lab because she knew she would gain valuable experience to prepare her for graduate school and become an independent researcher and mentor.
After graduation, Chloe hopes to work in industry for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year then move onto graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in Organic chemistry.
Outside of school Chloe loves to rock climb, hike, play volleyball, and listen to music.
In closing, Chloe stated, “though my academic career seems to be entrenched, by copious opportunities I have received, it could not have been done without the academic support from my mentors and encouragement from my parents. My undergraduate career at Oregon State University has solidified my ambition to become an educator, mentor, and communicator to transform chemistry.”
Elias “Eli” Henderson has been named one of the Fall 2021 Undergraduates of the Quarter and we couldn’t be prouder.
Eli was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, and graduated from South Eugene High School, home of the Axe. He stated that he likes all science, but chemistry is, “so cool with so many different applications that it seems like a good place to begin.” When asked why he chose OSU, Eli said it was mostly a financial decision. “I didn’t want to pay out of state tuition and OSU has a good science program so I knew it would be a good fit.”
Eli said he wanted to get into doing science that wasn’t in the form of the normal courses. He wanted to be able to have a goal for some project that he could study on his own time. To that end, Eli is currently researching with Marilyn Mackiewicz in the Mack Lab. The Mack Lab focuses on making metallic based nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Eli works specifically with Nickel. “I have been working on making Nickel nanoparticles that are suspended in water.
While he’s not 100% sure what his plans are post-graduation, he is currently working towards a focus in education, and contemplating getting a masters on his way to a teaching license to teach high school.
Outside school, Eli likes to rock climb and explore Corvallis. When he’s exploring, he likes to find the small stores around town and see what is going on.
His favorite book is The End of Boys by Peter Hofmeister, a book he says he’s just finished re-reading. The author was his English teach in high school, and is about the author’s life growing up in Eugene. “It feels very familiar to me,” Eli says. His favorite food is the curry at Thai Chili. He likes to go in on Fridays, saying it’s a good way to wrap up the week.
Eli says he’s really appreciative of this opportunity, and we’re so happy to be able to provide it for him.
In Prof. David Ji’s research team at OSU, students are thinking big. To find solutions to the devastating threats of climate crises requires a panoramic view of the challenges and the entire paradigm of research effort. Fortunately, Ji research team is armed with one of the most powerful tools in generating new knowledge and novel solutions for energy storage technologies: chemistry.
A PROBLEM WORTH SOLVING
Global warming, climate change, and environmental pollution represent the most significant challenges of our time. In order for the society to make the transition from fossil fuel energy resources to cleaner, more renewable sources of energy, new grid-level energy storage systems are indispensable. These new energy storage systems need to have excellent longevity as well as have high energy and power densities to enable the widespread installation of renewables as the cost-effective alternatives to the conventional, pollution-intensive sources of energy. Currently, the market-dominating battery technologies suffer from significant safety, toxicity, and resource availability issues. As such, Ji research team focuses on novel battery chemistries that incorporate abundant materials and unique electrochemical mechanisms. Student researchers in the Ji team think outside-the-box and advance the knowledge to tackle these problems in unconventional ways.
INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
Ji research team thrives at the edge of knowledge. “Pushing the boundaries of what is known about chemical bonding in ionic solids will lead to future groundbreaking discoveries,” says Ji. The research group has been a pioneer in the development of novel ion-storage mechanisms in solids for electrochemical energy storage since it began at OSU in 2012. They have contributed significantly to the development of new aqueous battery systems and novel electrocatalysts for fuel cells. Their studies on the electrochemical behaviors of unique charge carriers in solids and electrolytes have helped surface a roadmap toward research for next-generation storage batteries. “The overarching goal of our research is to construct a new paradigm of storage batteries,” says Ji. “We look at problems within the battery field from the perspective of a chemist and holistically design new electrochemical systems for energy storage at the level of new chemical reactions, which is beyond a typical approach of materials science.” The team is known for cutting-edge research in providing fundamentals and innovative solutions to long-standing problems.
COMMITMENT TO SERVICE
Every student who has joined the Ji research team is passionate about helping others. “A large reason we study battery chemistry is that we want to make the world a better place and are concerned about the devastating effects of climate change,” says Sean Sandstrom, a graduate student in the Ji group. The group currently consists of a postdoc, ten graduate students, including exchange students, and three undergraduate research assistants. “We hope to not only train but also to inspire the next generation of scientists to dream big and tackle grand challenges,” says Ji.
