Department of
 Chemistry and Physics

Faculty and Staff
Thank you
Alumni News
Grants
Publications
Presentations
Other News
Student News
Society of Physics Students
Student Affiliates, American Chemical Society
Volume 1, January 2000 Issue

Chair's Comments:
It has been a very good year for the department. In last year's newsletter, we showed our faculty and student productivity in terms of titles of grants, articles, and presentations at professional meetings. This year, the titles are too numerous for the space. With the addition of Dr. Robyn Hannigan and Dr. Bin Zhang, I am expecting continued growth in productivity. Dr. Hannigan will further strengthen the department's ties to the Environmental Science Ph.D. program. The addition of Dr. Zhang,  joining our two other theoretical nuclear physicists, gives our physics program a strong nucleus (pun intended) producing world-class research in this area. In addition to environmental chemistry and nuclear physics, we also have strong research programs in the all of the traditional areas of chemistry, analytical, physical, inorganic, organic and biochemistry, and in condensed matter physics and biophysics.

In the area of teaching, physics now has two lecture-lab rooms equipped with computers and multimedia equipment. One chemistry/physical science lecture hall is now equipped with multimedia capabilities and another lecture hall is currently being equipped. More and more faculty members are developing web pages and using them to assist in delivering instruction.

I again wish to thank Dr. Mark Draganjac for his editorship of this newsletter.

Katie Burns - Physical Science
William Burns - Physical Chemistry
Mark Draganjac - Inorganic Chemistry
Gary Emmert - Analytical/ Environmental Chemistry
Robyn Hannigan - Environmental Chemistry and Geochemistry
David Jimerson - Inorganic Chemistry
Bruce Johnson - Biophysics, Condensed Matter Physics
Bao-An Li - Nuclear Physics
Paul Nave - Organic Chemistry
Mike Panigot - Organic Chemistry
Scott Reeve - Chemical Physics
Ann Ross - Science Education
Jon Russ - Analytical/ Geochemistry
Andy Sustich - Nuclear Physics
Norman Trautwein - Analytical Chemistry
William Wyatt - Physical Chemistry
Bin Zhang - Nuclear Physics

Betty Pulford - Secretary
Ben Rougeau - Research Assistant/ Stockroom Manager
top

Thank You

The Chemistry faculty would like to thank all of you that have contributed to the Department. With your contributions, we have purchased a Midac M2000 FT-IR Spectrophotometer, which is used by students in Inorganic, Organic, Physical Chemistry and Instrumentation labs.  We have also purchased a photochemical apparatus that will allow us to do photolysis experiments.  Students doing research projects with Panigot, Nave and Draganjac, and Reeve will use the photochemical apparatus for synthesis experiments.  In addition, the faculty would like to thank Arkansas Eastman for the donation of a TOC Analyzer and a micro-Keldahl Nitrogen analyzer.

The Physics faculty truly appreciate alumni contributions to the Physics Foundation Fund.  Some of your contributions were used to help send students to the university meeting of the AIP in Atlanta. Additionally, funds were used to help purchase physics computer accessories  for use by physics majors.
top

Alumni News:
We would like to hear from you.  Tell us what you are doing now and we'll include it in the newsletter.  Write, call or e-mail us.

Department of Chemistry and Physics
P.O. Box 419
State University, AR 72467
Attn: Newsletter

Office:  (870) 972 -3086
Fax:  (870) 972 -3089

mdraganj@astate.edu

Alumni eGroup - Thanks to the efforts of Allen Goad, we now have an Alumni eGroup that current and former students can join to keep up with Department News and keep in touch with fellow alumni.  The web address is: http://www.egroups.com/group/ASU_Chemistry_Alumni
Please let us know what you have been doing.  We currently have 23 members in the eGroup.  Others that sent letters or e-mails are:

David Akridge - David completed his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Arkansas in 1998 and is working for Process Dynamics, a petroleum technology company in Lowell.

James Ford - James is a Technical Associate in the Analytical Services Lab at Arkansas Eastman in Batesville, in charge of the GC area and dabbles in LC from time-to-time.  Recently James has spent time mentoring new chemists and managing projects.  His wife Colleen is a first grade teacher in Batesville.

Jim French - Since leaving ASU, Jim completed a M.S. from the University of Kentucky and is working for LECO Corporation, in Holland, Michigan.  As a Product Leader, he leads a multi-disciplinary team of engineers and chemists on new product development.  Jim has released four instruments to date and has applied for four patents. Jim's wife Darla is an electroanalytical chemist.  Jim and Darla have two children, Rachel and Nicholas.

