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Bluhm |
Dr. Hendrik Bluhm receives AAAS Council Honor
The American Association for the Advancement of Science Council (AAAS) has elected Dr. Hendrik Bluhm to the rank of AAAS Fellow. Dr. Bluhm is being honored for the development of ambient pressure methods of photoemission spectroscopy and the application of synchrotron radiation experiments to liquids and solids at ambient pressures. Dr. Bluhm will be presented with a certificate and rosette at the AAAS Fellows Forum, a part of the Association’s Annual Meeting, to be held in Boston on Saturday, February 16, 2008.
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Bergman |
Pesticide Approved Despite Concerns
Despite the protests of more than 50 scientists, including five Nobel laureates in chemistry, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday approved use of a new, highly toxic fumigant, mainly for strawberry fields. Robert Bergman, with Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division, led the effort by scientists to persuade the EPA to reject methyl iodide. Full story.
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Raymond |
The American Chemical Society (ACS) announced at its Fall 2007 Meeting in Boston, that it will bestow the 2008 Inorganic Chemistry award to Kenneth N. Raymond, Berkeley Lab scientist and UC Berkeley professor of chemistry. The annual award, to be presented at the spring 2008 ACS national meeting, recognizes distinguished service to the field of chemistry. Previous Berkeley lab winners of the Inorganic Chemistry are Sheldon G. Shore (2007), Karl E. Wieghardt (2006) and William J. Evans (2005).
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Neumark |
The American Chemical Society (ACS) announced at its Fall 2007 Meeting in Boston, that it will bestow the 2008 Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics to Daniel M. Neumark, Berkeley Lab scientist and UC Berkeley professor of chemistry. The annual award, to be presented at the spring 2008 ACS national meeting, recognizes distinguished service to the field of chemistry. Previous Berkeley lab winners of the Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics are Gabor A. Somorjai (2007), F. Fleming Crim, Jr. (2006) and David Chandler (2005).
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Tilley |
The American Chemical Society (ACS) announced at its Fall 2007 Meeting in Boston, that it will bestow the 2008 Frederick Stanley Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry to T. Don Tilley, Berkeley Lab scientist and UC Berkeley professor of chemistry. The annual award, to be presented at the spring 2008 ACS national meeting, recognizes distinguished service to the field of chemistry. Previous Berkeley lab winners of the Frederick Stanley Kipping Award in Silicon are Akira Sekiguchi (2006), James E. Mark (2004) and Kohei Tamao (2002).
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Toste |
The American Chemical Society (ACS) announced at its Fall 2007 Meeting in Boston, that it will bestow the 2008 Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator award to F. Dean Toste, Berkeley Lab scientist and UC Berkeley professor of chemistry. The annual award, to be presented at the spring 2008 ACS national meeting, recognizes distinguished service to the field of chemistry. Previous Berkeley lab winners of the Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator are Michael J. Krische (2007), Justin Du Bois (2006) and David W.C. MacMillan (2005).
(From 6/6/07 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
Somorjai Named 2008
Priestley Medal Winner
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Somorjai |
The American Chemical Society announced yesterday it will bestow its highest honor, the Priestley Medal, on Gabor A. Somorjai, Berkeley Lab scientist and UC Berkeley professor of chemistry, "for extraordinarily creative and original contributions to surface science and catalysis." The annual award, to be presented at the spring 2008 ACS national meeting, recognizes distinguished service to the field of chemistry. Previous Berkeley lab winners of the Priestley are Darleane Hoffman (2000) George Pimentel (1989) and Glenn Seaborg (1979). Full story.
(From 5/29/07 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
Theoretical Chemists
Win Welch Award
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Miller |
In recognition of their work in theoretical chemistry, William Miller, a Berkeley Lab chemical scientist, and Noel Hush, with the University of Sydney, have won the 2007 Welch Award in Chemistry. The Welch Foundation, based in Houston, grants the $300,000 award to honor achievements in basic chemical research. Miller’s research focuses on chemical reaction dynamics. His past achievements include developing a semiclassical scattering theory (the classical S-matrix theory) for chemical reactions, as well as a rigorous quantum theory of reaction rates. He is currently investigating a method for adding quantum effects to classical molecular dynamics simulations of complex chemical processes such as combustion. Full story.
