2001 - California State University, Long Beach Department of ...

Fall 2001 • Number 26C 5 H 8C 5 H 8CH 4H 3 CH 2 CCatalyzed Electrocarboxylation ofAlkyl Halides,” published in RecentAdvances in Electrochemistry,was co-authored by John Liarakas,a master’s student. A recent article,appearing in JACS titled,“Synthesis, X-ray Crystal Structure,and Solution Behavior ofFe(NO) 2 (1-MeIm) 2 : Implicationsfor Nitrosyl Non-heme-iron Complexeswith g = 2.03,” was coauthoredwith Dmitry Pervitsky,who received his MS degree thissummer.Dr. Li also received a Scholarlyand Creative Activities Awardfrom the university for the summerof 2001.Dr. Robert LoeschenThis year has been a busy one forme, with respect to facilities. (Dr.Loeschen is associate dean incharge of physical facilities in theCollege of Natural Sciences &Mathematics.) In January we hadthe groundbreaking for the newscience building, which is locatedjust north of PH3. Since then, Imet with campus officials, the contractor,the project director andthe architect’s representativeevery week and listened as theydiscussed the whys and why-notsof building a science building. Thecontractor is trying to maximizeprofit (of course), but is really notworried about speed; CSULB eagerlywants the building finishedand does not want to spend thecontingency money, and the projectmanager is trying to figure outwhat everyone is doing. The resultsgive rise to some interestingdiscussions, and I am glad I amnot in charge. If everything goeson schedule, we should move inthe summer of 2003. Please planto come for a visit after the buildingis completed. Meanwhile, theshop people and I are workinghard to try to do renovations ofexisting space in PH1,2,3 and theMicrobiology Building because wehave so many new faculty memberswho need research space toaccommodate their needs.I have been “acting” associatedean for CNSM since 1992, andafter an exhaustive search (no oneelse applied) I was appointed tothe permanent position. It is niceto take off the “acting” prefix.Academically, I am teaching organicchemistry and enjoying it alot. I was very honored to havebeen selected for the MayfieldTeaching Award at graduation thisyear. In the fall, I am looking forwardto teaching in the organiclaboratories, as I have not donethat for several years.Marco LopezLeaving the “Heme Team” thisyear are Alex Nunez, who wasaccepted to University of Illinois,Chicago Medical School, and JosePena, who was accepted to the UCBerkeley PhD program in Virology.Both will start fall 2001. Two graduatestudents, Danny Ponce andVipal Patel, defended their master’sthesis. Danny’s thesis, “Synthesisand NMR of Tractable Modelsof Aqueous Heme Proteins,”was defended in summer 2000,and Vipal’s thesis, “Computer SimulatedTrajectory of a StericallyHindered CO-Heme System,” wasdefended in May 2001. MS studentsJing Leng and Kian Kani arewriting their MS theses this summer.MS student Phat Hoang wrotehis thesis last year and got a job inthe Bay Area; we are waiting forhim to return and defend it. TheHeme Team will be looking to increasethe number of students.Currently, Juan Lopez, whoseproject is the characterization ofNO-Heme complexes, is the only“Heme-Teamer” remaining. Wewill be looking to recruit studentsto the Heme Team this summer.Together with other faculty inthe college, we were fortunate inreceiving funding for a researchproposal titled, “Proximal Effectson Ligand Binding to HemeproteinModels,” submitted as part of aSCORE grant to the NIH. Thefunds will be used to set up ananosecond flash-photolysis lab forstudying the kinetics of ligand(O 2 , CO, and NO) binding toheme models of proteins. Furthermore,this grant will provide fundsfor a technician to help in performingthe experiments. Thefunding is for three years andstarts Sept. 30, 2001.During the last year I have beengetting experience in teaching theAdvanced Organic Chemistry Laboratorycourse, Chem 420. Lastfall I “interned” Dr. Nakayama’slab section and attended Dr. Berryhill’slectures. This spring I taughta section of the course. In the fall,I will take over responsibilities forthe course. The course teaches advancedlaboratory techniques andspectroscopy, focusing on MassSpectrometry and Nuclear