Farooq Khan - Farooq works for Xacta as a Lead Quality Assurance Engineer doing software testing.  Farooq is married with a daughter named Urooba and they are expecting a second child due this past December.

Ahmad Shateri-Mirabadi - Currently Ahmad is living in the New Orleans area.

Rick Wright - Rick is Professor of Chemistry at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and continues to stay active in research.  In the past 2.5 years, he and his students have published six papers.  Currently he is trying to prepare bioconjugates of a borogel colloid to be used in an antibody-targeted version of "boron neutron capture therapy" of cancer.  He is also Director of SOSU's MBRS Program. (editor's note: I was very fortunate to have been one of Rick's students at SOSU.)
top

Department News:

During the past year, the Department of Chemistry and Physics has published 19 articles in national/international journals and state/regional journals. In addition 54 scholarly presentations have been made at state, regional, national and international  meetings. Many of these papers have been presented by students who participated in the research. Over 30 students have been involved in the research and presentation.

The department has received or will receive over $400,000 in funding from outside sources (not including the NSF-Ocean Science funding to Dr. Hannigan) and may receive additional funding from grants which are now in review.

Grants:  Several of the Faculty have received grants this year.  Funding helps support research and teaching ef forts in the department.  Grants include:

• Gary L. Emmert, "New and Improved Methods for Measuring Disinfectants and Disinfection by-Products in Drinking Water," Arkansas Science and Technology Authority, approx. $43,000.
• Russ, J. (PI) & R. D. Evans (Co-PI) "Investigating biogenic oxalate as a paleoclimate proxy."  Arkansas Space Grant Consortium Collaborative Research Grant.  December 2000 - December 2003: $144,603. ($45,000 to ASU)
• Russ, J. (PI) "Study to determine the mechanisms of oxalate production on limestone surfaces." Arkansas Space Grant Consortium. March 2000 - March 2001: $ 15,695.
• Russ, J. (PI) "Can Biological Residues from Past lichen Activity Provide Information on Climate Change?"  Arkansas Science and Technology Authority. January 2000 - January 2001: $ 53,164.
• Russ, J. (PI) "Evaluating biogenic oxalate as a high resolution paleoclimate indicator." Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society. July 1998 - September 2000: $ 30,000.
• Russ, J. (PI) "Can biogenic residues on rock surfaces tell us about climate change?" Arkansas State University Faculty Research Grant. July 1999 - July 2000:  $4920.
• Melanie J Beazley and J. Russ (January 2000) "Analyzing for chitin in biogenic residues used as a paleoclimate indicator."  Silo Undergraduate Research Fellowship, $2650.
• Bao-An Li  Theoretical Study of Ultra-Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions at RHIC and Isospin Physics with Radioactive Beams. National Science Foundation, $154,353, Aug. 15, 2000-Aug. 15, 2003.
• Bao-An Li and Matt Tilley, Computer Simulations of Relativistic Nuclear Reactions, SURF SILO, $2650 (2000).
• Michael Panigot and Melissa Arnold,  Efforts Toward the Preparation of C-Glycoside Dendrimers, $2,650 SURF/SILO (2000).
• Michael Panigot, Jason Boggs and Jennifer Faulkner.  Studies Toward the Preparation of Isotopically Labeled Amino Acids SURF/SILO (2001).
• A. Ford and S. W. Reeve, Infrared Spectroscopy of Jet Cooled Organometallic Compounds, $2051.
• Mark Draganjac and Amanda Throgmartin, The Reaction of CpRu(PPh₃)₂⁺ with Potentially Chelating Heterocycles, SURF SILO, $2547 (2000).
• Mark Draganjac and Amanda Throgmartin, Synthesis of Ruthenium Di-Mercaptan Complexes: Selective Oxidation of Coordinated Thiols, SURF SILO, $2,650 (2001).
• Emmert, G. L. Developing Automated Methods for Measuring Disinfectants and Disinfection By-Products in Drinking Water: Arkansas State University Scholarly Initiative Fund, $6275.
• Development of selective post-column ion chromatographic method for measuring orthophosphate concentrations in natural waters, Brister, P. and Emmert, G.L, Arkansas Surf-Silo Undergraduate Research Award, $2643.
• Detecting and quantitating bromide ion and bromate ion concentrations in surface, ground, and sea waters, Steyer, H., Hannigan, R., and Emmert, G.L., Arkansas Surf-Silo Undergraduate Research Award, $2643.
• Improved Methods of Analysis of Chemicals in Drinking Water, Emmert, G.L., Duty, C.N., Puckett, S.D., NASA-Arkansas Space Grant Consortium. $32,232.
• Trent Franks and William Burns.  Infrared Spectroscopic Investigation of Donor-Acceptor Complexes Exhibiting Significant Gas-Crystal Phase Structure Differences.  SURF/SILO, $2050.
• R. Hannigan, Virginia Sea Grant: 2001- 2003. Locating Essential Fish Habitat for Weakfish and Speckled Trout in Virginia. $240,000. Funded through Old Dominion University.
• Andrew T. Sustich, Administrative Travel Grant, Arkansas Space Grant Consortium. $1,553.
• Andrew T. Sustich, Constructing Physics Understanding 2000, Arkansas Department of Higher Education Eisenhower Professional Development Program. $44,555.
• Andrew T. Sustich, Constructing Physics Understanding in a Computer Supported Learning Environment, Center for Research in Math and Science Education (San Diego State University) - subcontract of National Science Foundation grant. $33,000.
• Andrew T. Sustich, Eleanor Lane International Travel Fund. $1,000.
• Andy Sustich and Amanda Evans, Mechanical vs. Chemical Instability in Nuclear Matter, SURF SILO, $2650. (2000)
• Robyn Hannigan and Steve Blumenshine, "Linkages Between Watershed Dynamics and Habitat Limitation of an Endemic Species in Little Red River Headwaters". Arkansas Division of Water Resources, $9,000.
• Robyn Hannigan and Emily Rickman, "Phosphate chemistry of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand," SURF SILO, $3900.
• Bao-An Li, extention of "Theoretical Study of Ultra-Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions", Arkansas Science technology Authority, $61,120 through June 30, 2001.