(From 5/10/07 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
Chemical Scientist
Wins Dissertation Award
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Leemans, left, and Tilborg |
The American Physical Society's Division of Beam Physics (APS-DBP) has announced that Jeroen van Tilborg, currently in the Chemical Sciences Division, has won the APS-DBP's annual Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis in Beam Physics for his dissertation. His publication describes the detection, characterization, and imaging of coherent terahertz radiation from laser-wakefield-accelerated electron beams. Van Tilborg did his thesis work as a graduate student in Wim Leemans' LOASIS group in AFRD. He was also advised by Marnix van der Wiel of the Technical University Eindhoven (the Netherlands), the institution which awarded his Ph.D. The award is announced in the current APS-DBP newsletter.
(From 5/2/07 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
Chemist, Physicist Among Newest AAAS Members
Alexis Bell, with Berkeley Lab's Chemical Sciences Division, and Saul Perlmutter, with the Physics Division, are among the 227 scholars, scientists, artists, civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science. "Fellows are selected through a highly competitive process that recognizes individuals who have made preeminent contributions to their disciplines and to society at large," says academy president Emilio Bizzi. Go here to read a campus release on all newly selected UC Berkeley faculty, including Perlmutter and Bell.
(From 4/27/07 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
Radiation Protection Award for Lab Scientist
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Durbin |
At the annual meeting of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP) in Arlington, VA, on April 16, Patricia Durbin of the Chemical Sciences Division was honored as the NCRP's 31st Lauriston S. Taylor lecturer. Her lecture, "The Quest for Therapeutic Actinide Chelators," concerned chemicals that sequester and remove from the body such elements as plutonium. Durbin was selected for the Taylor lectureship, the NCRP's highest award, for her scientific contributions to the field of actinide chemistry and biology, her commitment to radiation protection, and her 50 years of service to the NCRP. For more on Durbin's NCRP award, go here.
(From 2/27/07 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
Symposium to Honor
Chemical Scientist
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Lester |
The campus will host a symposium honoring the 70th birthday of William Lester, a UC Berkeley chemistry professor and researcher with Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division, March 27-31. Lester is best known for extending the powerful quantum Monte Carlo method to the range of chemical problems that form the traditional domain of quantum chemistry. More information about the symposium can be found here.
(From 12/21/06 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
Trapping Chemical Compounds in Pyramids
Berkeley Lab scientists Ken Raymond and Bob Bergman, of the Chemical Sciences Division, led the development of a new technique for capturing the short-lived but critical “intermediate” compounds that help carry chemical reactions in aqueous solution from their starting point to the final product. This technique, which basically entails temporarily trapping the elusive transients inside molecular pyramids, could be applied to biological reactions, nanoscience and information storage. It might also make it possible for chemists to create new reactions that until now have been unthinkable in aqueous solution. Full story.
(From 12/12/06 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
Nobelist Lee Turns 70;
Chu, Fleming at Fête
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Lee |
Yuan T. Lee, the former Berkeley Lab chemist who won the 1986 Nobel Prize for his work in the field of reaction dynamics, is 70 years old this week, and his host institution in Taiwan is throwing him a party. An international symposium on "Trends in Chemical Dynamics: From Small Molecules to Biomolecules," is running through tomorrow, sponsored by the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica. Berkeley Lab Director Steve Chu co-moderated a dinner yesterday, and today he is chair and presenter on the panel, "Dynamics in Biological Systems." Deputy Director Graham Fleming; Chemical Sciences' Dan Neumark, Richard Saykally, Martin Head-Gordon and William Miller; and Materials Sciencies' Yuan Ron Shen are also on the program. Read about the symposium here.
(From 12/1/06 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
New Finding May Help Foil Anthrax's Tricks
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Raymond |
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Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley chemists have discovered a trick that anthrax bacteria use to make an end run around the body's defenses, but which may turn out to be their Achilles' heel. The researchers, including Lab chemical scientist Kenneth Raymond and colleagues at the University of Mississippi Medical Center the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, uncovered the trick while studying how these deadly bacteria steal iron from their human hosts to grow and reproduce. Full story.
(From
9/26/06
Today
at Berkeley Lab)
Radiological Attack
Defense Study Funded
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Raymond |
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Kenneth
Raymond, with the Lab's Chemical Sciences Division, is the
recipient of a nearly $1 million grant from the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. As principal investigator, he
will lead a program to develop new agents for large-scale radiological
treatment of humans, such as in the aftermath of a "dirty bomb" attack.
The grant is one of five awards announced under the federal government's
Project Bioshield. Full story.
(From
8/30/06 Today
at Berkeley Lab)
New
Tests for Liquid Explosives Revealed
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Chang |
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Potential bomb attacks on aircraft could be more easily detected thanks to a new test for hydrogen peroxide, one of the liquids that have sparked dramatic security clampdowns at airports around the world. Researchers at UC Berkeley — including Berkeley Lab chemical scientist Christopher Chang — say that a test they developed to help diagnose diseases in the human body could be adapted to detect the chemical precursors of homemade explosives. Full story.
