News

In the News

Congratulations to Andrew Morehead for being awarded a grant entitled "Application of Calibrated Peer Review™ to Improving the Writing and Critical Reading Skills of MS and PhD Students in the Department of Chemistry."
The Department of Chemistry is pleased to announce that we will be participating in the Spring Career Fair on February 13, 2008 from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM. The location is in the Greenville Convention Center. You need to register with Career Services (through the Career Connections link) to participate. A number of potential local area employers will be invited to participate. Act now to ensure your place at this event.

Employers: click for information for employers wishing to attend the Spring Career Fair.
Southern Testing & Research Laboratories in Wilson, NC (a division of Microbac Laboratories, Inc.) has made an unrestricted gift to the East Carolina University Department of Chemistry. This gift will be used to help equip undergraduate teaching laboratories with more modern analytical equipment and supplies for undergraduate laboratory experiments. The Department of Chemistry is very pleased that Southern Testing & Research Laboratories has made this gift and it opens the door to future cooperation between the Department of Chemistry and a local business that employs Chemistry graduates.

Microbac Presentation

Mr. Robert W. Dermer, Managing Director, Microbac Laboratories, Inc. (Southern Testing & Research Division, Wilson, NC) presents a check for unrestricted funds to Dr. Keith Holmes of the ECU Department of Chemistry.

Announcement of Gift in Kind Received from GSK

The East Carolina University Department of Chemistry is delighted to announce the generous contribution of analytical equipment primarily for use by the department’s undergraduate laboratories and undergraduate and graduate students. Approximately 70 pieces of equipment have been donated and are being put into service in the department’s various laboratories.

This gift has been conservatively estimated in excess of $50,000.

GSK’s contribution is gratefully acknowledged by the Department of Chemistry and is an excellent example of a major pharmaceutical company working to help improve educational opportunities for and preparation of the future workforce of eastern North Carolina.
Announcement of Gift in Kind Received from DSM

The East Carolina University Department of Chemistry is delighted to announce the generous contribution of analytical equipment for use by the department’s undergraduate laboratories. The following instruments generously donated include: one FT-IR unit, two HPLC units (one with gradient capability) with UV/PDA detectors, two GC units, and two UV/Visible spectrophotometers.

This gift has been estimated in excess of $100,000.

DSM’s contribution is gratefully acknowledged by the Department of Chemistry and is an excellent example of a regional industrial partner working to help improve educational opportunities for the future workforce of eastern North Carolina.
Meet the new faculty joining the Department of Chemistry in the fall, 2007.
Andrew Morehead has been awarded a 2007/2008 College Research Award for his proposal entitled "Mechanistic Investigation of Rhodium-Catalyzed Ring Forming Reactions Leading to Indanones and Tetralones."
Metrics, Inc. Supports ECU's Chemistry Department

Mr. Phil Hodges, CEO of Metrics, Inc., a Greenville Contract Pharmaceutical Development company, has made a commitment to fund five undergraduate Teaching Assistants for fall 2007 and spring 2008 semesters. Mr. Hodges is a graduate of ECU and an Outstanding Alumni Recipient. Metrics, Inc. is a continuing supporter and employer of ECU's graduates.

The Department of Chemistry expresses its sincerest thanks to Metrics, Inc. for its support of our undergraduate Teaching Assistants.
Sandoz Inc. Provides Support for ECU Chemistry Department

The Sandoz Inc. site in Wilson, NC, and Sandoz Inc. corporate office have made a major contribution of 24 computer-to-lab experiment interfaces plus ancillary equipment to ECU's undergraduate chemistry laboratory program. The existing computer/experiment interface units (used for many of our general chemistry laboratory experiments) are old and many have failed. This caused students to have to work in groups of three or four instead of individually in undertaking several critical laboratoray experiments. Thus, significant "hands on" time for each student performing these experiments could not be achieved.

With this contribution, Sandoz Inc. has provided the chemistry students at ECU with an invaluable tool for improving our undergraduate students' educational experience, and the Sandoz collaboration with ECU is most gratefully acknowledged.
Tim Romack's research is featured in the newest issue of Pieces of Eight.
Several faculty in the Department of Chemistry are recipients of 2007/2008 Research Development Awards from the Division of Research and Graduate Studies! They are:

Toby Allen, $19,980, "Hosts for an Uninvited Guest: Binding PFOS with Designed Ligands"
Allison Danell, with David Collier (Pediatrics), $20,000, "Organophosphate Pesticides and Obesity"
Yumin Li, $19,880, "Viral Membrane Fusion and the Dengue Virus"
Yumin Li was also awarded a 2007/2008 Research and Creative Activity Grant from ECU's Faculty Senate for her proposal entitled "Rational Drug Design of Cardiac Troponin Ligand: A Computational Approach to Treat Cardiomyopathy". Unfortunately, Dr. Li had to decline the award because of her 2007/2008 Research Development Award.
Colin Burns won a Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching award for 2007!
Bob Morrison has received the 2006 Distinguished Professorship in the Harriot College of Arts and Sciences. This professorship is conferred upon a professor whose career exemplifies a commitment to and a love for knowledge and academic life, as demonstrated by outstanding teaching/advising, research/creative productivity, and professional service.
Allison Danell has been awarded a 2006/2007 College Research Award.
Andy Sargent, Gerald Micklow, Paul Fletcher, Jason Bond, and Ernie Marshburn received a $400,000 National Science Foundation grant for the purchase of a high performance computing cluster environment in support of scientific and engineering applications.