Below is a list of the speakers scheduled for the Powell Seminar Series, which is held weekly on Fridays at 1:30pm during the Fall2022 and the Spring2023. We can celebrate the success of UR in dealing with the COVID-19 challenges by again being allowed to return this year to meeting in-person for the Chemistry Seminar Series. Besides presenting interesting research, the visiting seminar speakers are valuable sources of information about graduate school and/or the chemical industry. Please note that the visiting seminar speakers are all willing to spend time with students after their presentation. If you are potentially interested in attending graduate school, you might want to consider asking some of these suggested questions of the visiting seminar speakers, especially those presenters who are faculty from other universities.
For our Introductory Seminar Meeting, Visiting (guest scientist) Seminar Speakers, and the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Workshop, we will meet promptly at 1:30pm on Fridays in the Gottwald Auditorium (A001); for all Senior Student Seminars we will meet in C114 (please see schedule below).
In addition to visiting scientists presenting during the "Regular Powell Chemistry Seminar Series, please note that there might be additional visiting speakers also giving excellent talks on chemistry and/or biochemistry topics at other times and places; please click here to see the schedule and location of these talks.
Fall Semester Student PresentationsSpring Semester Student Presentations
2022-2023 POWELL CHEMISTRY SEMINAR SERIES SCHEDULE
| Powell Seminar Series – Fall 2022 – Fridays at 1:30pm, Room GCS–A001 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Presenter, Seminar Title | Host (Room) |
| Aug 26 1:30pm in-Person |
Organizational & Introductory Meeting with Chem 322/421/422 Students |
Dominey (Rm A001) |
| Sept 02 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 1: Prof. Michael Giuliano  Assistant Professor of Chemistry, College of Charleston, Title: “The Origins of Receptor-binding Preorganization in a Human Neuropeptide” Selected References: (1) “Endomorphin-1”; 2) "Galanin Fragments"; 3) "Galanin Full-length Paper". |
Shugrue (Rm A001) |
| Sept 09 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 2: Prof. Nathan Kidwell  Assistant Professor of Chemistry, William & Mary, Title:“Shining New Light on the Atmosphere’s Sunscreen: A Molecular-Level Study of Light-Absorbing Chromophoresin Brown Carbon Aerosols” Selected References: (1) “Laser-Based Techniques to Explore Atmospheric Chemical Reactions”; 2) “Nonstatistical Dissociation oDynamics of Nitroaromatic Chromophores”, (J. Phy. Chem. A 2019, 123, 4262–4273, DOI: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.jpca.9b02312) |
Parish (Rm A001) |
| Sept 16 1:30pm in-Person |
AXE Sponsored Department Faculty Research Talks/Overviews Prof. Chris Shugrue Prof. Dominque Williams Prof. Miles Johnson Prof. Michael Leopold Informal Reception afterwards in Gottwald Atrium |
Joe Coyle (Rm A001 & Atrium) |
| Deadline for Senior Seminar Students to choose paper/mentor and submit presentation dates! | ||
| Sept 23 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 3: Prof. Charlie Machan  Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Title:“Earth-Abundant Molecular Catalyst Systems for the Reduction of Dioxygen and Carbon Dioxide” Selected References: (1) “Advances in the Molecular Catalysis of Dioxygen Reduction”; 2) “Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to CO by a Molecular Chromium Complex” ; 3) “A look at periodic trends in d-block molecular electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction”; 4) “Inverse potential scaling in co-electrocatalytic activity for CO2 reduction through redox mediator tuning and catalyst design†”; 5) “Catalytic Reduction of Dioxygen to Water by a Bioinspired Non-Heme Iron Complex via a 2+2 Mechanism” |
Goldman (Rm A001) |
| Sept 30 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 4: Prof. Aaron May  Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry School of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Title:“The Quest for Selective Antibiotics: Phage-Related Ribosomal Proteases” Selected References: (1) Hotinger, J. A.; Pendergrass, H. A.; Peterson, D. L.; Wright. H. T.; May, A. E.* “The Phage‑Related Ribosomal Protease (Prp) of Staphylococcus aureus: In Vitro Michaelis‑Menten Kinetics, Screening for Inhibitors, and Crystal Structure of a Covalent Inhibition Product Complex.” ACS Biochemistry, 2022, 61, 1323-1336.; 2) Hotinger, J. A.; Gallagher, A. H.; May, A. E.* “Phage-Related Ribosomal Proteases (Prps): Discovery, Bioinformatics, and Structural Analysis.” Antibiotics, 2022, 11, 1109. |
Pollock (Rm A001) |