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Bartlett |
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Prof. Neil Bartlett, "Historic Landmarks", Chemical Heritage (Fall 2006)
Prof. Neil Bartlett, Noble Gas Reactivity Research Honored: International Historic Chemical Landmark Award, Chemical Engineering News (July 3, 2006)
(From 8/16/06 Today at Berkeley Lab)
Water Molecules Spark Big Dispute
For more than a century, Cal and Stanford have been locked in a cross-Bay rivalry over everything from science to their annual football game. The newest point of contention is the very stuff that separates the two Bay Area schools: water. Two years ago, Stanford chemist Anders Nilsson published a high-profile study showing that the way molecules in water are connected is startlingly different from what scientists had believed. But UC Berkeley professors and Berkeley Lab scientists Rich Saykally and Teresa Head-Gordon have fired back from across the Bay claiming Nilsson's ideas are bunk. Full story. This story also appeared in the Contra Costa Times.
(From 1/26/06 Today at Berkeley Lab)
McCurdy’s Role Mapping ‘Electron Dance’ Reported
By Lynn La
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An international group of collaborators, including Berkeley Lab chemical scientists Thomas Rescigno and William McCurdy, have developed the first-ever complete quantum-mechanical solution of a system with four charged particles. The process — which, in effect, calculates what happens to the pieces after a molecule is blown to bits — will help researchers understand how a molecule is put together, the effects of the dance electrons perform to make a chemical bond. Full story.
Appointment of Glenn T. Seaborg Center Director
It is my pleasure to appoint Kenneth N. Raymond as Director of the Glenn T. Seaborg Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Seaborg Center is one of the world's leading centers for basic research in actinide chemistry and the investigation of the environmental effects of actinide compounds. Moreover, it provides a unique environment for training graduate students and other junior scientists in this area. I am confident that the Seaborg Center will benefit greatly from Ken's scientific and managerial expertise.
Daniel M. Neumark
Director
Chemical Sciences Division
(From 12/15/05 Research News)
Breakthrough Achieved In Molecular Calculation
By Paul Preuss
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| A hydrogen particle is blasted by an energetic photon |
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An international group of collaborators, including Berkeley Lab chemical scientists Thomas Rescigno and William McCurdy, have developed the first-ever complete quantum-mechanical solution of a system with four charged particles. The process — which, in effect, calculates what happens to the pieces after a molecule is blown to bits — will help researchers understand how a molecule is put together, the effects of the dance electrons perform to make a chemical bond. Full story.
(From 11/29/05 Science at Berkeley Lab)
Getting the Neptunium out of Nuclear Waste
By Lynn Yarris
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| Jide Xu, Guoxin Tian, and Linfeng Rao, researchers at the Glenn T. Seaborg Center of Berkeley Lab's Chemical Sciences Division, used x-ray beams from the Advanced Light Source to gain new information that could help in the effort to safely remove neptunium from nuclear waste. (Photo Roy Kaltschmidt) |
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A study done at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) has revealed critical new information about neptunium, a radioactive element that poses long-term environmental hazards. The new information holds promise for safely removing neptunium from high-level nuclear wastes, a task that to date has proven extremely difficult.
Linfeng Rao, Guoxin Tian and Jide Xu, researchers at the Glenn T. Seaborg Center of Berkeley Lab's Chemical Sciences Division, used ALS beamline 11.3.1, the small-molecule crystallography beamline, to characterize the molecular structure of a complex of the neptunium cation that contains the most stable form of neptunium. The unique qualities of the beamline enabled them to identify a highly symmetrical chemical complex called a diamide — meaning it contains two amino groups — that could hold the key for improving the extractability of neptunium from other nuclear waste products. Full story.
Division Deputy Retirement Mike Prior, our Division Deputy, retired effective June 1st. Mike has done outstanding work both in his research with the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Program, and during his tenure as Division Deputy. In the former capacity he has earned a distinguished reputation for important and novel work in the area of ion traps and atomic collision physics. At the ALS he has done gainful work on the photoionization of molecules using COLTRIMS technique with both linear and circularly polarized light. The Division has benefited from his leadership as Deputy, and he has done an excellent job of overseeing and developing the CSD safety program. Mike will be greatly missed by us all!
Ali Belkacem, Atomic, Molecular and Optical Sciences Program Leader, succeeds Mike as Division Deputy. Ali is widely knowledgeable about LBNL as well as the Chemical Sciences Division, and is well-qualified to assume this role. We welcome him to the Division Office team and look forward to working with him.
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