• Nave, P. (PI), J. Russ (Co-PI), R. Hannigan (Co-PI), A. Grippo (Co-PI), and G. Emmert (Co-PI) "Acquisition of a high performance liquid chromatography system."  National Science Foundation (submitted July 2000):  NSF-CHE, $79,624.
• Robyn Hannigan, Remobilization of Trace Elements during Thermal Maturation. ACS-PRF Type G, $25,000.
• Robyn Hannigan, "Collaborative Research: Mechanisms and Watershed-scale Hydrochemical Effects of Black Shale Weathering".  NSF-Hydrological Sciences, $317,443.
• Improved Methods of Analysis of Chemicals in Drinking Water, Emmert, G.L., Cron, S., Brister, P., NASA-Arkansas Space Grant Consortium. $28,156. Pre-Proposal accepted, Proposal pending.

Publications: The Department has been active in publishing their research.  The publications include:

• A paleoclimate reconstruction for southwestern Texas using oxalate residue from lichen as a paleoclimate proxy.  Russ, J. D. H. Loyd & T. W. Boutton   Quaternary International, 67 2000 29-36.
• Raman spectroscopic analysis of pigments and substrata in prehistoric rock art. Edwards, H. G. M., E. M. Newton & J. Russ. Journal of Molecular Structure, 550-552 2000 245-256.
• Toward the Synthesis of C-Glycoside Dendrimers. Panigot, M. J.; Kim, S.; Arnold, M. W.; Bailey, A.; Bailey, D.; Faulkner, J. L.; Middleton, J. Polymer Preprints, 41(2) 2000 1292-3.
• Synthesis and Molecular Structure of [CpRu(PPh₃)(pms)₂]OTfl.3/4C₂H₄Cl₂. P. M. Nave, M. Draganjac, A. W.Cordes and T. M. Barclay. J. Ark. Acad. Sci., 53 1999 147-149.
• Studies of Selectivity in the the Amaranth Method for Chlorine Dioxide Emmert, G.L., Coutant, D. E., Sweetin, D. L., Gordon G., Bubnis, B., Talanta, 51 2000 879-888.
• The competition between chemical and mechanical instabilities in isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter. Andrew T. Sustich and Bao-An Li.  Bulletin of the American Physical Society,Vol. 45, 2000 77.
• Directed flow of neutral strange particles at AGS. Bin Zhang, C.M. Ko. Bao-An Li, and Andrew T. Sustich. Journal of Physics G, Vol. 26 2000 1665-1670.
• Neutron-proton differential flow as a probe of isospin-dependence of the nuclear equation of state Bao-An Li, Physical Review Letters, 85 2000 4221.
• Uranium on uranium collisions at relativistic energiesBao-An Li, Physical Review, 61 2000 021903(R).
• New physics opportunities with radioactive beams Bao-An Li, Radioactive Ion Beam Physics, CCAST-World Laboratory Workshop Series, Vol. 112 2000 1-111.
• J/psi suppression in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions B.Zhang, C.M. Ko, Bao-An Li, Z. Lin, B. Sa  Physical Review C622000 054905.
• Determination of isospin dependence of the nuclear EOS with isotopic distributions W. Tan, W. G. Lynch, C. K. Gelbke, P. Hosmer, M. B. Tsang, D. Zhabinski and Bao-An Li Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 45(5) 2000 40.
• A multi-phase transport model for RHIC  B. Zhang, C.M. Ko, Bao-An Li and Z.W. Lin Physical Review C.61 2000 067901.
• Light particle probes of expansion and temperature evolution:  Coalescence model analysis of heavy-ion collisions at 47A MeV  K. Hagel, R. Wada, J. Cibor, M. Lunardon, N. Marie, R. Alfaro, W. Shen, B. Xiao, Y.  Zhao, Z. Majka, J. Li, P. Staszel, Bao-An Li, M. Murray, T. Keutgen, A. Bonasera and  J.B. Natowitz  Physical Review C62 2000 034607.
• Dynamic evolution and the Caloric Curve for Medium Mass Nuclei  J. Cibor, R. Wada, K. Hagel, M. Lunardon, N. Marie, R. Alfaro,W. Shen, B. Xiao, Y. Zhao, J. Li, Bao-An Li, M. Murray, J.B. Natowitz, Z. Majka and P. Staszel. Physics Letters B473 2000 29.
• Weathering of Black Shales As Sources of Radiogenic Os in Sea Water. Peucker-Ehrenbrink, B. and Hannigan, R. E. Geology, 28 2000 475-478.
• Sedimentary and Geochemical Evolution of the Dras Fore-Arc Basin, Indus, Ladakh Himalaya, India Clift, P. D., Degnan, P. J., Hannigan, R. E. and Blusztajn, J. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 1122000 450-466.