| Oct 07 1:30pm in-Person |
.................... Workshop: Responsible Conduct of Research – Social Responsibility .................... With the immediate access to all sorts of news outlets (real and fake) on the internet, there has been push to discuss the responsibility of scientists in presenting and interpreting data for the larger public. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) includes “Social Responsibility” as one of its branches of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). According to the NIH mission statement, one of the goals of the NIH is “to exemplify and promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science.” Profs. Parish and Pollock will discuss with the audience the responsibility of scientists to educate the public, how social media plays into communication, what we can do to better the communication channels, and other interesting questions. .................... Workshop: Responsible Conduct of Research – Social Responsibility .................... |
Pollock & Parish (Rm A001) |
| Oct 14 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 5: Prof. Laura Gagliardi and Thais Scott (UR WC 2017)  ,  Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Title:“Earth-Abundant Molecular Catalyst Systems for the Reduction of Dioxygen and Carbon Dioxide” Selected References: (1) “Photosensitized, energy transfer-mediated organometallic exxcited nickel(II)”, (Science 2017, 355, 380-385); 2) “Electronic structure of strongly correlated systems: recent developments in multiconfirugration pair-density functional theory and multiconfirguration nonclassical-enewrgy functional theory”, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 7685-7706) . |
Parish (Rm A001) |
| Oct 21 1:30pm in-Person |
SERMACS - Oct 19-22 | No Seminar Meeting |
| Oct 28 1:30pm in-Person |
No Seminar Meeting |
No Seminar Meeting | A/B
| Nov 04 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 6: Prof. Mo Jiang  Assistant Professor, Medicines For All Institute Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, VCU Title:“Manufacturing Uniform and Tunable Crystals/Particles Using Slug Flow” Video of Slug Flow Reactant Addition and Crystallizaton Selected References: (1) “Designs of continuous-flow pharmaceutical crystallizers: developments and practice”, (Crys.Eng.Comm 2019, 21, 3534–3551); 2) “Fast Continuous Non-Seeded Cooling Crystallization of Glycine; in Slug Flow: Pure α-Form Crystals with Narrow Size Distribution”, (J.Pharm.Innov. , 2020, 15, 281–294). |
"Dominey" (Rm A001) |
| Nov 11 1:30pm in-Person |
Student Presentations | |
| Student Speaker 2A:  Ashly Avila Title: “Triggered Drug Release from an Antibody−Drug Conjugate Using Fast 'Click-to-Release' Chemistry in Mice” Selected Reference(s): “Triggered Drug Release from an Antibody−Drug Conjugate Using Fast 'Click-to-Release' Chemistry in Mice”, Bioconjugate Chem., 2016, 27,1697-1706; DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.6b00231 (Shugrue; L) |
A (1:30p, C114) |
|
Student Speaker 2B:  Tyler Chong Title: “Synthesis of Styrenes and Propargyl Amides”, Selected Reference(s): "TBA" (Downey; R) |
B (2:15p, C114) |
|
| Nov 18 1:30pm in-Person |
Student Presentations | |
| Student Speaker 4A/B:  Ben Solomon Title: “Single Molecule Magnetism for Quantum Information Storage”, Selected Reference(s): 1) "What is not required to make a single molecule magnet", Faraday Discuss., 2011, 148,, 229–238; 2) "Electronic read-out of a single nuclear spin using a molecular spin transistor", Nature, 2012 (August 16th), 488,, 357-360; doi:10.1038/nature11341 (Donald; L) |
A/B (1:30p, C114) |
|
| Nov 25 | Thanksgiving Break |
|
| Dec 02 | Reserved |
|
| Powell Seminar Series – Spring 2023 – Fridays at 1:30pm, Room GCS–A001 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Presenter, Seminar Title | Host (Room) |
| Jan 13 1:30pm in-Person |
Organizational & Introductory Meeting with Chem 322/421/422 Students |
Dominey (Rm A001) |
| Jan 20 1:30pm in-Person |
AXE Sponsored Department Faculty Research Talks/Overviews Prof. MIchelle Hamm Prof. Ryan Coppage Prof. Julie Pollock Informal Reception afterwards in Gottwald Atrium |
AXE Grand Alchemist: Thomas Campbell (Rm A001 & Atrium) |
| Jan 27 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 1: Prof. Austin Scharf (UR RC 2006)  Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Oxford College of Emory University, Title:“Systematic structural variations in transition metal dipyrrin complexes: Effects on luminescence” Selected References: (1) “Luminescence from open-shell, first-row transition metal dipyrrin complexes”, (Dalton Trans., 2021, 50, 6418–6422; 2) “Electronic Perturbations of Iron Dipyrrinato Complexes via Ligand β-Halogenation and meso-Fluoroarylation”", (Inorg. Chem., 2011, 50, 6837–6845, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ic2009539) |
