Tracing the evolution of baryonic matter from atoms in space to stars and planets hinges on an accurate understanding of the underlying chemical processes controlling the properties of the gas at every step along this pathway.  Here I will explain some of the key epochs in this cosmic cycle and highlight our laboratory studies into the underlying chemistry that controls the observed properties of the cosmos.

A graduate student in the department of Chemistry, Ms. Cynthia Tope, has been selected to receive the 2020 Helen F. Holt Scholarship for Early Career Women in Science by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The award, to a single recipient, recognizes an outstanding graduate student who will be making a research presentation at the annual national AAAS meeting. The award includes funds to offset the cost of travel to the conference, held this year is Seattle, WA, conference registration, and AAAS membership. Ms.

Alanna Koritzke, a graduate student in the lab of Prof. Brandon Rotavera, has been awarded the Chateaubriand Fellowship for 2020.  The Chateaubriand Fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States. It supports outstanding Ph.D. students from American universities who wish to conduct research in France for a period ranging from 4 to 9 months.

Square-planar coordination is an ideal structure for tetracoordinate complexes in transition metal chemistry.

A prion is a misfolded form of the cellular prion protein, PrPC. Although the role of PrP in neurodegeneration was established over 30 years ago, there is little understanding of the protein’s normal function, and how misfolding leads to profound disease. Recent work shows that PrPC coordinates the cofactors Cu2+ and Zn2+, and regulates the distribution of these essential metal ions in the brain. Moreover, these metals stabilize a previously unseen fold in PrPC, the observation of which provides new insight into the mechanism of prion disease.