• The competition between chemical and mechanical instabilities in isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter Andrew T. Sustich and Bao-An Li Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 45 2000 77.
• Antiflow of kaons in relativistic heavy ion collisions Subrata Pal, C.M. Ko, Ziwei Lin, Bin Zhang Physical ReviewC622000 061903(R).

 

• Preparation of an Electrophilic 3-Methylindole Derivative: Difficulties in Forming a Stable, Suitable Material for the Preparation of Tryptophan.Boggs, J.; McMasters, M.; Curley, R. W., Jr.; Panigot, M. J. J. Ark. Acad. Sci., 54 2000, accepted for publication.
• Reaction of Alpine-Borane with Aldehydes: Reactivity Rate Assessment by Observation of the Disappearance of the Carbonyl n - pi* Peak by UV-Visible Spectrometry. Bland, L.; Panigot, M. J. J. Ark. Acad. Sci., 54 2000, accepted for publication.
• Virtual Coupling of Pyran Protons in the 1H NMR Spectra OF C- and N-Glucuronides: Dependence on Substitution and Solvent.Panigot, M. J.; Robarge, M. J.; Curley, R. W., Jr. AAPS PharmSci, 2 2000, accepted for publication.
• Synthesis, molecular structure and computational study of a ruthenium bis(thietane) complex.  P. M. Nave, M. Draganjac, B. Ward, A. W. Cordes, T. M. Barclay, T. R. Cundari, J. J. Carbó, F. Maseras. Inorg. Chim. Acta, accepted for publication.
• Duty, C.N., Emmert, G.L., Wolcott, W., Olson, D., "Measuring  Trihalomethane Concentrations in Water Using Supported Capillary  Membrane Sampling-Gas Chromatography", Submitted for review to Talanta, December, 2000.
• The Supported Capillary Membrane Sampler Wolcott, W., Olson, D., Duty, C.N., Emmert, G.L., An invited review article appearing in Journal of Separation Science, tentative publication date July, 2001.
• A Survey of Alternative Colorimetric Reagents for Measuring Chlorine Dioxide Concentrations in Drinking Water Emmert, G.L., Puckett, S.D., Zhang, H., An invited review article appearing in Recent Research Developments in Pure and Applied Analytical Chemistry, Vol 3, tentative publication date March 2001.
• Methods of Removing Bromate Ion in Drinking Water Gordon, G., Gauw, R.D. , Emmert, G.L., Walters, B.D., Bubnis, B., Accepted for publication in the Journal of American Water Works Association, 8 August 2000.
• Charged particle rapidity distributions at RHIC Z. Lin, S. Pal, C.M. Ko, Bao-An Li and B. Zhang Preprint Nucl-th/0011059, submitted to Physical Review  C (2000).
• Probing the isospin-dependence of the nuclear equation of state Bao-An Li, Nuclear Physics A (2000) in press.
• Book: Isospin Physics in Heavy-Ion Collisions at  Intermediate Energies, Editors: Bao-An Li and W.U. Schröder, NOVA Science Publishers, Inc. (New York), 2000, in press.
• Rare Earth Element Chemistry of Natural Waters: Chemical Weathering and Dissolved REE Contents in Major River Systems. Hannigan, R.E. and Sholkovitz, E.R. 2001.  Chemical Geology. v. 171: 1345-1362.
• Mathematical Techniques for Determining End-Member Compositions Using Trace Element Data From Equatorial Mid-Atlantic MORB (5^oN to 5^oS) Basaltic Glasses.  Hannigan, R.E., Basu, A.R. and Teichmann, F. 2001. Chemical Geology. v. 171: 2345-2358.
• REE geochemistry of surface and groundwaters in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island New Zealand.  Hannigan, R.E.  Invited contribution. Rare Earth Elements as Groundwater Tracers.  Balkema Press.
• Chemical weathering of black shales. Hannigan, R.E. and Johanneson K.H.    Invited Contribution.  Ore Geology Reviews special edition IGC 31.
• Uranium-on-uranium collisions at relativistic energies. Bao-An Li Proceedings of the Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of the Century, Bologna, Italy, May 29-June 3, 2000, Eds. Giancarlo Bonsignori and Mauro Bruno, World Scientific (Singapore: 2001), in press.