Norris (Rm A001) |
| Feb 03 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 2: Prof. Valerie Welborn  Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, Title:“Predicting the Protonation State of Side Chains in Proteins with Electric Fields” Selected References: (1) “Tuning the catalytic activity of synthetic en-zyme KE15 with DNA”, (J. Phys. Chem. B, 2022, 126, 3407–3413, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c00765); 2) “Structural dynamics support electrostatic interactions in the active site of adenylate kinase”, (ChemBioChem, 2022, 23, e202200097 (2 of 7), https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202200097); 3) “ELECTRIC: Electric fields Leveraged from multipole Expansion Calculations in Tinker Rapid Interface Code”, (J. Open Source Software, 2020, 5(54), 2576-2578, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.02576) |
"Simpson" (Rm A001) |
| Feb 10 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 3: Prof. Charles Dismukes  Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Waksman Institute of Microbilogy Rutgers Energy Institute Rutgers University, Title:“Your Future/Your Planet/Your Choice: The Truth About Biofuels, Neither Green Nor Economical vs. Carbon-Negative Chemicals & Fuels by Electro-synthesis from Carbon Dioxide” Selected References: (1) “Selective CO2 reduction to C3 and C4 oxyhydrocarbons on nickel phosphides at overpotentials as low as 10 mV”, (Energy Environ. Sci, 2018, 11, 2550–2559, DOI: 10.1039/c8ee00936h); 2) “Surface Hydrides on Fe2P Electrocatalyst Reduce CO2 at Low Overpotential: Steering Selectivity to Ethylene Glycol”, (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2021, 143, 21275–21285, https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c03428); 3) “Enabling technologies for the continuous electrically driven conversion of CO2 and water to multi-carbon products at high current densities”, (J. Matter. Chem. A, 2023, 11, 717–725, DOI: 10.1039/d2ta08173c) |
Dominey (Rm A001) |
| Feb 17 1:30pm in-Person |
Student Presentations | |
| Student Speaker 1A:  Travis Greene Title:“Using Halogen Bonding to Detect Opioids”, Selected References: (1) “Halogen Bonding in DNA Base Pairs”, (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134, 5165–5172, DOI: 10.1021/ja2105027); 2) “Halogen Bonding Interactions for Aromatic and Nonaromatic Explosive Detection”, (ACS Sens., 2019, 4, 389–397, DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.8b01246) (Parish; R) |
A/B (1:30p, C114) |
|
| Feb 24 in-Person |
2023 W. Allan Powell Lectureship ( Schedule) Prof. Nathan (Nate) S. Lewis ( Bio Info)  George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology |
Dominey |
10:30am-11:00am: Guest Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry Class (Chem317) Selected References: (1) “Net-zero emissions energy systems”; Davis et al, Science 2018, 360, 1419 & eaas9793 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aas9793) (2)“Role of Long-Duration Energy Storage in Variable Renewable Electricity Systems”; Dowling et al, Joule 2020, 4, 1-22 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2020.07.007) (3)“Wind and Solar Resource Droughts in California Highlight the Benefits of Long-Term Storage and Integration with the Western Interconnect”; Rinaldi et al, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2021, 55 (9), 6214-86226 (https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c07848) (4)“Crystalline nickel manganese antimonate as a stable water-oxidation catalyst in aqueous 1.0 M H2SO4”; Moreno-Hernandez et al, Energy Environ. Sci. 2017, 10, 2103-2108-874 (https://doi.org/10.1039/C7EE01486D) |
Norris (Rm D308) |
|
1:30-2:45pm: Prof. Nathan (Nate) S. Lewis Informal Conversation Between the UR Chemistry Department (Faculty and Students) and Prof. Nate Lewis about his Career and Life |
Dominey (Rm A001) | |
6:00pm: 2022 W. Allan Powell Lectureship Formal Banquet Reservation Required by Friday, Feb 17 (call 804-289-8242 or email chemistry@richmond.edu) |
Alice Haynes Room (Tyler Haynes Commons) | |
7:30pm: The In-Person Formal 2023 W. Allan Powell Lecture Prof. Nathan (Nate) S. Lewis George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology Public Lecture, Title: “Inorganic Phototropic Growth of Materials that See the Light” Selected References: (1) “Plastic Morphological Response to Spectral Shifts during Inorganic Phototropic Growth”; Kathryn R. Hamann, Madeline C. Meier, Nathan S. Lewis, and Azhar I. Carim J. Am. Chem. Soc. Au 2022, 2 (4), 865-874 (DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.1c00588); (2) “Phototropic growth control of nanoscale pattern formation in photoelectrodeposited Se–Te films”; Sadtler et al, PNAS 2013, 110 (49), 19707-19712 (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1315539110); (3)“Inorganic Phototropism in Electrodeposition of Se-Te”; Meier et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141 (47), 18658-18661 (https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b10579) |
