First-year chemistry students learn data analytics in new lab curriculum

First-year chemistry students learn data analytics in new lab curriculum

Prof. Martin Gruebele, far left, joins his team that created a low-cost method for teaching community college students the basics of instrument assembly and data analysis. The colors of the spectrum are broken down as they use a spectrometer built from a kit to use in analyzing dyed fluids. From left, Prof. Martin Gruebele, Alison Wallum, Amy Nicely and Zetai Liu.

A team of scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Rice University and Danville Area Community College has created an affordable laboratory curriculum for teaching advanced data analysis techniques and instrument building to first-year general chemistry students.

Students in the course at DACC get a first-hand look at the inside of a spectrometer by building a simple one from a kit and discover how they can use programming and data science techniques to extract hidden information from chemical measurements, the scientists say.

Students win 2023 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Students win 2023 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

2023 NSF GRF Recipients (from top left clockwise: Sadie Brasel, Eric Gomez, Autumn Bruncz, Zac Faitz)Students Zac Faitz (Zanni Group, University of Wisconsin-Madison), Autumn Bruncz, Sadie Brasel, and Eric Gomez (Link Group, Rice) have been awarded 2023 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships!

Each of them are valuable members of our Center, and they come from distinct backgrounds that shaped them into the scientists they are today. Read more here!

Landes student wins 2023 RURS Shapiro Showcase

Landes student wins 2023 RURS Shapiro Showcase

Annette Jones with her Shapiro Showcase AwardUndergrad student Annette Jones (Landes Group, Rice University) won the Shapiro Showcase at the 2023 Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium!

We wish her the best of luck as she heads to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in fall 2023 to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry.

Nanoparticles make it easier to turn light into solvated electrons

Nanoparticles make it easier to turn light into solvated electrons

There are many ways to initiate chemical reactions in liquids, but placing free electrons directly into water, ammonia and other liquid solutions is especially attractive for green chemistry because solvated electrons are inherently clean, leaving behind no side products after they react.

In a published study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the Center for Adapting Flaws into Features (CAFF) uncovered the long-sought mechanism of a well-known but poorly understood process that produces solvated electrons via interactions between light and metal.

More links aren’t necessarily better for hybrid nanomaterials

More links aren’t necessarily better for hybrid nanomaterials

Chemists from Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin discovered more isn’t always better when it comes to packing charge-acceptor molecules on the surface of semiconducting nanocrystals.

Rossky, Roberts and colleagues at CAFF systematically studied hybrid materials containing lead sulfide nanocrystals and varying concentrations of an oft-studied organic dye called perylene diimide (PDI). The experiments showed that continually increasing the concentration of PDI on the surface of nanocrystals eventually produced a precipitous drop in electron transfer rates.

Director Christy Landes awarded by ACS-GHS

Director Christy Landes awarded by ACS-GHS

Christy Landes Hightower Award

CAFF Director Prof. Christy Landes was given the 2022 Joe W. Hightower Award at the American Chemical Society – Greater Houston Section Awards Banquet on October 7, 2022.

The Hightower Award was established in 1969 to provide recognition for meritorious contributions to the welfare and distinction of the Greater Houston Section, as demonstrated by outstanding and significant contributions to education, research, Sectional service and/or service to the chemistry community.

Graduate Student Alexander Al-Zubeidi Defends Thesis

Graduate student Alexander Al-Zubeidi defends thesis

Al-Zubeidi, Alexander_Rice

Congratulations to Dr. Alexander Al-Zubeidi for successfully defending his Ph.D. thesis entitled, “Plasmonic Hot Carrier-Driven Electrochemistry” on August 19, 2022!

The need for renewable energy has sparked widespread interest in photocatalysts, including systems based on plasmonic metal nanoparticles. To take advantage of these materials, a fundamental understanding of how plasmon-induced hot-carriers drive chemical reactions is needed. This work examines how different hot carrier distributions affect electrochemical reactions of plasmonic nanoparticles, and how applied electrochemical potentials can be used to modify the reactivity of hot carriers.

Dr. Al-Zubeidi accepted a postdoctoral research associate position with the Link Lab at Rice University.

Graduate Student Anastasiia Misiura Defends Thesis

Graduate student Anastasiia Misiura defends thesis

Nastya&Christy_Rice

Congratulations to Dr. Anastasiia Misiura for successfully defending her Ph.D. thesis entitled, “2D and 3D Single-Molecule Microscopy to Enhance Protein Chromatography” in Summer 2022!

To advance our understanding of underlying phenomena in a chromatographic column, 2D and 3D single-molecule techniques were utilized. We uncover the differences in protein motion in mobile phases, depending on salt concentration, and correlated the results to an ensemble chromatogram. We also demonstrate the importance of the combined influence of surface properties on adsorption-desorption kinetics of proteins to the stationary phase. Overall, we have shown that single-molecule methods can uncover the details of protein dynamics and transport at the nanoscale and relate them to ensemble chromatography and apply them to protein purification at-scale.

Graduate Student Behnaz Ostovar Defends Thesis

Graduate student Behnaz Ostovar defends thesis

Behnaz Ostovar

Link Group, Rice University

Congratulations to Dr. Behnaz Ostovar for successfully defending her Ph.D. thesis entitled, “Plasmon-Mediated Carrier Dynamics in Metal Nanoparticles and Hybrid Nanostructures” in Spring 2022!

In this thesis, I studied the optical properties and ultrafast dynamics of novel nanomaterials, including emerging aluminum nanostructures, gold nanorods, and novel gold nanorod-semiconductor core-shell heterostructures. I utilized single-particle microscopy and transient ultrafast spectroscopy techniques that allow for detailed investigation of transient dynamics and optical properties of individual nanoobjects.

Dr. Ostovar is currently an Optical Waveguide Grating Engineer and a Waferfab Manufacturing Process Development Engineer at Lumentum.

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