If you ask Richard Nafshun, he’ll say that one of the quickest ways to get teenagers interested in chemistry is to put on a good show. The idea was foremost on his mind when he collaborated with local middle school teachers and Oregon State graduate students to put on the “Chemistry Show,” at the LaSells Stewart Center this spring.
And when upwards of 1200 middle-schoolers and their families showed up, he was glad he had made things interesting. The senior instructor of chemistry at Oregon State is passionate about teaching and outreach.
“We had lots of fun with exploding balloons,” he says. “So you take an uninflated balloon, hook it up to the hydrogen tank, and tie it off. You have it on a string, tape a candle to a meter stick, put the candle underneath the balloon… and BOOM!”
It wasn’t the only time sparks flew during the show’s 20 demonstrations, but for Nafshun, who holds both a master’s degree in science education and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Oregon State, the spectacle is only part of the process—learning is the other.
For the past 15 years, Nafshun has dedicated himself to creating better chemistry classes for students, especially in the lecture setting. He’s pioneered online chemistry education at Oregon State, created outreach programs for K-12 students and mentored the next generation of chemistry teachers and professors.
And he has been successful, too. Not only has Nafshun won numerous teaching awards, Oregon State students regularly approach Nafshun and tell him they remember his outreach events from their grade school or middle school years. Some even come back to volunteer with programs they experienced as grade schoolers.
“That’s a real cyclic thing,” he says. “To say, ‘Wow. You were in this program, and now you’re teaching where you’ve been taught. And you’re going to be a teacher in the future.’ It makes me feel wonderful.”
A Collaborative Experience
Nafshun discovered his passion for teaching when he was a chemistry undergraduate at California State University, Stanislaus. He was one of the few students there asked to serve as a teaching assistant—a rare thing at a university with no graduate program.
“I absolutely fell in love with being a teacher,” he says.
That love was further cemented when, that summer, Nafshun took a job working for a group that did cholesterol testing in eggs and dairy products. Although he saw value in the work, he wanted to be a part of something more collaborative.
“While the chance for development and research was there, it seemed very independent and isolated,” Nafshun says. “It didn’t seem as though I was going to be part of an institutional process to make something happen.”
Bringing passion to a profession
Now, Nafshun focuses his research on instructional methods for the large classroom, and teaches general chemistry. Many of the lessons he creates for the lecture hall reflect what he loved about chemistry as a high school student—group projects that rely on teamwork and exploration rather than rote memorization.
“It was all that time after school meeting with fellow students, and accomplishing a project and doing scholarship that I found fabulous,” he says.
Nafshun also mentors students in CH 607, his college chemistry-teaching seminar. He wants them to have the experience of engaging students in the lecture setting as well.
“We develop curriculum and labs. And then the beautiful part about it is these graduate students take over the class from one week,” Nafshun says. “So they work on a unit. They prepare. We talk about what demonstrations to do, teaching methods, everything.”
Since 1997 Nafshun has mentored nearly 20 students in the seminar setting—some of whom have gone on to use some of the methods Nafshun taught them at institutions like Evergreen, The Ohio State University, the University of Portland and Seattle Pacific, to name a few.
“I hope they’re bringing engaging instructional techniques, doing good student questioning and application-based instruction,” he says. “I hope that they’re focusing on students working in small groups. I honestly think there’s a balance in the lecture hall.”
A Home for Science
Nafshun’s input into the classroom experience isn’t the only thing that works for his students—the new Linus Pauling Science Center, which was completed in 2011, does as well. There are only seats for 178 students in the building’s lecture hall, which helps facilitate the application of some of Nafshun’s lecture content in introductory chemistry classes.
And because some of the Center’s cutting-edge research facilities like the electron microscopy lab and the nuclear magnetic resonance facility are on the main floor and encased in glass, students get a more immediate and exciting view of research in the moment.
“This year they’re coming out of the woodwork and asking about undergraduate research opportunities,” Nafshun says. “You walk down the hall and see fundamental research, stuff that matters today. Students see it, too.”
Access for Everyone
One of Nafshun’s more recent projects has been collaborating with colleagues in chemistry and computer science to develop a curriculum of general chemistry labs that are delivered online. They are currently being used in Oregon State’s Ecampus chemistry program, and Nafshun hopes that other universities might use the curriculum, too.
For Nafshun, online labs are the way of the future, and online education is a way for people to have access to education who wouldn’t otherwise, like deployed military personnel and people living in rural areas.
“I started the Ecampus chemistry program nine years ago, and saw the enrollment in the online program go from two students to 600 a term,” he says.
As for the next Chemistry Show, Nafshun is trying to figure out if there’s a venue in Corvallis that will hold an even bigger crowd.
