Brandeis alumna elected Vice President of the International Union of Crystallography

Alumna Graciela Diaz de Delgado (Ph. D., Chemistry, 1988) was elected Vice President of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) in August 2023.  Graciela is currently Professor of Chemistry at the Universidad de los Andes in Merida, Venezuela, and is only the second person from Latin America to be elected to this position in the IUCr’s 75+ years of existence.  At Brandeis she completed her Ph. D. work in Professor Bruce Foxman’s group, where she worked on the solid-state reactions of crystalline metal complexes of trans-2-butenoate, a productive theme which continued in Bruce’s research group until his retirement. Graciela also serves the IUCr as the Chief Editor for Acta Crystallographica Section E.  Formally admitted to the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) on 7 April 1947, the IUCr remains committed to its goals of promoting international cooperation in crystallography and advancing the science, promoting international publication of crystallographic research, facilitating standardization of methods, units, nomenclatures and symbols, and forming a focus for the relations of crystallography to other sciences.  Graciela and her husband Miguel are both Professors of Crystallography at the Universidad de los Andes and have maintained highly active research programs there since 1989.  Graciela and Miguel’s son, Daniel, is currently a Ph.D. student in the Brandeis University Music Department.

Bruce Foxman Elected American Crystallographic Association Fellow

The American Crystallographic Association (ACA) has elected Bruce Foxman, Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, as a member of the 2020 class of ACA Fellows. The ACA recognized his leadership of the solid-state chemistry research community and his research in topotactic relationships, solid-state dimerization and polymerization, and polymorphism. Foxman has also contributed extensively to the development of new methods for X-ray crystal structure determination. Bruce joined the Brandeis faculty in 1972 and is still research-active and also collaborating with many colleagues at Brandeis and elsewhere. He is a superb teacher (2009 Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching) and has developed widely-used downloadable tutorials on Symmetry and Space Groups and An Introduction to X-ray Structure Determination for High School Students.

ACA Symposium to honor Foxman

At the 2012 Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association, to be held in Boston starting this weekend, one of the highlights will be a session entitled “Transactions: Transformations and Structural Oddities in Molecular Crystals: In Honor of Bruce M. Foxman“. This session, organized to honor \Professor of Chemistry Bruce Foxman “for his contributions to the field of solid state chemistry and his dedication to teaching” on the occasion of his 7oth birthday. Foxman’s research over the years has involved solid state reactions and polymorphism of molecular crystals, and one of his greatest contributions to the field is a series of online tutorials, including one on Symmetry and Space Groups, another on Bruker’s APEX 2 software. and a third aimed at high school students. The symposium will be held in two parts on Sunday July 29, and Wednesday, August 1, at the ACA meeting in Boston.

Daniel Graham ’10, and Aaron Gell ’10, and Jeffrey Dobereiner ’09 awarded 2011 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Former chemistry majors Daniel Graham ’10, Aaron Gell ’10, and Jeffrey Dobereiner ’09 have been awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. These Fellowships, geared towards ensuring the vitality of the country’s scientific workforce, support the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in scientific research.  Dan and Aaron are currently first year graduate students at MIT, pursuing Ph.D.s in inorganic chemistry.  Dan received highest honors in chemistry for thesis research conducted in the lab of Professor Christine M. Thomas, and is currently continuing to investigate chemical approaches to renewable energy strategies in the lab of Professor Daniel Nocera at MIT.  Aaron, also an inorganic chemist, conducted undergraduate research in the Brandeis chemistry department under the supervision of Professor Bruce Foxman. Jeff was a double major in anthropology and chemistry at Brandeis and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Archaeology at Harvard University, where he is applying his chemistry knowledge to the analysis of ancient artifacts. In addition, Delora Gaskins, a 2011 incoming graduate student in the area of physical chemistry, was awarded an NSF Fellowship.  Delora is completing her undergraduate degree at Cal. State. – Long Beach and hopes to join the lab of Professor Irving Epstein in the fall of 2011.

Undergraduate research fellowship opportunities

Meredith Monaghan, Director of Academic Fellowships, writes:

I am happy to announce the latest competition for two sources of funding designed to support undergraduate research at Brandeis University. Applications for both the Schiff Undergraduate Fellows Program and the Undergraduate Research Program are due in March; specific details for each are below. For your reference, I have also attached to this email the info sheets/applications for each.

Schiff Fellows work closely with a Faculty Mentor on a year-long research or pedagogical project; Fellows earn $2000 and their Faculty Mentors receive $500. Current and past Schiff Fellows describe this as an excellent opportunity to pursue independent research in collaboration with a caring and knowledgeable expert in their field. In past years, faculty members have been particularly helpful in identifying excellent candidates for the Schiff Fellowship, and have often approached a student directly with an idea for a project. Applications for academic year 2011-2012 are available in Academic Services (Usdan 130) or by emailing Meredith Monaghan. The submission deadline is 5pm on Monday, March 7, 2011.

This cycle of the Undergraduate Research Program competition is for summer 2011 grants. This award is open to students in all disciplines, and funds can be used to pay for research materials, travel to conferences, and other research-related expenses. Students need a recommendation from a faculty mentor, but the role of the faculty member is less hands-on for the URP than for the Schiff Fellowship Program. Applications are available in Academic Services (Usdan 130) or by emailing Meredith Monaghan. The submission deadline is 5pm on Wednesday, March 16, 2011.

For information about other fellowship opportunities, see the Academic Services website.

Last year’s winners, the 2010-2011 Schiff Fellows, are:

• BENJAMIN G. COOPER ’11, Chemistry & Biology (with Prof. Christine Thomas) — “Catalyst Design for Environmentally-Friendly Production of Fuels”
• USMAN HAMEEDI ’12, Biology & HSSP (with Prof. Bruce Foxman) — “Temperature Sensitive Ferrocene Complexes”
• JUNE ALLISON HE ’11, Psychology (with Prof. Nicolas Rohleder) — “Investigating the Link Between Subjective Conceptions of Stress and Health and Age-Related Declines in Cognitive Functioning”
• MAYA KOENIG ’11, IIM Medical Anthropology (with Prof. Sarah Lamb) — “Bringing Medical Anthropology to Brandeis / Using CAM to Conceptualize Health”
• ALEXANDRA KRISS ’11, HSSP (with Prof. Sara Shostak) — “College-Aged Women & Contraceptives: What Does Advertising Have To Do With It?”
• ALEXANDRU PAPIU ’12, Mathematics (with Prof. Bong Lian) — “Structural Properties of a Certain Kind of Semigroup”
• Géraldine Rothschild ’12, Economics & French (with Prof. Edward Kaplan) — “Jewish Identities in France During 1945”
• MARTHA SOLOMON ’11, Biology (with Prof. Lawrence Wangh) — “Barrett’s Adenocarcinoma and its Effects on Mitochondrial DNA”
• ILANA SPECTOR ’11, Economics & Philosophy (with Prof. Marion Smiley) — “The Meaning of Life: Revealing Individual Perspectives Behind Broader Philosophical Notions”
• JOSEPH POLEX WOLF ’11, Neuroscience & HSSP (with Prof. Angela Gutchess) — “Cognition at the Cross-Roads: Bicultural Cognitive Processing in Turkish Individuals”