Presentations:  The faculty and the students of the Department of Chemistry and Physics have made numerous presentations over the past year.  These include:

• A novel synthesis of stereoselectively beta-deuterated tyrosine hydrochloride.  D. W. Barnett, M. J. Panigot, R. W. Curley Jr. 220th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., Aug. 20-24.
• The nature of nonequivalence of the alpha hydrogens of the complex [CpRu(PPh₃)(pms)₂]OTf: Diastereotopic hydrogens or axial-equitorial exchange? Paul M. Nave, Mark Draganjac, Michael J. Panigot. Robert W. Curley, Jr. and Charles Cottrell. 220th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., Aug. 20-24.
• Can Calcium Oxalate Residues from Lichen Activity Reflect Past Climate Change. Shauntae Moore, Melanie J Beazley, Michael R. McCallum and Jon Russ presented a poster concerning which was presented both in the environmental chemistry symposium and at the Sci-Mix mixer. 220th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., Aug. 20-24.
• Toward the Synthesis of C-Glycoside Dendrimers. M. J. Panigot, S.-U Kim, M. Arnold, A. Bailey, D. Bailey, J. Faulkner, J. Middleton. 220th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., Aug. 20-24.
• Improved synthesis of (R)-[2-2H,15N]-glycine hydrochloride. J. R. Walker, M. J. Panigot, R. W. Curley Jr. 220th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., Aug. 20-24.
• Computational Investigation of Nitrogen-Boron Donor-Acceptor Complexes,  Leon Thornton, William Burns 220th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., Aug. 20-24.
• Novel HPLC detector: Generating on-the-fly fluorescence lifetimes concurrently at multiple emission wavelengths.Pam Ramage, Scott W. Reeve, Michael A. Dvorak, Gregory Gillespies. 220th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., Aug. 20-24.
• Beazley, Melanie J and Jon Russ (December 2000) "Investigating biogeochemical oxalate as a paleoclimate proxy."  Presentation at the Southeast/Southwest Combined American Chemical Society Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.
• McCallum, Michael R. and Jon Russ (December 2000) "Fatty acid analysis of prehistoric pictographs and surrounding matrix."  Presentation at the Southeast/Southwest Combined American Chemical Society Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.
• Moore, Shauntae and Jon Russ (December 2000) "HPLC analysis of rock samples from southwestern Texas." Presentation at the Southeast/Southwest Combined American Chemical Society Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.
• Melanie J Beazley and J. Russ (April 2000) "Stable lichen residues used as an indicator of past climate change."  Presentation at the Arkansas Undergraduate Research Conference, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
• Michael R. McCallum and J. Russ (April 2000) "HPLC analysis of lichen acids in biogenic rock crusts." Presentation at the Arkansas Academy of Science 84th Annual Meeting, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
• Melanie Beazley and Jon Russ (March 2000) "Can paleoclimate information be derived from calcium oxalate residues produced by past lichen activity?"  Presentation at 20th Annual University of Memphis Undergraduate Research Conference.
• Steps Toward the Preparation of C-Glycoside Dendrimers. M. J. Panigot, Shang-U Kim, A. Bailey, D. Bailey, J. Faulkner, J. Middleton.  Presented at the 7th Ibn Sina International Conference on Pure and Applied Heterocyclic Chemistry, Alexandria, Egypt, 2000.
• Reaction of Alpine-Borane with Aldehydes: Reactivity Rate Assessment by Observation of the Disappearance of the Carbonyl n - pi* Peak by UV-Visible Spectrometry. L. Bland, Michael J. Panigot. Presented at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Hot Springs, 2000.
• Synthesis of an Ethynyl C-Glycoside and Attempted Coupling to Polyhalogenated Arenes to form Dendrimers. S.-U. Kim, A. Bailey, D. Bailey, J. Middleton, M. J. Panigot. Presented at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Hot Springs, 2000.
