Department of Chemistry Academic Year 2010-11 News

Graduation 2011

The Department proudly awarded degrees to the following Chemistry majors at commencement. We congratulate the Class of 2011 on their achievements and wish everyone continued success. We look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Name	Future plans
Ashley Balentine	Medical School, Temple University School of Medicine.
Shernice Brown	Information Pending
Stacy Culler	Information Pending
Twyla Cummings	Medical School, Eastern Virginia Medical College.
Leopold Green	Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Riverside
Aaryn Harrison	Medical School, Morehouse College of Medicine.
Jessica Jackson	M.S./Medical Science, Hampton University
Carmesha Jordan	Information Pending
Angelique Kater	Direct Employment, Morphix Technologies, Inc.
KaShawna Parker	Information Pending
Fallon Peterson	Information Pending
Marcus Stephens	Medical School, Meharry Medical College
Tara White	Information Pending

The commencement ceremony was held on Sunday May 8th, 2011 and Dr. Bill Cosby was the keynote speaker at commencement.

Annual Dinner 2010

On December 10th, 2010, the Department of Chemistry held its annual dinner and awards ceremony and as usual, the buffet tables were filled with delicious foods prepared by faculty and staff. Awards were given to our outstanding freshman, sophomore and junior undergraduates and we heard reflections by students from each year group.

We were pleased to welcome back Wesley Glenn and Kia Walcott to speak about their experiences in graduate school and reminisce about their time at Hampton. Invited guests included Dr. Robert Dixon, Dean of the School of Science and Dr. Claudia Rankins, a previous Dean and current NSF Program Director. Besides enjoying the stories, food and fellowship, there were plenty of leftovers for students to take home and enjoy later while studying for finals.

Dr. Sidney Altman

The Department of Chemistry was selected to host the 2010 American Institute of Physics Nobel Laureate Visitation Program on December 2-3, 2010. This event brought to the campus, Dr. Sidney Altman, the 1984 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry and Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University. Dr. Altman presented a public lecture titled "Origin of Life" in the Student Center Ballroom on Thursday evening and a technical session on Friday in the Student Center Theater. On Friday, Dr. Altman also visited several Chemistry classes and students were invited to an informal luncheon to interact with Dr. Altman. Two Chemistry undergraduates participated in the public lecture program, assisting with introductions.

In addition to support from The Research Corporation, the program was co-sponsored by the Hampton Roads Section of the American Chemical Society and the Hampton University Honors College.

Related Articles

• Hampton University Public Relations Article
• Hampton University December 2010 Student Connection

Measurenet Expansion

Enhancing the undergraduate curriculum with new technology has been a departmental focus. The installation of a networked data collection system called MeasureNet has been expanding. Data workstations are now in three laboratories for use in Quantitative Analysis, Physical Chemistry and Forensics Lab. Plans are to further expand the network into Biochemistry and General Chemistry.

The Measure Net system includes probes for temperature, voltage, pH and pressure measurements. Other components include ion-selective electrodes and dual beam colorimeters.

MeasureNet Homepage

MeasureNet stations in Forensic Chemistry Lab

New Instrumentation

Installation of several new systems is now completed. The systems include:

• Cole Parmer dual chamber digital flame photometer for Na/K/Li determinations
• Varian ICP-OES 720: Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) optical emission spectrotroscopy (OES) for sub ppm range elemental determinations
• Varian 500-MS with TurboDDS Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer
• Agilent Liquid Chromatograph Series 1100 with DAD