Dominey (Rm A001) |
|
| Mar 03 1:30pm in-Person |
Student Presentations | |
Student Speaker 2A:  Jess Snelling Title: “Design and synthesis of 4-arylpiperidinyl amide and N-arylpiperdin-3-yl-cyclopropane carboxamide derivatives as novel melatonin receptor ligands" and its relation to my research on "Bis(phosphino)pyrrole Ligands and their transition metal complexes”, Selected Reference(s): Biorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 2011, 21,1236-1242 (Johnson; L) |
A/B 1:20p(, C114) |
|
Student Speaker 2B:  Thomas Campbell Title: “Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 using Pendant Lewis-Acid Ruthenium Complexes”, Selected Reference(s): "TBA" (Norris; R) |
B (2:15p, C114) |
|
| Mar 10 | Spring Break |
No Seminar Meeting |
| Mar 17 1:30pm in-Person |
Guest Speaker 4: Prof. Steven Malcolmson  Associate Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Title:“An Umpolung Strategy towards Catalytic Stereoselective Synthesis of Chiral Amines” Selected References: (1) “A iastereodivergent and Enantioselective Approach to syn- and anti-Diamines: Development of 2‑Azatrienes for Cu-Catalyzed Reductive Couplings with Imines That Furnish Allylic Amines”, (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2021, 143, 13999–14008, https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c07707); 2) “2-Azadienes as Enamine Umpolung Synthons for the Preparation of Chiral Amines”, (Synlwtt, 2019, 30, 1253-1268, https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0037-1611770; Art ID: st-2019-p0065-sp); 3) “Enantioselective Synthesis of anti-1,2-Diamines by Cu-Catalyzed Reductive Couplings of Azadienes with Aldimines and Ketimines”, (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140, 7083-7087, https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b04750); 4) “2‑Azadienes as Reagents for Preparing Chiral Amines: Synthesis of 1,2-Amino Tertiary Alcohols by Cu-Catalyzed Enantioselective Reductive Couplings with Ketones”, (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140, 598-601, https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b12213) |
"Dominey" (Rm A001) |
| Mar 24 1:30pm in-Person |
Student Presentations | |
| Student Speaker 2A:  Arjun Goswitz Title: “Phosphonate coating of commercial iron oxide nanoparticles for nanowarming cryopreserved samples”, Selected Reference(s): J. Mater. Chem. B, 2022, 10,3734–3746 (Coppage; L) |
A (1:30p, C114) |
|
Student Speaker 2B:  Olivia Lambertson Title: “One-Pot Synthesis of Benzimidazo[2,1-b]thiazoline Derivatives through an Addition/Cyclization/Oxidative Coupling Reaction”, Selected Reference(s): “One-Pot Synthesis of Benzimidazo[2,1-b]thiazoline Derivatives through an Addition/Cyclization/Oxidative Coupling Reaction”J. Org. Chem.,, 2020, 85(18), 11934–11941; (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.joc.0c01137) (Downey; L) |
B (2:15p, C114) |
|
| Mar 31 1:30pm in-Person |
Student Presentations | |
| Student Speaker 3A:  Carlos Cabrera Title: “The Reactions of the Criegee Intermediate CH3CHOO in the Gas-Phase Ozonolysis of 2-Butene Isomers”, Selected Reference(s): Int J Chem Kinet, 1997, 29, 461–468 (Stevenson; L) |
A (1:30p, C114) |
|
Student Speaker 3B:  Sam Gilmore Title: “Monolayer-Protected Gold Nanoparticles Functionalized with Halogen Bonding Capability--An Avenue for Molecular Detection Schemes”, Selected Reference(s): Langmuir , 2022, 38(15),4747-4762; DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c0038 (Leopold; R) |
B (2:15p, C114) |
|
| Apr 07 1:30pm in-Person |
Student Presentations | |
| Student Speaker 4A:  Saba Redzic Title: “Cosolvent Sites-Based Discovery of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Protein Kinase G Inhibitors”, Selected Reference(s): J. Med. Chem, 2022, 65, 9691–9705; DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c02012 (Hamm; L) |
A (1:30p, C114) |
|
Student Speaker 4B:  Camryn Carter Title: “Atomistic insights into the binding of SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain with the human ACE2 receptor: The importance of residue 493”, Selected Reference(s): Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling 2023, 118, 108360108373 (Parish; R) |
B (2:15p, C114) |
|
| Apr 14 | Reserved for UR Student Research Symposium |
|
| Apr 21 | Reserved for Chemistry Department Awards Ceremony and Reception |
|
*UR chemistry alum |