• Steps Toward the Preparation of C-Glycoside Dendrimers. M. W. Arnold, S. Kim, D. Bailey, A. Bailey, J. Middleton, D. Broadway, K. Tran,  R. Murthy, S. Winn, M. J. Panigot. Presented at the 35th Midwest Regional American Chemical Society Meeting, St. Louis, MO, 2000.
• Efforts Toward the Synthesis of Chiral Beta-Deuterated Histidine. J. L. Faulkner, R. W. Curley, Jr., L. S. Benton, M. McMasters, K. L. Lawrence, J. P. Boggs, M. J. Panigot. Presented at the 53rd Midwest Regional American Chemical Society Meeting, St. Louis, MO, 2000.
• Novel HPLC detector: Generating on-the-fly fluorescence lifetimes concurrently at multiple emission wavelengths. Pam Ramage, Scott W. Reeve, Michael A. Dvorak, Gregory Gillespies, National Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Society Meeting in Nashville, TN (in September).
• Scott Reeve, Alan Ford.  "Infrared Laser Spectroscopy and DFT Study of Iron Pentacarbonyl," ACS Regional Meeting, New Orleans on Dec 6.
• Scott Reeve, Jason Shipman. "Analysis of  C2 LIF Spectra in an Arc Jet Plasma: Temperature Determination,"  ACS Regional Meeting, New Orleans on Dec 6.
• Scott Reeve, Kyle Trauth "Infrared Analysis of Combustion Kiln Exhaust Gases," ACS Regional Meeting, New Orleans on Dec 6.
• Hannigan, R.E.; Rare earth element geochemistry of hydrothermal groundwater  in the Taupo watershed, North Island New Zealand. Annual Meeting Geological  Society of America. Reno Nevada. October.
• Emmert, G.L.,Liao, Z., Wolcott, W., Olson, D., Madabushi, J., "A Supported Capillary Membrane Sampling-Gas Chromatography Method for Monitoring Methyl tertiary-Butyl Ether in Water," The 2000 Gulf Coast Conference, September, 26-28, 2000.
• Cron, S., Emmert, G.L., "Comparing  Standard and New Reagents for Measuring Ozone Concentrations in Drinking Water," Arkansas Academy of Science Meeting, April 1-2, 2000, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
• Budd, K.D., Puckett, S. D. and Emmert, G. L. "Bromothymol Blue as a Reagent for Measuring  Chlorine Dioxide Concentrations in Water," Arkansas Undergraduate Research Conference, April 2000, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
• Emmert, G.L, Puckett, S.D., Zhang, H., Budd, K.D. "Selectivity Enhancement in the Congo Red Method for Measuring Chlorine Dioxide," The Pittsburgh Conference, 3/12/00-3/18/00, 2000, New Orleans, Louisiana.
• Duty, C.N., Emmert, G.L., Wolcott, W., Olson, D. "A Supported Capillary Membrane Sampler for Monitoring Trihalomethanes in Drinking Water," The Pittsburgh Conference, 3/12/00-3/18/00, 2000, New Orleans, Louisiana.
• The Reaction of CpRu(PPh₃)₂⁺ with Potentially Chelating Heterocycles.  Amanda Throgmartin, Scotty Sproles and M. Draganjac, 20th Annual University of Memphis Undergraduate Chemistry Conference, March 4, 2000.
• Synthesis and Structural Characterization of [CpRu(PPh₃)L₂]OTfl complexes, L = thietane, tetrahydrothiophene and pentamethylene sulfide. Scotty Sproles, M. Draganjac, P. M. Nave, M. J. Panigot, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Arkansas State University, Robert J. Curley, Jr., College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University and T. Cundari, Department of Chemistry, University of Memphis, 20th Annual University of Memphis Undergraduate Chemistry Conference, March 4, 2000.
• The Reaction of CpRu(PPh₃)₂⁺ with Potentially Chelating Heterocycles.  Amanda Throgmartin, Scotty Sproles and M. Draganjac, 7th Annual Arkansas Undergraduate Research Conference, April , 2000.
• Bao-An Li Probing the isospin-dependence of the Nuclear Equation of State. Symposium on Physics with Radioactive Beams, Pacific Chem2000 Congress, Dec. 16-20, 2000, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Bao-An Li Probing the Isospin-dependence of the Nuclear Equation  of State. Nov. 30, 2000, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
