Peter Armentrout announced that he would be succeeded as Department Chair by Henry White. He also reported that the David M. Grant NMR Center had been dedicated. With justifiable pride Peter announced the addition of Dr. Ryan Looper to the faculty. Ryan had recently been a postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Stuart Schreiber at Harvard University. Peter also noted that he had been instrumental in bringing Janis Louie, Jon Rainier, Peter Flynn, Ilya Zharov, Jennifer Shumaker-Parry, Mike Bartl, Vale Molinero, as well as Ryan Looper to the Utah Chemistry faculty. Peter also noted that Shari Zinik and Debbie Olson had been “super” staff members for him to work with.

One of the best ways of measuring the impact of the U. of Utah Chemistry Dept. faculty is to read letters from former students and colleagues. Below you will find abbreviated summaries of correspondence reported in the Spring 2007 newsletter:

Charles Finell (B.A. 1934) at age 97 [in 2007] still lives in Carmel Valley, CA. Has set up a charitable remainder trust with the Chem. Dept. as beneficiary because he was “a poor farm boy who received help with his education.”

Art Ruoff (Ph.D. 1955, Henry Eyring Group) Cornell Univ. Prof. Emeritus with a spectacular list of awards for his studies of materials such as diamond and tungsten under high static pressures as high as 560 GPa.

Terry Anderson (B.S. 1958; Ph.D. 1962, Henry Eyring Group) Retired from Kerr-McGee in Oklahoma City, OK in 2001 where he was Principal Chemist for electrochemical industries; resides now in Riverton, UT.

Prof. Zoltan Schelly (postdoc 1969-70, Ted Eyring lab) long standing faculty member at U. Texas, Arlington researches transient electrophysics of unilamellar bilayer vesicles.

Prof. Milton Lee (B.S. 1971) long standing faculty member at BYU-Provo investigates microfluidics, hand-portable GC- MS, liquid chromatography, and ion mobility spectrometry.

Dr. Alan D. Eastman (Ph.D. 1975, Parry Group) retired from ConocoPhillips in 2003, now lives in Salt Lake and consults mostly for ChevronPhillips Chemical Co. about on-line Raman and NIR spectrometry.

Dr. John W. Kennedy, III (Ph.D. 1979, Jack Simons) researches high pressure spectroscopy in diamond anvil cells, now Prof. of Chemistry and Chemical Physics at Concordia Univ., Irvine, CA.

Prof. Alec M. Wodtke (B.S. 1981) Berkeley Ph.D. in 1986 with Yuan T. Lee; Dept. Chair at U.C. Santa Barbara, 2003. Now Prof. at Geog-August Univ., Goettingen, Germany; potential energy surface for atomic H scattering on Au(s).

Prof. Joseph A. Gardella, Jr. (postdoc 1982, Ted Eyring Lab) U. of Buffalo Distinguished Professor; recipient of Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from the NSF.

Dr. Jozsef Beres (postdoc 1982-84, Bentrude Lab) lives in Budapest, Hungary where the Beres Pharmaceutical Co. was founded in 1989. Jozsef has been the director since 1993. There are 220 employees.

Dr. Bill McKenna (Ph.D. 1985, Ted Eyring Lab) was Program Manager of Light Management Films for the Display Science and Technology Center in the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories in Rochester, NY.

Dr. Darryl Spencer (B.S. 1991) earned his PhD. In [the] lab of Nobel laureate Mario J. Molina at M.I.T. Got into software development for mass spectrometer products and in 2007 was working in Concord, Ontario.

Professor Eileen Spain (Ph.D. 1992, Morse Group) at Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA and has NSF funding for her research in the area of interfacial chemistry and recreates with 2 kids and husband in Utah.

Jane Marie Behm Arrington and Caleb Anthony Arrington (Ph.D. 1994 and Ph.D. 1995) are married and think back fondly on some of the best years of their lives in Utah.

Prof. George Richter-Addo (Postdoc 1992-93, Gladysz lab) was recently appointed Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Scott Waite (Ph.D. 1993, Joel Harris Lab) Director of Labs for Dept. of Chemistry at University of Nevada, Reno. Also manages safety and chemical hygiene programs and departmental instrumentation.

Dr. Andreas Fechtenkoetter (M.S., Peter Stang’s lab, Ph.D. 1995, Mainz, Germany in 2001) Wife Chrys is U of U alumna in Chemical Engineering; Dept. Head for BASF Centre in Singapore in ~2006.

Dr. Christopher Lloyd (Ph.D. 1996, Ted Eyring lab) Director of R&D at MicroBioSystems in Logan, UT. Developed portable equipment to detect microbial contamination at low levels in milliseconds.

Dr. Yanlong Shi (Ph.D. 1996, Ted Eyring lab) and Ms. Lian Shao (M.S. 1998, Morse lab) They reside with their two children in the Boston area. Yanlong is a fuel cell expert. Lian is a manager of a network operation center.

Dr. Edward Orr (Ph.D. 1997, Ted Eyring lab) Manufacturer’s representative for photoresists used in patterning Si wafers in semiconductor manufacturing. Resides with wife and daughter in Vancouver, WA.

