2017 News
14 December 2017 – Congratulations to group members Emily Boyd and Will Moore, who have been named recipients of Undergraduate Research Awards by the Center for Undergraduate Research at KU! These awards will support Emily and Will's research on metal-mediated energy conversion in Spring 2018. Well done!
29 November 2017 – Amit's research has been featured on the cover of Chemistry – A European Journal! Our paper examines the structural and electronic effects of Lewis acidity in heterobimetallic complexes. The results suggest that the Lewis acidity of metal ions could be used to reliably tune the electrochemical properties of new catalysts.
November 2017 – James presents invited talks on our group's [Cp*Rh] chemistry at Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS) and Creighton University (Omaha, NE). Thanks to Profs. Tendai Gadzikwa and Kayode Oshin for invitations to present our work!
26 October 2017 – James presents an invited talk on "Structural and Electronic Consequences of [Cp*] Ligand Protonation" at the symposium "Young Scholars" at the Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting of the ACS. Thanks to Prof. Debbie Crans of Colorado State Univ. for the invitation!
20 October 2017 – Congratulations to Wade Henke, recipient of the Paul R. Sharp Graduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry. This prize was awarded for Wade's top oral presentation at the Midwest Regional ACS Meeting, titled "Understanding photodegradation of manganese tricarbonyl catalysts for CO2 conversion." Well done, Wade!
18 October 2017 – The Midwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society was held in Lawrence this month on Oct 18-20! The Blakemore Group was well represented with a round of talks in the sessions on Inorganic Chemistry. James was also co-organizer of a symposium titled "From Molecules to Nanomaterials" with Prof. Cindy Berrie of KU. Invited speakers include Prof. Francis D'Souza of UNT, Prof. Lin Chen of Northwestern, and Prof. Rob Coridan of U. Arkansas.
9 October 2017 – We welcome undergraduate Shaun Kelsey to the research group!
1 September 2017 – Another fall semester is underway at KU! We welcome first-year undergraduate Ngan Tran to the research group–he is supported by the KU Center for Undergraduate Research's Emerging Scholars Program.
13 July 2017 – David's paper on distinguishing between heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis was featured by ChemComm in a Tweet!
28 June 2017 – James visits the Synchrotron Soleil in Gif-sur-Yvette, France for collaborative experiments. Many thanks to our collaborator Dr. Benedikt Lassalle, co-investigator on the proposal for this work. We are examining the oxidation states and electrochemical properties of rhodium-based catalysts for fuel production with synchrotron X-ray radiation.
14 June 2017 – James presents an invited talk in the symposium "CO2 Utilization" at the 21st Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference in Reston, Virginia. Thanks to Profs. Bala Subramaniam (KU) and Phil Jessop (Queen's Univ., Ontario, Canada) for the invitation to present at this diverse and exciting forum!
6 June 2017 – Congratulations to Will Moore on receiving a KU Undergraduate Research Fellowship! Will works on characterizing new manganese-based catalysts for conversion of carbon dioxide. Way to go, Will!
19 May 2017 – Davide's paper has been featured by Organometallics in a Tweet!
16 May 2017 – A second exciting summer of research is underway in the Blakemore Group! Welcome new group members Clara Stanton, a senior undergraduate at KU, and Daniel King, a visiting summer REU student from St. Olaf College. Let the fun begin!
13 May 2017 – Congratulations to our group member Wade Henke, who has completed his B.S. in Chemistry with Honors! The title of his Honors Thesis is "Opposites Attract," and it focuses on a small family of hydrogen-evolving catalysts and unusual ligand effects on their activities.
22 April 2017 – James visits the Molecular Material Research Center in the Beckman Institute at Caltech to collect X-ray photoelectron spectra on new electrode surface-immobilized metal complexes! Thanks to Dr. Bruce Brunschwig and GLA Ellen Yan for their hospitality! Great to be back in SoCal for some surface science!
31 March 2017 – James presents an invited talk at KU's 'Red Hot Research'. Each installment of this series brings scholars from around the University together at The Commons to discuss big ideas and grand challenges from the perspective of many disciplines. Using the format of Pecha Kucha-style 6-minute talks, researchers at this meeting focused on the topic of "The Environment and the Future." James shared our group's work on carbon dioxide conversion chemistry. Thanks to Emily Ryan for the invitation to present at this thought-provoking and exciting forum!
20–21 March 2017 – James attends the 2017 NSF Chemistry Early Career Investigator Workshop. Activities focused on writing proposals and connecting new research groups with appropriate programs. Thanks to the hosts, Profs. Tom Miller (Caltech) and Kate Plass (Franklin and Marshall College)!!
13–14 March 2017 – Students from Emporia Middle School visit the Blakemore Lab! 65 or so enthusiastic students, teachers, and parents visited the lab for several hours to see demonstrations, learn about our work, and ask questions about studying science. Thanks to Dr. Claudia Bode of CEBC for bringing her fluorescence spectrometer as an additional demonstration!
8 March 2017 – A film crew from UK-based Twofour Group visited our lab to carry out a demonstration for an upcoming program centered on the chemistry of helium. Helium was discovered on Earth at KU in 1905. Our postbaccalaureate students Tyler and Keaton assisted with preparations. We look forward to seeing the final program!
3 March 2017 – James presented an invited talk at Benedictine College in Abilene, Kansas. Thanks to Prof. Larry Sutton for the invitation and the chemistry department's hospitality! Thanks also to Prof. Kolbe Scheetz, KU PhD 2013, for the engaging discussions of inorganic chemistry, d-orbitals, and synthesis!
1 January 2017 – Welcome new graduate students Amit Kumar and Katie Cannon!