• Bao-An Li  Probing the Isospin-dependence of the Nuclear Equation of State. NSF/DOE Nuclear Physics Long Range Plan Town Meeting, Nov. 9-12, 2000, Oakland, California
• Bao-An Li    Quark-Gluon-Plasma and the early universe. Jonesboro High School, Nov., 1, 2000, Arkansas
• Bao-An Li   Uranium-on-Uranium Collisions at Relativistic Energies. GSI Workshop on its Future Facility German National Laboratory for Nuclear Research, Oct. 18-21, 2000, Darmstadt, Germany
• Bao-An Li   Uranium-on-Uranium Collisions at Relativistic Energies. Oct. 6, 2000, Texas A&M University
• Bao-An Li  New physics opportunities with the rare isotope accelerator. RIA (Rare Isotope Accelerator) 2000 Workshop, July 24-26, 2000, Research Triangle Park,  North Carolina
• Bao-An Li  Excitation function of elliptic flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Seventh International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, July 3-7, 2000,Strasbourg, France.
• Bao-An Li  Towards the Frontiers of Nuclear Sciences. One of four panelists,  2000 Gordon Research Conference on Nuclear Chemistry, June 18-23, New London, New Hampshire
• Bao-An Li  J/Psi suppressin in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. International Conference on Open Standard Codes and Routines (OSCAR) for Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisiuons, June 6-15, Nantes, France.
• Bao-An Li Uranium-on-uranium collisions at relativistic energies. Bologna2000: Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of  The Century,  May 29-June 3, 2000, Bologna, Italy.
• Bao-An Li Chemical instability in neutron-rich matter. Third International Conferences on Phase Transitions in Strong Interactions, May 22-26, 2000, Acicastello, Italy.
• Bao-An Li  Isospin physics in heavy-ion collisions. May 17, 2000, Texas A&M University, Texas.
• Bao-An Li  Probing the isospin-dependence of the nuclear equation of state. April 19, 2000, Michigan State University.
• Andrew Sustich  and Bao-An Li, 2000. The competition between chemical and mechanical instabilities in isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter, American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics, Williamsburg, VA. 7 October 2000.
• Amanda Evans, Matt Tilley, Andrew Sustich, and Bao-An Li, 2000. Probing the isospin-dependence of the nuclear equation of state, American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics, Williamsburg, VA. 7 October 2000.
• Matt Tilley, Amanda Evans, Bao-An Li, and Andrew Sustich, 2000. Utilizing Uranium-Uranium collisions at relativistic energies to recreate the little big bang, American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics, Williamsburg, VA. 7 October 2000.
• Andrew Sustich, Bao-An Li, C.M. Ko, and Bin Zhang, 2000. Differential flow of nucleons and kaons in heavy-ion collisions.  Seventh International Meeting of Nucleus Nucleus Collisions (NN2000).  Strasbourg, France. 4 July 2000.
• Amanda Evans, Matt Tilley, Andrew Sustich, and Bao-An Li.  Probing the isopsin-dependence of the nuclear equation of state. Third Annual ASU Undergraduate Scholars Day. Jonesboro, AR. 24 April 2000.
• Matt Tilley, Amanda Evans, Bao-An Li, and Andrew Sustich.   Recreating the little big bang using uranium-uranium at relativistic energies.  Third Annual ASU Undergraduate Scholars Day. Jonesboro, AR. 24 April 2000.
• Amanda Evans, Matt Tilley, Andrew Sustich, and Bao-An Li.  Probing the isopsin-dependence of the nuclear equation of state. 2000 Arkansas Undergraduate Research Conference. Arkadelphia, AR. 28 April 2000.
• Matt Tilley, Amanda Evans, Bao-An Li, and Andrew Sustich. Recreating the little big bang using uranium-uranium at relativistic energies.  2000 Arkansas Undergraduate Research Conference. Arkadelphia, AR. 28 April 2000.
• Gary Emmert, "Chemical Aspects of Water Treatment: Applications of Flow Injection Analysis to Disinfectant and Disinfection By-Product Analysis" at the Department of Chemistry, Southeast issouri State University.

