Award-Winning Quilt Presents Learning Opportunities for Math Students That are Sew, Sew Good
By Richard LeComte
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- As it turns out, mathematics can be a soft science: soft as a cozy quilt. A group of University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences students and their professors demonstrated that concept when they patched together an award-winning quilt with a color scheme based on group theory.
“Neural Circuitry for Interactive Communication”
Michael Long is the Thomas and Susanne Murphy Professor of Neuroscience at the NYU School of Medicine. He completed his graduate studies with Barry Connors at Brown University where he investigated the role of electrical synapses in the mammalian brain. During his postdoctoral work with Michale Fee at MIT, Long began to study the songbird model system to uncover the cellular and network properties that give rise to learned vocal sequences. Since beginning his laboratory in 2010, Long has focused his attention on the neural circuits underlying skilled movements, often in the service of vocal interactions. To accomplish this, the Long lab has taken a comparative approach, examining relevant mechanisms in the songbird, a newly characterized neotropical rodent, and humans. In addition to federal funding, the Long lab has also received support from NYSCF, the Rita Allen Foundation, the Klingenstein Foundation, and the Herschel-Weill Foundation.
Abstract: Vocal communication is central to our everyday lives, facilitating social exchange. Despite significant recent discoveries, the neural mechanisms underlying coordinated vocal exchanges remain poorly understood. We examine the brain processes involved in interactive vocal behaviors, focusing on forebrain circuitry in the songbird and the rodent, and we relate these to emerging human studies that employ a range of methods to manipulate and monitor cortical areas relevant for speech.
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THM 116
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Three UK Graduate Students Awarded Department of Energy Grant
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 13, 2022) — Three graduate students at the University of Kentucky have been selected for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program.
Arts & Sciences Graduation 2022
Congratulations to all of our outstanding graduates! The future is bright!
"Synergistic Organometallic Catalysis in Water: Selective, Scalable, & Sustainable"
Handa Research Group
Prof. Sachin Handa is currently a tenured associate professor in the chemistry department at the University of Louisville. In less than four years, he completed his Ph.D. in 2013 and then worked as a postdoc fellow with Prof. Bruce Lipshutz from 2013-2016. He started his independent career in 2016. His research interests are green chemistry, energy, nanocatalysis, and photochemistry. Recently, he has received the NSF CAREER award, Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in Physical Sciences by Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and Peter J. Dunn Award for Green Chemistry and Engineering Impact in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Besides fundamental research, his research significantly focuses on synthetic problems associated with the pharmaceutical industry. Currently, his research is funded by NSF, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Switzerland, AbbVie, Takeda, and Biohaven Pharmaceuticals. He also serves on editorial boards of various journals, such as ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, Green Chemistry Letters & Reviews, and Molecules.
Abstract
Water appears to be the only solvent for life to occur on this planet; nonaqueous solvents may support life elsewhere in the universe.
Water is a safe, stable, inexpensive, and naturally abundant solvent. However, it is predominantly used for reaction work-ups in organic synthesis rather than as an alternative reaction medium. Nonetheless, it has many exciting features leading to more effective and environmentally cleaner chemistry, such as enhancing catalysis and controlling reaction selectivity via metal-micelle cooperativity or the shielding effect of the micelle.Therefore, in the big picture, the effective use of water in syntheses enables powerful catalysis that can avoid expensive ligands and the use of toxic organic solvents, boost the worker and environmental safety, and add tremendous economic value. Contributions from various research groups, and ours, have set the foundation for adoption of chemistry in water for academic and, especially, for industrial applications. After all, with nothing to lose and everything to gain, chemistry in water can be the future.
In this talk, therefore, the focus will be on:
• Why is there a huge need for effective green chemistry research?
• How can chemistry in water provide practical solutions to ongoing and future problems in synthetic process chemistry?
• A fundamental understanding of how nanomicellear catalysis works
• The design of sustainable nanocatalysts via synergies between water, metals, and micelles
• Reaction selectivity and enhanced stability of water-sensitive intermediate’s arising from metal-micelle cooperativity for sustainable carboxylation, amination, amidations, and other reactions.
Faculty Host: Dr. Robert Grossman
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CP 114
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