2023 News
10 November 2023 – James is the keynote speaker at the 2023 Chemistry and Biochemistry Undergraduate Research Showcase at Wichita State University. James completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at WSU in 2007, and got his start in chemistry research at WSU as a member of Dr. Francis D'Souza's research group. Thanks to Dr. Jim Bann for the invitation to visit, and the opportunity to see old friends and make new ones on this visit. Dr. Bann was James's instructor for "Introduction to Biochemistry" way back in the spring semester of 2007, but he still remembers all his amino acids and many of their properties!
7 November 2023 – Graduate student Riddhi Golwankar has been named a Finalist in the KU Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition! Riddhi's 3MT presentation has the title "Unlocking Uranium's Potential" and describes our work regarding tuning of the electrochemical properties of uranium, which has an eye on applications in next-generation approaches to nuclear fuel recycling. Congratulations, Riddhi and good luck in the finals next week!
3 November 2023 – Today, our group was happy to join with the KU Department of Chemistry in welcoming Prof. Bill Evans of UC Irvine to campus and our department to deliver the 22nd Annual Brewster Lecture in Inorganic Chemistry. Bill is a leader in the field of the organometallic chemistry of the rare earth and actinide elements, and spoke in his lecture about how synthetic chemistry can contribute to the interdisciplinary arena of quantum science. Thanks to Bill for a great visit, a tremendous presentation, and enlightening conversations about the chemistry of the heavy elements!
28 October 2023 – Graduate students Alex Ervin and Fynn Cooper from our group travel to the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) Annual Meeting in Tempe, Arizona. At the meeting, they presented our group's work on application of techniques from chemical data science to problems in catalysis. Thanks to the NSF for supporting this valuable activity and to Anna Chicas Mosier of CEBC for coordinating the trip!
18 October 2023 – Undergraduate Cecilia Paranjothi attends the 2023 Joint Midwest & Great Lakes Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society in St. Louis to present her work on tailored, surface-immobilized uranium complexes. Her travel to the conference was underwritten by an Undergraduate Travel Award from the KU Center for Undergraduate Research.
28 September 2023 – James visits the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and delivers a talk on our group's work in actinide chemistry, including recent efforts in neptunium chemistry conducted jointly with Richard Wilson at Argonne National Laboratory. Thanks to Prof. Manar Shoshani for the opportunity to visit and talk inorganic chemistry!
11 September 2023 – Graduate student Riddhi Golwankar was named the recipient of a Best Poster Prize at the GPCS Fall Symposium. Her presentation described our group's advance in the preparation and study of uranyl crown ether complexes, a project that she has led through the development of specialized crown ether ligands tailored for this purpose. Congratulations, Riddhi!
10-11 September 2023 - The Great Plains Catalysis Society (GPCS) Fall Symposium was held this week at the University of Kansas. Our group was pleased to welcome Dr. Orson Sydora, a leader in the organometallic chemistry of selective olefin oligomerization chemistry, and Prof. Polly Arnold, a leader in organometallic f-element chemistry, to Lawrence as speakers at the event. James served on the organizing committee for the conference, which was held in conjunction with the 25th Annual CEBC Industrial Advisory Board Meeting. Thanks to Polly and Orson for visiting and delivering great lectures!
1 August 2023 – Two of our group's publications have been honored with Sutton Awards by the KU Department of Chemistry this year! This first was awarded for our paper on quantification of the Lewis acidity of electropositive metal cations. The second was awarded for our paper on the mechanism of hydrogen evolution by [Cp*Rh] complexes. Congratulations to everyone associated with these works, and thanks to the department for featuring our work!
1 July 2023 – Two of our groups publications have been featured by the journal Organometallics in a Virtual Special Issue on the topic of "Experimental Studies of Reaction Mechanisms in Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis." These articles, both featuring the work of first-author and former student Dr. Julie Leseberg, center on the redox reactivity of complexes of rhodium and chromium. Congratulations to Julie and all our co-authors on this distinction!
22 June 2023 – James has been named an Oustanding Reviewer for the journal Dalton Transactions in 2022, one of only 11 individuals around the world selected for this distinction. Thanks to the RSC for their appreciation, and the opportunity to submit peer reviews, an important component of the research cycle. Cheers!
12 June 2023 – Congratulations to our graduate student Emily Mikeska, who has begun a year of collaborative research in transuranic redox chemistry with Dr. Richard Wilson in the Heavy Element Chemistry and Separation Science Group at Argonne National Laboratory! Emily is being supported for her research by the DOE SCGSR program, as part of the 2022 Solicitation 2 round of awards. First off, we will be doing some neptunium and plutonium electrochemistry to learn new lessons about controlling actinide speciation through redox. Congratulations, Emily, and good luck with the research!
29 June 2023 – Congratulations to all the members of our group that have been named recipients of departmental awards and prizes in 2023! In particular, congratulations to Riddhi Golwankar for being named the recipient of the Ernest & Marvel Griswold Award, which is given each year to the graduating student with the outstanding, top thesis in inorganic chemistry. Well done, all!