Other news:

New Faculty: We have hired two new tenure track faculty this past year, Dr. Robyn Hannigan and Dr. Bin Zhang.  Dr. Hannigan completed her M.S.degree in geology at the State University of New York in Buffalo, and her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester.  During her tenure at the University of Rochester, she saw the "the geochemistry light" and decided to dedicate herself to elevating the study of black shale geochemistry to its rightful position as a spiritual quest. The Ford Foundation allowed her the opportunity to put her avid curiosity to work. After completing her Ph.D. she felt the desire to know more and earned a prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Post-doctoral Scholarship. While at Woods Hole, studying with Dr. Rare Earth Element himself, Ed Sholkovitz, and Dr. Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink she recognized the funding possibilities in studying chemical weathering and metal release from black shales. Robyn was recently awarded an Aldo Leopold Leadership award for a three year term and is organizing a special session on chemical weathering for the spring American Geophysical Union meeting.
Dr. Zhang got his Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics from Columbia University. Since his graduate years, he has been working on the search of Quark-Gluon-Plasma, a new form of matter that is believed to have existed briefly in the early Universe. His main research interest is on the study of Quark-Gluon-Plasma formation and properties using large-scale computer simulation codes. He is a
founding member of the OSCAR collaboration and the RTTC collaboration coordinating the transport theory study of relativistic nuclear reactions. He is a major player in the development of A Multi-Phase Transport model, which includes both parton and hadron space-time evolution for the study of nuclear reaction dynamics. His work is closely related to the ongoing Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the future Large Hadron Collider projects at European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Department Seminar Series: The Department Seminar Series featured Dr. Marvin W. Rowe, Texas A&M University and Dr. W. Udo Schröder, University of Rochester.  The upcoming semester will feature Dr. Robert Engelken, ASU, Dr. James Cox, Miami University, Dr. Robert Curley, The Ohio State University and Dr. Fran Bagenal, University of Colorado

Congratulations:
Congratulations to Dr. Bao-An Li for  receiving the ASU Board of Trustees Faculty Award for Scholarship this past Spring.  In addition, this past summer was invited to make presentation of his work in Italy (two different international meetings) and France as well as numerous other invited talks.

Congratulations to the Panigot Group: At the Arkansas Academy of Science in April, 2000, students of Dr. Michael Panigot, Shang-U Kim won 1st place in the graduate division (Chemistry Section) and Layla Bland won 3rd place in the undergraduate division.

Also congratulations to Michael R. McCallum and J. Russ, awarded 1st Place in Environmental Science at the Arkansas Academy of Science 84th Annual Meeting, Hot Springs, Arkansas.

And to the ACS, Student Affiliates for their Chapter Honorable Mention Award.

Student News:

Pam Ramage, a student of Dr. Reeve,  spent spring semester 2000 working at Dakota Technologies Inc collecting time resolved Laser-Induced-Fluorescence (LIF) spectra for a series of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) mixtures.  The project entitled "Developing a Novel HPLC Fluorescence Detector for Resolution of Coeluting Peaks," was supported by the National Science Foundation as part of their Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program.

top

Society of Physics Students: This past Fall's activities included visits to St. Bernard's Nuclear Medicine Facility, General Corporation in Batesville and the St. Louis Science Center.  Similar activities are planned for the Spring 2001 semester.  Contact Matt Tilley  for details of upcoming events.  Dr. Bruce Johnson is the faculty advisor to SPS.

top

Student Affiliates, American Chemical Society:  Under Dr. Gary Emmert, the 1999/2000 Student Affiliates chapter received an Honorable Mention Award from the National ACS.  Congratulations to all who made the ACS group a success. Dr. Michael Panigot took over the advising duties in the Fall of 2000 from Dr. Gary Emmert.  Fall activities included a BBQ  to start the semester, several speakers: Dr. Connie Hall (Univ. of Memphis, Biomedical Engineering), Dr. Mohammed Ali (SE Missouri University, Department of Chemistry) and Dr. Alan Elbein (UAMS, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) and a Chem Magic show for Halloween. Students also performed Chem Magic shows at Brookland and Earle.  The Fall semester ended with a potluck lunch. Some events planned for Spring 2001 include a Bowling outing, and Dr. Ken Feldman, Penn State will talk to the ACS group April 9. For more information, go to the ACS Student Affiliate web page

top