Tags: Departmental Colloquium

The size and composition of atmospheric aerosol particles modulate their interactions with solar radiation, and thus their influence on climate and visibility. The radiative effects of aerosol particles remain a large uncertainty in accurately modeling and predicting current and future climates. Recent work has demonstrated the presence of organic surfactant molecules in atmospheric aerosol particles, and their sources and transformations in the…
Children never cease to be fascinated by toy gyroscopes, which commonly consist of (1) a rotating axis and disk, and (2) two to four spokes that connect the termini of the axis. This talk will describe syntheses of molecules that duplicate the connectivity, symmetry, and rotational ability of such gyroscopes. Complexes with trans R3P-MLn -PR3 linkages are first prepared, with R groups that terminate with a CH=CH2 moiety. Then alkene metathesis…
The definition of active learning depends on who you ask.  The approaches are widely varying with different levels of student success. Today’s presentation will be a discussion of what constitutes active learning.  To help illustrate the concept, activities will be presented that are used in the presenter's classroom. It is hoped that attendees will leave with a better understanding of how active learning can be implemented in their…
The Many-Body Expansion (MBE) of the energy of a chemical system is a powerful tool that encodes physical descriptors of cooperative effects in chemical systems. Depending on the definition of what a “body” is, the expansion can be applied to a wide variety of chemical ensembles. When applied to hydrogen bonded systems, such as water and aqueous ionic clusters including ions in the Hofmeister series, it has direct implications in the development…
Carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases (CCDs) are mononuclear non-heme iron enzymes that classically split carotenoids at specific alkene bonds producing apocarotenoid products. Certain members of this enzyme superfamily have evolved to process alternative substrates with varying regio- and stereo-selectivity, and some catalyze alternative reactions including alkene geometric isomerization and ester hydrolysis. Products of these reactions are vital…