UD students presenting at the 75th Intercollegiate Student Chemists Convention include (from left) Matthew Broda, James White, Valerie Shurtleff, Sean Hunt, Timothy Gilpatrick and Gregory Darone.

Tradition of achievement

Students take honors at chemists convention

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3:37 p.m., April 19, 2011--University of Delaware students continued a winning tradition at the 75th Intercollegiate Student Chemists Convention (ISCC), held Saturday, April 16, at West Chester University. 

Six UD students presented papers, and four of them came away with honors.

Honors Stories

National Medal of Science

President Barack Obama recently presented the National Medal of Science to University of Delaware alumnus Rakesh Jain.

Warren Award

Rosalind Johnson, assistant dean for student success in the NUCLEUS Program in UD's College of Arts and Sciences, was presented the John Warren Excellence in Leadership and Service Award during a May 26 ceremony.

"It would be safe to conclude that University of Delaware participants made an indelible impression at this year's convention," said John L. Burmeister, long-time UD chemistry professor who accompanied the students to the convention. 

"Although these six papers constituted only 21 percent of the 28 papers presented by students from eight colleges and universities, they received 50 percent of the awards."

First-place awards were presented to Gregory Darone (Inorganic Division) and Valerie Shurtleff (Organic Division).  Darone presented "Synthesis and Crystal Structure of Eu(14)CdAs(11) -- a defect Variant of the Ca(14)AlSb(11) Structure Type." His mentor is Svilen Bobev, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry.  Shurtleff presented "Enantioselective C-H Functionalization of Indoles." Her mentor is Joseph M. Fox,.associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry.  

Second-place awards went to James White (Inorganic Division) and Sean Hunt (Physical Division). White presented "Synthesis and Characterization of Doped Apatite-Type Lanthanum Silicates for Use as Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) Electrolytes." His mentor is Joshua L. Hertz, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Hunt presented "Experimental and Computational Studies of Platinum and Palladium Monolayers on Carbides as Economically Viable Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) Electrocatalysts." His mentor is Jingguang Chen, Claire D. LeClaire Professor of Chemical Engineering. 

Also participating in the convention were Matthew J. Broda, who presented "Synthesis and Structural Characterization of the Ternary Pnictides LiMPn (M= Zn, Cd;  Pn = P, As)," and Timothy J. Gilpatrick, who presented "PAF-AH, Lipoproteins, and Atherosclerosis." Broda's mentor is Bobev, and Gilpatrick's mentor is Brian J. Bahnson, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry. 

Gilpatrick, Hunt, Shurtleff and White are in the Honors Program. Shurtleff and White are candidates for an honors degree with distinction in chmiestry this spring, and Hunt is a candidate for an honors degree in chemistry and an honors degree with distinction in chemical engineering next spring.

John Koh, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UD and associate director of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, presented the keynote address at the convention. 

During the long history of the ISCC (the oldest meeting of its kind in the country), UD students have received more awards (98) than any other of the 63 participating schools, according to Burmeister, who is Alumni Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UD. This was the 46th ISCC he has attended.

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