Lectures

The Helen Murray Free Endowed Lecture Series

Helen Murray Free, a 1945 College of Wooster graduate and a pioneering scientist who was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 2000, was honored with the inaugural Helen Murray Free Endowed Lecture, featuring Dr. Mary Lowe Good.

The lecture series was established by Helen’s children and endowed through the Al and Helen Free Foundation. Each year, this endowed fund brings a renowned chemical scientist to campus to interact with chemistry students at a technical level and present an all-college convocation on the contributions of science to the quality of life.

Free, whose research in clinical chemistry not only revolutionized diagnostic testing in the laboratory, but also in the home, developed the “dip-and-read” glucose tests for diabetics. She was awarded seven patents for her clinical diagnostic test inventions, and also helped to develop a product for diagnosing Hepatitis ‘A’ while working for Miles Laboratories. In addition, she provided invaluable leadership in the testing of newborn infants for genetic or metabolic disorders that might lead to mental retardation.

Throughout her career, Free has been an active advocate of science education. From 1987 to 1992, she chaired the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) National Chemistry Week Task Force. In 1980, she was chosen as one of Wooster’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners; in 1992 she received an honorary degree from Wooster; and in 1993 she was elected president of the American Chemical Society.

Free has authored more than 150 professional articles, and co-authored two widely used textbooks in the field. Her accomplishments have been recognized in a number of ways, including the awarding of the ACS Garvan Medal and the Professional Achievement Award in Nuclear Medicine from the American Society for Medical Technology, as well as the establishment of the ACS Helen M. Free Public Outreach Award.

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Dr. Tehshik Yoon, Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Technical Lecture: “Stereocontrol in Photochemical Reactions”

• 11:00 a.m. in Lean Lecture Room, Wishart Hall (303 E. University St.)

Photochemistry is intriguing as a synthetic tool because the absorption of light by an organic molecule results in the formation of exceptionally energetic reactive intermediates that can react in ways that are inaccessible to ground-state molecules. However, this high reactivity is also a challenge for stereoselective synthesis: control over the stereochemistry of photochemical reactions, particularly using enantioselective catalysts, has been a long-standing challenging synthetic problem with few general solutions. We recently developed a strategy that utilizes privileged chiral Brønsted acid scaffolds to control both the absolute and relative stereochemistry of complex [2+2] photocycloadditions. These reactions have enabled a general, concise, and stereocontrolled strategy for the synthesis of the truxinate and truxillate natural products.
How do we improve small molecule targeting strategies?

Public lecture: “Radical Chemistry: A Case for LGBTQ+ Visibility in STEM”

• 7:30 p.m., Room 060, Ruth W. Williams Hall (931 College Mall)

Tehshik Yoon served as the guest editor for the C&EN 2022 Trailblazers issue celebrating LGBTQ+ chemists. He wrote that he is often questioned as to why there is a need to spotlight LGBTQ+ scientists. He said that the focus is “warranted, timely, and critically necessary.”

Professor Yoon uses his own story and the stories of others, along with facts and data (the tools of scientists), to “paint … a picture of the current landscape facing LGBTQ+ people in the US,” and to “make a strong argument for the power of LGBTQ+ representation in chemistry.”

Both lectures are free and open to the public.

Biography:
Tehshik was born in Montreal, Quebec, and raised in Blacksburg, VA, where his father is a professor of mining engineering at Virginia Tech. Tehshik became intrigued by organic chemistry as an undergraduate, and he had the great fortune to receive his education at every stage of his career in the laboratories of some of the leading figures in contemporary asymmetric synthesis. At Harvard, Tehshik’s first learned about research by studying stereocontrolled aldol reactions in Dave Evans’ lab. His master’s degree with Erick Carreira exposed him to the concept of applying photochemistry to the synthesis of complex natural products. Tehshik then became Dave MacMillan’s first graduate student, first at Berkeley and then at Caltech, with whom he studied methods to control the stereochemistry of pericyclic reactions. As a postdoc, Tehshik returned to Harvard and investigated the use of hydrogen bonding urea catalysts in asymmetric synthesis.

Tehshik has been on the faculty at UW-Madison since 2005, where he is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry. He remains intrigued by the unique ability of chemical synthesis to control molecular shape and function with an atomic level of control. His research group is particularly interested in the application of open-shelled reactive intermediates such as heteroatom-centered radicals, alkene radical cations, and electronically excited organic triplets to complex molecule synthesis. His contributions to pedagogy and research have been recognized with a variety of awards, including the following:

Selected Awards:
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award (2015)
William H. Kiekhofer Distinguished Teaching Award (2013)
Eli Lilly Grantee Award (2010)
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2010)
Amgen Young Investigator Award (2009)
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2009)
Cottrell Scholar Award (2008)
Beckman Young Investigator Award (2008)
NSF CAREER Award (2007)

Past Lecturers

2023:

Dr. Amanda Hargrove, Professor of Chemistry, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Duke University

• Technical Lecture: “Modulating the conformation and function of disease-relevant RNA with small molecules”
• Public Lecture: “Shining light on hidden players in disease”

2023: 

Dr. Rigoberto Hernandez, Gompf Family Professor, Department of Chemistry and Professor, Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University; Director, Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity (OXIDE)

• Scientific Talk: “Spiral feedback between computation and experiment at the nano-bio interface”
• Public Lecture: “Managing Inclusive Excellence in Academia”

2021:

Raychelle Burks, associate professor of chemistry at American University and a popular science communicator who has appeared on TV, in podcasts, and at large genre cons such as DragonCon and GreekGirlCon

• Scientific Talk: llicit indications: colorimetric and fluorometric visualizations for forensic science
• Public lecture: Monsters, Murder, and Marvel

Malika Jeffries-EL, Ph.D. associate dean, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, associate professor of chemistry and materials science and engineering, Boston University

• Scientific Talk: Design and synthesis of organic electronic materials
• Public lecture: Taking the Road Less Travelled: My Journey to the Ivory Tower

2020:

Geraldine (Geri) Richmond, Presidential Chair of Science and professor of chemistry, University of Oregon

• Technical Lecture: Surf, Sink or Swim: Understanding Environmentally Important Processes at Water Surfaces
• Public Lecture: The Importance of Global Scientific Engagement

2018:

Joseph S. Francisco, President’s Distinguished Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania

• Technical Lecture: From Atmospheric Complexes to Aerosols: New Insights into Atmospheric Chemistry
• Public Lecture: How We Can Rebuild Trust in Science— And Why We Must

2017:

Bassam Z. Shakhashiri,The William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea, Department of Chemistry; Director, Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison; President, the American Chemical Society, 2012.

• Technical Lecture: Science and Society: Our Opportunities and Responsibilities
• Public Lecture: Science Is Fun and The Joy of Learning

2016:

Madeleine Jacobs,President & CEO, Council of Scientific Society Presidents, Former Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the American Chemical Society.

• Morning Lecture: Ten Lessons of a Lifetime of Science
• Evening Lecture: The Two Cultures, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

2015:

Ned Heindel, H.S. Bunn Chair Professor of Chemistry at Lehigh University and a consultant on drug development for Azevan Pharmaceuticals.

2014:

Paul Anderson, Retired Senior Vice President of chemical and physical sciences for the DuPont-Merck Pharmaceuticals Company.

2013:

Susan Solomon, Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

2012 Fall:

Sam Niedbala, Professor of practice in the Chemistry Department at Lehigh University and CEO of DeTect Biosciences LLC.

2012  Spring:

Catherine Hunt, R&D Director of Innovation Sourcing and Sustainable Technologies at The Dow Chemical Company.