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PRECEPTORSHIP IN CHEMISTRY The Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology has two open preceptorships in chemistry. Anticipated starting date will be 07/01/2012. For more information and to apply, please visit (Introductory Courses) and (Advanced Laboratory / Chemical Synthesis). All materials must be submitted electronically. Finance Positions Available: Postdoctoral Research Positions Available Postdoctoral research positions are occasionally available on a rotating basis in the research laboratories of our faculty. Interested Individuals should apply to the faculty member directly. A link to each faculty member's contact information and web site can be found here. Note: A postdoctoral researcher is an individual who has received a doctoral degree (or equivalent) from an accredited college or university and is engaged in a temporary and defined period of mentored advanced training to enhance the professional skills and research independence needed to pursue his or her career path. Basic Qualifications include: Ph.D. |
CCB COMMUNITY Professor Daniel Kahne has been recognized by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences with a Harvard College Professorship, a five-year appointment reflecting dedication to and innovation in the art of undergraduate teaching. Congratulations, Dan! The Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced that the winner of one of two Star Awards given for freshman advising, just established this year, is our Director Allen Aloise! These prizes are intended to "recognize and reward individuals who contribute to the College through their exemplary intellectual and personal guidance of undergraduate students." Congratulations, Allen! Congratulations to Professor David Evans, winner of the 2012 Welch Award in Chemistry, "for his contributions to organic reaction design, in particular stereocontrol in carbon-carbon bond formation, which advanced the field of complex molecule synthesis."
Congratulations to Prof. Xiaowei Zhuang, who has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences!
Congratulations to Assistant Professor Emily Balskus, just designated a 2012 Searle Scholar! The awards support research for three years, and are intended for "scientists who have already demonstrated innovative research with the potential for making significant contributions to chemical and biological research over an extended period of time." On April 13th, the CCB Alumni Reunion took place with presentations in Pfizer Lecture Hall by several CCB professors. Information about the day's events and a preliminary list of attendees can be found at this link: http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/alumni/ccb_department_reunion.php together with an interview with John Lechleiter, PhD '80, CEO of Eli Lilly. Congratulations to our recipients of the Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, given for courses taught in the fall semester of 2011: New fellowship winners include first-year graduate students Junjie Hao (Zhuang group), Fan Liu (Myers group), Ioana Nitulescu (Shair group), and Matthew Taylor (Betley group), all of whom have been awarded National Science Foundation fellowships, and Max Mankin (Lieber group) who is a Hertz Fellow. Second-year graduate student Noam Prywes (Szostak group) is the recipient of an NSF, and incoming graduate students Samuel Blau, Thomas Markovich and Emma Yates are also NSF recipients. Congratulations all! Associate Director Carol Gonzaga received the Dean's Distinction Award at a ceremony in University Hall in early March. In the words of FAS Dean Michael Smith, award recipients are recognized not only for their "critical contributions and skillful collaboration which have delivered outstanding results for the FAS in 2011," but also for "their creativity, generosity of spirit, and commitment to the institution" which inspire us all. Congratulations to Carol for this well-deserved honor!