MagneticResonance (NMR) spectroscopy.Tom MaricichThis past year reflects the comingyear, where I will continue toteach organic chemistry lectureand lab, coordinate the lab and coordinatethe department seminarprogram. Four years ago I introducedthe teaching of Chem 320Aduring the summer session. It nowregularly draws about 50 (oftendesperate) students, who tend toperform better than those in classesduring the regular terms.My research students are makingprogress on their projects. AndreaChen is completing her master’sproject working with a chiralsulfonimidate alkylating agent shesynthesized. She has submittedcrystals of one diastereomer for X-ray analysis by one of our seminarspeakers this past semester, Dr.Katherine Kantardjieff, professorand director of the W. M. KeckFoundation Center for MolecularStructure at CSU, Fullerton. Andreais hoping to demonstrateselective, chiral alkylation onracemic mixtures of chiral acidsand on meso or prochiral diacids.Another student, Dustin Wride, isbeginning to investigate the alkylationof sulfhydryl groups underacidic conditions, with potentialapplications toward alkylation ofcysteine SH groups in peptides andproteins. This project was stimulatedby suggestions from Dr.Roger Acey. Mike Eagan completedhis project and graduated SummaCum Laude. He is heading formedical school at UCLA this fall.Caroline Carter worked on a summerinternship at Neutrogena inLos Angeles.This summer we travelled toAnacortes, Wash. with our two sonsand daughter, their two spousesand our three grandchildren tojoin with over 100 descendants ofmy parents to celebrate a memorialcentennial of my mother’s birth.While we were there, we took infour operas of “Der Ring des Nibelungen”by the Seattle Opera.Kenneth MarsiI have completed my Faculty EarlyRetirement stint, but will continueto teach the second semester oforganic chemistry in the fall of2001. I have an ongoing assignmentas the editor of the Chemistry &Biochemistry Newsletter and asthe Coordinator of the AdvisoryCouncil and am active in assistingDean Nagel with fundraising forthe department and College ofNatural Sciences & Mathematics.In April I served as the externalreviewer for the Department ofChemistry at California State University,Hayward. Every five yearseach department in the CaliforniaState University System must bereviewed by an external visitor inthe discipline. I had been the reviewerin the previous cycle andon returning for my second fiveyearreview I was pleased to findthat many of my recommendationshad been implemented by the department.Dr. Leroy Chauffe, thedepartment chair at Hayward, wasa lecturer in our department during1967-1968. The year justended marked the 40th year of mymembership on the faculty at CSULB.I was privileged to have sixPresident’s Scholars in my firstsemester organic class, and I lookMolinaContinued from page 1challenges successfully met iscommunicating matters of healthto people of a variety of culturesand languages. This has been accomplishedby maintaining a workforcethat reflects the ethnic compositionof its patients and byhiring staff who live in patients’neighborhoods and speak theirlanguages. Molina Healthcare is aprovider of health care to approximately350,000 persons.Nearly all the company’s revenuesderive from Medicaid andother government-sponsoredhealth insurance programs. However,customers also include stateagencies such as the CaliforniaDepartment of Health Services.According to Mario, “Othercompanies enter and exit theMedicaid market depending onhow profitable it is for them andhow much effort they have toexpend. It’s just the opposite forMolina Healthcare. We are in itfor the long term. We find waysto make it work.”Mario received high honorsand was elected to Phi Beta Kappawhile at CSULB.Martha, also a Phi Beta Kappagraduate of CSULB, received numerousawards during her undergraduatecareer, including theKhalil Salem Award, the ToniHoralek Award and the David L.Scoggins Scholarship. She was alsopresident of the Student Affiliatesof the American Chemical Societyduring one of its most active years.Left to right: Dr. and Mrs. Robert Loeschen and Dr. and Mrs. Tom Maricich atthe 29th Annual Awards Banquet in May.See page 6, Faculty & Staff5