Tag Archives: chemistry

Chemistry student photo

Chemistry Department Wins ACS Full Accreditation

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Chemistry student photoThe American Chemical Society recently approved KSC’s Chemistry Department for full accreditation. The Committee on Professional Training (CPT) governs the approval process, getting input from academic and industrial representatives to determine what should comprise a proper chemical education. The standards are very comprehensive.

“What this means to the department and students is that we have validation of the quality of the facilities, staff, major program, and other resources (library, instrumentation),” explained Associate Professor of Chemistry Richard Blatchly. “The students will get a certificate attesting to this, and presumably will have it marked on their transcripts. That should be appealing to employers and graduate schools.”

Dr. Blatchly also said that prospective students frequently ask if our programs are ACS approved. The answer now is “Yes.” The approval could be very important, Dr. Blatchly noted, “as it marks us as an institution which cares a lot about academic quality, and is willing to provide the resources and energy to achieve and maintain it.”

NMR data read out

KSC Receives Grant for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer

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Thanks to a $263,700 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation program, Keene State chemistry students and researchers will soon have much richer and effective opportunities for molecular analysis. The grant will allow the College to buy a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer.

“The NMR instrument helps a chemist verify or determine molecular structures,” explained Paul Baures, professor of chemistry. “This is a consequence of particular atoms in compounds being influenced in a defined way by the magnetic field. Since we can’t see molecules, such information is the way a chemist will validate what they think is the makeup of a compound. NMR is a real workhorse for scientists who make molecules, and it is a requirement for publishing research that the data from this type of instrument be used to support the conclusions of the paper.”
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Prof. Jasinski Awarded Fulbright Scholarship

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Dr. Jerry Jasinski
Dr. Jerry Jasinski

Professor of Chemistry Jerry P. Jasinski has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and conduct research at the University of Mysore (Mysore, India) during the 2013–2014 academic year. Dr. Jasinski’s goal through this exchange is to teach students and faculty at the University of Mysore, and affiliated institutions about the use of single crystal X-ray crystallography as a modern state-of-the-art tool in the determination of molecular structure.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

Andrew Abeleira: the First KSC Student to Present at an International Scientific Conference

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Andrew Abeleira with his poster presentation at the 23rd International Symposium of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (ISPAC) at the University of Munster

Who would have guessed that lichens are an effective biomonitor of the level of pollution around us? Well, it’s true, and senior chemistry major Andrew Abeleira has spent the past two years as an undergraduate research assistant with Chemistry Professor Jim Kraly, studying that. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemicals that are produced whenever organic matter is heated. (That covers everything from roasting coffee to burning wood to combusting gasoline in an engine.) These pollutants accumulate in lichens, so lichens serve as important biomonitors of just how much of these PAHs are in our environment.

Last March, Andrew traveled with Dr. Kraly to present a poster on their findings at the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (PITTCON)  in Atlanta, Ga., where they met the organizer of the 23rd International Symposium of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (ISPAC) at the University of Munster in Germany. The study of PAHs is big in Europe (where they’re called polycyclic aromatic compounds, or PACs), so the symposium organizer recommended that the team attend the Munster event, and they did.
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Paul Baures Accepts David F. Putnam Chemistry Chair

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Chemistry Professor and David F. Putnam Chair Paul Baures

Academic excellence at KSC took another step forward with the appointment of Paul Baures as Professor and David F. Putnam Chair in the Chemistry Department. Dr. Baures brings invaluable expertise in biochemistry and medicinal chemistry to our academic community. For more than two decades, he has been conducting applied and basic research and teaching in the field. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants from institutions such as the National Institutes of Health, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, and the American Chemical Society.
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