Dr. Chuck Story (postdoc 1997, Ted Eyring lab) Senior research chemistry for the Lubrizol Corporation, Wickliffe, OH, largest manufacturer of lubrient additives. Chromotographer. Amateur astronomer.

Ms. Kelly Erickson (executive secretary, 1998) Worked for Joel Miller, Ted Eyring and another faculty member. Kelly and her husband Rinar live in Henderson, NV where she acts in plays and runs marathons.

Dr. Jamie Manson (Ph.D. 1999, Joel Miller lab) Did postdoctoral work at Argonne National Lab and at Oak Ridge National Lab before joining the Chemistry Department at Eastern Washington University.

Dr. David Van Horn (Ph.D. 1999, Cindy Burrows) Did inorganic chemistry postdoctoral work at U.C. Berkeley, now an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City studying heavy-metal transport in biological systems.

Dr. Rico E. Del Sesto (Ph.D. 2002) First a postdoc and now a regular staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory studying ionic liquids, water detection, nanomaterials, and radiation detection.

Dr. Jamie K. Pero (B.S. 2002) will begin working as a Ph.D. research assistant at the Clorox Technical Center.

Dr. Coby B. Carlson (Ph.D. 2002, Peter Beal lab) Did postdoc. With Laura Kiessling, Wisconsin-Madison. Employed by Invitrogen in Madison. He and wife have two small children.

Robin Barrios Seely (B.S. 2004) Did theoretical chemistry research with Jack Simons. Now in Pharmacy School at Northeastern Univ., Boston. Glad she chose professional school.

Dr. Roger A. Leach (Ph.D. 1984, Joel Harris Lab) currently a Research Manager with Corporate Analytical Science Group at DuPont.

Dr. Robert Bennett (Ph.D. 1989) Managing Propellants, Explosions and Pyrotechnics Research Department at ATK Launch Systems (formerly Thiokol).

Dr. Brian Rasmussen (B.S. 1993) has come back to Salt Lake City and now works as a physician in town. “It’s good to be back.”

Dr. Michael Weibel (Ph.D. 1999) married in December 2004 and moved to Maryland in 2004 where he works in OSD’s Program for Chem. & Biological Defense.

Dr. William B. Rothwell (B.S. 2000) Graduate in 2004 of Tulane Univ. Med. School. Became a third year resident at Baystate Med. Center, Springfield, MA in Medicine/Pediatrics.

Ryan D. Roberts (B.A. 2001) Pursuing an MD/Ph.D. degree, studying tumor immunology, received a 3-year training grant.

Dr. Christopher Kuehl (Ph.D. 2001) Accepted a research chemist position in the Medical Products Division of W.L. Gore and Associates in Flagstaff, AZ.

Peter W. Anderson (B.S. 2003) currently a third year medical student at Saint Louis University.

Ryan W. Hart (B.S. 20036) completed an M.S. degree at U.C. Riverside and is working at IM Flash Technologies.

Bryant Roth (B.S. 2003) now a chemist at Johnson Matthey in Salt Lake City.

Dustin Mortensen (B.S. 2004) Working for Battelle at Tooele Chemical Disposal Facility.

John Brailsford (B.S. 2004) working on a Ph.D. degree at University of California, Irvine.

Erin Umbriaco (B.S. 2004) medical student at Baylor University in Houston, TX.

Dr. Matthew Kriech (Ph.D. 2004, Conboy lab) employed by ATK Launch Systems Group working on chemical aging of solid rocket propellants.

Teresa Jasmine Tuan (B.S. 2006) selected as one of twenty-six graduating seniors inducted into the Beehive Honor Society.

Maurine Liddiard (1984) now in Durango, CO working at Fort Lewis College. She loved her time in the Chem. Dept. (running the show) more than any other job she ever had.

Gordon Hale (1985) former manager of the Chemistry stockroom and purchasing activities. At age 86 (in June 2006) he still bubbled with enthusiasm for family and traveling.

Prof. Tsutomu Masujima (former postdoc in Ted Eyring lab) still has his home in Hiroshima, Japan. Sells a nanospray top for MS analysis. Developing a new type of microscope & mass spectrometer.

Prof. Bill Guillory (1985) former Chem. Dept. Chair who was instrumental in securing funding for the 2nd wing of the Eyring Bldg. Started the Hurricane Katrina Support Group and is an author.

Louise Traper was a mainstay of the David Grant NMR research operation who has subsequently created a successful intimate apparel business for women and has a Fox Trotter horse in competition.

Prof. Jean Futrell (1986) is an international research star in ion chemistry and mass spectrometry, some of whose former graduate students at Utah have achieved great fame in their own right.

Sam Cole (former manager of Chem Computer Center, 1986-1990) now is Principal Software Engineer with CyberOptics Semiconductor in Beaverton, Oregon.

Lynell Gardner worked for Professors Armentrout, Beebe, and Eyring before graduating with a B.S. in Psychology in 1994. She now runs Alumni Relations at Weber State University.

Dr. Hua (“Bonnie”) Huang (1998) (Postdoc. Ted Eyring’s lab) Now a Senior Scientist at Allergan, Inc. in Irvine, CA where she characterizes protein structure using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.