5-9 June 2023 – Thanks to Dr. Tom Albrecht-Schönzart and his team for the invitation and opportunity to attend the Actinides 2023 meeting in Golden, Colorado this week. James's invited talk focused on our group's study of the mechanism of reduction-induced uranyl oxo activation chemistry, including a molecular electrochemical approach to triggering of actinide reactivity. A great meeting full of exciting scientific discussions on a true frontier in chemistry!
15 May 2023 – Our collaborative work on the mechanism of [Cp*Rh]-catalyzed hydrogen evolution and the role of ligand-protonated [Cp*H] complexes in the mechanism has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). This project, which first began in 2018, is based on a collaboration with Drs. David Grills, Dmitry Polyansky, and Etsuko Fujita of the Artificial Photosynthesis Group at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Among other highlights, this work involved use of pulse radiolysis and time-resolved stopped-flow techniques to unravel the mechanism. Congratulations to first author Dr. Wade Henke on completing this important work, featured by both KU and BNL in news releases, as part of his PhD studies.
5 May 2023 – Congratulations to Claire Dopp, who has been named the 2023 recipient of the KU Campanile Award. The Campanile Award was the Senior Class Gift from the Class of 2000 and is presented to a single graduating senior each year by the KU Alumni Association’s Student Alumni Network (AASAN), as this organization inherited the responsibilities of the Board of Class Officers organization for KU. The 2022-2023 AASAN Executive Board coordinated the selection process for this prestigious award this spring. The description of the Campanile Award states: “The recipient must display outstanding leadership, strength of character, and respect for the University of Kansas and its students.” Claire has been a member of our group since her first year at KU, and will be heading to the University of Rochester for graduate school in the fall. She will also defend her three-chapter undergraduate research thesis next week; her work has cut new ground in heterobimetallic chemistry, with a focus on the vanadyl ion. Congratulations on all your success, Claire!
10 April 2023 – James has been named the recipient of the Grant Goodman Undergraduate Mentor Award by the KU College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. The aim of this award is "to recognize an outstanding faculty member who exemplifies great teaching in and out of the classroom by mentoring students as they travel the journey of life." Thanks to all the students who nominated James for this award; what a privilege we've all had working together at KU since 2016!!!
29 March 2023 - This week, the Blakemore Group traveled to the ACS meeting in Indianapolis. James presented our work on development of a tripodal ligand for supporting heterobimetallic lanthanide complexes in a symposium honoring the life and legacy of Daryle Busch, a giant of coordination chemistry and former KU faculty member. Other group members, including Riddhi Golwankar, Joe Karnes, Emily Mikeska, Christian Nilles, Davis Curry, Alex Ervin, Fynn Cooper, Cecilia Paranjothi, and Natalie Lind, also attended the meeting and presented their work in a variety of symposia. Great to share our work and connect with friends at ACS!
10 March 2023 - Congratulations to Cecilia Paranjothi, who has been named the recipient of the Jack & Carolyn Landgrebe Summer Undergraduate Research Scholarship at KU! This scholarship will support Cecilia for full-time research work in our group during summer 2023, and includes a stipend as well as funds for research supplies. With this support, Cecilia will be continuing her studies of the speciation of electropositive metal cations in polar organic solvents, along with co-mentor Davis Curry. Congratulations on this stellar news, Cecilia!
5-10 March 2023 - This week, James attended the Gordon Research Conference on Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms. At the meeting, he presented our group's work on electrochemical activation of high-valent uranium complexes, and also served as Discussion Leader during the conference session on f-element chemistry. Thanks to Prof. Jennifer Love of the University of Calgary for the invitation to serve and for organizing a great meeting! Looking forward to the next edition of this great conference, to be organized by Prof. Elon Ison of North Carolina State University, in 2025!
6 March 2023 - Congratulations to Claire Dopp, who has been named as our department's nominee for the 2023 ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry. Claire was selected for this national recognition in light of her accomplishments in research and scholarship as an undergraduate, and her promise for future success in graduate school. Congratulations, Claire!
6 March 2023 - Congratulations to Cecilia Paranjothi, who has been selected to receive an Eli Lilly Travel Award from the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) of the American Chemical Society. Cecilia will use this support to travel to the ACS Meeting in Indianapolis later this month, where she will be presenting a poster on her research results as well as participating in professional development activities organized by the WCC. Through this program, WCC and Eli Lilly and Company continue to increase the participation of women in the chemical sciences, and we thank them for these important efforts. Way to go, Cecilia!
24 February 2023 – Cecilia Paranjothi has been named the recipient of a KU Undergraduate Travel Award. Cecilia will be traveling to the Spring American Chemical Society National Meeting in Indianapolis to present a poster on her work in quantifying the properties of electropositive metal cations through phosphorus-31 NMR titrations. Way to go, Cecilia!
17 February 2023 – James delivers an invited departmental seminar at the University of Texas at El Paso. He discussed our group's work on understanding the mechanisms of redox-induced reactions of lanthanide and actinide complexes. Thanks to Prof. Skye Fortier for the invitation, and the enthusiastic students and faculty for their warm welcome. This was James's third visit to El Paso, and he looks forward to returning again in the future! Thanks again!
15 January 2023 – Congratulations to Cecilia Paranjothi, who has been admitted to the University Honors Program effective Spring 2023!