Congratulations to Professor Charles Lieber, who has won the 2012 Wolf Prize in chemistry! The citation reads "For developing new methods to control the shape and heterostructure of nanowires, for characterizing their physical properties, and for demonstrating their potential applications." He shares this prize with Paul Alivisatos of Berkeley (who has a separate citation). Awarded by the Wolf Foundation since 1978, the prizes are given to outstanding scientists and artists "for achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among peoples." Wolf Laureates will receive their awards in May from the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, at the Knesset in Jerusalem. The Saghatelian Lab has achieved Green Lab Certification! They are the first lab to do so in CCB, in an admirably committed effort. As detailed by Jamie Bemis, FAS Green Program Coordinator in the Office for Sustainability, they have minimized energy consumption and waste with efforts such as 1) signing up for the FAS Freezer Preventative Maintenance Program for two -80 freezers and one -20 freezer, 2) employing freezer maps outside freezers to keep track of contents, 3) utilizing green cleaning products, 4) turning off computers and lights at the end of each day, and 5) using reusable dishes in common areas. For the last three activities, they have also achieved Green Office Leaf 1 Certification. We congratulate the following staff members, who have served Harvard and CCB so well: Mallinckrodt Professor of Biochemistry Emeritus Paul Doty, who was a member of the department from 1948 until 1977 and whose research group originally occupied the top floor of Conant Laboratory, passed away on December 5th. He came to Harvard as a polymer chemist and gradually turned his attention to peptides, then to DNA and collagen, and helped found both the Journal of Polymer Science (in 1945) and the Journal of Molecular Biology (in 1959), as well as the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (now MCB) in 1968 and the Center for Science and International Affairs (now the Belfer Institute) in 1974. In Nature Methods on November 27th, Professor Adam Cohen and his group describe an exciting system of fluorescing neurons that they have created, whose voltage changes can be measured noninvasively and which promises wide utility. Links to movies showing the effects can be seen on the Cohen group page. This research has also been reported in the Harvard Gazette.
The Whitesides group has recently created flexible, squidlike robots, profiled in the news on November 28th. For more media coverage, see the headlines on the Whitesides lab page. Professor Martin Karplus has been awarded the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize in Chemistry, in recognition of his lifelong efforts to understand the electronic structure, geometry, and dynamics of molecules of chemical and biological interest. The Prize in Chemistry is given once every five years by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, and is considered Italy's highest scientific honor. Professor E. Bright Wilson of this department was the first American to receive the prize in 1976. Feltrinelli Prizes are given in five areas, the arts, letters, medicine, moral or historical sciences, and physical and mathematical sciences. One area is featured per year on a rotating basis, with four national prizes and one international prize each year. Antonio Feltrinelli, an industrialist and financier, bequeathed his fortune to the Lincei Academy to support the recognition of eminent scholars in the arts and sciences; Feltrinelli Prizes were first awarded in 1950. In addition to a cash award of 250,000 Euros, the International Prize includes a certificate and a gold medal. Professor Karplus received his prize on November 11th. Congratulations to Professor Emily Balskus, who has received a three-year award from the Smith Family Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research! The 2011 Nagoya Medal of Organic Chemistry is awarded to Professor Eric Jacobsen, who will deliver two lectures and receive his medal at Nagoya University in mid-November. This gold medal is designated for international scientists who have made significant original contributions to the field of organic chemistry. Congratulations, Eric! Congratulations to Administrative Coordinator Barbara Anderson in the director's office, who is celebrating her 25th year at Harvard, and very happy to be with us in CCB. Congratulations to Carol Gonzaga, who has been promoted to Associate Director of Administration! Professor Tobias Ritter's fluorination work is given a new twist in the October Popular Science, as he is listed among the Brilliant 10 as a "chemical mechanic." The startup founded upon the Whitesides group's paper diagnostics technology was profiled in the New York Times last week, with a description of the genesis of the project. The company is Diagnostics for All. In July, BASF honored Prof. Tobias Ritter with its Catalysis Award 2011 at a ceremony held in conjunction with the Heidelberg Forum of Molecular Catalysis. Prof. Ritter received the award on the basis of his outstanding research contributions to catalytic processes in organic synthesis.
New graduate students -- 42 of them! -- were welcomed at the department barbecue in September, mingling with current students, postdocs, faculty and staff. Undeterred by New England weather and a rare earthquake, these students have now begun classes and rotations as of August 31st.
Congratulations to Associate Director Jerry Connors on 45 years of service to Harvard! 
Welcome to new assistant professor Emily Balskus! With interests in the area of chemical biology, Professor Balskus joins the Harvard CCB faculty as of July 1st, and will teach a new course, Chemistry 171, Biological Synthesis, in the spring of 2012. Previous research experience includes a postdoc in the Walsh labs at Harvard Medical School, graduate work here in the Jacobsen group, a fellowship at the University of Cambridge, and undergraduate research at Williams College. |
