Author: Heather Powers

In Print

Haiying LiuHaiying Liu (Chem), visiting scholars  Jianbo Wang and Yibin Zhang and graduate students Shuai Xia, Jianheng Bi, Mingxi Fang and Wafa Mazi and others published a paper entitled “Ratiometric Near-infrared Fluorescent Probes Based on TBET and π-Conjugation Modulation between Tetraphenylethene and Hemicyanine Moieties for Sensitive Detection of pH Changes in Live Cells” in Bioconjugated Chemistry. The research is supported by NIH.

2018 UP ACS Student Research Symposium

Symposium logo, Upper Peninsula of Michigan with a research logoThe Upper Peninsula ACS Student Research Symposium will be held Saturday, April 14th at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. The purpose of the symposium is to provide a venue for students to present their research in chemistry, chemical engineering, and related fields. This symposium will be an excellent opportunity for students, faculty, and the community at large to learn about the interesting research being conducted in the UP! The event is sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Section of the American Chemical Society.

Undergraduate and Graduate students, pursuing research projects through externally-funded grants, guided independent study, or as part of a course are encouraged to present at the symposium. No Cost to Present! For more information on how to present or travel support please see event details.

Sarah Green to Present at Michigan Tech Research Forum

It is a privilege and honor to announce Sarah Green (Chem/GLRC) was selected from nominees across campus as the Spring 2018 Distinguished Lecturer.

Green was nominated by Mike Abbott, director of the Great Lakes Research Center Operations, and was selected from a highly competitive pool of candidates from all colleges and schools on campus.

Her lecture, “Expanding Spheres: Atoms to Earth, Local to Global, Science to Society,” will be presented at 4 p.m. Feb. 15, in MUB Ballroom A, in a format encouraging networking and discussions.

“Sarah has been part of several major climate-related/environmental monitoring efforts over the last 15 years, beginning with KITES, the very successful 2002 NSF-funded project that spawned nearly every other subsequent environmental monitoring effort in the upper great lakes. This work continues today with the Army Corps of Engineers, the Alliance for Coastal Technologies and NOAA/GLOS. Long a favorite lecturer on campus, Sarah Green, a 2013-2014 Jefferson Science Fellow with the U.S. State Department, relates to her audience in a concise and engaging manner.”

—Mike Abbott, director of the Great Lakes Research Center Operations

The Distinguished Lecture Series began in Fall 2016 to honor faculty for their research impact both in the peer-reviewed scientific realm, but also having a direct connection to society. Department chairs, center/institute directors, deans and Research Advisory Council members nominate highly engaging presenters with broad topic appeal.

Distinguished Lecturers are selected for their ability to increase the knowledge breadth of our community by connecting their research with societal and community concerns. Topics are broad intentionally, spanning all colleges and schools at Michigan Tech.

Nominees are reviewed by a committee and announced at the beginning of fall and spring semesters. Past Distinguished Lecturers include Richelle Winkler (SS) in Fall 2016, Simon Carn (GMES) in Spring 2017, and John Vucetich (SFRES) in Fall 2017.

For more information and to nominate yourself or others, visit the Michigan Tech Research Forum.

by Adrienne Minerick, Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Development

Professor Emerita Gladys Dawson Passes

gladysProfessor Emerita Gladys Dawson passed away Jan. 3 at the age of 93. She taught in Tech’s Chemistry department from 1963 until her retirement in 1985.

The New Jersey native received her bachelor’s (1946) and PhD (1951) in chemistry from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. In 1963 she and her husband, the late Donald Dawson, a mathematics professor and researcher, accepted positions at Tech. The spousal hire, may or may not have been the first at Michigan Tech, but nonetheless, was unusual for the time.

Dawson’s son Tim recalls, “Dad was hired as a full professor and mom as an associate despite similar credentials. Mom was granted full professor status, but many years later.”

Tim Dawson says his mother was a pioneer of sorts. “My mom was very unique as a woman in a hard science at a time when it was pretty rare.”

Carrie Richards, Michigan Tech’s manager of Partner Engagement, was a student of Dawson’s in Freshman Chemistry. “She was very smart; a good role model and mentor. I really admired her. Later she became a friend and neighbor,” Richards says. “Through her actions, she taught me about community involvement and the rewards of volunteering locally.”

Another former student shared an inspirational story as the 2011 Midyear Commencement speaker. Chang K. Park ’73, told of how as a first-year student from South Korea still learning English, he failed Myron “Doc” Berry’s legendary introductory chemistry class. Park told the commencement audience triumph came in the form of another professor … Gladys Dawson.

“She made it so interesting and easy. Some people said it was because I was taking it a second time, and I’d say ‘Not true, I didn’t learn anything the first time.’” Park said.

Tim Dawson says his mother did not give out “free grades,” but unlike her late husband, who passed away in December, 2015 at the age of 90, she wasn’t “feared” either.

“She was fair, and I remember many a night with her processing exams in the basement of the MEEM and her subsequently doing analysis of questions to ensure the tests were both fair and not confusing and to ferret out any cheating.”

In addition to fairness and clarity, her exams became memorable for other reasons. “One of the other things she did in later years was to show up to give an exam in a witch’s costume,” Tim said. “I think the Lode ran a commentary along the lines of, ‘We suspected it all along.'”

Dawson was a member of the American Chemical Society and the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority. She was also very active in the Pine Mountain Music Festival for many years.

In 2011 the Dawsons established the Dr. Gladys Q. Dawson and Dr. Donald E. Dawson Endowed Scholarship. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide financial assistance to students who have achieved at least sophomore status and are majoring in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM).

A memorial service will be held a 3 p.m. tomorrow (Jan. 11) in the ballroom of the Bluffs in Houghton. There will be no visitation. The O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home is assisting with the arrangements and online condolences can be left on their website.

Memorials in lieu of flowers may be directed to Little Brothers~Friends of the Elderly, 527 Hancock Ave., Hancock, MI 49930 or to the Pine Mountain Music Festival in the name of Gladys Dawson.

In Print

journalGraduate students Mingxi Fang, Rashmi Adhikari, Jianheng Bi, Wafa Mazi, Nethaniah  Dorh, visiting scholar Jianbo Wang, undergraduate  Conner Nathan, research associate professor Tayana Karabencheva-Christova, associate professor Ashutosh Tiwari , and professor Haiying Liu published a paper entitled “Fluorescent probes for sensitive and selective detection of pH changes in live cells in visible and near-infrared channels” in the Journal of Chemistry Materials.

In Print

136701_webHaiying Liu (Chem), Ashutosh Tiwari (Chem), Ranjit Pati (Physics), along with graduate students Rashmi Adhikari, Mingxi Fang, Nethaniah Dorh, Cong Li, Jingtuo Zhang and Meghath Jaishi, published a paper titled “Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probes with Large Stokes Shifts for Sensing Zn(II) Ions in Living Cells” in ACS Sensors.

Their research in using fluorescent probes to find cancer cells was covered by Michigan Tech News, Phys.org, eCancer, Science Daily, Health Medicine Network, R&D Magazine and many other publications worldwide.

Science360, a science news website published by the National Science Foundation (NSF), spotlighted the fluorescent probe research of Liu as one of its headline stories on March 30.